Maori Party to stand against Hone

83 comments on “Maori Party to stand against Hone ”

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1. Lanthanide 1

   9 May 2011 at 10:08 am

   Matt McCarten was on the radio this morning talking about it. Hone didn’t resign last week because he discovered that his staff would also be made redundant should that happen, so he had to consult with them first. Hone’s resignation should be happening this week.
    
   Matt is confident that Mana will win the by-election, and thinks that the Maori Party are committing to their own suicide by breaking the pact, because in a three-party race amongst the broader maori seats, splitting the vote between Mana/Maori will make it much easier for Labour to come up the middle and win the seats, denying them to either minor party.
    
   Someone else said that Hone/Mana have support from the maori youth, and there are a lot more maori youth in TTT than their are old people, and so the maori party doesn’t have a chance.
2. Colonial Viper 2

   9 May 2011 at 10:09 am

   Maybe young people will vote if they think that they have someone to vote for.

   This is also true nationwide in the general seats.
   • Draco T Bastard 2.1

     9 May 2011 at 3:24 pm

     Which is why I’m taking an interest in Mana. If they can get the young voting then the numbers change.
3. marty mars 3

   9 May 2011 at 10:13 am

   Bird’s comment about the young are telling and highlights why Mana is needed. Mccarten summed it up – call Hone’s bluff and let’s see what the people think – I agree with that.
4. ianmac 4

   9 May 2011 at 10:14 am

   The outcome of that by-election will be very telling for all the parties involved. Sink or swim. Will determine the layout for the November General Election.
   Wonder if the Govt will enact a Bill declaring that by-elections cannot be held within 10 months or 12 months or 18 months or even 24 months of a General Election? If they don’t move on this, then the 6 month rule must be valid and therefore complaints about the Mana plan are false.
5. higherstandard 5

   9 May 2011 at 10:22 am

   The mana party list will be interesting.

   I also can’t see how the maori party have gone back on the agreement r0b – I thought it was agreed that they wouldn’t field a candidate if he stood as an independent…. although I might be wrong.
   • r0b 5.1

     9 May 2011 at 10:38 am

     The “agreement” seems to have been pretty vague:

     The decision to start the selection process signals a likely end to a shaky agreement between the two sides that neither would stand candidates against the other.

     There was also an agreement that neither would criticise the other, and the Maori Party says Harawira has breached that by repeatedly insulting its leaders.
     • higherstandard 5.1.1

       9 May 2011 at 10:43 am

       oh, I thought it was as per the soundbite below.

       http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/74124/maori-party-says-harawira-breached-agreement
       • Carol 5.1.1.1

         9 May 2011 at 10:55 am

         How does forcing a by-election break that agreement?
         • higherstandard 5.1.1.1.1

           9 May 2011 at 11:00 am

           “Mr Harawira’s agreement with the Maori Party allows him to stand, uncontested, as an independent MP in Te Tai Tokerau electorate”

           “independent MP”
       • r0b 5.1.1.2

         9 May 2011 at 11:00 am

         Yeah HS, and it continues:

         In return, he agreed not to stand candidates against his former colleagues if he formed a new party.

         Doesn’t make any sense – how can the agreement cover him as an independent and as forming a new party?
         • terryg 5.1.1.2.1

           9 May 2011 at 12:10 pm

           Rodney Hide wrote it?
           • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1.2.1.1

             9 May 2011 at 3:26 pm

             😆
         • burt 5.1.1.2.2

           9 May 2011 at 12:20 pm

           No it doesn’t make sense at all. He’s having his cake and eating it too. But fat chance that will be remembered come the election. 🙂
   • Carol 5.2

     9 May 2011 at 10:51 am

     I thought the agreement was they neither Harawira or any new party he formed, or the mP would stand a candidate against each other in the other’s currently held seats:

     http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4863660/Harawira-could-face-Maori-Party-challenge

