Posts by Craig Young
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Here's a little list of disgraced National and ACT MPs during the tenure of the Key and English administrations:
Richard Worth
David Garrett
Aaron Gilmore
Claudette Hauiti
Mark Sabin
Pansy Wong
Nick SmithNote that the latter is still there and hasn't even been dumped from Cabinet despite repeated mishaps.
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I think I've worked out why most of the parliamentary centre-right is keeping schtum on this issue- it probably has to do with the cumulative total of centre-right MPs donged for dodgy dealings, which wouldn't look good in an election year, so they've delegated the task to centre-right bloggers and media hacks.
Perhaps we should provide a corrective memory jog for this occassion? Incidentally, I'd certainly defend Metiria on the so-called 'benefit fraud' issue, as she was only trying to provide for her child, but enrolling elsewhere seems to be electoral fraud. She's probably wise in not expecting a ministerial portfolio.
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Hard News: That escalated quickly ..., in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Labour should immediately scrap the primary leadership selection format as soon as possible. It hasn't worked. And as for Grant, he's still finance spokesperson. That's number three, and a fairly powerful Cabinet role in its own right, as well as being a major policy platform. I don't think he's 'keeping clear' of Jacinda at all, any more than he did Andrew Little before her.
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My take on the events of today:
http://ianpattison.co.nz/shout/2017/08/01/new-zealand-labour-leadership-crisis/
What do we know about Jacinda Ardern? In the New Zealand Herald, Nicholas Jones (01.08.2017) provided an excellent biography. Ardern was born in Hamilton in 198o. She primary and secondary school in Morrinsville and also spent some time living in Murupara, where her father was a police officer. In other words, she may be able to compete with National for provincial city seats, which could turn out to be an asset during the current election campaign. She is a former Mormon, but left the faith at seventeen due to its antigay stance. Excellent! She has a Bachelor of Communication Studies from Waikato University and worked in the offices of former Labour leaders Phil Goff and Prime Minister Helen Clark. In London, she served as a Policy Advisor in the Cabinet Office and was later elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Ardern won the Mt Albert byelection in February 2017, ironically prompted by the resignation of former Labour leader David Shearer. In 2014, she she was on Grant Robertson’s unsuccessful ticket as deputy leadership candidate. Before her elevation to leadership, she served as Labour spokesperson for justice, children, arts culture and heritage and small business, and was also associate spokeswoman for Auckland issues. Again, this apprenticeship will undoubtedly stand her in good stead for the leadership, given the core nature of the Auckland seats given its demographic heft. Her core advantage may be her gender and youth.
New Zealand LGBT voters need some more substantive policy development from the centre-left now. Concrete trans-inclusive antidiscrimination laws are one, recognition of transgender homelessness and itinerant housing is another. Commendably for the Key and English administrations, one resolved the question of marriage equality, another has moved on the issue of historic homosexual ‘offences’ after a protracted period of debate, and during her tenure as Education Minister, Hekia Parata neutralised the lacklustre, feeble Family First failed moral panic against transgender student access to educational safety and privacy in the context of social transitioning. Of course, some regulatory recognition of transgender rights may be forthcoming in the housing arena- it would only take the equivalent of Dakota Hemmingson in the employment field to bring a Tenancy Tribunal case and win it. In that case, only service provider discrimination would remain as an issue of unresolved substantive transgender rights, until someone calls an anti-transgender business or other service provider in this context as well. In which case, one would have the miaou without the cat, so to speak. One does not expect an incoming centre-left administration to resolve everything, so staffing and funding of reassignment surgery will have to wait.
11.12 am: Jacinda Ardern has been elected unopposed as new Labour leader, with Kelvin Davis as her deputy. Questions remain about this transition. One, as above- will Labour now abandon the primary vote leadership election format? Will Labour now benefit from a gender gap, as in the Helen Clark era? What about younger voters, given she is only 37? After all, those votes won Clark three elections- and Ardern also has the advantage of international social democratic collegiality and policy formation expertise, which Little may not have had. Moreover, Andrew Little is no Mike Moore and recognised that his former deputy did not set out to undermine her. This sudden leadership shift may also upset government election strategies. Have we just witnessed the advent of New Zealand’s third female Prime Minister?
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We need to get out there and make this an election issue.
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Hard News: Genter's Bill: Starting at…, in reply to Russell Brown,
A regular wahine toa, that one! And much loved within the disability rights movement.
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Russell, you may want to get in touch with disability rights campaigner Dr Huhana Hickey on this issue, as she is a strong and articulate supporter of medicinal cannabis as a palliative and analgesic care option in this context.
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That said, I am in favour of a streamlined and rationalised Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 which would eliminate 'Class C' altogether and focus attention on Classes A and B. P/crystal meth is a far greater problem in terms of magnitude and scale of its effects than pot can ever be.
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And to be frank, sometimes these things have to happen in an incremental manner. Surely the important thing is to have medicinal cannabis derivatives decriminalised first and then worry about recreational cannabis later? That appears to be what happened in the United States.
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It's interesting that STV is still used in so few local body elections, and only where strong centres of MMP electoral reform acivism were before 1993. As others have noted, one drawback is the perceived logistical challenge of calculating the flow of preferences and the end result. Is another the lack of substantive civil authority that New Zealand local government actually has, apart from the Auckland Council? After all, we are a fairly centralised nation, especially compared to Australia.