Stable government

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, September 20th, 2010 - 44 comments
Categories: act, maori party, national - Tags:

Scanning the morning headlines and two caught my eye in The Herald. First:

Embattled Hide clings to leadership

Epsom MP Rodney Hide continues to cling to his leadership of embattled Act as a party insider and political opponents called for him to step down over his role in allegedly covering up MP David Garrett’s identity theft charges.

And second:

Harawira plans coup, warns Ngapuhi leader

Firebrand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is considering a tilt at the party’s leadership over the foreshore and seabed legislation, claims Ngapuhi academic and leader David Rankin.

Both the Nats’ coalition partners are falling apart. John Key is failing to provide the stable government that New Zealanders require – and vote for. Time for John to start waking up every morning and doing the numbers…

44 comments on “Stable government ”

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  1. Carol 1
    20 September 2010 at 8:18 am

    I do think these shifts in the Nats partners in government could POTENTIALLY result in an unstable government. However, at the moment, the government still as the necessary support and stability.

    I see Dunne is hoping that the demise of ACT will mean a rise in suppport for United Future – according to Brent Edwards comment on Dunne’s statements on Mornign Report today (Dunne’s statement, not Edwards’ is here):

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/57277/national-will-want-act-saga-sorted-quickly-dunne

    Is he dreaming? But I can understand Dunne opportunitically stepping up to present him & his part as a reliable partner for the future.

    There’s a lot more to happen before the Key government is destabilised, much as I’d like to see that hapen as soon as….

  2. tc 2
    20 September 2010 at 8:49 am

    Wishful thinking maybe but as I see it, Hide and ACT are going nowhere till the stench of supercity pushes the nats into a decision one way or another.

    Sideshow needs his little monkey to keep grinding the organ so the likes of M.Fay and co can step behind the scenes and buy all the juicy public owned money spinning akl assets, leaving the nat’s an easy decision in the run up to election 2011.

  3. gobsmacked 3
    20 September 2010 at 9:24 am

    National have a wonderful relationship with the Maori Party. Everybody’s happy. What could possibly go wrong?

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/4144517/Act-opponents-expect-full-house

  4. pollywog 4
    20 September 2010 at 10:16 am

    Harawira plans coup, warns Ngapuhi leader

    Firebrand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is considering a tilt at the party’s leadership over the foreshore and seabed legislation, claims Ngapuhi academic and leader David Rankin.

    Someone needs to call all the Maori MP’s together and explain to them how MMP works if you vote strategically, like how ACT did in Epsom to deliver more seats for the right

    Of course, if i got this wrong then someone needs to explain it to me too 🙂

    …but whatever

    If Hone and Parekura form a breakaway party. Do a deal with the Maori Party to not stand in the seats they hold and for them to do the same.They could hold their seats…no worries

    If they then took Shane Jones with them, convince Iwi leaders Forum to support them and put forward a candidate for list seats, on both parties, in exchange for cash and secure a high profile Pasifikan to campaign for them as well, in exchange for a list seat.

    Then both parties could campaign hard to give their party vote to the Maori party, or the new one, and convince voters to get more than a couple % and consequently more MP’s in parliament.

    No need to challenge for Maori party leadership. Hone gets to lead his own party and between them with more seats in coalition they could own either of the bigger parties.

    I reckon Pasifikans want another party option to vote for, in much the same way as the Maori party provided it for Maori, and i reckon they’d get in behind Hone if he got the right candidate and went after the young and old disillusioned Pasifika vote

    • Lanthanide 4.1
      20 September 2010 at 11:23 am

      While perfectly legal under the current framework, such a concerted effort at tactical voting to create a seriously overhung parliament in favour of a minority group would rightly anger the majority of the population and quickly lead to electoral reform, I think.

      captcha: manipulation (captcha system does it again!)

      • Bored 4.1.1
        20 September 2010 at 11:35 am

        All rather amusing seeing that the Nats will now have to front their extreme right wing minority positions themselves rather than through a proxy.

        As far as electoral reform goes I think it is more incumbent on the populace (electorate) to actually scrutinise the policies and promises of those they elect a little more rigorously rather than take a post event option of “electoral reform”. With regard to NACT the real agenda is now out in the open, if thats what the people want they will get re-elected.