     The Maori Party agreed not to stand against Harawira when he quit in February, in return for him not standing candidates from any new party he forms in any other Maori electorate.
6. joe90 6

   9 May 2011 at 10:26 am

   Young people don’t vote

   ahem….Singapore.
   • higherstandard 6.1

     9 May 2011 at 10:29 am

     Voting at Singapore’s presidential elections or parliamentary elections is compulsory for all eligible citizens… as it is in Australia ?
     • joe90 6.1.1

       9 May 2011 at 10:34 am

       What, voting for the PAP isn’t compulsory too.
7. The Voice of Reason 7

   9 May 2011 at 10:58 am

   “I guess the Maori Party’s word doesn’t count for much then.”

   Could somebody please publish the agreement between the Maori Party and their ex-MP? Until then nobody can comment as to which side has broken the agreement, which leads to confusions such as the headline on the post, which suggests Hone is going to stand as an independant, when he actually claims he is going to be standing for the Mana Party.

   I’ve heard all sorts of claims and counter claims as to the commitments in that document. At this point, the Mana Party does not exist. 500 members are needed first in order to be a registered party. My guess is problems getting the numbers to join is the cause of the delay in resignation, not the fate of Hone’s staff.
   • Jono 7.1

     9 May 2011 at 11:01 am

     I’m pretty sure there was a herald article saying they had 300 signups a few days after their conference, I’ll have a look round..
     • Carol 7.1.1

       9 May 2011 at 11:07 am

       This article from 2nd May:

       http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=195754

       The Mana Party will be officially registered as a political party this week once it gets at least 500 members. About 350 members have signed up since it launched on Saturday.

       Matt McCarten predicts there’ll be around 1,000 members by the time the party registers with the Electoral Commission.
8. Bill 8

   9 May 2011 at 11:18 am

   I’d be very surprised if the MP have a shit show, but I don’t think that’s the point.

   What’s the odds that this is simply an exercise to gauge the impact of negative spin on the Mana Party?

   eg Last night TV 1 (in line with National Radio) were saying that personal attacks had been made on Sharples ( he was a snake etc). Sharples response was that such criticisms were like water off a duck’s back. Subtext. Harawera and his support are petty and vindictive…and therefore unworthy of support…Sharples on the other hand is ‘bigger’ than that.

   TV 3 reported the same meeting as an attack on the Maori Party, not individuals.

   Seems to me the point is how such spin plays with the wider electorate. If the Mana Party is successfully vilified in the eyes of potential pakeha supporters who might give their party vote to Mana, then it will be a case of ‘mission accomplished’.

   Surely it’s not controversial to point out that the Mana Party will be ‘done down’ at every opportunity by the ‘mainstream’ (both media and politicians). And in the same vein, that any possible opportunity will be manufactured, created or used to this end.

   The Moari Party are irrelevant but apparently willing stooges in all of this. (Surprise anyone?) I mean, if Sharples was honest in yesterday’s little game play, he would have pointed out to reporters that it was the Maori Party and not him that was attacked. But he didn’t.
   • PeteG 8.1

     9 May 2011 at 11:25 am

     Bill, do you think the Harawira attacks at the Waitango hui were a good show of mana?
     Do you think that approach will attract voter support in Te Tai Tokerau?
     • Bill 8.1.1

       9 May 2011 at 11:30 am

       Were the attacks personally aimed at Sharples or aimed at the Maori Party?
       • PeteG 8.1.1.1

         9 May 2011 at 11:40 am

         That’s irrelevant to my questions. Would it have been seen as appropriate behaviour at a hui amongst Maori?
         • Bill 8.1.1.1.1

           9 May 2011 at 1:07 pm

           Are you suggesting that robust interchanges at a hui are somehow ‘off the cards’? Which would mean what? That no frank exchanges relating to the merits or otherwise of matters under discussion could be had because only agreement constitutes appropriate behaviour?

