You would think a sister like Jacinda and a brother like Kelvin would look out for another sister like Metiria.
Apparently not.
Kelvin Davis’ monosyllabic cop routine where he snarled about beds and lying in them on The AM Show over Metiria’s courageous act of rebellion was a sadly missed opportunity.
Kelvin is so straight and vanilla, if he were the Kama Sutra he’d be 3 pages long; Missionary, doggy and missionary again. He is so bland he manages to make cornflakes and trim milk look a 7 course degustation. He seems to have no comprehension at all of his own Party’s legacy when it comes to MPs who break the law or the extreme double standards at play here.
Let’s remind Labour of its own history...
the first Labour Cabinet contained a whole swag of radical activists whose youthful union activities in the Red Feds regularly involved breaches of the law. Labour’s second prime minister, Peter Fraser, had been jailed for sedition during the First World War.
…that’s right, half the front bench of the first Labour Party were all political activists with criminal records.
Are Kelvin and Jacinda really slapping Peter fucking Fraser, our second Labour Prime Minister in the face by saying he shouldn’t have become Prime Minister for his criminal conviction of sedition?
Jacinda and Kelvin both get sedition during the First World War was a slightly larger crime than welfare fraud committed 25 years ago right?
What of the deplorable double standards here? Metiria’s ‘supposed’ crime (and I say ‘supposed’ because the Electoral Commission over the last 24 hours has frantically been trying to tell youth voters who fall into this category a lot that this isn’t criminal behaviour)…
…is of enrolling in a different house. Well, hold on, both Bill English and John Key did the EXACT SAME THING AS METIRIA DID!!!!
National MP’s home away from home
National Party rising star John Key won’t be able to vote in the Helensville electorate he represents in the election this year.
The shadow finance minister will appear in the 2005 rolls in Epsom, where he shares an $8 million Parnell home with his wife and two school-age children.
The former banker, who owns six New Zealand homes, said he made the change to clear up potential misunderstanding. Mr Key and his wife, Bronagh, are listed in electoral rolls for 2002, 2003, and 2004 as “residing” at a Waimauku address in the Helensville electorate, but have never lived there.
So let’s get this straight, Metiria has to stand down from being a Minister because she broke the law (like most of Labour’s first front bench did) and for doing something that isn’t illegal as far as the Electoral Commission is concerned and for doing something that both John Key and Bill English did?
This highlights the deplorable double standards of NZ political media, and it sickens me that Metiria has had to twist in the wind for the courage of speaking up for those vulnerable NZers who are abused, damaged, harassed, frightened, hurt and broken by WINZ, Ministry for making Vulnerable Children, Corrections, Probations, Housing NZ and MSD staff every day.
I get that Labour have moved to cauterise a wound that was angering those that vote, but what about the tens of thousands who don’t vote that Metiria gave hope to? Beneficiaries who should be voting Labour but who were never welcomed home by Helen Clark after the mother of all budget welfare reforms weren’t repealed.
Some would suggest it shows the strength and leadership of Jacinda, others will mutter this is the exact same Labour Party who have always with expediency thrown the weakest under the bus so they can cling to power.
Maori saw it when Helen Clark rammed through the largest confiscation of Maori land with the Foreshore and Seabed land steal, are beneficiaries seeing it with Jacinda?
Is Jacinda Mother of Dragons or Lover of Bandwagons?
So Labour are showing their real face now.
The hypocrisy and humbug over Metiria; the interview of Jacindy by Katherine Ryan on RNZ; Labour is still pro neo-liberal and has no intention of changing.
Why do we want a change of government again?
As always, I shall be wasting my time and energy going to the ballot box in September.
What a crooked fucking system…
That sentiment would suit National just fine as it would be a low voter turnout that keeps them in power. Labour is not the only party. What about voting for the Greens or another party? In all good conscience after the last 9 years it would be a dereliction of civic responsibility to allow National to remain in power. Hold our noses if we have to but lets kick these bastards out. Anything would be better than these clowns.
Labour or National will get in without my help.
I do not wish to be associated with a filthy choice like that and I resent your puerile implication that I must vote no matter what.
I’ve registered and there ends my civic duty.
If you dont vote, your vote automatically counts towards the current government.
Do you really want to give youe vote to National by default, or do you want tk choose who it goes to??
So for all those kiwis living overseas have yr say make yr vote count because if you don’t it will go to the current government
Go and vote Greens or TOP …don’t waste your vote by NOT voting. Make a protest vote count which gives the message loud and clear.
