Mana on: Nact off

In Opotiki today the Mana movement opened an office on the main street - Annette Sykes was out on the hustings doing her thing. One of the things she does quite well - apart from haranging the National government - is singing. Well all the Maori candidates seem to be adept at waiata (except Willie Jackson which is probably why he didn't run in the end :) and to hear their fine renditions of some of the old favourites was a stark contrast to any other political party I know of. It was a good street vibe in this heartland town in the Waiariki electorate and people were signing up left, right and centre.

And speaking of left, right and centre while we were there the latest Horizon Poll came out. It puts the election outcome on a knife edge:

Which main party will have an opportunity to form the next Government may depend on the New Zealand First and the Mana parties, and who 6.9% of undecided voters support.

An October 19-21 RadioLIVE-Horizon poll of 2,200 registered electors who intend to vote shows the current National-Act-Maori Party-United Future coalition could end up with 60 seats in a 122 seat Parliament.

It probably will be as close as this and depend in no small part as to how Winston and his outfit performs, but the interesting thing for me was Annette's reaction to the poll commentary. When she saw the poll had Mana up (to 2.3%) she was delighted, but when she read some commentary that there was a possibility Mana might go with National she was gobsmacked. WTF!? I too was perplexed - what commentator would be calling that? Maybe it was this from Radio Live via TV3 news:

Horizon Research says National may also need an agreement with New Zealand First or the Mana Party.

There ain't gonna be no deal with the Tories and Mana - let's get that straight. That is one of Mana's bottom lines - no deal with National or with Act FULL STOP.

I know this for sure; not because it's as obvious as the oil on Tauranga's beaches, or that it is what Hone would be bound to say or that John Minto and Sue Bradford would rather eat a three course meal of broken glass, poison, followed by more broken glass than go with the Nats, but because at Annette's selection hui a few weeks ago (the Waiariki electorate was uncontested so it was an endorsement rather than a selection as such, but there was a speech followed by a Q&A) I asked her directly: If the election was close and John Key rang you what would you say to him? Her answer was immediate and firm, without any hesitation: "I wouldn't pick up the phone!" There will be no deals with National or with Act. She was quite clear on that, crystal clear.

So any suggestion the 'Maori nationalist' wing is in the ascendency over the 'leftist' wing (if that's even possible to have wings in a movement that is only half a year old) and that therefore some accomodation may be possible with National is just not a starter no matter what factions and personalities might or might not be in a Mana caucus after the general election. If iPredict were to run a book on the chances of the Mana Party (or indeed any Mana MP) having a deal with National it should be at 0%. The Labour Party would be more likely to have a deal with National.

And as for the Greens - they are half way to converting to middle class coalition whoredom already. Proof of the Green's preparing to sell out was one of their MPs - Catherine Delahunty's - public stance that if the Greens went with National after the election she would rather quit as an MP. The telling thing was she was the only one to make that commitment. You would think the rest of them would too - but no, they wouldn't and haven't and won't. And if she did quit then that means there would be no caucus opposition and they can say it was by consensus. A horror scenario for the original Green membership, certainly, but the extra seats they look set to gain at this election will come from voters (and members) outside that group who have different allegiances from the Greens that once had the likes of Sue Bradford, Keith Locke and Nandor as MPs. There is a need, a latent demand, for a viable alternative party that will stand up to National in an uncompromising fashion and anchor future Labour governments to the left - that party is Mana.

The leadership of Mana is staunch and the people involved are thinking about the long term as well so there is no way they will support National.

Mana AGM

Mana Party statement:

Key Points

* The Constitution of MANA has been ratified and will be available on
the MANA website.
* MANA has a robust process in place to select candidates and list
positions.
* Key policy platforms have been discussed in the areas of Employment,
Health, Treaty Settlements, Environment and Energy, Housing, Welfare, The
Cost of Living and Taxation and Education. Policy platforms will be
announced over the coming months.
* The Executive of MANA comprises of Matt McCarten (President), Hone
Harawira (Leader), Annette Sykes (Co Vice-President), John Minto (Co
Vice-President), Raewyn Harrison (Secretary), Stephanie Harawira
(Treasurer). The Executive is joined by representatives from all 7 Maori
electorates.
* MANA will contest all seven Maori Seats.
* MANA will target General Seats, especially those that represent
lower socio-economic communities.
* MANA will embark upon a strong party vote campaign.

