NATFORT

From the Herald this morning:

Several Auckland National Party officials are behind a move to soften what they believe has been its overly hard-line stance on race issues.

Party member and National Waitakere branch treasurer Michael Kidd is leading the charge, with the support of Waitakere chairman Adrian Delaat.

Other party members or supporters include former Hamilton mayor Sir Ross Jansen and Takapuna writer Terry Dunleavy.

They plan to set up a group called "Nationals for the Treaty" or NATFORT. Dr Kidd said many National members were concerned about the party's stance on the treaty, the Maori seats and its plans to abolish a number of key Maori agencies.

Good. Nice to see some National Party members are able to understand just how risky their party's stance on these issues has been. If they intend to govern again, they need to get away from their dog whisle political bankruptcy on Treaty issues.

I wonder if NATFORT will end up being an accepted Special Interest Group in the National Party, or whether the Brash leadership will try and purge it?

 

Comments

[tim barclay]

I would be amused to see a group forming inside the Labour Party pushing an issue or two. It would be squashed down hard. The National Party has a fairly permissive approach to internal discussion whereas the Labour Party simply does not allow it right down to very tight stalinist caucus discipline.

[Craig Ranapia]

Well, I think these folks have well and truly fucked themselves by trying to run a policy debate through the media.

Just as I think it was qually *ahem* counter-productive of John Tamihere to critique the Labour Party through the pages of Investigate Magazine and a series of public speeches.

[weizguy]

They aren't in parliament, so they can't be banished to the backbenches, but I think they might be spoken to...

However, I suspect that this kind of thing is the only way that the National party can cross the centre line...

[Gooner]

Terry Dunleavy is a pretty major player in the National Party also. I agree with Craig. But I wonder who, or what, has really been 'f %$#!@#' here.

[Greg Stephens]

Tim, the Labour party is made up of sectors. I'm in the Youth Sector, advocating for youth issues. Jordan represents the Rainbow sector, pushing for GLBTI issues/rights. We do it all the time in Labour, and are open about it as well.

And good on NATFORT for having the balls to stick up for justice in the face of their leadership.

[Aj]

Lets see how many Nat MP's have the balls to come out and align themselves with this group.
BEFORE a leadership change.

[Jordan]

I see the story has developed over the course of the day...

[Craig Ranapia]

Aj:

Sorry, but whatever reservations I have with the policy (and I'm hardwired to be a bloody minded contrarian about pretty much everything) I'm not going to waste any time or effort with NATFORT.

Here's why: If it continues as it's begun - and assuming it wants to have any serious policy influence as opposed to undermining the current leadership, which I'm beginning to doubt - there's a certain lack of strategic or practical nous on display.

If you're in the game of politics to win, it's not a good idea to start with an own goal. If Mr. Kidd et. al. are serious about influencing National Party policy, I'm sure members will give them a fair hearing - but not through the pages of the Herald.

[Aj]

Craig,
Yeah fair enough.
Nothing like throwing a rock in the pool and creating waves of course..

[Russell Brown]

I would think the part of the aim of NATFORT is precisely to undermine the current leadership, and clear out the McCully tendency too.

Cheers,
RB

[Russell Brown]

BTW, Simon Pound was gagging today to get someone from NATFORT on his Wire show on bFM, 12-2pm Thursday. I think he's an ideal interviewer to determine their substance or otherwise.

Cheers,
RB

[Aj]

Wondering - if Michele Boag's grovelling performance towards Turia & Pita on Eye to Eye is related to this..Hooten sounded like he might be a paid up member...

[tim barclay]

The Philip Field story now gets worse and worse. Field was supposed to be helping a constituent. Instead Field helps himself to his house making a nice wee tidy profit. Could it get worse. I will make one prediction, it will get worse as Field practices his pacific way on his poor constituents. All those Labour voters bussed in by trades hall in Field's electorate. This is tammany hall. I think there are grounds to open up the election of Field by an electoral peitition and we can look hard into his activities as an MP and how he got elected.

[Gooner]

I'll make a prediction too Tim. My prediction is that soon we will discover that easyvote cards were used by the Labour Party in South Auckland in the same way as the Labour Party cheated in the last local body elections there. Wait for that one to surface.

[Jordan]

So you didn't lose, the Labour Party cheated?

A Tui billboard comes to mind.

[Michael]

Gooner - I ran the scrutineer programme in one electorate. There were no major problems recorded. As for taking people to polling booths, all parties do it. Labour does more of it as it's voters are less likely to have transport.

I think RB is correct on this issue - the Brash/Key/McCully leadership aren't liked by this group (possibly they are Neeson supporters) and they are trying to undermine it. They will find themselves a very small minority in National.

[Tony]

Brash should really step down on Saturday after the specials (presuming Nat's can't form a government of course). Otherwise he will face constant destabalising leadership talk throughout his next 3 years. Better to have a bloodless coup and a tidy handover to Key/Rich.

The moderates in the National Party are positioning. The destabalising is deliberate and will continue until Brash goes and National's inherent factions and contradictions will play in the media for all New Zealand to see.

[Aj]

Tim,

There are certainly questions to be answered. The 'facts' so far put out certainly mean there are some hard questions to be asked.
Make no mistake, labour supporters won't tolerate mis-use of a MP's position, no more than we would if an Nat MP has erred.
Lets wait and see exactly what has transpired.

[tim barclay]

Aj I think LAbour has a problem here when they knew there was a problem before the election. They do not have control over matters because the Maori Party and Winston will be hard on Field and Peter Dunne seems to have gone feral.

[Aj]

Lets just wait and see, before lining up the execution squad. As I said, improper actions or behaviour is not condoned.
Labour has shown a fairly ruthless pattern of discipline in these matters.
A far more principled pattern of discipline to errant behaviour than we've seen in the prior 30 years.

[Aston Wedgwood]

In recent light of indirect racism/discrimination being promoted and supported by a large population of Pakeha; it is prudent to review the position of Pakeha in NZ society.

More than 95% of the first Pakeha immigrants came from impoverished circumstances, repression, and originated from the lower 5% of British society. Pakeha immigrants came from lives of inconsistent and harsh employment, poverty, disease and residential overcrowding. No one can claim any hereditary social class or privelidge.

It is extraordinarily rich for these ancestors (and their decendants) to proport themselves, as though lords and ladies, to be of a higher value than Maori, to be the "rulers of the Empire" etc; when quite frankly, they originated from the sewers and toxic marshes of the Thames River.