An acquaintance, someone I once knew well but have largely drifted apart from, posts about her son's screaming in response to various stimuli. She doesn't know why it happens, she says, but it's wearing her down and she doesn't know how to manage it. She's a parent in need of more support than she's getting, like many are. You'd have to be a parent to understand, she says.
My fingers hover over the comment box. I'm pretty sure I know exactly why her son is reacting why he does. I have some educated guesses on things that would make life easier for him - but they start from a different philosophical viewpoint to that she appears to hold. You'd have to be a parent to understand. I click away.
Another time - and really this isn't one time, it's hundreds - I look for advice online on how to do things in a way that accommodates my needs. How to learn to drive. How to arrange meals in a way that works for me. How to survive the commute when people insist on playing music audible over their headphones. I mostly get strategies for helping one's child through primary school. Once I try looking to see if tiredness is a probably cause for an increase in impairment I noticed at a particular time; instead I find posts from parents complaining how tired they are of their child's disability.
I get frustrated by it. The various frustrations subside into one. There's an unspoken assumption that it is the needs of our parents only that matter, and when we cease to be their problem those needs disappear also, or that our needs disappear at age 18* because people fail to acknowledge that just like anyone else we change and grow up and find better ways of interacting with the world, and thus see any changes as a cure. Where less autonomy was a horrible thing - and it was for me - being thought of as a child instills fear. And then there's a feeling of looking at children who are very like you were, and watching the same mistakes being made over again, and you know that it generally has little to do with individuals and far more to do with a society but you're really not sure how to express that to an already stressed out parent.
Then I start thinking elsewhere. And I think of what we do in the queer community. Queerness isn't generally equated to childhood - the opposite in fact, with may queer kids being told they are far too young to understand their identity. And whilst some people do feel the need to be wary of interacting with young people, there are more of us who can't see a kid in school uniform smiling in a queer friendly space without feeling teary.
So when we see marginalised kids in our community but aren't afraid of being considered children ourselves, what do we do? We send books to them or to their schools. We offer them sofas to sleep on. We lend them money or help them navigate hellish systems to claim entitlements. We educate them about safe sex because mostly their schools utterly fail at doing so. We engage in activism and let them yell through the megaphone and oh god they're too young to understand why we yell no blood for oil at every single demo how did this happen? We offer advice on talking to families or schools if needed. We do our level best, in whatever way we think we can - and we know only too well that it's not always enough - to make them feel welcome and accepted and safe.
And what works in one situation doesn't work in others. Queer kids tend to have supportive parents or are pushing away from their parents, sometimes living independently by necessity. Many neuroatypical kids are more dependent than average - whether by reason of their impairment or because there are no facilities set up to enable them to become more independent. It isn't a perfect parallel for many reasons. But as much as I wish that people would stop treating adults like children, or recognising the needs of neurotypical parents only, I also hope we can find a better solution than abandoning and ignoring kids who are like we were.
*well actually a bunch of them did. It's amazing what happens when you learn exercising =/= catching a ball and writing =/= to holding a pen, but that is neither universal, nor does it mean they weren't partially replaced by others.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Not quite a year of it
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| 2011 Calendar cover: a llama in the High Country |
It's been an odd year for my family, politically. To start with I was still in an electoral hangover from being unexpectedly elected to the Puketapapa Local Board in late 2010; an amazing experience which I now feel I am starting to understand better and enjoy thoroughly. Balancing this significant commitment of time and mental energy with everything else has been a challenge, and sometimes I've had to go back to just operating on Essentials Only mode. Whenever I feel bogged down I find contact with constituents truly rejuvenating, even when we are disagreeing about something. People really appreciate getting a response, making an effort to find something out or give them the right contact person; it's an amazing testament actually to how low expectations of politicians are, which is something I hope to play a part in changing.
In late January I became a candidate's wife (again) several months before I'd thought I might, due to the Botany by-election. That was an eye-opener. I have seen my partner work very hard, but that campaign was another level again from previous campaigns, even the ones where we had both been candidates. Not only did we have two kids under 4, one of whom was still breast-feeding, we also had not a lot of spare cash and suddenly one of the adults was away from 6am to 11pm, and then doing a couple of hours of campaign admin when he did get home too. The phones would ring at most hours (midnight to 5am appears to still be sacrocanct), I was constantly washing (but not ironing) white shirts for him and red clothes for me, and then the dishwasher broke. The Botany result was a predictable loss for the Labour candidate, but a gratifying one in that the margin wasn't embarassing and both the candidate and the party organisation around him did well.