The big news is all seven Maori seats will be contested by Mana. The overtures from Hone and his intermediary, Willie Jackson, to the Maori party to co-ordinate some strategic alliance and do a deal over the seats have been foolishly rebuffed by the Maori Party. It is war now.

Annette Sykes and John Minto as vice-presidents shows a lot of power sharing has already been arranged. This is McCarten the fixer and the mastermind bringing in factions together and getting things rolling. The movement has come a long way in a very short while and this first AGM a milestone. Wish I had been there.

Statement from Hone Harawira
Leader of MANA
Te Piringatahi Marae, West Auckland
MANA AGM
6TH August 2011

Tena koutou katoa.

Today has been a great day for MANA and an even better day for Aotearoa.

We've had people travel up from all round the country, and we're rolling on to the General Election in November, with a simple message - MANA will go into the election as the free and independent voice for Maori, for workers and for the poor in this country.

Our research tells us that if every poor person in this country voted for MANA we would capture half the seats in Parliament, and we intend doing our best to give those people the voice they deserve.

MANA represents a newer, more honest, and more principled way of doing politics.

MANA will promote policies that highlight the Treaty as the foundation of our nation, and the basis by which we can provide immediate relief to those in need and long term change that will return the power to those who do the work. [...]

That's quite clear where Mana stands and the working "poor" as a class takes the catchment well beyond a disgruntled and disillusioned portion of the Maori Party and a fair way into traditional Labour territory. The unenrolled and protest votes that often stay away from the polls now have the ultimate protest vote at their disposal.

[...] MANA will bring a team to parliament like no other in living history, and we invite those who believe in change to give their party vote to the only party with the courage to make the changes we all desire.

Today I can confirm that MANA will contest all 7 Maori seats.

Maori from right throughout the country are walking away in droves from those who partner up with the parties of the rich, and signalling that they want the strong and independent leadership in parliament that MANA represents, the kind of leadership that will generate the change that Maori want.

MANA will also target the General Seats, especially those that represent communities that have been savaged by cuts in health, education and benefits, because even the poor deserve to have a champion in parliament.

We have already fielded calls from our Pacific cousins, beneficiary advocates and people well-known and well-respected in their communities, and we intend investing serious time and energy into pushing our policies in those low-decile areas.

MANA will also be pushing a national campaign to encourage people to give their party vote to MANA because MANA will be the only party with specific policies aimed at reducing prices, creating jobs, sharing the tax burden and keeping our nation's assets in the people's hands.

I have been genuinely humbled by the number of bright and talented people who have offered their support to MANA, but I take on board the request from our electorates that they be given more time to complete the process by which they choose their candidates to ensure that MANA goes into the election with the best possible team.

MANA's list will reflect the people we represent, and I am positive that they will all be leaders in their own right. Some will be high-profile and as a collective I believe that MANA stands a real chance of attracting a good percentage of the list vote.

Our message is simple: party vote MANA if you want real change; party vote MANA if you want an independent voice for Maori, for workers and for the poor.

The energy at our AGM has been awesome. We now have a solid constitutional base, I have been reconfirmed as party leader, Matt McCarten is our national president, and John Minto and Annette Sykes have been appointed as co-vice presidents and spokespeople for MANA as well.

We're ready to roll ...

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa

At last an alternative to the regime. Probably make a better opposition than a government party at this point however. It is a radical-activist political movement now, but it is capable of attracting beyond this core and may even prove to become an institutional presence in the same way the other parties are.

The potentialy volatile mix of personalities and cultures makes Mana an intriguing prospect for the Goffphobic desserting Labour voter, along with switching to the safer and more compliant Greens who will back Labour unconditionally.

As it stands Mana is placed to attract ex-Alliance, ex-Mana Motuhake, ex-Labour voters as well as about 60%+ of (ex-)Maori Party voters as well as the Red-Green Greens that Sue Bradford and her mates can pull across. That has to be worth 5% on a good day. Only if Mana looked reasonably certain to take five or six electorates should that party vote strategy change, but at present every electorate except for Tai Tokerau should be considered reasonably certain so that means it is the party vote all the way. A consequence of that will be raising party profile by standing as many candidates in the General seats as they can manage. In some marginals like New Plymouth the decision to stand may even have political leverage attached too.