We will not accept a neoliberal govt any longer.
Jacinda will do most anything to secure her power. I imagine she would throw her entire cabinet under the bus. She had the perfect opportunity to show the cut of her jib and she has. Not a mention of Metiria at all. Jacinda is a politician with a mission and as she has shown who she really is. Bugger – I had high hopes that finally labour found their leader.
So F—-cking right Martyn!!!!
Just how can this criminal National Government get away with treason and high crimes and a true heart like Metiria get hung for a minor crime she owned up to on her own recognisance???
Victoryforlab/green/nzfirson23/9/17.
Yes thats what I’m voting for too Cleangreen.
Which clean green is that? the one who supports 1080 poison? C’mon!
I agree, The media have done nothing to point out the hypocracy of the National Government but are hell bent on bringing everyone else down.
Paddy Gower have some guts and mention Bill English and John Key’s crimes tomorrow. Yeah right
Martyn
Will Meteria be able to take a Court Action against all those people who have have accused her of serious wrong doing – given that Prime Ministers of National have committed the same overlooked “crimes” themselves ?
Her willingness to “own up” is amazing honesty compared to the rampant dishonesty of our outrageously incompetent National Government.
Long Live Metiria
100% OT!
Well, it seems the Electoral Commission has set out the electoral address issue concisely. Obviously no crime has been committed by Metiria according to that piece. If John Key and Bill English were able to get away with it, then so can Metiria.
So now let’s see what media can continue to pull Metiria down with:
She’s a woman
She’s Maori
She was a single parent
She was dirt poor
She was struggling
She was attempting to lift herself and her daughter up by going to university to improve their lives
She was forced to deceive because of the rotten system (mother of all budgets > Ruth Richardson > early 1990s) so she and her daughter could survive
This is a beat up by a pathetic, Natz driven msm, under instruction from Herr Joyce, to keep the pressure on Metiria.
Why?
Well apart from Natz being so bloody perfect, up front and lily white, but on the losing side now, she has identified with a big portion of Kiwis. She is human. METIRIA IS ONE OF US and not above resorting to illegal means in desperation if her child’s welfare is at stake. Something I’d do and I know a good majority of NZers would do as well!
The mothering instinct in just about all species is all powerful and not to be messed with. Metiria has proved this to be true at a cost to herself.
The result of which will be to watch the Greens continue to rise in the next pre election polls.
Now about Bennett …..
#IstandwithMetiria
We now live in a Elitist filthy rich arrogance era.
As they now own everything including Government & our so called “public servants & our agencies and media they will cling on of the control everything as long as they can to to subvert the truth and use propaganda to finally wring the last cent out of the masses called the 99% of us, – until we all rise up and put them down. = simple as that.
REVOLUTION MUST COME EVENTUALLY WHEN WE (MASSES) ARE DYING OF HUNGER DISEASE, AND PESTILENCE DRIVE US TO RAGE & PETULANCE AS THE FRENCH REVOLUTION HAD EXPERIENCED.
so true they do. The other thing is the nature of these people. You would not want to rub shoulders with them in a pub. They are bought up and trianed ti have no empathy or human feelings. That is how there lineage has been right down the ages. Its really incredible they have lasted so long.
Yes yes CleanGreen
A Prime Minister who used the non consenting blonde hair of little girls as his sexual high.
A prime Minister who has lied over a women called Glenys and a member of Parliament Named Barclay; and Tax Payer Husn money.
Senior Nationals who have lied and dined there is a housing crisis in this land. While for Nine years they have been bringing in hundreds of thousands of foreigners without increasing infranstructure. The Absolute Liars. Their Names Are: KEY. BENNETT. ENGLISH
They are the same people who have permitted and encouraged employers to pay low wages to slave immigrants – in dairy; horticulture; orchardry.
They have dragged Women and children from homes and pushed them into rusty cars to live. Can You Believe That!
Theyhave told the Landlords to increase the Rents so that the people cannot afford them. KEY BENNETT ENGLISH
They sell off houses to Foreigners – to make sure there is no housing for New Zealanders.
Please please please GET RID of these Criminal PoliticIans.
Lock them away – Forever !
Yep ^^ this @ Mary
Food for thought Martyn food for thought.
This doesn’t bode well for the sort of government Labour would be if it won the election. It feels more like it will be Helen Clark Mk II which was ultimately a failure just like the Obama administration was. Lukewarm measures will doom Labour to longterm decline.
