In a surprise move, Dr Sharma has resigned his seat in Parliament and there will be a by-election in the Hamilton West electorate. Unlike most socialist MPs the good Doctor does have “something to go back to” (as Bob Jones famously observed), hence having little desire to remain – bored to tears – in Parliament, and why almost all of his former colleagues are expressing astonishment at his departure.
There are news reports along the lines of “senior Labour politicians threatened to destroy his political career“, and the response from Dr Sharma appears to be a yawn and “so what?”. In the socialist mindset, nothing is more important than remaining in politics. They think you can’t survive on your own outside the collective, whereas the rest of us have actual “lives” and interests and friends and hobbies.
From the perspective of the socialist government, this is the worst electorate for a by-election.
Hamilton West reflects almost precisely the New Zealand electorate as a whole. Since the 2002 election, both National and Labour have received party votes within 1% of the nationwide average. Interestingly, even in 2020, it was the same story – something that contrasted markedly with most electorates around the country two years ago.
It’s an electorate I have always rather enjoyed visiting. When I spent a couple of extended stays there in recent years, it had a nice vibe about it. When you are actually there, walking the dog or in the supermarket or at a local park, it does have that middle New Zealand, that “bit of everything” feel about it.
What I have always found intriguing about both Hamilton electorates is the boundaries have remained basically the same for 50 years yet the population has more than doubled. Fewer than 20,000 people voted in Hamilton West when Mallard was the MP (on a turnout of over 91%) but over 40,000 did so in 2020 on a much lower 81% turnout. Was it fairly empty 35-40 years ago? It doesn’t appear particularly crowded today. Due to the Hamilton West the party vote mirroring the overall nationwide result so closely for so long, a person needs to merely look at the TV3 news opinion poll to know what the likely result of the by-election will be! haha!
But this could be an opportunity to have some fun were a certain party – (yes, I am casting a glance at you Mr Seymour) – to have the gumption. ACT could really lead the charge against the farming tax due to Hamilton’s economy being so heavily dependent on the rural hinterland (it’s certainly not tourism, is it?). If it were me I’d knock on doors, visit businesses, supermarkets, and anywhere else I could meet lots of people, and hand them all a ‘pink slip’ – a redundancy notice: “Fired due to Labour’s farming tax”.
Bring “Middle NZ” face to face with the consequences of virtue-signalling twaddle. Encourage people to consider such matters as losing their house, losing their living standard, starving, unemployment; or their children scavenging at the local tip for food; you know, little matters like that.
On the other hand, can anybody seriously imagine Seymour – let alone James McDowall MP – having the [you-know-what] for that sort of bare knuckle boxing?
As for National seeking an MP who is from a rural background, private school educated, sane, not a bully or pervert, no skeletons, “one of us” (so to speak): could it finally be Alan Mckie’s turn? (whoops, did I say that?)