They should be aiming to beat the threshold if they are after the party vote and if they are the people's party and that means the top 7 on the list - and preferably all the Maori electorate candidates - should be well respected within their constituency and high profile figures. Annette Sykes and John Minto will make fine candidates - as would Matt McCarten and Willie Jackson should they decide to get amongst it. They should be able to put together more than seven who will make a staunch alternative front bench for the left to ponder.


Mr Bradbury at Mana agm

Back in the House

Hone Harawira was sworn in without any to do. It was done very quickly and in marked contrast to all the drama last time round when the Speaker became hyper-sensitive and chucked him out for daring to do what others also try to do: add the Treaty and one's constituents to their statement of allegiance. Lockie took that as dissing the Queen and kicked him out instead of asking him to repeat it - a contrast to other affirmations at the start of term when it was nowhere near as strict.

Different story today - a fortnight after the initial attempt was made - it's all business now and Hone has taken his new seat on the front benches.

However, this is not just any other day in parliament. This is the first time (at least certainly in my generation) that a real Maori - someone who speaks and thinks and acts Maori and leads a Maori party with an authentic Maori kaupapa - has ever been in parliament.

The Ratana movement displaced the conservatives in the four 'native' seats in the 1930s, but their MPs were soon thereafter co-opted and then absorbed by Labour and lost their independence. Matt Rata left Labour and stood for Mana Motuhake in Northern Maori in the early 1980s, came close, but never made it into the House. Tariana Turia left Labour after the foreshore and seabed confiscation of 2004 and returned with a party that appeared to fit the bill of authenticity, but her and her colleagues' shabby deal to reinstate the confiscation and their weakness in supporting a suite of National's right wing policies means the Maori Party can no longer be considered to progress an authentic kaupapa Maori. Hone on the other hand now carries that with him.

There is more hope than certainty perhaps with someone as maverick as Hone, but his headway against the Maori Party is demonstrable and likely to grow now he has the media oxygen of parliament and the putea of parliamentary leader.

In Waiariki for example Annette Sykes is lined up to go head-to-head with Te Ururoa Flavell and Louis whats-his-name from Labour will be stuck in distant third. The Maori Party are trying to re-establish their branches after the mass dessertions following the re-confiscation but they are drained of members, smarts and money and are struggling.

I've been past two scheduled hui attempting to reform the local Maori Party branch - with very few locals (perthaps less than ten) attending each - the numbers boosted by the out-of-towners as evident from the convoy of flagged cars parked outside both times. To little avail. Following the last meeting they sent a delegation out to a Marae to find the (ex)chairman of the branch to beg him to come back. Na-ah, that wasn't happening. They are in collapse with blind loyalty the only adhesive that keeps them going.

Compare that situation with Hone's hui he had in town on Thursday - with almost no notice - and about fifty turn up! Unfortunately the notice was too short for me to make it, but I understand Sue Bradford and John Minto may contest Auckland electorates for Mana. Sykes - as we know - will go against Flavell. Nothing yet about the other seats or who will take on Parekura's East Coast Tairawhiti seat if he doesn't stand again (and it appears he won't). If he doesn't stand it could be all on as there isn't a clear leader in that pack. If Mana backs a big name there Labour could be in trouble (remembering Derek Fox challenged for the Maori Party and turned it marginal in 2005).

Mana: Treaty settlement policy

The end point of the Mana Party's draft Treaty settlement policy is constitutional transformation. Now I take that to mean: transformed so the Treaty is superceded and all the Treaty Settlement infrastructure isn't needed anymore - post-settlement. At that point Maori and their institutions and rights etc. will be normal (and not "special" as Pakeha usually think of it nowadays) and the Crown will be brought back to compliance with the Waitangi Treaty (ie. 'Honouring the Treaty') and it becomes the basis for the new constitutional order. That's the way it should happen. It is far from a straight forward course at the present moment, but this draft policy goes further in spelling it out than Labour ever would:

Treaty Settlements

The purpose of the Treaty settlements system is to justly settle Crown breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. A suite of policy changes is needed to ensure claims lodged under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 are settled more justly.