Ikr. At a time when unity had to be shown we have weakness.
Already the labour leadership is asking who’s shout it is. Asking for beverages so early in the game is what commanders of the last Light Horse brigade engaged in regularly.
I’ll say straight off the bat that I’m no fan of Metiria, or the Greens, but I admire her immensely for her bravery in bringing the deplorable situation of beneficiaries to light, and applaud the Greens’s genuinely radical social welfare policy this year round.
The hysterical treatment she’s received from the political right, their cronies in the mainstream media, and gutless Labour politicians is not only disgraceful, but also hypocritical.
However, in purely pragmatic terms, I think there is a strong political argument for Metiria ruling herself out of being a minister in a potential Labour-led government. Having one co-leader in government, serving as a minister, and another outside is an incredibly savvy move. It allows the Greens to retain some independence from a Labour-led government, and the opportunity to criticise them from the outside. Further, having the co-leader who appeals to the few radicals left in the Green Party being the one unshackled from ministry serves only to intensify this effect. Say what you want about the Māori Party, but this same approach has served them well. From looking like dog-tucker last election, they now look not only likely to survive, but perhaps improve their position in the upcoming election. With Te Ururoa being a minister, and Marama Fox having the freedom to criticise the government from the outside, they have the best of both worlds – able to make the argument that they have delivered for their supporters by being at the table, and also energise their ‘flax-roots’ by virtue of the independence Marama provides. I think the same setup will likely be a boon for the Greens too.
Cheers.
My problem is that it is Metiria who should be the Minister, she has been there for years working hard to change things. It is outrageous that should the numbers come up she will not be minister of social welfare.
I agree that she’d be a great minister of social welfare, but ministers respond to external political events whilst also shackled by government policy. So I think on balance that she’d be a greater catalyst for change outside the government than in it.
What’s wrong with you people? To change the Government Labour needs a to get people who voted for National to vote for them. Creating a little difference between themselves and The Greens makes total sense and if that means throwing Meteria under the bus then so be it. TDB articles and comments spend more time criticizing Labour than they do National and make the parties of the left look like they are are at war and unfit to govern. Rightly or wrongly 75% of NZers think she was wrong to lie to WINZ. To support her stance is to commit political suicide and entrench another 3 years of the current Government.
Of course I support Metiria. It is a brave thing to have to front and I take my hat off to her and it makes me more determined to try and get the numbers up for the Greens. Suggesting that Labour is going to make a great deal of difference to my eyes is nonsense. Tell me why didn’t Labour repeal the employment contracts act during those 9 years they had in power, why didn’t they have an enquiry into electricity prices, why did they leave 180,000 kids in poverty.
Frankly they are only a cigarette paper away from the Nats and they do not and have not for years sat on the left.
I would have thought the priority is to get those to vote who didn’t in the last election.
This is generally regarded as a left wing blog site and criticising the party that is supposed to be left of National is fair game.
I would have happily voted Green with the prospect of Metiria being in office. I can’t vote Green with what’s left getting into office. Their coy little act of ‘don’t upset business’ has sent me away from them. Gutless halfwits…
I think everyone are being brave. As James Shaw said on Q&A this morning the Greens will still be in government should the government change in Sept.
Your attitude is MORE likely to sentence us to another three years of National.
Do not give us a choice that is NOT a choice and expect us to swallow it.
Your diseased chickens are coming home to roost yet again.
You use the name Labour, under false pretenses as you have done for the last thirty years.
An abomination indeed…
What there is, is what there is, as James Shaw says either you vote for the status quo or you vote for changing the govt thats the choice voters have. Labour of 3 decades past doesnt exist neither does the Labour of 9 years ago either.
@JPO73 “75% of NZers think she was wrong”
Is that a true statistic or is it more a matter of what *you* think NZers think?
There is an important difference and I would appreciate some clarification.
Grouch Marxist, I got the stat from the Newdhub poll: http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/newshub-poll-most-kiwis-say-metiria-turei-was-wrong-to-lie-to-winz.html
Thanks JPO73.
Knowing the source always helps with understanding the result.
75% of New Zealanders probably haven’t had to subsist of welfare, JPO73.
It’s easy to pontificate from On High with a full belly; warm, dry house; stable income; and not have to worry whether to pay the power bill or take the kids to the doctor.
Therein lies the flaw with “75% of NZers think she was wrong to lie to WINZ”.