           Which makes the point of a hui what, exactly?
           • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.1.1.1

             9 May 2011 at 1:21 pm

             I think PeteG is referring to the commonly held Right Wing “polite rubber stamping” kind of hui.
             • joe bloggs …

               9 May 2011 at 1:50 pm

               No I rather suspect that PeteG is actually referring to the more commonly held Left Wing stab-your-mates-in-the-back kind of hui.
               • lprent …

                 9 May 2011 at 3:28 pm

                 Is that like a unfriendly takeover of niche right-wing parties? Because if it is, then cannot recall ever seeing one happening on the left.
             • lprent …

               9 May 2011 at 3:35 pm

               Like the various task forces that this government put in place so that they could pay their selected mates quite a lot of money for to produce pre-defined reports allowing the government to look ‘moderate’ when they cherry picked the possible policy directions.

               That type of rubber? A PR protection..
   • Lanthanide 8.2

     9 May 2011 at 12:27 pm

     “he would have pointed out to reporters that it was the Maori Party and not him that was attacked. But he didn’t.”
      
     Or, they simply attacked him personally and as a representative of the Maori Party. In which case both versions of events are true. And if you’re specifically asking the individual in question about the situation, of course they’re going to talk about the personal insults.
   • PeteG 8.3

     9 May 2011 at 12:35 pm

     There are specific claims some of it was personal.

     Turia was reportedly labelled “a bloody liar” and a “snake” by Titewhai Harawira at yesterday’s hui…

     http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4977722/Harawiras-attack-shocks-Maori-Party-leader
     • Bill 8.3.1

       9 May 2011 at 1:13 pm

       OK Pete G.

       ‘A bloody liar’ and a ‘snake’ in respect to what specifically? From what I’ve seen of the Maori Party – running a pro-corporate pile of shit when they elected on the back of a claim to represent Maori and generally dancing on the heads of pins in attempts to justify various flip flops – , I’d surmise that the comments probably had legitimacy. But hey. When the context is absent, what can you say?
       • PeteG 8.3.1.1

         9 May 2011 at 2:13 pm

         When the context is absent, what can you say?

         Were you there Bill? I haven’t seen any specific denials of obnoxious behaviour.
         I have seen several reports of inappropriate behaviour at a hui.
         • weka 8.3.1.1.1

           9 May 2011 at 6:51 pm

           Why do you care and why is it any of your business? The people at the hui will be capable of dealing with whatever goes on there (and non-Maori don’t really have any business in what goes on there until they educate themselves about things Maori). The Stuff reporting of it just looks like the Maori Party using the behaviour of one of Hone’s relatives to undermine the Mana Party, and Stuff being willing to use that to say more crap about Maori and the Mana Party (wasn’t the Bill’s point?).

           Yawn. It’s just stupid and useless.
           • PeteG 8.3.1.1.1.1

             9 May 2011 at 7:04 pm

             Why do you care and why is it any of your business?

             My party vote. My Parliament. My country.
             • Colonial Viper …

               9 May 2011 at 7:07 pm

               No, your country belongs to both local and foreign investment interests, major shareholders and capital funds.

               You’re just under the delusion that it’s temporarily “your” country.

               And it certainly won’t be the case any more if your favourite team NACT get another term.
             • weka …

               9 May 2011 at 7:20 pm

               You’re going to give you party vote to the Maori Party?
9. Peter 9

   9 May 2011 at 11:26 am

   Who gains from Maori infighting?
   • Lanthanide 9.1

     9 May 2011 at 12:30 pm

     Clearly they’re fighting because they think they’re not being well served by their current representation. Ultimately whether the change (or not) in representation serves them better or worse remains to be seen.
10. ianmac 10

    9 May 2011 at 11:43 am

    On Politics after 11 National Radio, Mr Williams (ex Pres Labour Party.) Thinks it may be a mistake for Hone to go on a by-election.
    Mr Williams by the way showed strength and credibility against Matthew Hooton. A big improvement for Left point of view.
11. Green Left 11

    9 May 2011 at 12:29 pm

    The main thing is does Maori Party = Brash and Nats = privatisation.

