Following Cam’s excellent article on Monday regarding Willie Jackson’s attempt to put the Māori Party on the right track, I thought I would add my tuppence worth. The question has to be: will Willie win over the dissenters?
Has Willie ever won anything in his life? He left school, became a freezing worker and got involved with the union movement, has worked in broadcasting and spent time as a politician, which is where he now finds himself. Where he also finds himself now, by the looks of it, is between a rock and a hard place, as does the party he belongs to.
Willie seems to have taken it upon himself to try and talk some sense into his brothers and sisters in the Māori Party. Should we applaud him for doing so? After all, this is quite a departure for Willie as he is often caught out talking in a way that makes no sense. It is therefore somewhat laudable that Willie is giving this a shot. What his chances are of pulling off this Herculean task is another matter entirely.
What Willie is saying to the Māori Party MPs makes a lot of sense. He is backed up by his colleague Adrian Rurawhe, the former speaker of the House. It comes in the form of a dose of reality. This could be Willie’s first problem, because it’s perfectly obvious to the rest of us that the Māori Party doesn’t deal in reality. If they did Willie wouldn’t find himself in his current predicament. So, in that regard, all kudos to him.
Willie is giving his brothers and sisters some home truths. First, he lets them know he loves them. This is a double-edged sword for Willie as it’s doubtful his love will be reciprocated and it may not go down well with the rest of the population – the majority of whom have no love for them. In making this proclamation, he is going where angels fear to tread but then, as he would probably agree, he’s no angel.
Second, Willie told them he doesn’t want a war. Fair enough but he needs to be wary of that piece of rope Mr Waititi displayed in parliament recently. I’m not suggesting there was any evil intent, as the purpose was to emphasise that Māori have had one around their necks contributing to all of their ills since colonisation. This is the sort of nonsense that Willie, in his earnest endeavours, will have to contend with.
Third, Willie went on to tell them we have to get this government out, and to do that they have to work together. “Jobs, health, homes, that’s the kaupapa (policy) of the Labour Party. When I’m out there, nobody comes up to me and says, ‘I’m not happy about the tikanga (custom, protocol) in parliament. They come up to me and say, ‘It’s really tough: we can’t build homes; it’s hard in the health area; we can’t get jobs.’ That has to be the priority for us and it has to be the priority for the Māori Party.”
This could be Willie’s second problem because, as they have demonstrated, they’re not interested in any of that. They’re there solely for what they and the tiny rabble they represent want. If Willie thinks they’re in parliament for either the good of their people or the left-wing movement as a whole then the news is all bad.
They are there for the same reason as the big bad wolf in the children’s book The Three Little Pigs, except in this case there are six big bad wolves. They’re there to huff and puff and blow the house down. That House represents democracy: something that is an anathema to them. Willie suggests to them there’s nothing wrong with apologising and when you come into parliament you have to compromise.
Problem number three for Willie. These people he professes his love for will never apologise to an institution they don’t believe in. Nor will they compromise. Quite the opposite: they are there to try and destroy it. They want their own house to huff and puff in and expect the descendants of the dreadful colonists to stump up the money for the privilege.
Asked if he thought Labour and the Māori Party could work together, Willie thought they could make a deal. There are no prizes for guessing which party a deal would favour. In terms of getting into government, if the polls are to be believed, the Māori Party holds all the cards. Theoretically speaking, Willie would have Rawiri’s noose around his neck.
John Tamihere, it would appear, has already rained on Willie’s objectives, saying Labour has to do things their way while the Māori Party has to do things its way. No compromise there either. Rawiri Waititi chimed in that, unlike Jackson and Rurawhe who are in a majority Pākehā party, his party do not have the constraints of being chained by party politics. Waititi said they are chained by their people (in reality a small minority). Willie needs to understand the beast he is dealing with.
There appears to be little or no room for an accommodation unless it is on the Māori Party’s terms. In respect of their agenda, it makes no difference to the Māori Party whether they sit on the opposition or government benches because, in terms of what they want to achieve, any green leather upholstered seat will do. They are not interested in working with any other party in parliament. That’s not why they’re there. They are there to disrupt, threaten and act in a way more akin to the warriors of the 1860s. It might not be muskets at dawn but, in respect of this skirmish, it’s the Māori Party that holds the upper hand.
So you have to ask yourself why Willie is taking on something that must inevitably end up as a lost cause. We all know the answer to that. The Māori Party is Labour’s only path to power and all the power is with them. Willie knows this. Even if he got a deal he would then have to convince a highly skeptical electorate it was a goer and I suspect that would be even more of a mission impossible than the one he’s currently engaged in. Full marks for trying Willie but I don’t like your chances.
