You have asked that Hone Harawira deserves to explain what happened, how would he explain when his next door neighbour is an alleged sex offender. What explanation can Hone offer he wasn’t involved, Hone had no idea this offending was taking place. Why should Hone offer explanations for another man’s crime.
You have decided that these accusations are justified by the media and they aren’t Maori bashing or a smear campaign, then please explain why Tova Obrien a very good friend of MP Judith Collins broke the story and then attempted to link Hone to this crime.
MANA members are correct that they are the target of dirty politics the only reason why your precious Winston doesn’t get attacked is because Judith Collins and Cam Slater admire him. This is the complaint to TV3 from Hilda Halkyard-Harawira for Tova Obriens National party bias reporting.
“My heart really does go out to the hundreds of MANA members around the country” Curwen Ares Rolinson
That’s odd because you just put the boot into Hone Harawira in your article. The leader of NZ First Winston Peters endorsed Kelvin Davis and appealed to the voters of Te Tai Tokerau to avoid voting for Hone. This not only affected Mana, it affected the entire opposition benches by preventing two MP’s Hone and Laila from getting into parliament.
You have asked that Hone Harawira has something of a moral duty to front up and explain but you haven’t asked John Key to explain the book dirty politics despite NZ First basing their electoral campaign around the book.
Could you please explain this why did NZ First Leader who is of Maori descent endorse Kelvin Davis to prevent the poorest electorate in the country having two MP’s. Why would a Maori MP want to push another Maori MP out of parliament?
In future I would advise NZ First to avoid speculating about these serious allegations and do some research into the journalistic integrity of Tova Obrien and her intimate relationship with the National Party.
Joe Trinder – Ngāti Awa Born and born in Ōtepoti Ōtākou, Ex-RNZN he is an Information Technology Analyst based in Mangere South Auckland. Chairman of Mana Tamaki Makaurau and Chairman of the Manukau Urban Maori Authority.
Since when did Kelvin Davis come in as a second MP for TTT ? He was 18 on the Labour List and Andrew Little was the last one elected PLUS there was Maryan Street and Moana Mackey ( who didnt win electorates) ahead of Kelvin. So it was Maryan who missed out by Kelvin winning TTT.
As for pushing an MP out, thats what democracy does.
Can I ask if you have read ‘Dirty Politics’ please – as it gives another explanation to how MPs are pushed out – and it is not the democracy that I wish for this country.
ah this is really poor response to Curwen’s blog in which he really only asked that Hone front up and tell the truth. The allegations are serious and so many people are victimizing Hone, which is so uncool considering the allegations are that hone had hired sex offenders.
How would you conduct that job interview “Are you committing any serious crimes at the moment”
It’s called a police check. It’s quite standard these days.
The alleged offences hadn’t been committed does he employ people with a crystal ball.
Neg. I used google.
And may I say innocent till proven guilty. You know that old chestnut.
Which would seem to be a moot point as at least two of the people mentioned had criminal charges.
Joe, just ignore the arsewipe.
What baffles me is how do we come to having an Mp from a socially conservative centre right party preaching on a left wing site for fucks sake.
I don’t the the rights or wrongs around this but either does that fuckwit
What the fuck is he doing on this site. Kiwiblog is his natural home. I suggest he goes there or gets used to a high level of animosity.
i) not an MP;
ii) not right-wing
iii) not socially conservative…
Whom are you talking about, exactly, Mark?
And perhaps you should advice Hilda that before she writes press releases demanding apologies and decrying members of the press, saying they are paid by the taxpayer – that they actually are paid by the taxpayer. Because she is not, unless when she reports for TV1, however this was TV3 – not a government funded network. So it would seem glaring factual omissions have occurred all-round..
The issue of sexual assault has been side-stepped and swept under the carpet – the fact that Hone has failed to front up, admit or deny anything goes to show the little regard that he (and many other politicians) give the gravity of sexual crimes.
Moreover, the fact that the family are DEMANDING apologies before publicly addressing the issues lends further suggestion that they are not taking the allegations seriously; and if they are, it is only in-so-far as Hone’s reputation. Hone is not showing the appropriate amount of care and sensitivity a proponent of social justice should make to such grave crimes.
