The political left gained a victory this weekend with te Mana’s
Hone Harawira winning the Tai Tokerau by-election. It's a fantastic result considering the short amount of time te Mana had to launch their new party and the negative media campaign run against Hone.
Clearly many supporters already understand the inspirational man's Kaupapa. The Mana Party was officially registered on Friday and now that Hone has won, he will return to Parliament as Mana Party leader with a mandate to represent. Excellent!
"The new party didn't have two cents to rub together and we won," the victorious Harawira said.
Speaking in Darwin today, Prime Minister John Key said:
"Harawira has a very reduced mandate and the Tai Tokerau by-election was an expensive waste of time. We spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, we've ended up in the same position that we started in, and it's not really that Hone Harawira can claim victory," he said.
Really! It appears that Hone received the most votes, which usually designates him as the winner.
I find John Key's statement most perplexing, not just because he's ungracious in defeat, but that he doesn't comprehend te Mana's victory in Tai Tokerau.
I'm not looking forward to hearing John Key whinge when National and Act are defeated in the next general election. Using the same mentality, it's obviously a waste of time and John Key should resign now to save us taxpayers lots of money. Not that he can talk about wasting taxpayer's money in the first place.
Perhaps the Prime Ministers negativity was inspired by what Hone said on Saturday when he criticized John Key's support for Labour's Kelvin
Davis:
"It wasn't because National likes Davis, or fears me, it's because National fears all of you. We're gonna change the world and you the people of Tai Tokerau have shown once again that nothing happens in this country until the tail of the fish is ready to move," Hone said.
John Key wasn't the only bad loser... Cameron Slater wrote:
"Seven months out from the election and Maori voters have said they prefer Hone Harawira over Phil Goff and Labour."
That’s funny, I thought it was Kelvin
Davis who stood against Hone Hawariwa, not Phil Goff. Labour seemed most gracious in defeat to me. National decided not to even stand a candidate, so who are the real losers? It's exactly five months away from the next election btw.
Lucian Marin over at No Minister said:
"It's bad for Maori in that all the positive things that are happening in Maoridom will be overshadowed by Hone who will continue to 'look back in anger' and encourage Maori to remain in grievance mode. It is especially bad for Maori in Te TaI Tokerau. They have lost their voice in the corridors of power (if they ever had it). They are now represented by a bit player in the body politik.
It's bad for Labour. Hone has made it clear that the Mana Party will give electoral support to Labour and only Labour. That in itself is sufficient to scare off 'soft' Labour voters. Vote Labour and you get Hone ... wanted or not. It's a win win for National and a loss loss for Labour."
I'm interested to know exactly what positive things National has implemented for Maori? Hone in my opinion is a great person to represent Maori and fight for their rights, to think otherwise is certifiably mental! There's nothing wrong with making restitution for past atrocities; one must look back in wisdom to be able to move forward into a brighter future. To describe Hone Hawariwa as a bit player is particularly stupid Lucian.
Now I might be mistaken, but if te Mana is going to give electoral support to Labour, isn't that a good thing for Labour? They'll hopefully be receiving support from a group that normally doesn't vote. A vote for Labour is not a vote for te Mana, they can stand on their own feet. The only losers are the right as the left gains momentum and strength leading up to the election.
David Farrar wrote:
"So today is Hone’s victory – the gamble paid off. Attention will now go on the wider Mana Party, specifically their party list. Will the No 2 be John Minto or Annette Skyes or Sue Bradford or someone else?"
Apart from allowing the usual racist comments on the Kiwibog post, DPF is the only right wing blogger to have already moved on from the defeat.
Many of the other RWNJ blogger's are trying to ignore the victory or have retreated into idiotic arguments that show their childish tendencies. Man up losers!
The final word goes to one of te Mana's most ardent supporters:
"What the broader progressive left need to envision is the genuine structural change to NZ a Labour + Greens + Mana could attain in November." - Bomber Bradbury.
