Monday, March 27, 2006



Not left

Since its inception, people have wondered whether the Maori Party would be generally on the left or not.

I think we now have a definitive answer.

I wonder how this is going to go down at the flaxroots. And I also wonder why people like Matt McCarten are still working with them when they so clearly oppose his agenda. Wouldn't it be better to help a party which actually supports what you stand for...?

5 comments:

McCarten hasn't been working with the Maori Party for more than a year. He's been too busy running the Unite union and working with the Workers Charter.

Also, Tariana's snuggling up to the hard right is certainly pretty disgusting. I didn't, however, see you commenting on this blog about Pita Sharples supporting the supersizemypay.com campaign (although I'm sure some Labour party people will come up with an argument that that's not actually a left-wing cause!) And what of Hone Harawira, the only Maori Party MP not to support Wayne Mapp's atrocious bill?

The Maori Party is a mass of contradictions and will split sooner rather than later. Surely the liberal left should be getting as close to the Maori Party left to make sure it splits in the right direction?

Posted by Anonymous : 3/27/2006 02:22:00 PM

Anon: that's not what my sources are telling me. He's apparantly continuing to provide advice - though presumably not on policy. I wonder how Unite feels about his continued support for a party which has just voted to undermine everything they have been fighting for over the past year?

As for my supposedly not noting Sharples' support for SuperSizeMyPay, I suggest you read more carefully.

I was hoping that the Greens would be able to act as a bridge to the Maori Party on left-wing issues. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be working out very well at present. But maybe it'll change when the MP finally put some of their own bills before the House and need the support of others for a change.

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 3/27/2006 03:24:00 PM

I don't much see Tariana's comments as particularly right-wing. Decentralised welfare reform with the goal of letting people help themselves? Land rights?

OK, work-testing doesn't function as proposed, but the goals seem fine ones.

Regardless, the idea is that small parties with a few common points of interest can actually hope to influence policy on those points. A worthwhile goal for the democratic process, even if it involves ACT.

Posted by tussock : 3/27/2006 05:53:00 PM

Or perhaps the Maori Party has left and right wings, with Tariana on the right, and Pita Sharples and Hone Harawira on the left?

Craig Y.

Posted by Anonymous : 3/29/2006 09:42:00 AM

Maybe Tariana wants the same things that ACT does, the main one being encouraging people off welfare and into work?

Posted by Anonymous : 3/30/2006 10:33:00 PM