This really riles me up that Hone has to answer to the crimes of others Im damn sure there are people in other political parties who are not so lily-white either like John Key judith Collins Jason Ede Cameron Slater hell maybe the whole of the National party do we see the media chasing them for the ” dirty politics saga” and asking for answers get the hell over yourselves, Hone DOESNT run this country John Key & his misfits do helped be the “maori bashing” so called media
I am not bashing anyone. But I think all public officials, especially one whose platform is social justice, have an OBLIGATION to treat such hideous crimes (some of which he would have known about, ie – in the case of his brother) with sensitivity and respect to the victims of the alleged, and other sexual crimes – this means not sweeping the gravity of these offences under the carpet. No more hush, hush when it comes to sex crimes, ok?!
As National pulled funding from rape crisis centres, sexual offenders were being paid by the taxpayer from Parliamentary Services (three presumably), and one of which Hone is sure to have known about. That is an ethical land mine. And I have no racial bias on this, I voted MANA – I would find it deplorable if any party had been hiring people convicted of sexual assault and people charged for having sex with children under 12; let alone the party I had entrusted with my vote!
One minute – alledge and trial to happen here. Innocent till proven guilty. I was sure we did not do trial by media.
Ha – TV3 not government funded ? What was that small ‘accommodation’ to the tune of 40 mill’…..? Which conveniently Steven Joyce would not now ‘recall’ I guess.
You clearly think it’s fine for a none-too-bright wee flibbertigibbet to continue travelling up herself, calling it ‘journalism’. The real issue is abuse of power in the Fourth Estate.
Tv3 receive funds from NZ on Air who receive funds from the Tax Payer
go to their website NZ on Air and see for yourself http://www.nzonair.govt.nz/search/funding/television/national-tv/keyword=&genre%5B0%5D=Comedy&genre%5B1%5D=Drama&s=1#resultshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZ_on_Air
“Broadcastings Commission has since been directly funded by the government”
TV3 Mediaworks shows …
7 Days alone receives over $947,692
Jono and Ben receive $1,326,135
Election Specials: 7 Days & Jono And Ben At Ten $85,940
May 2014 · MediaWorks TV · TV3 · 2 x 30 mins · Comedy · TV
Production, there are many more TV3 show that receive funding.
Tova Obrien is a junior reporter who harasses people
Kia kaha Hilda Halkyard-Harawira
we tautoko you.
I wondered why I hadn’t seen anything in the Herald about this. Tova O’Brien is a total space cadet and is probably stupid enough to keep associating with the dirty politics gang if they keep feeding her scandals.
I thought Curwen was smarter than this
this is not dirty politics these are serious allegations about the conduct of Hone, why cant people see that? It only takes a quick google search to see Hone probably has hired sex offenders. All he needs to do is front up and say “no i didnt hire sex offenders” the reason why he hasnt, is because he would be full of it.
Can we have an even playing field please – John Key has not fronted up on the material in Dirty Politics. Left or right, I think we all want to have clean politics so everyone should front up.
Why can’t we have both?
Because Hone didn’t commit the alleged offences another man did. Hone is also not a public servant and an elected official he is a private citizen. John Key is the head of government an accountable to the public and was involved with Dirty politics.
True that JT
Your attempt to personalise this as an attack on Hone is entirely contrived. Hone is the leader and public face of the party – that makes him far from a private citizen. He was an elected official at the time of the employment. It is his responsibility to front on behalf of the party and whomever made the employment decisions, not hide behind his wife’s skirts.
As I saw it Chloe, and correct me if I’m wrong – one is currently under allegation/investigation, and one did serve time for sex offences. On the first, I don’t think Hone needs to say a thing about specifics and nor should he, except to say he finds sex offence heinous. On the second, yes there is an issue – and the person doing the hiring should have to front. Mind you, if you have done the time, do we really need to punish people over and over?
Let me see if I have the gist of this:
Whine, whine, victim, victim, whine, shan’t, whine, racist, whine, no response of substance, sulk?
Tell Hone to stop sending proxies to play tot for tat, front up and please explain.
What a great response. You avoided answering anything of relevance to the original post by Curwen and just try to divert attention by attacking the author instead of addressing the allegations. I suppose it’s hard to address when it’s true isn’t it?
I’m a massive Mana and Hone supporter. I agree, there probably is a level of smear and dirty politics going on here, but I want answers from Hone on this too. Sex offenders make my skin crawl.