    It would be very usefull for the debate about this years election to turn into a referendum on asset sales – that Way it is about policy, not manufactured personality politics. Winston could rip Brash and National to buts on privatisation and rising living costs.
    Labour can make policy that can make NZ a more fairer society, the greens policy that makes NZ a fairer and greener society, and the Mana Party policy that ensures that maori society is part of a fairer and greener society.

    Aotearoa needs maori green business and green jobs too, be better than Tuku Morgan going on about how he wants Tainui to buy into Genesis and Solid Energy. Aotearoa should invest in local business here that reduce emissions and unemployment. We can’t sell logs to Japan and coal to China forever.

    National = asset sales and a rising cost of living + a coaltion with Don Brash a racist and a climate denier, who is stuck in the past.

    It is up to all NZers that don’t want privatisation, to work together to keep National out, and to keep working on ideas, to make NZ a fairer and greener nation.
    • Peter 11.1

      9 May 2011 at 1:57 pm

      Sounds good, I still ask this question. Should the Left leaning parties be acting cohesively, or carrying on separately given that it is very obvious what will happen if NACT win in November?
12. deemac 12

    9 May 2011 at 12:33 pm

    interesting no-one wants to defend the Harawira clan’s behaviour at the hui. Not much “mana” there…
13. Toby Keith 13

    9 May 2011 at 1:26 pm

    The performance at the Hui was disgusting, when will Hone and his family figure out that being loud and abusive to people doesn’t make you right and it doesn’t mean you are standing up for yourself.
    • Peter 13.1

      9 May 2011 at 1:58 pm

      Yip, it just means you get negative press.
      • Colonial Viper 13.1.1

        9 May 2011 at 7:02 pm

        Diddums, better get the idea that people are angry and willing to act on that anger.

        Yip, it just means you get negative press.

        Frak off, Mana is going to get negative press anyway, so why not have fun with it?
14. Toby Keith 14

    9 May 2011 at 1:30 pm

    How can anyone respect, Locke and Bradford or Minto they may come under the guise of being the friendly stand up for your rights type politicians/activists, but they are the biggest hypocrites on the face of the planet for not speaking up against the bully type tatics of Hone and his family, I guess in Locke’s, Bradford’s and Minto’s world its okay to be a bully if you have the same ideology that they do.
    • Colonial Viper 14.1

      9 May 2011 at 7:03 pm

      Pah, what do you know.

      True hypocrisy is Key telling New Zealanders to tighten their belts and expect their government help to be slashed, while at the same time buying new BMWs, taking 4 guards to Hawaii and splashing out on new drapes and carpets for Premier House.

      What you’re referring to is you being too soft ass to take the Harawira heat. Boohoo.
15. joe bloggs 15

    9 May 2011 at 1:54 pm

    Hmmm, the Harawira family mana rises like scum to the surface once again.

    I wonder if the Labour apparatchiks are starting to regret working with Hone to destabilise the Maori party…

    That’d be another one of Blue State Digital’s game plays gone wrong…
    • lprent 15.1

      9 May 2011 at 3:25 pm

      …Labour apparatchiks are starting to regret working with Hone to destabilise the Maori party

      This is your latest conspiracy theory? Seems somewhat weak even by your low standards.

      It looks to me like the Maori party destabilized itself quite successfully without outside interference.
      • Draco T Bastard 15.1.1

        9 May 2011 at 4:09 pm

        I suspect he’s trying to deflect from Nationals take over of Act by using the They did it too method. The complete lack of evidence that any such thing actually happened is, of course, completely irrelevant in his eyes.
    • weka 15.2

      9 May 2011 at 6:54 pm

      All of you going on about the mana of various Harawiras, I’m curious what you think mana is. Do you understand the word and concept within Maoridom, or are you using it in a pakeha sense?
16. Rich 16

    9 May 2011 at 2:10 pm

    .. the Maori Party would target voters middle-aged and older. “That is our core constituent. Young people don’t vote.

