John Tamihere has entered the 2020 election as a candidate for the Māori Party in the Tamaki Makaurau electorate and if successful, could reshape the next Government.
Peeni Henare holds the seat for Labour with a 3809 majority, but after JT’s 80,000 votes in the Auckland Mayoralty (and with many of those votes cast in Tāmaki Makaurau) Tamihere has the name recognition and ground game to challenge that majority.
Adding to Henare’s woes is a resurgent Marama Davidson who is going to make a serious attempt at the electorate this time around as part of the Green strategy to build their Māori voter base.
While Māoridom entrusted their political voice to Labour in 2017, issues ranging from Oranga Tamariki, Ihumātao and outright bias in the police and judiciary have solidified the need for the independent voice the Māori Party has always promised.
The difficulty for the Māori Party is that 2/3 of their voting base support Labour. While the Māori Party need to defeat Labour in the battles of the electorates, they need to side with Labour to win the war against National because the Māori Party’s siding with National is what crushed their credibility last time.
It will be a fine line to dance, but a Labour-Green-Māori Party Government could achieve a lot more than a National-ACT-Māori Party Government could.
First published on Waatea News.
Well if he (JT) cant resurrect the Maori Party nobody can. I think it would now be good if the Maori party won 2 of the Maori seats they will have to fight for every vote but it will be worth it. The two seats I believe they have the best chance in are Tamaki Makaurau and Te Tai Hauauru. I gave Labour two ticks a the last election and got them heaps of votes but they really have been ticking me of lately so at this moment I am undecided. I am waiting for the May budget and it better be a good one. I am also waiting for the policies these two issues will determine where my ticks/vote goes to. If our Maori people are smart they can strategically vote. To do this they need to look at the listings how high up the list the Maori are in the Labour party. If they are lowly listed what does that say about the Labour party.
John Tamihere is a Labour reject as well as being right of centre. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could spit! If Tamaki Makaurau voters have any sense, they will keep their vote with Peeni Henare or support Greens candidate Marama Davidson. But Tamihere … definitely no!
Agree there Mary, another mouth and all over the place loose cannon, a lot like Shane Jones and probably even less reliable!
He’s had his day, pity he’s too egotistical to realise it.
What has Peeni Henare done Mary can you please enlighten us. Also I see the Maori Council have come out swinging about Maori homelessness yet Willie Jackson said Labour Maori members have been working hard on the ground. Has the NEET Maori numbers dropped yet or are we still over represented.
In all honesty Michelle, I can’t say Peeni Henare has achieved anything of note for Maori while in government, which is very disappointing.
That said, I believe Henare would still be a better choice of representative than John Tamihere, who in my personal opinion is a proven misogynist and untrustworthy. Facts being his crude, disrespectful comments about women’s genital anatomy, plus his choice of right wing mayoral deputy Christine Fletcher. Then wasn’t Michelle boag involved somewhere in Tamihere’s recent mayoral campaign? At least the electorate knows what side of the political fence Henare is coming from. His electorate needs to give Henare a good sharp reminder he is there to work for and get the best for Maori, and to get to it, or else.
I can’t see John Tamihere putting himself out too much for Maori somehow Michelle. Too much a “me” man for that.
Its no good knowing what side of the political fence people sit on mary a when he (Henare) is sitting on the fence. He need to get his arrrrrse of that fence and do some work for his people that put him in there. If he doesn’t then he needs to be replaced and we need to put someone in who will. I haven’t seen any leadership from him yet he is representing a huge electoral area. Now in our culture if we follow tikanga our women might have been seen to be in the background but they were always telling our men what to do.( in their ear so to speak) We were very matriarchal not patriarchal even though to many Pakeha it might seem like that. Why do you think it has been our women that have come out and been forthright in many issues as of late. Surely I don’t need to give examples of this.
Those of us with long memories can recall Tamihere’s characterisation of women as “front-bums”.
I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could spit, either. But the voters of Tamaki Makaurau will decide, one way or the other. Maori society is patriarchal, so maybe he has a chance. We’ll see.