Mana Party policy priorities are to:

* Remove the Deadline for lodging of claims which was imposed for 1 September 2008 and extend the time frame for the settlement of historical claims with the Waitangi Tribunal to better enable iwi with such claims to properly research and state their cases. [This is necessary because the government is trying to rush the process and cut people off, punishing them for their lack of resources and compounding the injustice.]

* Increase resourcing of the Waitangi Tribunal so that it is better able to hear and expedite the settlement of claims in a fair and timely manner.

* Expand the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal to make binding recommendations in certain cases.[It's a matter of what is the Tribunal best at doing - digesting academic correspondence, rendering decisions, resolving issues between Maori and the Crown? If they are competent to make binding recommendations then on who - government or also on others? If it is binding there will also need to be an appeal corridor too. ]

* Increase the value of settlements to iwi by introducing a graduated system of settlement rather than a one-off settlement package. This would replace the current “full-and-final” settlement system and would enable the Crown to justly settle claims over time.[This will be welcome to those Iwi having difficulty internally agreeing on everything needed for a global package - so it may be helpful. There may be issues here with a future Minister of Finance being responsible for blowing out the Crown's $1 billion fiscal envelope enshrined in the ratchet clauses of the Tainui and Ngai Tahu deals of the 90s, but no government is officially acknowledging it as a problem because it is such a piddling amount in the scheme of a budget of dozens of billions - and Mana would reject a limitation on principle in any case.]

* Establish an independent Treaty of Waitangi Commission, where the Commissioner is elected by Māori voters at general elections. A key role of the Commission would be to oversee the recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal and the negotiations of the Office of Treaty Settlements to better protect the rights of iwi claimants.[Interesting, one commissioner or one per electorate? This negotiation role seems like another blasted layer of bureaucracy, but it is crucial to ensure fairness. Some idea like this is welcome, although I think a third party (or process like the international court of arbitration etc.) would act as a better honest broker. An outside mechanism is needed because the government and their TPK and OTS and MoJ and so on are agents of the Crown and are not impartial.]

* Prioritise the return of Crown owned lands including those held by State Owned Enterprises where there are proven claims over those lands in keeping with the maxim “Me riro whenua atu, me hoki whenua mai”.['Land banking' is already underway in some confiscation areas so that the tribe will end up with something, but it isn't much because all the agencies of government are selling and transferring land out of the public domain all the time - and Acts like the Foreshore and Seabed are a continuing confiscation.]

* Ensure that the texts of He Whakaputanga o Ngā Rangatiratanga o Niu Tireni and Te Tiriti o Waitangi are the reference points in settlement dealings between iwi and the Crown, and not the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.[Act would actually agree with Mana on the principles bit anyway - wishy washy mush dreamt up by a judge to excuse the Crown from actually following the letter of the Treaty. It says what it says and it doesn't need a layer of judges and then bureaucrats and then politicians to try to put their spin on it so as to water it down for Maori and let the NZ government still do whatever they like. And the declaration of independence - before the Treaty - is in too. This is very good move - it will inform everyone that the spine in the Treaty comes from an earlier Mana Motuhake from Maori.]

* Abolish Crown appointment of brokers and facilitators to effect settlements, and ensure iwi have the capacity to select their own leaders and appoint their own advisers without Crown interference.[Government interference and conflict of interests in the process - and of course their ultimate interference and conflict of interest by having constructed the process itself as the only one available to Maori - is pervasive. For that reason an outside party may be in a better position to be trusted. So this policy is a good start and can be applied to engagement with the third party (rather than continue entertaining the Crown's own games and sideshows).]

* Begin a process to settle the way in which political and legal power is structured in Aotearoa New Zealand. Settlement must include meaningful constitutional transformation. [And on this score the Maori Party - of which Hone was a member until earlier this year - has got National to agree to a constitutional korero. That conversation will start soon as the Maori Party will want to use it as a policy win for them in the campaign. It will be overwhelmed utterly by the MMP debate most likely, so to cut through Mana will have to offer more than the conversation itself, a constitutional solution of their own.]

It's pretty dry, it's pretty moderate, it's prescriptions conventional and minimalist, but it's a good starting point for policy and I expect it may get more "radical" in tone and substance once it gets to the end of the process.