Postscript: soon after the GFC hot New Zealand with a vengeance, many middle class professionals lost their job. One such guy was a pakeha, middle-aged, computer IT specialist (living in Tauranga if I recall correctly). He was on TV news, bleating about how low the unemployment benefit was, that he couldn’t live on it; and how could people cope?
Really?
Welcome to the Reality of the other 25%.
I’m not arguing the 75% are right. I’m arguing Labour needs to get some of the 75% to vote for them. Only if the Greens and Labour can together get 51% of the vote will they be able to improve things for beneficiaries.
You are right. From Ardern’s perspective, bleeding some votes to the Greens isn’t a problem. But frightening disaffected centre/right voters who might be thinking of coming over would be a dumb move.
Now is not the time to be fighting for the soul of the Labour movement. Internal bickering at this stage is counterproductive. If you don’t like the way Ardern is heading, vote Green to keep her honest, but remember, we never get the perfect government (there’s no such animal), but we do get to kick out the rotten ones.
How about we concentrate on that for the next few weeks? Sure, Ardern may not deliver, but English certainly won’t.
Ms. Ardern is there to appease the National swing vote. She is not there to pretend to give a fuck about anything else but.
Sad!
That’s far to shallow a stratagy. God forbid SJW’s giving out free passes for there pet magnificent party to take votes from national Ne kare.
On the other hand little girls across New Zealand have some one to support, and whom supports them in there struggles against a system that treats them like Gucci handbags that you can stick anything in.
Not sad miss snow flake. Staunch.
The hypocrisy shown by Patrick Gower and Mike Hosking is both disturbing and repellent.
Metiria Turei has more honesty in her little finger than both of those right-wing reactionaries do in their entire beings.
I know who I would trust.
Couldn’t agree more with comments about media. Let’s face it. It is increasing obvious that the job description of many of our so called top journalists does not include any requirement to report on matters in an unbiased balanced way. It is all about beat up and hype. Maturia’s “crime”
Is a pin prick in comparison to other “perks” committed by the white rich whether they be politicians or not. Pick the easy fruit. As noted Maori, female, ex beneficiary. Yay for red neck bene bashing nz media. Sickening. Go Maturia. Well done.
Many a time they make up the news instead of reporting it. I wouldn’t call them journalists though, they are nothing of the kind.
I like James Shaw and he did a good interview in Q&A. Explained everything well. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a
It would be good if some Labour politicians could function as a human being first in their responses, rather than as spin doctors.
Funny enough I think many voters would respect that more!
But the main party to look at, is National. They are the dominant party who are using this as a way to take the heat off themselves and their disastrous policies in particular assets sales, pollution, water sell offs, congestion, supercity and taking over councils with unworkable policy, and housing.
If National can keep the media focused outside of the legacy of their reign and what a unimaginative double dipper Bill is, and what a trougher and Bully, Paula is then they might get to do the final solution with their policy agenda, which seems to be to transfer the welfare system and taxpayers money from the poor to the powerful in even more hideous ways.
Maybe all who have lied,committed fraud , or whatever should resign whether they are Greens, Labour,National or whoever, it is hard to justify breaking the law.
It seems Metira may have underestimated the impact and fallout her admission of ectorate and benefit fraud would have,now two of the Greens long serving members have resign and their resignations accept by Metiria and Labour copping a lot of criticism for not supporting Metiria historical transgressions.
There are double standards and hypocrites in every aspect of this issue,for me I feel Metiria,Bill,Judith, Paula and Key if he was still a member of parliament should resign.
I was swaying back to Labour,but I can’t be bothered with the melodrama with their coalition partner.
I find myself increasingly irritated by the tone of so many of these comments.
FFS, people. Stop this counter productive bickering. If, IYO, Ardern and Davis are worse than the Nats, go and vote for them. Otherwise, STFU and concentrate on the job in hand – getting rid of English, Bennet et al.
The only power we have is to get rid of THIS government. Navel gazing will not do that. Little is gone, Ardern is our only realistic hope. If you don’t support her, then get out and support the Greens.
When Labour/Green are able to form a government we can argue the toss, but the FIRST duty of a political leader is to win power. By distancing herself from Meteria’s admission she has increased the chance of that.
Indeed Micko, any endorsement or support would be her “apology for being a man” moment.
During the 2014 election my husband was away from our electorate for a year, working(coming home every few weeks). So he voted in another electorate.
Should he present himself to the local police station for arrest?
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