I see we have a few John Tamihere haters and to say we cant trust him, who can we trust as not many politicians have kept there promises once they are elected. And how many started out in one party and then jumped ship or formed their own party. Too many people seem to have forgotten. I see d esterer is at it again, Maori bashing as NZ society was founded and grounded in patriarchy. Just member d ester Maori women owned land and before colonisation many of our women were chiefs in there own right but you wouldn’t know would you. Unlike our English counterparts we were not the property of our husbands we had a voice and we were held in high esteem.
D’Esterre – ‘Those of us with long memories can recall Tamihere’s characterisation of women as “front-bums”.’
Thanks. I didn’t dare raise that again, but when Tamihere sought the mayoralty of Auckland, there is no way I could accept women being expected to interact with a so-called dignitary, with such a schoolyard view of women and crude vocabulary.
If this is how Maori men hold their women in high esteem, then I suggest that their bar is set too low. If the Fletcher person who was his running mate found his woman-view acceptable, then I suggest that maybe her bar should be raised too.
Tamihere was also part of the disgraceful Roast Busters talk-back radio fiasco, where two middle-aged men asked a teenage girl, how old she was when she lost her virginity. I raised this re Willie Jackson when Labour canvassers phoned me prior to the last election, although I am not sure which of them it was.
This is nothing to do with, ‘haters’ or with race. It is to do with appropriate behaviour, and whether any man with an apparently puerile view of women is fit to represent us. Peeni Henare seems an ok normal sort of bloke.
Snow White: “This is nothing to do with, ‘haters’ or with race. It is to do with appropriate behaviour, and whether any man with an apparently puerile view of women is fit to represent us. Peeni Henare seems an ok normal sort of bloke.”
Agreed.
” … a resurgent Marama Davidson” Oh pleeeze! The Greens died recently with Jennette. They now have no chance in 2020’s general election.
” … a resurgent Marama Davidson” Oh pleeeze! The Greens died recently with Jennette. They now have no chance in 2020’s general election.
Māori issues exist in an alternate Māori world, which many pundits rarely acknowledge the existence of. Hint…Ratana and Waitangi gatherings every year are not the full picture.
Class issues persist within Māoridom despite the importance of traditional culture–there is a small group of bourgeois and 1%ers that encourage other Māori to get all aspirational and…join up with the bloody tories like the MP did recently.
The way forward for Māori as a whole is in unity with the Pākehā and migrant working class. Māori/Pākehā unity in particular, has always been feared above most else by the NZ ruling class, it is one reason they love to rark up the provincials –Iwi vs Kiwi–and feed raw meat to rednecks. A lot of the NZ economy sits on land stolen or acquired dubiously and people are in denial big time about that.
John Tamihere at this stage of his career is on a right wing trajectory of “Māori branded capitalism will save you” so sod him! If a rejuvenated Māori Party represented its working class not the “Brown Table” type Iwi Business Leaders, they could make a good fit in a reelected Labour Green Govt.
Tiger Mountain: “Class issues persist within Māoridom….”
At the time of first settlement, Maori society was tribal, with slaves and lower caste people, along with the elites from whom the leadership of tribes was drawn. In the scheme of things, that isn’t so long ago, and cultural practices can be very persistent and resistant to change.
It’s been clear for many years that lack of success in education, disproportionate numbers in prison, and poor health outcomes are to do with class. Poor, working class Maori are overrepresented in negative statistics, whereas the middle classes and the elites do as well as everybody else in NZ. Many of us know this perfectly well: we in the middle classes went to school and uni with middle class Maori. We work with them; they’ve married into our families, we’ve married into theirs.
In a piece on tribalism and democracy, Elizabeth Rata makes the following observation:
“One of the benefits of colonisation, and there are a number, is the destruction of tribalism. For slaves and lower caste people it was liberation. Of course the chiefly caste did not agree and today we see the resurgence of those who would be their inheritors. The new elite is a self-proclaimed aristocracy justifying their ambition in romantic appeals to an Arcadian past.”
https://www.nzcpr.com/democracy-and-tribalism/
The entire article is worth a read: I recommend it to you.
“The way forward for Māori as a whole is in unity with the Pākehā and migrant working class.”
Indeed. Though I’d extend that to unity with the rest of NZ society as a whole. This is a modern, secular, representative democracy; this is one of the reasons that we all rub along with as little conflict as we have. We’d like it to stay that way.
