See that? Look up. The title to this piece isn’t mine. Instead, it’s a quote from somebody on my wall. That was their reaction to news that NZ First MP Ron Mark told the Government (sotto voce) to “shut the fuck up” during Question Time.
And from everything I’ve seen thus far, they are not alone.
From right the way across the political spectrum – and, even more importantly, from beyond the spectrum entirely – Kiwis are lining up to express their amusement and support for Ron Mark’s STFU-snafu.
Given the way this Government conducts itself – particularly in the House – it’s not hard to see why.
If you’re actively engaged in politics, or have a vested interest in this country having a future … then Ron Mark’s exasperated remark is *exactly* what many if not most of us have longed to be able to tell the Government to do for six and a half grueling years.
I’m sure I speak for many TDB readers when I state that being able to do so *in Parliament* and to their faces would be something of an exercise in wish-fulfillment.
But there’s something far more important going on here. Something revolutionary.
You see, it isn’t just the usual crew of hacktivists, beltway-grognards, and politically enthused party-followers that’re queuing up in droves to express enthusiasm and support for his comment or to brand him a “legend”. (one of the more printable positive epithets I’ve seen being applied in his direction on social media since Wednesday)
It’s the less-engaged if not outright disengaged folk, too.
And that means something.
For four years now, some of the brightest (or, in the case of Labour, bluntest) political minds in the country have grappled with a simple question: How do we get the million-plus Kiwis who’ve stopped participating in politics to re-engage. What do we have to do to excite, inspire, and instill in these people a sense that we *can* actually meaningfully represent them.
I believe Ron Mark’s cracked it.
One of the reasons so many New Zealanders have switched off establishment politics, is because they’re disgusted or disillusioned by the way “business as usual” gets conducted in the House.
And it’s not hard to see why.
Efforts by Opposition MPs to hold the Government to account during Question Time are glibly batted away by insouciantly arrogant ministers who give frivolous non-answers. Serious matters are treated by Government MPs as an excuse for supercilious if not outright super-silly-ous banter. Ministers of the Crown hound the leaders of Opposition parties over their fashion choices. The Speaker plays along.
On the odd occasion Parliamentary proceedings make it into the 6 o’clock news, it’s rarely if ever because there’s some scintillating rhetoric or declamation of national importance being made (although both Winston Peters and Ron Mark have managed notable exceptions to this recently).
Instead, it’s almost invariably because some MP’s run their mouth off with a display of spurious invective that’d be on par or beneath the standard of debate exhibited behind the bike sheds in most intermediate schools immediately before the fisticuffs ensue.
Most of the rest of the time, Government MPs only seem to come to the general public’s attention for the most unedifying of reasons. We all, for instance, now know who Aaron Gilmore is (or, rather, was). Many of us know who a Prominent New Zealander is. Some of us who’ve been around for awhile remember that Judith Collins wasn’t the first Minister this government’s had to let go for using their position to benefit their affiliated private business interests. Even if names like Richard Worth and Pansy Wong are these days mere historical footnotes … the pattern – and the anti-politician prejudices it engenders in the public – are plain for all to see.
Meanwhile, policies proposed by parties other than the Government have not a hope in Hades of making it into law. If National’s not shouting a bill down, they’re voting it down. And on incredibly rare occasions when The Nats don’t even have the numbers to do that (as with Labour’s paid parental leave extension bill) … they just step in and declare they’ll block the legislation by veto regardless. How very democratic.
From the perspective of the layman, the entire Parliamentary process must come across as – in the words of Macbeth – “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing“.
A colossal waste of time, energy, effort, attention spans, and taxpayer funding; whose narcissistic egomanic denizens incontrovertibly seem infinitely more interested in playing silly partisan power-games and stroking their own senses of self-importance rather than actually pulling finger and making the country a genuinely better place.
Into which stepped Ron Mark.
Armed with a precision F-Bomb.
And with it, the power to say what we’re pretty much all thinking.
