An interesting game of brinkmanship is now playing out over the question of the Maori seats on the Auckland Super City Council. To recap on the last 12 hours or so, an email allegedly written by Tau Henare, is released by TV3 suggesting that Rodney threatened to end the coalition if there were Maori seats. Rodney says that is not true, but that yes he would have to resign as a Minister if there were Maori seats. John Key’s office make placating noises that discussions are on-going. Tariana Turia is worried the ACT tail is wagging the National dog. Sounds like a Coronation St script.
There no doubt is intense negotiation about Maori seats. This is something that Hide and Key stoked by moving away from the Royal Commission recommendations. Its high stakes stuff for all involved, including the Maori Party who if there are not seats will be forced to support a government that is working fundamentally against the interests of those they were elected to represent.
But my question for this morning is who would have leaked the email? Possibilities abound, and we welcome your thoughts. A few starters.
Steven Joyce: Joyce is running strategy for the Nats. If the Nats are going to have Maori seats, which will be unpalatable to many of their supporters, then Joyce wants the story to be one of ’strong leadership” by Key. He can also be seen to deal to Hide. Equally Joyce can now gauge public reaction. If it swings in behind Hide, he needs to be able to present a deal with Hide as the only route to stable government.
Tau Henare: Henare can see that he is struggling to convince his colleagues that there should be Maori seats. Never one for the subtle strategy he is putting his views out into the public to see if the reaction of the Maori Party ( and their general uneasiness about Rodney) can generate enough support in his Caucus for the seats.
Rodney Hide: never underestimate Rodney’s capacity for Machivellian games. If he thinks he is going to lose on the Maori seats issue this is a perfect way to call John Key’s bluff. He gets to take the ‘moral’ high ground in terms of his own support base, and possibly generate enough heat to convince Key that there should not be seats.
Whatever, the losers in this particular game are the people of Auckland, and most especially the Maori population. If only the government had stuck with the Royal Commission recommendation.
It was Tau.
It’s not going to work as ’strong leadership’ for Key. Having no Maori seats is only the sub-story: the PM caving in to the 1% party becomes the dominant story. Hide wins, Key loses.
Advice for Labour MPs: repeat all day long: “Who’s in charge?”. That’s your soundbite. With suitably grave, statesmanlike demeanour (as opposed to the gleeful jig you’re dancing inside!).
As we’ve now learned that Red Alert in the morning becomes Hansard in the afternoon
… here’s the first draft:
“Who’s in charge?”
So you also think the Government should stick with the Royal Commission’s recommendations on at large seats and have 10 at large seats and only 10 wards seats?
A bit hypocritical to keep going on about how the Government should stick with the RC’s recommendations when you are camapigning for a very major one to be dumped.
Also by saying the Government should have stuck with the RC recommendations, are you endorsing Iwi appointing (not electing) a member of Council?
labour yells “Who’s in charge?” – goff runs out and buys name badge – so his mp’s know who he is.
David, if you can’t fault the article, dont try and shift the subject, it only makes your overinflated prominance ever more unjustified.
Go back to Bill’s office and get talking points that don’t make a penguin sound like a parrot.
Whaddya mean “who would have leaked the email”? It wasn’t leaked. My understanding is that it was sent directly by Tau Henare to TV3.
David- I think it is pretty clear that I am saying National/ACT would have saved themselves a lot of bother if they had stuck with the Royal Commission recommendation on Maori seats. I am not commenting here on other recommendations.
But back to the post, I think David as a Nat insider will have some insight on how this is playing out. Care to share with us, David?
Would Hide have been sent a copy of such an email?
It seemed obvious in the wake of the election that Hide would try to capture Winston Peters old redneck vote and that’s just what he’s doing, playing Don Brash’s old ‘equality and one law for all’ card; it’s a sensible thing for him to do – there’s a good 5-10% of the electorate right there – and if the Maori Party are going to be ‘disappointed’ but not inclined to put their ongoing mana-enhancement at risk there’s no reason for Key to stop him.
What is Labours position on the seats ?
kiwibiker
you raise an interesting question…whos in charge..?
John Key or wag the tail 1% rodney hide
Terry – this coming from a party that lapped up Winston’s peters every whim for years – despite the damage it did to the country.
