After 12 years in politics, Labour’s former deputy leader Kelvin Davis has decided it’s time to call it quits.
He lost his beloved Te Tai Tokerau seat at the election and came in on the list, but spending time with his new granddaughter recently has convinced him time’s up.
“I think the time is right,” he told Newshub.
There were two Kelvin’s.
The affable, funny, clever Kelvin you met in private and the terribly awkward shy stumbling bumbling Minister the millisecond a camera was put on him.
His public persona was unfortunately built upon those terrible media interviews.
There were so many times you felt Kelvin was just learning about a problem as the journalist was asking him!
Kelvin was however a the quiet achiever on prisons.
Following 9 years of National’s spite as social policy that saw prisoner voting rights stolen, prison population numbers explode and the deeply flawed private prison model established, Labour not only had to fight a Corrections system that was broken and counterproductive, it had to fight an electorate who had been fuelled by the mainstream media to hate prisoners and want them to actually suffer rather than merely punished by loss of liberty.
Kelvin managed to lower the prison muster by forcing Corrections staff to help illiterate prisoners fill in the forms that would allow them to serve their sentence at home rather than in prison, but that clever use of existing loopholes without a major culture change and resources to modernise the ancient prison network wasn’t enough to cope with the extra problems caused by Covid.
The lack of tech upgrade with the ankle bracelets created an environment for some home detention prisoners to cause more crime.
Corrections also let Kelvin down on the riots and Oranga Tamariki never seemed to be listening.
In the end Kelvin realised the job was bigger than his capacity and there is a humbleness in that acknowledgement that should drive our judgements of him as a politician rather than his trainwreck media interviews.
Him stepping down makes way for new Māori leadership within the Labour Party.
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Martyn – Mixed feelings about Kelvin…his prison reforms could have been better for everyone, he was missing in action during the recent campaign…and yet, he meant well mostly.
He was fuckn useless! The invisible man syndrome. Spent too much time by himself in the Cone of Silence.
But as you demonstrate Den, the empty vessel makes the most noise. Eg you, Peters, Seymour, Willis, van Velden, Brown, Bishop all conducted by Luxons.
Oh probably all fed by that dirty bitch Collins aided by Bayleys Bennett.
I love a cup of misogyny in the morning – keep it up leftard.
Whats misogynistic about my comment, I would hardly call any of that lot feminine or even likeable. Check their armpits.
What a mean and nasty thing to say.
I presume you knew him personally.
Only by his actions or should I say inaction. Fuckn useless.
Agree 100 percent
Luxon’s inaction on the upgrade of new ferries whilst lamenting the state of the government’s broken down flight transportation as “embarrassing” has to be the most fuckn useless thing ever said. It’s like opening your present at Christmas and getting a plastic Ken doll.
Agree. Some conflate mean and nasty with cleverness.Gotta pity them.
Ever heard the term “Quiet achiever” dh?
You are funny KJ. Very funny.
Do feel free to share with us on TDB if there is actually someone you like, admire or support!…of what ever stripe.
Umm? Let me have a think and I’ll get back to you TM.
Labour leadership must have instructed him to stay away from interviews/TV cameras as he was MIA for most of the 6yrs.
Promoted above his ability, a ‘token maori’ position within Labour, that he never realized was just a token position.
And you will find this tokenism in most public sector debts…people promoted above their ability due to their ethnicity. It is unfair to all parties, including the person promoted too soon, and above their abilities at that particular point.
There are a lot worse people in the world than Kelvin, his prison reform advocacy was actually very good and supporting the offshore Aussie captives. But he was no intellectual giant…head office NZ Labour put much resources into the western end (Auck) of Tai Tokerau electorate and he beat Hone Harawira by 900 odd votes, the political history of this country would have much different if Internet Mana’s Laila and Hone had been in Parliament.
I guess a certain intellectual capacity is needed to be a politician, but too much can be a disadvantage as well as too little.
Tiger, a worse one . Luxon using taxpayer funds to learn Te Reo whilst cutting and gutting the public sector.
Surely if someone who wants to learn Te Reo, oh and who owns seven houses, including a home in Remuera worth $7.68 million and they earn $450,000 plus a year, can fund it themselves. And this is the same person slashing the allowance for speaking Te Reo in leadership roles.
National have always been hypocritical arseholes as have their support base but even this is ridiculous!
The highest form of tokenism you will see.
Squeaky/Bert, Why the obsession with houses?, Helen has 6, Chippy has 3, Willy Jackson has 6-7,….or is it only the ones who have not always work in public sector (tax payers pay their salary) who are not allowed to own more than one house?
Do you believe that the left MPs/Ministers were NOT ever claiming back the cost of meals/coffees/drinks whilst earning fabulous salaries?
Again, I don’t know who this Bert is but judging by your frequent posts to him, I’d suggest Bert you take out a restraining order as Im hard right has a psychopathic crush on you.
The rest of your post( as usual) has no relevance to my comment of the hypocrisy of Luxon taking taxpayer money to fund his Te Reo learning whilst telling others to fund it themselves.( Fuckn simple even for a simple person like you). I’d suggest you get back to the Whale Oil site for your tribal insults.
