3 more Labour candidates - 1 without profile

To continue my series, I thought I'd countdown from numbers 53 to 51 on the Labour Party list.

Chris Yoo – list only- number 53: No profile, no photo, no website, no interest, no chance. Even he doesn’t think Labour will get far over 40% of the vote. This you see, is where you wonder how ambitious Labour is being? If it seriously thinks it is getting this far, why is this candidate without any profile at all?

Errol Mason – Te Tai Hauauru – number 52: Profile and photo. Errol has a long familial link to Labour, and says “It is important for Maori to have a united voice in Government. This Labour Government has delivered great opportunities. More Maori in employment, working for families’ package and affordable health care to name but a few.” Setting aside him wanting to sit in one of the racist seats, his profile is nothing special, but not mindlessly awful either. He has a considerable battle on his hands though. He is up against Tariana Turia who gained 63% of the electorate vote last time, against himself on 33.5%. Party vote in the seat remains mainly Labour with 53.1%, and the Maori Party second on 31.7%. He wont win the electorate, but I kind of wish he would. Turia after all is far away with the fairies.

Erin Ebbor-Gillespie – Wigram – number 51: Profile and photo. “I was motivated to join the Labour party in the late 1990s. I remember the “Mother of All Budgets,” state asset sales and restructuring. It was a dark time in our social history.” Took her a while, since the “Mother of All Budgets” was 1991, asset sales started under a government that included Helen Clark and Michael Cullen, and “restructuring” has happened on a grand scale under this Labour government (look at transport). Silly bint doesn’t understand history or economics, puts her in good stead to run against Jim Anderton though! She’s a family lawyer, which begs the question why she wants to control people’s lives? She concludes “If the self determination of the people is strong, the well being of the people is assured”. Yes Erin, but Labour takes much of the proceeds of people’s “self-determination” and spends it how it sees fit. She’s probably good at her job, but not much sense beyond her own experience.

As long as Jim wants to hang on, she has no chance in Wigram, where Labour comes third behind National in the electorate vote with 19.1%, (Anderton got 47.6%, National 22.2%). For party vote it is different, Labour led in 2005 with 48% of the party vote, so that’ll be what she is chasing. Fortunately it isn’t likely to be enough to get her in.

Less local government

It's only a start for me, but a good one. Stephen Greenhalgh in the Sunday Telegraph reports how he as leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council has:
- Cut council spending by 4%;
- Cut council tax by 3% each year, the past three years;
- Cut council employees by 18%;
- Cut council debt by £20 million;
- Introduced round the clock beat policing resulting in less reported crime;
- Increased satisfaction by residents in council provided activities by 11%.

It was done and continues to be done by seeking "lower taxes, less waste and better services" according to him. Frankly in a UK devoid of interest in dismantling nanny state it IS a great leap forward. Maybe this Conservative Party led council can show some others what that party ought to be about?

National Maori Affairs policy - me too again?

National's Maori Affairs policy (pdf) is no revolution, it talks of the Treaty of Waitangi being the founding document of New Zealand. It talks of continuing to support (read - use your taxes to spend money on) Maori broadcasting, Kohanga Reo and the like which, if you believe in state education, healthcare and broadcasting, can hardly be argued against (you see I'd argue against the lot). However, what is most disconcerting is the euphemism attached to what is the appalling violence, abuse and intergenerational criminal underachievement of the underclass of predominantly Maori families, failing again and again, and worst of all breeding children in a climate of fear, abuse and neglect.

National says "Despite recent achievements, there remain a number of Māori whose ability to participate in the economy and New Zealand society has not enabled them to realise their aspirations". That's telling it like it is - you could say that about everyone of course. My aspiration to be a concert organist isn't matched by my ability.

Oh and if you thought Te Puni Kokiri was a large bureaucracy that employed far too many people with mediocre qualifications and a lack of understanding of economics and hard headed public policy analysis, don't worry National will make it worse!