That’s why what he said was ground-breaking, and grabbed our attention. Not because there was anything terribly scandalous or especially salacious in what was said. (In fact, I’d be enormously surprised if even the most cantankerously conservative curmudgeon couched amidst our Party ranks felt that the elected official in question’s choice of words to be something seriously worth raising official or internal complaint about)
But rather because he had, in four simple words, perfectly captured the way tens of thousands of New Zealanders feel about both our Government – and the way we all too often seem to practice politics in general.
Many of these multitudes don’t vote or actively participate in politics precisely because of this perception that the whole thing’s childish and pointless. They’re that Missing Million we keep talking about, whose non-appearance at each of the last two elections handed National victory on a silver-spooned-mouth platter.
Cutting National’s share of the vote down to size in 2017 is going to require our political class and parties to come down off their many and various high horses in order to engage with and understand these ordinary Kiwi (non-) voters.
And why they’re more thrilled and supportive of an “anti-politician” expressing his frustration with the Government using the regular Kiwi vernacular, than they are with Labour’s continued quixotic drive at being the party of fiscal responsibility.
One of the things I like about Ron Mark is that he does this effortlessly.
The “shut the fuck up” comment was a gaffe. It wasn’t planned, and had it not been for the eagle-eyed sign-language interpreter, it would never have come to the attention of the general public.
It was genuine – and people responded to it in no small part because it felt “real”. And, just as importantly, anti-political.
It showed the public that there’s at least one MP who’s *just as fed up* with the endless silly-buggers done in our name and on our dime as they are. An MP they can support – because unlike the others, he’s there to get something done.
If parties are serious about increasing their share of the vote at the next Election, they would do well to learn from Ron Mark.
“Politics-as-usual”, with all the petty Parliamentary point-scoring, procedural maneuvering and mock-indignation that entails is not the order of the day. “Speaking Truth to Power”, with a veneer of anti-politics, is.
Ordinary people want to see themselves and their views represented in Parliament. Not endless streams of “Beltway bullshit”.
By telling the Government to “shut the fuck up”, Ron Mark has done exactly that.
Good on him.
Reading your post started me wondering about a couple of things.
First, why is it that Labour and the Greens can talk about what is wrong with this country from dawn until dusk with little more than a yawn from the MSM? And when Winston gets kicked out of the debating chamber for arguing technicalities with the Speaker or Ron drops a swear word in the house then the MSM are riveted?
I think the answer is that NZ First have realized that the key to gaining publicity (and eventually power) is to give the people what they want, not necessarily what they need. National have known this all along, Labour have forgotten it and the Greens stubbornly refuse to believe it.
It could be claimed, with some justification, that NZ First is now the real parliamentary opposition. Labour is too entrenched in eternal navel gazing to put up much fight and the Greens simply preach too many truths to have any chance of mass acceptance.
NZ First have a real opportunity here to rise from being a third-party and overtake Labour into being the alternative government. They need to create and publicize more policy and push their other MPs as well. One liners and bad boy behaviour are not enough. There are a lot of disaffected disillusioned people out there, but they have been dumbed down by the MSM into mass apathy (aka in TDB as Sleepy hobbit syndrome).
We need a hero or heroes to turn the Sleepy Hobbit Nation back into New Zealand. Perhaps NZ First can do this? I am sure you will think so Curwen.
What we need is for a politician to forget focus groups and tell us what truly motivates her/him to get out of bed every day to go to parliament.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/23/politicians-say-what-you-think-sophie-heawood
tell us what truly motivates her/him to get out of bed every day to go to parliament.
NatZ would say “who can I rob today”
Yes full MARKS to Ron Mark.
Always liked that bloke. And even more when Key and his mutts called him a lorry driver…
How insulting to a man who was a member of the SAS.
How disgusting.
Shows how Key really thinks. Good on Ron for telling it to their face.
Bloody National ingrates . Ron Mark would know a hell of a lot more about military operations than that wimp Key.
And yes…with a little more push and giving more public opportunity to other NZ First Mp’s…I can see that party really having a big part in toppling this impostor ‘ pm’ and his gang of corrupt self interested neo liberal quislings to the USA.
