NewsHub Multi-Party Leaders Debate – John Tamihere wins

What a fascinating Multi-Party Leaders Debate!

Marama Davidson vs David Seymour vs John Tamihere vs Winston Peters.

David Seymour was funny and you can see why he’s tearing strips off National’s taken for granted rump. Unfortunately one of the drawbacks of suddenly becoming popular is that there is zero attention of the crazy far right policy they still have.

Marama was crisp but looked uncomfortable on those stupid chairs. She is sounding more polished and professional in her presentation, is doing a solid enough job of not chasing away voters.

Winston reminded us how much we will miss his roguish charm, but John Tamihere’s performance put him head and shoulders above the others in a surprise win.

His dominance and ability to punch back while arguing for a ‘hands off, not hand out’ Māori centric approach to social services was bloody effective and showed a genuine alternative.

Best lines by Tamihere:

“From here to eternity, we’re not going anywhere, the tangata whenua. From here to eternity we will seek justice and our right to break out of the bottom end in the land of our ancestors,”

“David is a recipient of the house burning down – that’s the National Party’s house. It’s Judith’s job to save the furniture. What she doesn’t understand is David’s out the back taking a lot of it out,”

“They are not squatters they are mana whenua, they are not squatters they are tangata whenua, If someone steals something from you, you hand it back.”

Tamihere’s forceful and winning performance demands recognition.

If there is a surprise on election night, it will be the Māori Party winning an electorate no one is expecting.

How good would a Labour-Green-Māori Party Government be?

We need MORE debates, not less and we actually heard very different directions and ideas for NZ that we have been robbed of by Labour’s caution and National’s tax cut fecklessness.

Well done Newshub, this has been their second Election show that has been head and shoulders above everyone else.

 

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice going into this pandemic and 2020 election – please donate here.

If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media.