      • prism 4.1.2
        20 September 2010 at 11:43 am

        Lanthanide – There is already an effort at reforming and taming MMP by the right which has learned to play with what we have now. Why shouldn’t the ‘brown faces’ that pollywog has written about do similar? The present parties are like pricked balloons and maybe some upward movement will be achieved with the new ideas that pollywog is floating.

        • Lanthanide 4.1.2.1
          20 September 2010 at 12:08 pm

          I think if the Maori party want electoral reform to the current system, it would be much more tasteful to the populace at large (and therefore more likely to stick) if they bring the idea through parliament, rather than exploiting the current rules to force the issue.

          I don’t particularly have a position one way or the other, I’m just pointing out that pollywog’s suggestion would likely make things worse in the medium-long term and create more division on this country than already exists.

          • pollywog 4.1.2.1.1
            20 September 2010 at 1:08 pm

            I don’t think Maori want electoral reform though and fuck parliament. They’ve been delivering ‘race’ based policies and shoring it up through the judiciary, to the populace at large, since day one.

            If what i suggest happened, it’d be to late to call for electoral reform ‘cos the power would have shifted into Pasifikan hands and theres no way we’d change it to suit others, just like successive eurocentric gov’ts have made nothing but token gestures to change the current system in our favour.

            Even now there’s gonna be big money spent on trying to change things back to the good ol’ days of, first boys club past the post runs the show.

            Sooner or later, Pasifikans inclusive of Maori are gonna wise up and start running things proper either this generation or the next…It’s inevitable

            we will assimilate you, resistance is futile 🙂

            • Loota 4.1.2.1.1.1
              20 September 2010 at 3:27 pm

              Now if you can get the South East Asian and East Asian vote on side, its all done and dusted…

              • pollywog …
                20 September 2010 at 4:05 pm

                heh…no sweat.

                They’re like long, lost distant cousins we haven’t had much to do with for a while.

                I figure we’ll cut ’em some sort of deal on fisheries, joint ventures on mussel farms that sort of thing, and they’ll be all chur…

            • Rex Widerstrom 4.1.2.1.1.2
              20 September 2010 at 6:09 pm

              we will assimilate you, resistance is futile

              Okay, I’ll surrender to a Pasifikan version of Seven of Nine.

              But I warn you… the assimilation probably won’t take first time and will need to be repeated. Regularly. And please, just ignore any strange sounds I may make.

      • pollywog 4.1.3
        20 September 2010 at 1:16 pm

        It’s no different to National putting up a patsy in Epsom and campaigning for ACT so they can pin more seats on Rodneys tail. If it’s within the rules then i say we go for it.

        Bill English has been claiming an out of town allowance for going on 15 years for living in his own house in Welli.

        And those in the know bought up gov’t guranteed bonds from a troubled finance company they knew was going under so they could pocket the interest.

        All legal, but morally repugnant.

    • Bored 4.2
      20 September 2010 at 11:42 am

      Under MMP a “Pasifikan” party might be a very appropriate option to a “Maori” only party. What worries me is that eventually with a “race” based party the exclusion of other races becomes a limiting burden. Sort of Catch 22, you have to stand united to get what you need but if you do so everyone else sees you as the enemy. No easy answers here except to stand strong in a broader coalition.

      • Lanthanide 4.2.1
        20 September 2010 at 12:11 pm

        I remember seeing lots of billboards around for Tito Phillip Field’s party before the 2008 election.

      • pollywog 4.2.2
        20 September 2010 at 12:57 pm

        It has to be based on culture and the values which underpin commonalities across differing ethnicities. I don’t even want to use the ‘R’ word.

        Back in the day, many an early whaler jumped ship, took up with a native wah, got moko’ed up and adopted Pasifikan culture.

        Thats how this would need to be pitched.

        By all means, never deny your ethnic origins, but choose which culture you primarily wish to identify with. For a lot of us, i reckon we’d choose Pasifikan, inclusive of Maori, based on values like respect, humility, compassion and honour rather than eurocentric capitalist consumerism and its greed based values.

        • Bored 4.2.2.1
          20 September 2010 at 2:18 pm

          Polly, Interestingly if we wait long enough the problems of ethnicity in NZ will get cured between the bed sheets and thats a long term wait…but the real issue as you point out includes any number of values which may or may not be attributed to ethnicity. The problem I see with a “race” based party that objects to “eurocentric” values etc is that it might polarise “eurocentrics” around a single party or coalition there of. Might not be very pretty, “rednecks incorporated” (was’nt that ACT)?

