The surprise announcement of a working arrangement between Labour and the Greens has major implications for the National Party’s parliamentary lapdogs.
The biggest loser is obviously Peter Dunne who is going to be an ex MP if the Green Party don’t stand a candidate in Ohariu. The Hairdo only won by 700 votes, garnering 13,569 votes in the conservative electorate to Labour candidate Virginia Anderson’s 12,859. 2,764 votes were wasted on the Green Party’s Tane Woodley.
National, who ran a non-campaign in the seat, but still picked up 6000 votes, will have a choice to make. Either they don’t run a candidate themselves or they consign Dunne to the dunny.
It’s great to be 18 months out from the election knowing that National are going to be forced to respond to a clever opposition tactic by either abandoning their long held commitment to standing in every electorate or by letting long time reliable sycophant Peter Dunne twist in the wind.
Dunne’s history is one of disloyalty and self serving behaviour. How ironic that he will end his parliamentary being stabbed in the back by the party he has so supinely supported. The funniest part of the story is that Dunne doesn’t even seem to realise he’s a dead man walking. Asked to respond to Mike William’s correct assessment that he was a goneburger, Dunne gave one of his most confused answers ever:
“We’re still 18 months out from the election. I’m not even going to dignify that with a response, and you can quote me saying that.”
Er, a quote is a response, Peter. Must try harder in your last few months, mate.
So how rattled is National? I reckon they’re shitting bricks myself. Not just because they are going to lose the ever reliable doormat Dunne, but because there’s every chance the Maori party will cease to be as well.
That’s not because of the Greens/Labour pact, but because interwebs/mana are no longer a credible party. Annette Sykes may well stand again in Wairiki, but she won’t get 5000 votes this time around and Te Ururoa Flavell’s majority will suffer as a result.
No Flavell, no maori Tories.
It just gets better and better, doesn’t it?
A word on electorates. They don’t affect the overall parliamentary count. The party vote ultimately decides who governs. But in a time of increasing poverty, homelessness and dim futures, an electorate MP who gives a shit can be the difference between despair and dignity.
When the Greens and Labour sit down in the coming months to analyse where tactical voting will work best, I hope they decide that Auckland Central, Christchurch Central, Maungakiekie and Hutt South are must win seats. Not because they are going to change the overall result, but because their constituents really, really need their MP’s to be in their corner for them.
The sad fact is that the local electorate office is often the last roll of the dice for kiwi battlers. The Red/Green alliance offers a chance to improve lives both nationally and locally.
Let’s win the next election, people. And lets win as many electorates as we can, too.
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