The Gnats listen to their own propaganda – when the backlash comes, as it did in Northland, they will be the last to know.
This is not only disastrous through their accumulated economic and policy failures, but may establish a precedent that endangers the democratic process itself.
They cannot go soon enough – it will take close to forty years to pay off the debt that English has run up – and in a just society he’d remain in prison until then.
Yes Curwen,
Ron was very good and so would have Winston as he was brilliant today when getting stuck into McCully over the “Free NZ to Saudi farm with free sheep deal.
NZ First are the chosen bred to take on nasty NatZ alright.
Nay Publicity is good publicity folks and NZ First have championed it.
Ron Mark is good value, not just for NZ First but for NZ as a whole. He always asks the right questions and yesterday had Key foundering on the issue of Kiwi troops in Iraq yesterday. He can challenge Key and any Natsy minister in fact, with the utmost confidence. Could be a result of his SAS training.
I’ve never been a NZ First supporter, but so far I’m impressed with Ron Mark, the only politician this term to be effective when up against Key. Saying the F word in Parliament gives him the human quality factor. Hee hee, loved the sign language interpretation of it 🙂 No doubting its intention there 🙂
Mark comes across as a man of both integrity and intelligence and is a force to be reckoned with in the right circumstances I think. Definitely potential political leadership qualities there, should Winston decide to step down.
Keep up the good work Ron. NZ needs you 🙂
The irony of this is that Winston Peters is the consumate politician who is forever playing verbal games and manipulating the parliamentary process for his own ends.
on a side note, check out the signer in the background – awesome!
The best thing in the Ron Mark picture is the image of the woman using sign-language in the back ground…check out her finger symbol 🙂
L0L yes !…I saw that as well… ” U P YOURS ” !!!!
And rightly so.
Couldn’t have been better said to a more bottom of the pond collection of muck feeders.
Haven’t laughed so much for years!
Ron Mark has been great value for a long time.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0708/S00222.htm
He does his homework and has tenacity. He comes across as principled. Nothing slimy or ‘smart’ about him.
I was so glad he decided to return to parliament. Thanks very much, Ron Mark.
I doubt very much we have had honest election results in the past 30 years+. My view is its all rigged. If you think we are seeing a lot of corporate fraud these days, rest assured the private corporate Government will be far worse. We only see 5% of the scams, dishonesty and frauds. Including elite-cons in my view. Nothing will change while they can still rely on the claim that the brain dead/ soulless, war supporting money hungry Zionist baby boomers still love war, Israel and Key.
I am absolutely disgusted in the ‘kindergarten’ political debates that occur in the house – well actually that is not fair on the kids. I was so pleased to hear a civil question and answer time from all parties on the Finance and Expenditure Committee meeting with the reserve bank. Why don’t they just step back and have a look at themselves – and if necessary, come to an intelligent cross – party agreement.
Absolutely agree. They look like school boys throwing sticks. JK is one of the worst. It’s just playtime to him.
people are not engaging because they realise that they are not really part of the democratic process anymore. ticking a box or two every 3 years is next to meaningless. the biased media and the spin doctors have too much influence leading up to elections and once the election is over, the general populace is ignored until the next election clogs the media.
we have no visionaries. we have no leaders. we have career bureaucrats for the most part.
swearing endears a person to the public even as it causes them to ‘tut-tut’ the swearing but talk is talk and it won’t make a difference beyond a few blog posts and maybe a brief, disdainful mention on the news.
if people stopped regurgitating the old traditions and their grandparent’s attitude towards politics, we’d see some change, maybe.
in the meantime, pick your favourite team, put your blinkers on and wave your flags. business as usual.
[…] Almost as importantly, when it comes to harrowing the Government in the House, you will STILL find no equal for Winston in full flight – and proving we are far more than just a one man band … who could forget Ron Mark’s awesome offensive against sending Kiwi troops back into Iraq. Or, less prosaically, the forthright expression of views he engaged in more recently – which captured the sentiments…. […]
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