will the Maori Party be left IV
Comments in the Listener by Tariana Turia (not available online) are quite worrying:
Turia denies her party is looking back and she remains convinced that Maori will not achieve under Labour, and says that the statistics prove it.
...
"In reality, if you look at the history of the National Party, because of their free-market, private-enterprise philosophy, they have actually allowed Maori people to participate and take back some control."
...
"Kohanga reo, kura kaupapa, wananga, Maori health providers and Maori social service providers were Maori initiatives, but all came out under National governments."
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"Labour has always believed the state shall provide. Labour has kept our people trapped in dependence..."
An interesting comment from the article's author:
...Turia is better at describing what the state does badly than giving detail of Maori Party policy to make service delivery work better.
Where is the policy????
Previous posts on the matter:- will the Maori Party be left I
- will the Maori Party be left II
- will the Maori Party be left III
- that "brand"
and, on Matt McCarten's involvement in the Maori Party (and others):
- he's a party person
(I'm not obsessed, I just want some bloody policy and principles so that I can determine whether they are indeed left or not!)
4 comments:
The Maori Party is learning from NZ First that minor parties do not need policy, just branding.
Last election NZ First branded itself as doing something about the treaty, immigration and law & order and got 10%. Now I doubt any of us can name specific policies they had, just that this is what they campaigned on.
Likewise the Maori Party is branding itself as standing up for Maori.
yes I found an interesting comment by Hone Harawira last night that tends to support your analysis, that they are just going to go with a brand. He actually said something along the lines of the MP not being left or right but being "pro-Maori".
I think that is a cheats response - it means they can remain all things to all people and that candidates can just talk to the audience they have at the time, rather than having to be consistent across the board. ARGH!
you are right about Winston's stance in 2002 - all I remember is the three fingers ;-)
Maori Party will not confiscate Maori property and will not sell out their own people and heritage - simple as that. Positions on individual issues are not really relevant.
They believe that National can give Maori the tools to manage their own affairs based on previous experience because they have a commitment to privatisation (ie. of social, cultural, educational etc. programmes). This is compatible with Tino Rangatiratanga and the basic, practical, day-to-day resources that groups need to effect autonomy. National has no problem in theory with devolving the management of community programmes and assets to the community itself as long as government money is accounted for. Is that left wing or right wing?
As for single-issue parties. The only thing relevant about the ANC is that they would end apartheid, who really cared what their other policies were? They abadoned their communist allies' ideals successfully.
There are indigenious minority parties within many European countries, such as Spain, UK and Belgium, and majority ones all over the place. Weren't the Ulstermen propping up John Major's regime in the end?
Indeed, to say the Maori Party is for Maori, you might as well say the other parties are for Pakeha. The foreshore and seabed law proved that (barring the Greens and the good works of Meteria Turei).
So are they left wing? - ish.
but National would use devolution as a mechanism to privatise and thus massively reduce state funding (and on a bad day I would say Labour does the same, albeit to a lesser extent) which is surely not in Maori interests?
i am personally quite keen on community models, but i am wary of political parties who support them as it is usually a means to cut government spending and thus deliver tax cuts to the people who need them least (the rich).
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