As far as I’m concerned, Hone is under no obligation to talk to TV3 or the media, but I’d like him to talk to us, his people.
This “exposure” by Tova O’Brien is manna from heaven for all the hidden racists who can use it to attack Mana without being racist because sex offences trump everything. Are people who have done their time to be denied their human rights? Are they to be declared unemployable? Is someone to be condemned as soon as they are charged? Garth McVicar would be proud of you lot.
Stuff your crocodile tears. This isn’t about racism, it’s about the exceptionally poor judgment of putting paedophile offenders in positions of influence and trust withing a political party with child-centred social justice and community policy. Or doth the lady protest too much?
I’m not crying. Go and give Garth McVicar a big kiss. You know you want to.
Maybe everyone should go back and read Tova’s original piece of creative writing?
The thing Mana needs to answer to is letting Patrick Rivers/Mangu Awarau speak on election night soon after being charged with rape – not employing him.
If you think Hone needs to answer for hiring him then please explain the logic of holding Hone responsible for the future crime of another person?
Daniel Taylor was a ‘casual staffer’ in 2010 and committed a crime in 2013… make of that what you will, but it’s pretty clear that there is not enough info there to say if Mana hired him after being charged.
Lastly, Hone’s brother Arthur was employed after having a criminal record. If you’re not comfortable with that then fair enough. However, again there is little information on Arthur’s job description and what he does.
That there are Tova’s points.
For some reason people keep on spouting Tova’s point that sex offenders were hired. If you’re talking about Arthur, then yes. The other two? There’s not enough information there, but by the looks of it they were hired before their crimes.
Tova’s journalistic gymnastics can be seen here: “Leaked Parliamentary documents show he’s one of three men hired by Mr Harawira who have either been convicted of, or ended up accused of sexual offence charges.”
Going around claiming that Hone ‘has hired sex offenders’ is not helping anyone – other than Tova and anyone else who wants to dumb down politics. Give this issue the respect it deserves. And as for Curwen (Mini-Winnie) using Tova’s creative writing to kick Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, well, there’s some sexism right there. Mini-Winnie is pretty much the reason why I avoid this blog now. Those two pieces he’s written on this issue are vile pieces of trash. Loaded with privilege and an analysis that resembles a sledgehammer.
By all means discuss this issue and debate points, but if you base your facts and critique on Tova or Mini-Winnie, then you’re creating more problems than you’re solving. Mana has a lot to answer for here, but so do commentators who use shitty sources and their headlines
Why was he not stood down from his trust role withing the organisation? At the very least Hone needs to explain the laxity of his background checks.
Given the earliest offending took place in 2007, it would be nice if Hone acknowledged this out of respect for the victims. Taylor was presumably offending at the time he was employed as a staffer.
Nepotism is bad enough.
So basically you’ve got nothing except your’re contempt of transparency, accountability and the public interest.
Hilda should’t have published such a stupid rebuttal then. It was deserving of a kicking because of it seethed with arrogance and contempt on her part.
Diddums.
Good, innit? Oh go on, call him a racist to boot. The only real victims here are the children, and the public trust.
Mostly good points POPULUXE1…and non of which Tova’s article addressed.
Your nepotism swipe shows you know nothing about the structure of culture of Mana, but that is evident in all your other comments/outbursts here.
However, one problem I have with your uncritical and simplified outbursts is that you and most people are busting at the seems for a kneejerk response from Hone – sad that you seem so keen on seeing such serious offences turn into a circus.
Nice sledgehammer bro…
“The thing Mana needs to answer to is letting Patrick Rivers/Mangu Awarau speak on election night soon after being charged with rape – not employing him.”
How long’s too long to wait.
“Daniel Taylor was a ‘casual staffer’ in 2010 and committed a crime in 2013… make of that what you will, but it’s pretty clear that there is not enough info there to say if Mana hired him after being charged.”
False. Taylor’s offending ended in 2011…. he was CHARGED AND CONVICTED in 2013. Get your facts right before telling me I’m wrong.
“And as for Curwen (Mini-Winnie) using Tova’s creative writing to kick Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, well, there’s some sexism right there.”
I’m sorry … what?
How the hell is it sexist to point out that a complaint letter is riddled with inaccuracies…?
Or are you just attempting to hide behind “isms” because you got nothing else.
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