“A lot of the NZ economy sits on land stolen or acquired dubiously and people are in denial big time about that.”
Regarding this issue, there needs to be a good deal more honesty than I’ve seen in recent times. While there was large scale land alienation and confiscation by the government in the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was also land theft by Maori from other Maori prior to about the middle of the 19th century.
Unfortunately, nothing can be done about that now, without creating further injustices. All of that happened long before anyone now alive was born. In no modern society, are people required to pay the price for their ancestors’ crimes. Moreover – in the case of most pakeha and other more recent migrants – those crimes were committed by somebody else’s ancestors, not ours.
“John Tamihere at this stage of his career is on a right wing trajectory of “Māori branded capitalism will save you….”
My impression of Tamihere is that he doesn’t really have a coherent political philosophy: he says what he deems needful to get himself into the candidacy, then to get elected. I doubt that he cares too much which party he represents, just so long as he can get back into parliament. He’ll promise the earth, knowing full well that he could never deliver.
Wasn’t John Tamihere’s publicist ex National party activist, Michelle Boag?
If he got in, there is an increased chance he would work with National which was the Maori Parties downfall last time, (and Maoridom that have got increased poverty and less rights under those National/Maori party years).
Don’t see it as a good move. I don’t think Tamihere is the worst politician but it is very difficult to see what he stands for.
John is a RIGHT WINGER behind the good looks and swarve.
He will without a second thought and a generous contract support the largest party the Nasty Natz in government.
Despite the rhetoric he will be at home in the National party tent.
It will be a rerun of 2008-17
We are seeing a breakdown in traditions and values that once provided a great deal of solidarity and cohesion in Maori communities and of course conservatives are highly disturbed by this development. There are some conservative critics that offer good insights into this. No one says there’s nothing to learn from Donald Brash or Bob Jones as long as you deal with them carefully. And I think there are things progressives can take from John Tamihere’s work when he talks about social attachments (that’s not the words he uses, I do think it’s accurate) to hold people together. That should be something the left can get behind. I think if we develop strong social bonds that would be something that could inspire neoliberal subjects to look outside of themselves and demonstrate a level of care for the other in a manner that is consistent with our egalitarian ways.
Mosa – “behind the good looks and swarve” ? What ?
I don’t think we should be voting people in on their looks – and any random line-up of pollies suggests that we all vote blind-fold – but as a reasonably discerning woman, I certainly don’t think that Tamihere is a good looking man – with or without my spectacles on. I think that he is neither good looking nor ugly, just smarmy.
(James Shaw is good looking, and Gareth Hughes is cute, but alas, the Greens have blotted their copy book.)
Snow White: “….any random line-up of pollies suggests that we all vote blind-fold…”
From this vantage point in my life, it seems to me that it doesn’t matter how ugly men are, they can be politicians. But the same doesn’t seem to be true for women. Maybe how women look is subliminally taken into account in the candidate selection process, whereas physical appearance isn’t a metric for men at all. It’s the only way I can make sense of what I’ve seen over many years.
“….I think that he is neither good looking nor ugly, just smarmy.”
I think he may once have been easy on the eye, but time and tide (and expanding dimensions) have caught up with him.
“…Gareth Hughes is cute…”
Heh! Hughes has always looked to me like a sixth-former wagging school to play with the big kids.
D’Esterre – ” Maybe how women look is subliminally taken into account in the candidate selection process…”
Keats -“Beauty is truth, truth beauty.—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
Me- You may appreciate knowing that ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ was not initially well received by the critics… and perhaps unsurprisingly, if such are the thought processes which govern the selection of women candidates.
However it does explain the amazing, and often garish tops often worn by women in the NZ Parliament – I thought it was to catch the eye of the camera, but lordy – it looks like I missed the bigger picture.
Is this the same John Tamihere who voted with Labour in favour of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill? Remember? – the one that led to Tariana Turia leaving Labour and forming the Maori Party?
She and Flavell then did all the hard work so that now Tamihere’s muscling in and standing for that party himself.
Just a tad hypocritical, don’t you think?
And, yes, saveNZ, he’s well under Boag’s thumb so nothing surer than he’ll swerve to the right sooner or later.
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