Two weeks later I went back to regular paid employment, after taking maternity leave since the previous August. I moved back into a different role at the same union - less responsibility, less pay, shorter hours and a whole new sector to learn about. That too has been incredibly challenging. New acronyms and lingo, new people to meet, new structures to understand, and a sense of disconcerting disconnection from my previous work area which I had cared passionately about. I care about the new stuff too, and am now slowly building my understanding of the issues and people, nurturing my passion for this part of the education sector too. Most people have assumed I am part time because of my childcare responsibilities, so I have to explain regularly that actually I have two paid part time jobs and share the childcare with my partner. It's a bit tedious.
Another fortnight or so on in time and the Labour list was announced. We were on edge, waiting for the phone to ring, wondering who would call and whether it would be good news or bad. We'd estimated a top 40 ranking would be sufficient to be within consideration (how wrong we were!) but when the call came and it was 32 we were both a bit stunned. That seemed certain, something we could plan around. We didn't really start planning, other than to not make any Big Plans beyond November. Who knew what could happen after all.
Monday, 28 November 2011
An Ironic Juxtaposition
Cross posted from my usual spot...
jux•ta•po•si•tion / [juhk-stuh-puh-zish-uh n]
noun
an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
An Ironic Juxtaposition: Twilight Vs. White ribbon day.
Some people will say “ahhh I have heard this rant before”. Some people may be on the “huh?” side of things.
When I read the first twilight book I had shudders. I read the entire series because A) they were easy to read, and B) I wanted to see exactly how dysfunctional things got.
If twi-hards read my blog, at this point I’m sure you are thinking “What the HELL!! This is TRUE LOVE, look what they GO THROUGH TO BE TOGETHER!!!” (More than three exclamation marks to a fan is as glitter to the vamps)
Actually, true love means doing the best for your partner. In the example of the twilight characters it would be him never talking to her and walking the hell away, since at their age difference it is essentially paedophilia.
Having been in an abusive relationship I know exactly how romantic it is.
The massive ups and downs. Having them tell you that they are sorry, it is just that they love you SO MUCH. After I broke up with him it advanced to more fully fledged stalking, and abuse. Even then there were 17 year olds cooing about how romantic he was. WTF is romantic about someone following you, or sitting outside your house and just watching?
Seeing as 12 years hasnt improved anyone's comprehension of romance vs dysfunction, I am going to lay out the stark facts. These thanks to the Sophie Elliot Foundation (I found her case terrifyingly close to home).
So with the above in mind, have a go at the quiz below… and let me know if you still think Edward should be held up as the ultimate boyfriend.
Some Facts about Abusive Relationships thanks to Living without violence NZ, and other references.
One woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner in New Zealand every four weeks. Approximately half of all homicides in New Zealand are family violence related.
66% of women seeking Women’s Refuge help are 17-35 years old. In 2009, 26.1% of refuge clients were aged 16 – 25 years old. (New Zealand Women’s Refuge 2006, 2010)
One in three New Zealand women experience physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of a partner during their lifetime.
25 per cent of those convicted of ‘male assaults female’ in 2006 were 15 – 24 years old, with 44% of all those convicted being under 29 years old. (Ministry of Justice, 2008)
In any one year, one woman in five will experience physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of a partner.
15-24 year olds are the age group most at risk of physical, psychological and sexual victimisation from current and ex-partners. (New Zealand National Survey of Crime Victims, 2006)
One in five New Zealand men are subjected to violence by their partners.
One woman dies approximately every 26 days at the hand of her partner or former partner. We estimate that over 20 women have been murdered since Sophie in 2008. (Roundtable for Violence Against Women)
93 out of every 100 domestic violence cases in New Zealand are male assault female.
In 2009, nearly 75% of the 29 female murder victims were killed by offenders identified as a family member or partner. (Police Statistics on Culpable deaths in New Zealand, April 2010)
About 10 children are killed every year in New Zealand by a member or members of their own family.
Women’s Refuge receive a crisis call every 9 minutes. New Zealand police receive a domestic violence crisis call every 7 minutes. (Its Not Ok, 2010)
The annual cost of family violence in New Zealand is at least $1.2 billion.
37% of protection order applications and 25% of respondents are under 29 years old. (Family Court Statistics, 2007)
Family violence is a major problem in New Zealand but by reaching out for help all of us can begin to change the cycle of abuse and violence.
48 per cent of couples at age 21 years old reported having been involved in physical partner violence. (Dunedin Longitudinal Study, Moffitt and Caspi, 1999)
NB: Please note that the above stats and info relating to “Male” to “female” violence is due to the current white ribbon campaign. Abuse can occur in the reverse and cisgender women and men are not the only identitie included within this data.
jux•ta•po•si•tion / [juhk-stuh-puh-zish-uh n]
noun
an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
An Ironic Juxtaposition: Twilight Vs. White ribbon day.
Some people will say “ahhh I have heard this rant before”. Some people may be on the “huh?” side of things.
When I read the first twilight book I had shudders. I read the entire series because A) they were easy to read, and B) I wanted to see exactly how dysfunctional things got.
