GUEST BLOG: Willie Jackson – Māori have spoken and cried ‘Labour’
Māori have spoken and they have cried Labour. I assure you, we have heard you.
We have heard that the last 9 years of National rule have seen more of our people suffer from the impacts of poverty and inequality.
We have seen home ownership eroded, we have seen living standards decrease, we have seen despair overtake hope.
We have seen our culture robbed of its rightful vibrancy and we have seen our fellow worker, Pasifika neighbour, migrant friend and beneficiary whānau hurt by a Government more focused on punishing them than genuinely helping them.
I want to thank and celebrate everyone who helped in the Māori campaign and who helped make this one of the greatest Labour Māori political wins ever. I watched as each of our candidates worked tirelessly to door knock and connect with our whānau. I saw the excitement our campaign generated and the trust that was repeatedly placed in our hands for our people.
We will not betray your hope.
The clean sweep of the 7 Māori electorates was boosted by a huge jump for the Labour Party vote in each seat as well. Look at the increases.
2014
Hauraki-Waikato: 9724 votes
Ikaroa-Rāwhiti: 10, 849 votes
Tāmaki Makaurau: 8432 votes
Te Tai Hauāuru: 8642 votes
Te Tai Tokerau: 8034 votes
Te Tai Tonga: 7607 votes
Waiariki: 8595 votes
2017
Hauraki-Waikato: 10 615 votes
Ikaroa-Rāwhiti: 12 112 votes
Tāmaki Makaurau: 9226 votes
Te Tai Hauāuru: 10 399 votes
Te Tai Tokerau: 11 162 votes
Te Tai Tonga: 10 346 votes
Waiariki:10 843 votes
We have been granted the trust of Māori and will fight to ensure that trust is not wasted. We have 13 Māori MPs and everyone of us acknowledges the hard work in front of us.
What we need now is patience as we negotiate the best step forward we can take from the result of election night.
We will not waste the opportunity if we are lucky enough to become the Government.
Culture is just a set of beliefs.
No one can rob a culture. It can be changed by collective beliefs I see the Crown’s media releases of “what is” and govt thinking processes adopted by many Maori but at the end of the day people have the choice to question, think and reason chose what they believe.
Its a war on the poor by govt not on a race.
Maori have privileges and a partnership with the Bank of England’s Crown that other early settlers who also all arrived by boat to NZ don’t have.
Hey isn’t labeling and perceiving people as/ by their race racist?
You are right the voting numbers don’t add up
“Its not who votes that counts its who counts the vote”