    That kinda encapsulates their patriarchal attitude. Like the bumper stickers with “my whanau support the Maori Party” – expecting that the women and younger adults will take their voting cue from their dad.
17. Craig Young 17

    9 May 2011 at 2:36 pm

    To be perfectly fair to the Harawiras, though, Tariana Turia has some strong detractors within Maori communities. She is seen as a social conservative ideologue who treats takatapui and whakawahine as second-class citizens and who used the seabed and foreshore legislation to turn hard right. She agrees with the Nat/ACT welfare retrenchment and privatisation agenda, and don’t forget, Te Tai Tokerau has some heartbreaking levels of poverty. Part of the reason that Hone has become so alienated from his colleagues is for precisely that reason.

    I don’t doubt that she is still popular within her own turangawaewae and iwi, but I suspect that if matters take their logical progression, she and Mr Flavell may be the only Maori Party MPs left after November. Mana and Labour will have taken the other five electorates off them.
18. grumpy 18

    9 May 2011 at 4:11 pm

    Not much her about Titewhai Harawira’s advice to Carrington inmates to… “kill a white and die a hero..”, so that’s OK now is it?

    [lprent: That is a statement of fact and potentially defamatory. Link to something credible, retract, or leave. You have a few hours. ]
    • weka 18.1

      9 May 2011 at 6:57 pm

      “Not much her about Titewhai Harawira’s advice to Carrington inmates to… “kill a white and die a hero..”, so that’s OK now is it?”

      Please supply some evidence that that is what she said, and then provide the context she said it in and what she was meaning.
      • Colonial Viper 18.1.1

        9 May 2011 at 7:00 pm

        I’m pretty sure that she actually said “Phil’s white and he’s still my hero.”
      • lprent 18.1.2

        9 May 2011 at 7:30 pm

        Sounds like another urban RWNJ myth to me as well. Put up or retract would be my advice to grumpy.

        Update: Yep – hit it in moderation…
        • Draco T Bastard 18.1.2.1

          9 May 2011 at 10:39 pm

          Seems to be a Kiwiblog reference. There’s also a similar reference from Ross Meurant where he explains why the police subculture is as bad as it is.
          • lprent 18.1.2.1.1

            9 May 2011 at 10:49 pm

            Yeah I remember the issue. But I am pretty sure that it was not Titewhi Harawira who said it (if in fact it was ever said). I think that this is just myth making in process. I am perfectly happy to keep calling people who cannot substantiate their bullshit that they claim as being facts.

            As much as I don’t like Titewhai, I despise lynchers who deliberately lie about facts even more. They are the absolute scum of society. Around me if they want to claim something as fact, they will be required to substantiate it.
            • weka 18.1.2.1.1.1

              9 May 2011 at 11:03 pm

              Looks like it was Hana Te Hemara:

              She achieved notoriety in 1988 when she was reported to have told Auckland University students to “kill a white and become a hero”.

              Her comments prompted complaints to the Race Relations conciliator, who decided the comments were antagonistic, but said in a private place – a marae.

              Hana Te Hemara said her comments were taken out of context, and that she had been making a prediction about what could happen if conditions for Maori did not improve.

              http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=15781

              Looks like yet another case of pakeha whispers distorting the message the further it gets from the marae. Never mind what the git above was doing asserting that Harawira said it.
          • rosy 18.1.2.1.2

            9 May 2011 at 11:23 pm

            DtB that Ross Meurant reference is well worth a read, thanks.

            It seems it was Hana Jackson who made the ‘kill a white’ comment …:

            She achieved notoriety in 1988 when she was reported to have told Auckland University students to “kill a white and become a hero”.

