I won’t even use the c word in Scrabble. It just represents a vulgar low standard never to be stooped to. But I have heard my grown-up kids use it so I guess I am just out of touch.
Nevertheless, to hear it used in parliament is in keeping with the tone the Māori Party has set. Except it came from ACT. Which disappoints me.
But it’s another c word that ACT invoked that really depressed me. It leaves me shaking my head about where ACT’s principles are at. My bogey c word is collectivism.
ACT is supposed to be the bastion of individual rights. They rail against the identity politics beloved of the left, because identity politics always lead to illogical, inconsistent and contradictory positions.
But now they have a member saying, “No woman in this parliament or in this country should be subjected to sex-based discrimination ... us women need to stand together.”
It doesn’t work does it? That’s the same as ‘We Māori need to stand together’, which is exactly the bullying tactic used against Māori ACT MPs who refuse to toe the separatist, race-based policy line.
Parliament exists to make laws that are as fair as possible. The basis for achieving that end can only be the individual. That’s the whole gist of the Treaty Principles Bill – rights lie in the equal humanity of individuals regardless of race and gender.
If ACT is now the party of feminists whinging about misogyny, I don’t know who is left to vote for.
This article was originally published on the author’s blog.
