Monday, July 31, 2017



National's list

National released its party list yesterday. And as expected, it is full of dead white males:

2017 RankName2014 RankDifference
1Bill English2+1
2Paula Bennett9+7
3David Carter3-
4Steven Joyce5+1
5Gerry Brownlee4-1
6Simon Bridges18+12
7Amy Adams15+8
8Jonathan Coleman10+2
9Chris Finlayson8-1
10Michael Woodhouse20+10
11Anne Tolley12+1
12Nathan Guy16+4
13Nikki Kaye19+6
14Todd McClay23+9
15Nick Smith13-2
16Judith Collins6-10
17Maggie Barry40+23
18Paul Goldsmith30+12
19Louise Upston27+8
20Alfred Ngaro34+14
21Mark Mitchell42+21
22Nicky Wagner25+3
23Jacqui Dean36+13
24David Bennett37+13
25Tim Macindoe28+3
26Scott Simpson45+19
27Jami-Lee Ross29+2
28Barabara Kuriger58+30
29Matt Doocey56+27
30Brett Hudson39+9
31Melissa Lee31-
32Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi32-
33Jian Yang33-
34Parmjeet Parmar48+14
35Jonathan Young38+3
36Joanne Hayes47+11
37Ian McKelvie41+4
38Simon O'Connor43+5
39Andrew Bayly55+16
40Chris Bishop49+9
41Sarah Dowie57+16
42Nuk Korako50+13
43Todd Muller59+16
44Maureen Pugh52+8
45Shane Reti60+15
46Alastair Scott61+15
47Stuart Smith62+15
48Nicola Willis---
49Agnes Loheni---
50Paulo Garcia---
51Matt King---
52David Hiatt---
53Matthew Gregory---
54Adrienne Pierce---
55David Elliot---
56Katrina Bungard---
57Bala Berram---
58Carolyn O'Fallon---
59Euon Murrell---
60Simeon Brown---

8 penises in the top 10, and 20 in the top 30. This is not the list of a party dedicated to reducing discrimination and systematic inequality. But I guess they'd just say that Nick Smith is more talented than most of their female candidates.

The other obvious point is that end-of-term retirements mean that National's incumbents are all pretty safe, and on expected voter levels they'll be bringing in a healthy group of new MPs as well. Contrast this with Labour, whose MPs cling desperately to their salaries, with the result that they're always the same old faces, with no chance at bringing in new blood. And then they wonder why people don't vote for the same people who have failed them time and time again...