There is no Whale Oil site you muppet, closed down a cpl years ago!
I’m watching you to ensure whenever you mention NZ greatest former PM, you use his correct title…SIR John Key!
You need to respect and acknowledge your betters, you peasant!!
He’s not claiming a 7K salary bonus for being able to speak it. That’s the real scandal.
That was agreed to in the collective agreement JonzieKey, just like Luxoff claiming it because it’s in his PM contract.
So the hypocrisy stands that’s the real scandal.
Come on bert that’s a stretch.
This Bert fullas really got o you right. “He’s in your head, he’s in your head, Bobby, Bobby, Bobbyeeeye.”
Leave it to those of us that understand collective agreements and minnows like you offering right wing soundbites or flea bites, either or, you’re just an irritation.
Yet they are in Government and yet you cry salty tears.
Well put!! is all I can say to your salient comment.
Don’t be petty. He should try to learn some Te Reo while he is an MP and further a PM. We have bigger issues to discuss – don’t get caught up on smaller matters, it is a waste of your great intellectual power.
It would be interesting to know who is being paid to tutor Luxon in Te Reo Maori. HE IS STILL SAYING TE RAYOH. Surely he can learn the correct pronunciation of three letters. Please name and shame the Maori Tutor, he/she needs to give us our money back.
“Non performing diversity hire retires to spend time with family”
I commend you Martyn for being so polite.
He has to be the most useless dumb and dumberest NZ politician ever.
The Lloyd Christmas of the Labour Party.
The most useless, dumb and dumberest NZ politician ever goes to this hypocritical twat. He’ll even his own union have called him out…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labour-leader-chris-hipkins-taxpayers-union-among-pms-critics-over-publicly-funded-te-reo-lessons/MRBXZ7B7PFATZBNDUWZGSLX3AQ/
He may not have been outstanding, but the dumbest politician ever? That’s a mighty tough competition – Max Bradford would be hard to beat, not to mention The White Butterfly, or Sideline Stan The Invisible Man.
I’ll say one really good thing about Kelvin Davis. When he wasn’t in government, he backed Charter Schools and was on the board of one. Because they were uplifting local children. He was forced to change his position because of the influence the teacher’s union has on the Labour Party.
Sad!
How many Palestinians have been killed by Israel?
More than 15,900 Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 -Palestinian health minister. RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 5 (Reuters) – More than 15,900 Palestinians, including 250 health workers, have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of war on Oct. 7,
see why Israel can kill innocent children with American taxpayer at
https://www.tiktok.com/@br.internationali/video/7309431742694264070?lang=en&q=why%20dont%20Americans%20knowl%20what%20you%20have%20seen%20&t=1701880206555
See how innocent children are killed by the most poufel American arms at
Al Jazeera English Live
at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCNeDWCI0vo
if you do not do something then you do not have a HART
Come to think of it, I recommend Chippie joins him. After all, everything he’s touched has also turned to shit:
‘…. leaked financial statements showing none of the country’s polytechs (Te Pukenga) are financially viable on their own.’
Another Chippie disaster.
Everything the National party has touched has turned to shit…there fixed that for you JonzieKey
Agree. Some conflate mean and nasty with cleverness.Gotta pity them.
The mention of his granddaughter reminds me of a bopok I read about, haven’t read myself though. These men seem to be in a similar place.
Life Beyond Measure
Poitier reflects on his amazing life in Life Beyond Measure, offering inspirational advice and personal stories in the form of extended letters to his great-granddaughter.
Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter
Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com › Life-Beyond-Measure-Letters…
I just remember the poem
Yet they are in Government and yet you cry salty tears.
Kelvin seemed never suited to politics and being ” humble ” should have ruled him out at the start as we don’t encourage or recognize that virtue in 21st century neo liberal politics.
Kelvin was forgotten before he retired and being deputy leader meant he had for the most part been invisible and clearly just another LINO MP who ignored the realities of so many people caught in our never ending cycle of poverty unless you were a prison inmate.
Lets make sure Kelvin is the first of many from the last government whose time is up.
Absolutely right that Kelvin seemed never suited to politics. And of course humble is not what we want in politics. All piss and wind and playing the bullshit game is how it goes.
In NZ are you going to pick an arsehole like Muldoon or someone like Rowling? The ‘invisible’ thing?
I’ve seen that for years – (of an MP) – “She’s invisible, she does nothing.” Someone says it because they’re pissed off their favourite didn’t get voted in, next thing a hard working local, earnest MP doing a good job is tagged by some as ‘useless, and invisible’ by someone at the other end of the country who has no idea of what the MP does.
The way the game is you’ve got to have an ‘arsehole quotient’ in your character. Kelvin was a failure at that. Erudition, clarity and perspicacity are subservient to raw political instinct.
Would I want Kelvin or a jumped up little shit like Simeon Brown?
Mosa. The Minister for Children, Davis, acquiescing in the axing of the Commissioner for Children, did it for me. And all those craven politicians who stayed hiding inside in silence when Trevor Mallard unleashed his intemperate water and noise torture on kids in flimsy tents in the Parliamentary precinct, in atrocious overnight weather, are disgraceful human beings.
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