Your memory is very short (and more than a little selective)
As is yours. Only National ever put Winston Peters in charge of the economy.
Grant – fi ne not to talk about consistency of stance on this issue with other RC recommendations. But even focusing just on Maori seats issues, the RC recommended an appointed seat for Iwi. I thought Labour did not support this, and hence Labour was also differing from the Royal Commission on the issue of Maori seats.
Am I correct, or does Labour support an Iwi appointed Councillor?
As for how it plays out, I’m waiting for an ipredict market before I reveal my guess
david farrar
Off thread deleted Trevor
David: Labour believes strong Maori participation is critical to the success of the Auckland. Just as the Maori seats in Parliament guarantee a Maori voice in Parliament a similar arrangement could work well on the Auckland Council.
The sad reality though is that these decisions are not going to be taken by Labour. It is really interesting that Mr Farrar and others try to divert the conversation. The issue here is about what National will do.
Tau wrote it, he didn’t leak it. That was someone a little higher up the Beehive lift.
I thought Labour were keen on two Maori seats, both elected from the Maori roll – rather than being “appointed”. Considering there are enough people on the Maori roll to justify 2 seats, that would make good sense.
Jarbury, that’s my understanding too. My question is what will Tau do when his collegues ram his own email down his throat? Will he spit or swallow?
Jarbury and Jennifer, you have a man of principle and a party of principle stating its principle. Hide was perfectly proper stating he could not, as Minister, introduce a bill he could not support (that contained apartheid provisions).
Then you have the Labour Party via Grant Robertson:
…strong participation is critical….could work well…
You make up your own mind. That was about as unequivocal as Winston’s “NO” sign last year.
Why the big fuss over Rodney Hide at all? His position (and the ACT party) over Maori seats is no secret. Some politicians have called his stance undemocratic, which is completely illogical. Why wouldn’t he say he’d resign if Maori seats were added to the supercity? Isn’t he standing up for the principles of his party and its supporters?
Twyford asserting that Hide would “throw his toys out of the cot if he did not get his own way” is rather ironic. I recall an issue a few years ago concerning Maori. Ultimately, a cabinet minister resigned from parliament and then ran and won a seat for a racially based party…
Gooner, I agree that Labour should come clean on what they’re in favour of. Two seats that are both elected makes good sense, so I don’t see why they aren’t just up front about that.
Labour likes to promote the fiction that they are the defender of the Royal Commission’s work when in reality they want to make major changes to it also. As you see, pointing this out results in MPs being very reluctant to detail what their policy actually is, as it undercuts their rhetoric.
DPF- whatever spin you try the bottom line is that with Labour there would be Maori seats on any Auckland Super Council, and with National, well, who knows. Is the tail wagging the dog?
Thanks Grant but I am not really any the wiser, do you want them elected or appointed. Is this something you want for all councils or just Auckland ?
Grant seems to be saying that all that matters is that Labour is saying their will be Maori Seats on the Council, and that it doesn’t matter whether or not they are elected or appointed. I think it does matter.
I don’t know why it is so hard for Labour to admit they do not agree with the Royal Commission in regards to their mana whenua seat recommendation.
That is all very well, Mr Robertson, but let’s not pretend that the principle Labour is defending is the royal commission report as the basis for this, since Labour is advocating changes that are quite dramatically different from the RC report in many areas, including the construct of Maori seats.
Gooner, I see Winston Hide has now widened his threat to include all portfolios. As someone said in the House, a win / win. Hide has made a complete mess of the Auckland governance reforms, and those chickens are coming home to roost. National did not cleverly use him, as some claim, they just realised early into Hide’s process that while the public would buy the ‘one council, one mayor’ set up, they simply would not buy his and his backers’ massive power grab. The pragmatist Key versus the zealot Hide. My pick is that Hide’s crazy plans for the local government act will suffer the same fate. Hide may as well resign, because his tenure will have been a total failure and credibility is important in a Minister.
You must have had a terrible sleep last night Jennifer or deleted personal abuse Trevor, one or t’other.
You are so wrong it is not worth responding to apart from that.
Gooner, thanks for achnowledging the impregnability of my comments. Much obliged.
[...] I briefly thought we might get an answer to the question I posed last week about who actually leaked Tau Henare’s email .