The National Party of NZ – 50 shades of white

All-white front bench ‘doesn’t matter’ – National MP Amy Adams

New leader Todd Muller’s revamped line-up saw the party’s previous all-Māori leadership duo – Simon Bridges and Paula Bennett – plummet down the rankings. Bennett is now the party’s highest-ranked Māori MP at 13th, and according to the National Party website, Bridges doesn’t have a ranking at all. 

The entire front bench is now Pākehā. 

Muller said the rankings were done “on merit”, but even some of his team expressed concern, Jo Hayes – ranked 37th – saying it was “not good”. 

Selwyn MP Adams, who was going to retire at the end of this term but is now ranked third, said she backs the new list “100 percent”.

“The list is Todd’s list, absolutely, but I absolutely agree that a list should be put together based on the right people in the right roles,” she told Newshub Nation on Saturday.

No, no no!

If, as Amy Adams is attempting to claim here, the National Party selection was mere meritocracy, why did the National Leadership immediately attempt to deflect and justify by pointing to Paul Goldsmith as evidence that National were diverse and falsely claim he was Māori?

This wasn’t meritocracy, this was blind panic and selfishness by spooked MPs who thought they were going to lose their jobs, and as such they only looked after themselves and their white ambition.

National isn’t actively racist it’s passively racist. They weren’t actively trying to strangle off diversity, they just passively did it.

Being nakedly selfish is fine, but lying about being selfish to obscure what that moment of panic truly says about National and their values however is unacceptable.

This is what diversity looks like to National…

…National reflects 1950s New Zealand, not New Zealand in the year of 2020.

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.