"TPK has a wide knowledge and understanding of Māori communities, and a regional presence which places it in a strong position to influence and monitor policy. We believe that, in the key areas of health, education, and housing, TPK can help achieve National’s objectives for a growing economy, and Māori aspirations for economic independence and self reliance."

How, by spending more taxpayers' money?

Now I didn't expect anything magic, and there is hope with the statement:

"The National Party believes it shares many values with Māori:
• The recognition of property rights and personal responsibility.
• Economic independence and choice rather than dependency on the state.
• Less state involvement in Māori lives and a preference for community provision of government services.
• The nurturing of strong families, whänau, and communities.
• Engagement in wealth creation, business, and enterprise."

However the policy does little to achieve that, the Nats wont allow education funding to follow the child, they don't allow health funding to follow individual choice, and the notion of reducing state spending seems invisible. Is it, like the Treaty Settlement policy, about keeping the Maori Party happy? Certainly Dr Pita Sharples - friend of convicted Cuban government sponsored murderers - thinks so.

National Treaty Settlement policy - support the Waitangi Tribunal

National's Treaty Settlement policy is back to the past, before 2005 that is, with a promise to conclude settlements by 2014. If this was full and final then that might be a cause to celebrate, but it is just an aim.

It seeks to "Appoint independent settlement facilitators to chair negotiations, keep the process moving forward, and ensure both parties act in good faith." a small step forward, although you may wonder who represents taxpayers in all of this.

However what's most disconcerting is its faith in the Waitangi Tribunal. The Waitangi Tribunal is little better than a kangaroo court, but it wants to provide "more support" to it.

This is a nonsense, as former Waitangi Tribunal member - ex. Labour Cabinet Minister Dr. Michael Bassett might testify:

"the industry doesn’t want the Tribunal process ever to end. After 23 years, no decision has yet been made to close off new historical claims. The major parties dither. Labour wants the party vote of Maori; National isn’t sure they mightn’t need the Maori Party’s support after the coming election. Both major political parties know that what is happening is wrong, and that ordinary Maori in whose name the claims are made, aren’t getting a cracker out of the money being spent on lawyers, researchers and Tribunal staff."

Previously he wrote "Existing claims must be settled as quickly as possible. Stopping fresh historical claims means that full and final settlements already made have a chance of working longer term. The Waitangi process was never intended as a permanent career for lawyers and under-employed “researchers”. It was to assist ordinary Maori whose interests, sadly, are too often over-looked."

National could do worse than listen to a man intimately involved in this process for years, but no - it wants power - it wants to broker a deal with the Maori Party to break Labour's stranglehold on the Maori vote - it will do that by continuing to feed the new Maori state funded aristocracy. National may not do a deal with NZ First (largely because it expects the party to disappear), but it will do one with the Maori Party.

I'll leave the final verdict on that to Dr Bassett:

"When politicians settled on land grievances as the cause of Maori problems they made a mistake. It would have made better sense to examine welfare and the huge damage it has done to Maori society. The Waitangi Tribunal should be scaled down. The industry is of no use to 99% of the people it’s meant to serve. "

Sadly the Maori Party seems unlikely to agree.

National electoral law policy holds glimmers of hope

National has released its electoral law policy which does distinguish it from Labour in a handful of ways, although is also a backtrack from 2005 - again.

First, its press release said it would abolish the Maori seats once the historic Treaty claims are settled, which it anticipates being 2014. However the policy statement (PDF) says "start the constitutional process to wind up the Maori seats". That's not doing much. Better than nothing, but not much more. A future confidence and supply agreement with the Maori Party may be why this policy isn't much more, but why give away so much BEFORE negotiations?

Second, it wants a binding referendum on retaining MMP in 2011. Now I don't care either way for this, but interesting how this is more important than doing away with the racially defined Maori seats.

Finally it will repeal the Electoral Finance Act, reverting to the previous Electoral Act 1993 in the interim, before further reform before 2011. The repeal should be celebrated, and is perhaps the biggest reason to vote National in itself, but what comes next remains vague.