FIRST THE WEATHER
New Zealand is firmly in the grip of a big freeze weather pattern pushing temperatures in Auckland this week down to around 2 degrees in the city and hovering around 0 degrees in the outer Auckland rural areas.
But that is nothing compared to what the southern regions of the North Island and certainly the South Island are experiencing…
On Tuesday night temperatures in Christchurch plummeted to -18 degrees, assisted by a severe wind chill factor.
If this chill is followed by a good dumping of snow in the mountains, it will prove to be a fabulous snow and ski season.
NOW THE POLITICS
On the back of two polls showing the Nationals pushing up over 50% support… with the centre left parties failing to fire… A new political arrangement has been announced that just may give a cluster of centre-left parties the numbers to remove the National-led Government from office.
This week the Mana Movement and Kim Dotcom’s Internet Party announced they have formed a single party to campaign under one umbrella.
And today the Internet Mana Party will announce that a former Cabinet Minister in Helen Clark’s Labour Alliance Government will be the leader of the Internet Party and will campaign as Number 2 on the Internet Mana Party’s list.
That former minister is Laila Harre, a highly respected politician and union leader who will attract significant support for the new party and silence critics with her intelligence and strategic shrewdness. She is well regarded as a woman of principle.
Until now the Internet Party and Mana Movement parties have struggled to gain voter support beyond 1% a piece. But it is highly probable that under the new single banner, and certainly with Laila Harre in the mix, the new party could push over the 5% threshold.
In the past I have been critical of the strategy to pull the Internet Party and Mana Movement under one umbrella. With Laila Harre joining the team, my critique is exhausted, I was wrong – such is the calibre of this person to genuinely deliver for her constituents. She is a leader with a spine and will not be (as National’s Steven Leonard Joyce said yesterday) crushed between two egos. That is a ridiculous proposition for anyone who has witnessed (close hand or at a distance) Laila Harre’s work over the past two decades. She is young, determined, vibrant, and just what is needed to make this work. She is in short, a leader in her own right.
What’s more, Laila Harre, as a former Cabinet minister of note, brings with her mana, valuable experience, and, institutional knowledge that could just see her, as a representative of the Internet Mana Party, sitting at the Cabinet table.
Positioned at number 2 on the new party’s list, and backed by a caucus of Annette Sykes and John Minto, and a movement of activists outside Parliament who demand equality in New Zealand, Laila Harre will lead a new political force.
This is a circuit-breaker for the left-bloc of parties.
It is certainly a game-changer that will have the National Party strategists busy forging new deals with support parties ACT United Future and the Maori Party to ensure they are there to assist its push for the Treasury Benches post the September 20 General Election.
For the Internet Mana Party to work – the benchmark being a 4-6 percent result at the General Election – Hone Harawira and Laila Harre will need to accentuate their common ground and position Kim Dotcom outside the party fraternity just far enough to ensure their enemies do not paint them as puppets and sellouts. But Kim Dotcom, and essentially Vikram Kumar, also need to be just close enough to ensure their ICT credentials and policies turn on the aspirations of a new generation of high tech savvy voters. After all, this country needs specialists to unfurl its potential internet economy.
What the Labour, Green, Internet Mana parties need to do now is show solidarity, strength, and a coordinated push for the vote. If the bloc presents as a credible alternative government-in-waiting, then New Zealand could very well have a change of government this year.
Interesting times indeed.
She may well be determined, vibrant and even a shrewd political operator but young??? Someone in their late 40’s is old fogey territory to anyone under the age of 25.
So, on that score, your beloved John Key is decrepit and well and truly hanging on to power at the expense of ‘the young and the entitled’.
John Key is hardly my beloved. He is far too left leaning for that. John Key is also not claiming to be ‘down with the Yoof’ as you seem to imply Laila Harre can claim to be. As I stated she is certainly a shrewd political operative so does lend credibility to the Internet Party however she doesn’t seem to have the street cred in terms of the technical side. I guess that will have to be other people.
john key ‘derping’, ‘planking’, talking about things being ‘gay’, he def tries hard to be part of ‘the yoof’…ha, face it, the left are onto a winner here! the right are looking tired & old & just plain colin crazy!
“Old fogey”!?!?
Watch your mouth, kid, or you’ll be floating home to Dagobah!
Would you prefer Attila the Hun?
Oh, Gosman, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet, mate. I’ve seen Laila work, and she is damn good.
*Fun Fact* (to quote my fav geek from “Big Bang Theory”) – did you know that ex-Alliance activists are now involved with two political parties; Labour (Matt McCarten) as well as Mana-Internet (Laila)?
This election is getting more interesting by the day!!
Computer On/Off switch located on the front of the tower. “Tech side” – sorted.
😀
Attilla the Hun was hardly right leaning either. He belived in a centralised powerful State and redistribution of resources from the wealthy (i.e. Romans) to the less well off (i.e. The Huns).
Gosman – I bow to your superior knowledge of pillaging bandits who rob from the poor and powerless…
Attila robbed from the rich and powerful. He basically taxed the Roman elite to support his people.
Selwyn – well said. That statement should be tattooed on the forehead of every political candidate and their campaign manager.
The old saying, “United We Stand”, has never been more applicable!!
Problem is Frank you will also need New Zealand First to form a government. So the Labour/Green/Mana/Internet “united front” is not able to present what their policy might look like without Winston.
I think that whilst Laila is a credible politician she is a strange choice to inspire the disaffected youth vote.
I’m not seeing much of a connection there.
Hi Matthew,
The same could be said for National-UF-ACT-Maori Party (that is, if the latter three make it back) – i.e.; National etc are loathed to present their policy in a form resembling what would be needed to form a government with NZ First. From a policy point-of-view Labour and NZ First have established some common ground: centrist leaning elements that is, economic intervention, tools to address jobs, housing, government debt, current account deficit pressures, value-added trade governance, labour market inequalities…
The other thing is, NZ First could very well occupy the cross benches. Hence why the centre-left bloc would need to demonstrate a solid unit of three.
The Real Matthew – I think Selwyn (May 29, 2014 at 12:40 pm) has summed it up nicely.
One further point; Peters’ options are limited. He could;
* Support a Labour-Green-Mana-Internet Party coalition.
* He could stay on the cross benches.
* Or, he could commit political suicide (again) by coalescing with National again. After the debacle of 1996-99, I would think he’s learned from that event.
As Selwyn said, NZ First – on face value – has more in common with Labour than with National.
Coalescing with the Nats would burn away a lot of his young activist support and possibly at least one MP, for whom working with the Tories could be beyond the pale.
So. Let’s see how good Peters’ political acumen really is, eh?
Laila is a very smart operator, but her appointment will be a boon to the centre right. The dwindling hard core left vote is now being split even further, and with Labour about to shed even more votes with it’s narrow minded attacks on immigrants, the centre is about to become a goldmine for National.
what attack on immigrants is this? oh right, just more bs from paddy gower…
I think that Laila Harre’s appointment might get some voters, who otherwise probably wouldn’t have bothered, to the booths in September. However will it be enough to make a difference, or will it largely just redistribute votes amongst the left/centre-left which will not be enough to change the government? Time will tell, I suppose.
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