            Her comments prompted complaints to the Race Relations conciliator, who decided the comments were antagonistic, but said in a private place – a marae.

            Hana Te Hemara said her comments were taken out of context, and that she had been making a prediction about what could happen if conditions for Maori did not improve.

            However, the Carrington incident was shameful for all involved, including management who hired untrained staff to care for Maori male patients…

            Behind Harawira and egging him on is his mother Titewhai, a loyal activist whose own judgment failed her badly in the past. She got nine months in jail in 1989 for assaulting a mental patient in the ill-fated Whare Paia Maori mental health unit she was in charge of, in a poorly thought- out arrangement with Auckland’s Carrington Hospital. Four staff members were also sentenced for violence against the patient, two of them sharing her surname.
            • weka 18.1.2.1.2.1

              9 May 2011 at 11:36 pm

              What’s your point rosy?
              • rosy …

                10 May 2011 at 12:28 am

                That it is an urban legend that Titewhai Harawira said it, and that it appears 2 incidents are being conflated, one involving Titewha, and one not. The Carrington incident appears to have occurred on the back of a systemic problem with care.
                • weka …

                  10 May 2011 at 7:52 am

                  🙂
                  • rosy …

                    10 May 2011 at 6:02 pm

                    You’re welcome 😉 Not that I’ve got any time for the woman at all, and I hope she still carries shame for what she did at Carrington. I’d rather dislike her for what she actually does or say rather than for stuff mis-attributed.
    • grumpy 18.2

      10 May 2011 at 3:52 pm

      See my explanation later in the thread. My information came a long time ago and from Ross Meurant. I have now looked it up and copied it below. He appears to link it to the Carrington hospital activists (of whom the boss was Harawira) but I understand others have linked it to either Harawira, Hana Te Hemara or Hana Jackson. As there is no firm evidence pointing at Titewhai, I withdraw the comment.

      “…My last job in the police was inspector in charge of special operations and a criminal intelligence section. At the time the focus was on the activities of Maori activists at Carrington hospital. I took raw police data and used it in my maiden speech. At the time I believed in the conclusions we as a police unit had peer reviewed. Some form of revolution or armed insurrection had been threatened. There were threats of “Kill a white, die a hero”. Maori wanted political sovereignty. Maori activist Sid Jackson was one of several who had been to Libya. But did a contrary political view and aspirations really pose a threat to the security and stability of our country? History has provided the answer. There has been no revolution and at least one of the Maori activists of those times is now in Parliament working within the system.”

      [lprent: Ok. Please check in the future and link if you’re going to state it as fact. It is the type of crap that starts those damn myths and some really irritating flamewars. ]
      • grumpy 18.2.1

        10 May 2011 at 4:14 pm

        Fair enough…….
19. Craig 19

    9 May 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Yes, but at least the Harawiras are on message about poverty, opposition to welfare retrenchment and privatisation, and anti-worker legislation. That’s what matters, not whatever might or might not have been said over twenty five years ago…
    • KJT 19.1

      10 May 2011 at 6:43 pm

      Doing Labour’s job for them.
20. Shazzadude 20

    9 May 2011 at 6:54 pm

    The Maori Party are quite correct to say they won’t be coming second.

    They’ll come third.

    My predictions:

    Hone Harawira 52%
    Kelvin Davis 27%
    Maori Party candidate 16%
    • Colonial Viper 20.1

      9 May 2011 at 6:58 pm

      Care to put that on ipredict? 😎
21. Penny Bright 21

    9 May 2011 at 7:55 pm

    deemac 12
    9 May 2011 at 12:33 pm

    interesting no-one wants to defend the Harawira clan’s behaviour at the hui. Not much “mana” there…”

    What exactly was the problem?
    Titewhai’s comment was to the effect that what is said on the marae stays on the marae?

    So – I for one haven’t heard ‘both sides’?