          • pollywog 4.2.2.1.1
            20 September 2010 at 4:41 pm

            We’ve been playing the long game since you fullas first turned up on our collective shores.

            The values i’m hoping people adopt aren’t so much ethnic based, as culturallly based, with the culture being native Pasifikan as opposed to transplanted Eurocentric capitalist.

            Its possible to continue cultural practises rooted in selfish capitalist tradition while espousing nobler values just as it was for us to value altruism while being cannibals.

            The forced assimilation of our highest ideals to breed lasting peace will take a generation or so to sort out and in the meantime, the redneck and savage instincts of both our cultures have to play out their respective roles.

            captcha : lifetime ( it’ll happen in mine for sure 🙂 )

    • Bill 4.3
      20 September 2010 at 1:07 pm

      The Maori Party splitting into its respective socio/economic left wing and socio/economic right wing would be good regardless.

      But to suggest that the two then do a deal to up the overall parliamentary presence of Maori (or more broadly, Pasifika) not only renders any split redundant, but makes as much sense as the Nats and Labour conniving to up the Pakeha presence or some such.

      Having said that, Shipley did once suggest that the Nats and Labour should form a ‘grand coalition’….and Goff is seemingly quite happy to hand complete control of NZ’s second largest city (and more) to a National member of parliament….

      …which all goes to interrupt my initial point which was to suggest that it would make more sense for a socio/economically left leaning Maori/Pasifika grouping to connive with a socio/economically left leaning Pakeha grouping.

      But now I’m not too sure insofar as it could be argued that there doesn’t appear to be any reasonably viable Pakeha dominated…or traditional if you prefer…socio/economic left any more.

      • pollywog 4.3.1
        20 September 2010 at 1:36 pm

        The Maori Party splitting…

        …to suggest that the two then do a deal to up the overall parliamentary presence of Maori (or more broadly, Pasifika) not only renders any split redundant

        Me thinks it would just be too easy for the eurocentrists to ‘divide and conquer’ if they didn’t cut a deal to watch each others back.

        By doing a deal based on ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, would ensure they have a greater chance of educating Maori/Pasifika voters to cast their ballot strategically.

        It would definitely be a coming of age for Pasifika politics. A big move that requires big balls to make but now is the time to make it, otherwise it’ll be the same ‘ol same ‘ol voting for the status quo…i reckon

  5. burt 5
    20 September 2010 at 12:16 pm

    You are right rOb, time for a snap election.

    • r0b 5.1
      20 September 2010 at 12:34 pm

      No rush Burt, no rush. I think the electorate needs a bit longer contemplating the true nature of this government as the masks drop away and the greedy incompetent rabble is revealed.

      Must be a difficult time to be an ACToid though. Perk lusters, back stabbers and grave robbers. Nice party you support there Burt, very nice indeed.

      • burt 5.1.1
        20 September 2010 at 1:22 pm

        rOb

        Did you not see this:
        http://thestandard.org.nz/key-admits-mistake-tolley-and-groser-shuffled-out/#comment-186457

        I suspect you probably did but the same short memory that allows you to continue feeling proud of being a Labour supporter means you didn’t recall that I don’t support ACT at this time.

        Unlike some half thinkers, my support is based on what they do rather than the colour of their flag.

        • burt 5.1.1.1
          20 September 2010 at 1:51 pm

          God you’re a desperate muppet rOb. Having supported Helen using parliament to cancel a court case for herself it is no surprise you take any chance you can get to swipe at others. Grow up bully boy… I stopped supporting “my lot” when they turned out to be self serving muppets, you just dug yourself in deeper… You’re a blood lemming and a spiteful one at that.

      • r0b 5.1.2
        20 September 2010 at 1:47 pm

        Sorry Burt – the fact that you used to support these hypocritical lunatics, when it has been obvious to anyone with half a brain for many years that hypocritical lunatics is exactly what they are, does not speak well to your powers of perception or reason.

  6. Thomas Beagle 6
    20 September 2010 at 12:17 pm

    Just thinking about the subject on this post.