    Turiana, and Pita wouldn’t have any vested interest in trying to portray the outspoken Harawira clan in as bad a light as possible for the electoral advantage of the Maori Party?

    Of course not.

    How silly of me to even mention it.

    In my considered opinion, given that MMP is all about coalition allies – the situation of Hone Harawira and the Mana Party in Te Tai Tokerau – is similar to that of ACT in Epsom.

    If Hone Harawira wins this electorate seat and gets a mandate for the Mana Party – then at the General Election, the Mana Party gets an unknown number of MPs who are elected on a clear anti-Rogernomic$ platform – then surely they will be allies in the pivotal issue of opposition to asset sales?

    In the seemingly unlikely event of Labour winning Te Tai Tokerau in this upcoming by-election that would arguably be the end of the Mana Party?

    Whose interests would THAT serve?

    On the other hand – if Labour do stand – then it will give the voting public a chance to see both the similarities and differences between both the Mana and Labour Parties.

    (And the Maori Party – of course!)

    Interesting times!

    But it seems that the idea of ‘Mr Popular ‘shonky John Key’ sleepwalking his way to victory in 2011 is fading day by day?

    Yep – a week is indeed a LOOOONG time in politics……..

    Penny Bright
    http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
22. PeteG 22

    9 May 2011 at 8:57 pm

    Will Harawira go ahead and resign? Maybe not, reasons Joshua Hitchcock:

    More importantly, I tend to think that there will not be a by-election. With the Maori Party and Labour both looking keen to contest the seat, it draws Hone into a fight which he does not want or need this close to the election. Originally, Harawira and his advisers probably believed that no-one would contest the election and he could use a resounding victory to launch a nationwide campaign in November. But in dishonouring his agreement with the Maori Party, and launching a party directly targeting Labour voters, he has incentivised both parties to run against him.

    A three-way by-election will be costly for each candidate, the difference being that both the Maori Party and Labour can use the resources that comes with being established members of Parliament. Hone, devoid of Parliamentary or Party funding, will be forced into a costly exercise to retain his own seat. This will have the dual effect of hampering his attempt to gain support nationally.

    McCarten said the resignation was delayed because Harawira hadn’t realised that his staff’s jobs would also cease at the same time. Will they reconsider the whole gamble?
    • Colonial Viper 22.1

      9 May 2011 at 9:19 pm

      I reckon Mana had already figured for the eventuality of the Mp breaking their promise – it seemed fairly likely that was going to happen, and no one has been surprised that it has.
23. Toby Keith 23

    9 May 2011 at 9:34 pm

    Dont blame the Maori party for standing against the bigoted bullies of the Te Mana party, hope hone and his deliverance family go down in a heap.
    • Colonial Viper 23.1

      9 May 2011 at 9:43 pm

      Waaaaaaaa! Waaaaaaaaa!
24. North 24

    10 May 2011 at 12:22 am

    As one from the North (Pakeha – 60+ – professional, which means I have subliminal vestige of honky attitude), I’m always amazed at the umbrage readily taken by subliminally racist honkies who post as though their thinking is or should be Maori thinking. You know, the Paul Holmes/Lispy wee Guyon Espiner anal-ysis. Beltway and all that wanky, irrelevant crap.

    What these Wonder Brains miss is that in TTT the “young people” don’t give two stuffs about Titewhai’s antics. OK she’s untidy (not forgetting of course that it’s HER marae that Pitttance Sharples and Toryana Torya turned up on to bad mouth her boy), but that don’t make a shred of difference to the fact that Hone’s their bro’. He’s the champion they hunger for. Because they don’t have a champion. Their self appointed leadership’s failed them. Always hangin’ off the arse of that egg Key fulla. Who while constantly smiling like an idiot appoints HIS bro’s to damn and abuse Maori.

    I mean, compare them. Pittance Sharples, short little schoolteacher guy, never seen far away from the Beamer, always the shadow of that egg Key fulla……these boys, six packs pumping, staunch, vigorous fullas, just like their bro’ Hone. Without conscious thought about it, Hone’s their man.

    I been in the North long enough to know this place and these people. I even venture I’ve earned their trust. Wonderful people ! And they know bullshit when they see it. Pittance and Toryana are bullshit. “Bro’…..they just gone for the bucks”. I hear it all the time.

    Hey, you thick wee yuppie journos from Aux who’ve decided you’re gonna do Hone – you know what “pono” means ? No, don’t say it like “pony” – say “paw-gnaw”. It means real, true. It’s a sense, a feeling as much as anything. Well Pittance and Toryana ain’t got no pono in the North. I’m not gonna say they’re kupapa but I’ve heard that too.

    All Mana has to do is to get them young fullas (and girls) out to the booth and Hone will have a landslide. There’s another word – “whanaungatanga” . Won’t bother with pronounciation. You guys have trouble with “whanau”. “Far Now” the most common rubbish. Whanaungatanga will ensure it. They’ll get out to the booth alright because for once there’s a heartfelt reason to do so. It’s Hone. He relates. He connects. Naturally. And the more you little Aux latte eggs with your burdening pakeha perspective abuse him, the more will come. Because that’s the reality in this fine “One Nation” of yours. Maori have been raped and insulted big time and it continues. Now’s lashback time, not before time either.

    You know one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard was Prem Bird or someone from the Maori Party saying, only yesterday – “We’re not standing someone to come second – young people don’t vote – we’ve got the older people”. Implication – “We’ll win because young Maori don’t vote”.

    I read that to say that it’s cool that young Maori are disenfranchised, alienated. I read that to say that winning, viza. beating the “demon” Hone, is more important than ending the disenfranchisement and alienation of young Maori. Where the hell are you coming from you mongrels ?

    That is why Hone’s gonna win, handsomely ! Do your little number you pakeha perspective people (that includes you Pittance and Toryana) but don’t you ever understand that young Maori haven’t sussed you out already !

    Key Ora……..
    • Colonial Viper 24.1

      10 May 2011 at 12:37 am

      Kia Ora, North 🙂
    • PeteG 24.2

      10 May 2011 at 6:49 am

      Time will tell if you are talking for a few or for a lot of young people from the north. It will take something major to get the usual non-voters to the booth, voters who didn’t bother to get out and vote for Harawira in 2008.

      The voter turnout in Maori seats is much lower than the general seats – in 2008 there were 19-20k votes in the Maori electorates, compared to 30-37k in the generals. Younger people are less likely to vote than older people. If Harawira can motivate more young people to vote then good on them, they deserve to be represented like anyone else.

      In TTT Harawira got 12,019 votes but the Maori Party only got 6,204 (Labour 9,200) so it will take a major change to get a high party vote – especially in the other Maori seats and the general seats – which will be essential if Mana are going to get any more than TTT – if they can win that.

      If Mana, Maori and Labour all contest the by-election (if it happens) it is wide open. Sounding confident is different to being confident. The Mana Party is obviously not well prepared and organised, it’s a huge gamble going to the voters early, where all of the spotlight will be on the one seat, and they are banking on people who don’t usually vote to change there habits – just those supporting them of course, there could be as many young voters who don’t want Harawira.
25. Craig 25

    10 May 2011 at 2:03 pm

    We’re forgetting that given institutional racism, Maori have lower life expectancy than pakeha and that given concomitant pronatalism, there’s a demographic bulge in terms of Maori youth, which should stand Hone in good stead. Labour needs to show them that they’re serious about dealing with the lack of infrastructure and deeply entrenched poverty in Te Tai Tokerau.
    • Fred 25.1

      10 May 2011 at 7:23 pm

      .. like doing something positive, creative, and real about youth unemployment – rather than a six week ‘confidence course’ in the army.

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