    Did anyone ever make jokes about Winston Peters delivering “stable government”?

    • mcflock 6.1
      20 September 2010 at 1:52 pm

      not so sure about Peters, but comments were made when Shipley fucked up the coalition so quickly after ousting Bolger.

  7. rich 7
    20 September 2010 at 12:27 pm

    Key wouldn’t need to worry if he lost the numbers. He could simply suspend Parliament and rule by edict using the Earthquake Act. That’s what Labour and the Greens voted for.

    • Lanthanide 7.1
      20 September 2010 at 12:30 pm

      That would guarantee they would not win the next election, which they don’t have the power to overturn. Then Labour could use the same earthquake provisions to undo everything National had done.

      Hopefully National will go down this path. No pain no gain.

  8. Jum 8
    20 September 2010 at 12:44 pm

    Found this on Dictionary.com (hope they don’t mind me quoting from them).

    If this doesn’t say it all about Act and the political disease that is NActMU…

    “jactation jak-TEY-shuhn, noun:
    1. A restless tossing of the body.
    2. Boasting; bragging.

    As Denis sat alone in the silent, cabined space of his compartment, tossed this way and that by the jactation, he felt suddenly that the grinding wheels of the train spoke to him.
    — A. J. Cronin, Hatter’s Castle

    There are crises of convulsions, violent shouting, loud weeping, violent jactation, fainting, and semi-coma.
    — William Gilman Thompson, The occupational diseases:

    their causation, symptoms, treatment and prevention
    Jactation derives from the Latin jactatare, “to throw.” “

    • mcflock 8.1
      20 September 2010 at 2:03 pm

      it also nicely verifies to myself as a Latin illiterate (illanguanite?) that Julius Caesar’s line upon crossing the Rubicon “Alea jacta est” is literally, not merely approximately or “in the spirit of” translated as “the die is cast”.

      Complete digression, of course. But I found it nice the way it fell into place.

  9. Scotty 9
    20 September 2010 at 5:04 pm

    “John Key is failing to provide the stable government that New Zealanders require”

    So Rob, you were equally disappointed at Helen Clark’s inability to provide stable government when the Alliance fell apart in 2001?

    • lprent 9.1
      20 September 2010 at 5:17 pm

      From memory it fell apart at the end of 2001. An early election was announced after the house came back in 2002 had a couple of months of problems and it became apparent that government was going to be unstable. Didn’t Labour increase their seats because they took the decisive action required?

      I wonder how long it will take John Key is going to realize that his house of cards is falling over? Just at present it looks like disintegration in Act and schism in the Maori Party.

  10. The Voice of Reason 10
    20 September 2010 at 6:57 pm

    I pondered the other day on whether Hide would take the party down if he was rolled as leader by resigning from Parliament and forcing a by-election in Epsom. An unlikely scenario, but mutually assured destruction would certainly be a useful bargaining posture for Hide in the upcoming Act leadership vote.

    Does anybody know the situation if Hide resigns the seat and National inevitably win the by-election? Do the other 4 Act MP’s limp on till the next election despite no longer having their mandate? Like a quartet of Alamein Kopu’s, with even less dignity?

  11. IanG 11
    20 September 2010 at 7:11 pm

    “Act Party debacle could hurt MMP, hopes Key” – slightly modified headline from NZ Herald

  12. IanG 12
    20 September 2010 at 7:13 pm

    Act Party debacle could hurt MMP, says (read “hopes” ) Key
    NZ herald headline

  13. grumpy 13
    20 September 2010 at 7:42 pm

    Still not too late for National to do a deal with ACT and abolish the Maori seats – end of Maori Party.

    Then, MMP gets chucked out in the referendum – end of Greens.

    As a tradeoff give ACT a couple of uncontested seats – stable government!

    • Armchair Critic 13.1
      20 September 2010 at 8:45 pm

      As a tradeoff give ACT a couple of uncontested seats – stable government!
      Stable government? Perhaps, but the horse would have bolted.

  14. Lanthanide 14
    20 September 2010 at 8:03 pm

    “Then, MMP gets chucked out in the referendum – end of Greens.”
    Yeah, that kind of requires the populace to agree to it. If NACT go ahead and abolish the Maori electorates, I don’t think the populace in general would be too keen to see MMP follow after.

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