If twi-hards read my blog, at this point I’m sure you are thinking “What the HELL!! This is TRUE LOVE, look what they GO THROUGH TO BE TOGETHER!!!” (More than three exclamation marks to a fan is as glitter to the vamps)
Actually, true love means doing the best for your partner. In the example of the twilight characters it would be him never talking to her and walking the hell away, since at their age difference it is essentially paedophilia.
Having been in an abusive relationship I know exactly how romantic it is.
The massive ups and downs. Having them tell you that they are sorry, it is just that they love you SO MUCH. After I broke up with him it advanced to more fully fledged stalking, and abuse. Even then there were 17 year olds cooing about how romantic he was. WTF is romantic about someone following you, or sitting outside your house and just watching?
Seeing as 12 years hasnt improved anyone's comprehension of romance vs dysfunction, I am going to lay out the stark facts. These thanks to the Sophie Elliot Foundation (I found her case terrifyingly close to home).
Early signs of abuse in relationships
Power and control
Is obsessive. Tells you who you can see, what clothes to wear, how to have your hair or makeup. Often says, “If you love me you will …”
Possessiveness
Wants to know where you going, who you are with, when you will be home, and so on. Displays stalking behaviours such as following you, accusing you of being unfaithful, flirting, and so on.
Isolates you
Stops you or makes it difficult for you to see your family or friends. Sulks or is moody when your family or friends are around, and makes you feel uncomfortable until they are gone.
Threats
Is abusive to you, or about your family, friends or pets. Indulges in name calling, and physical and emotional threats. Says things like, “I will leave you if …”, “I will hurt you if ….”. Nasty behaviour towards pets is a frequent early warning sign.
Suicide threats
Says things like:
“I need you.”
“You’re the only one who understands me.”
“I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“If you leave me I will hurt myself.”
“I need help; please help me.”
Changeable/volatile behaviour
Is erratic – nice one minute or day, and abusive and nasty the next. Blames you for his behaviour. “You make me react that way”, “if you did this, or didn’t do that I wouldn’t get so angry.” You feel like you are walking on egg shells and constantly “trying to make him happy.”
Sexual
Is coercive, pressuring you to do things you don’t want to. Takes no responsibility for contraception, seeing it as “your problem”.
Physical abuse
Says he loves you but then physically abuses you, by hitting, punching, choking, or pushing. Often has a history of previous abuse.
Communication
Is haphazard and unreliable. Leaves you to do the contacting and keeps you dangling. You are left confused and don’t know what he wants. Doesn’t appear to be telling you the truth about what he is doing and says “it’s none of your business”. Makes you feel crazy, or jealous, or insecure when that is not how you usually feel.
So with the above in mind, have a go at the quiz below… and let me know if you still think Edward should be held up as the ultimate boyfriend.
Some Facts about Abusive Relationships thanks to Living without violence NZ, and other references.
One woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner in New Zealand every four weeks. Approximately half of all homicides in New Zealand are family violence related.
66% of women seeking Women’s Refuge help are 17-35 years old. In 2009, 26.1% of refuge clients were aged 16 – 25 years old. (New Zealand Women’s Refuge 2006, 2010)
One in three New Zealand women experience physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of a partner during their lifetime.
25 per cent of those convicted of ‘male assaults female’ in 2006 were 15 – 24 years old, with 44% of all those convicted being under 29 years old. (Ministry of Justice, 2008)
In any one year, one woman in five will experience physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of a partner.
15-24 year olds are the age group most at risk of physical, psychological and sexual victimisation from current and ex-partners. (New Zealand National Survey of Crime Victims, 2006)
One in five New Zealand men are subjected to violence by their partners.
One woman dies approximately every 26 days at the hand of her partner or former partner. We estimate that over 20 women have been murdered since Sophie in 2008. (Roundtable for Violence Against Women)
93 out of every 100 domestic violence cases in New Zealand are male assault female.
In 2009, nearly 75% of the 29 female murder victims were killed by offenders identified as a family member or partner. (Police Statistics on Culpable deaths in New Zealand, April 2010)
About 10 children are killed every year in New Zealand by a member or members of their own family.
Women’s Refuge receive a crisis call every 9 minutes. New Zealand police receive a domestic violence crisis call every 7 minutes. (Its Not Ok, 2010)
The annual cost of family violence in New Zealand is at least $1.2 billion.
37% of protection order applications and 25% of respondents are under 29 years old. (Family Court Statistics, 2007)
Family violence is a major problem in New Zealand but by reaching out for help all of us can begin to change the cycle of abuse and violence.
48 per cent of couples at age 21 years old reported having been involved in physical partner violence. (Dunedin Longitudinal Study, Moffitt and Caspi, 1999)
NB: Please note that the above stats and info relating to “Male” to “female” violence is due to the current white ribbon campaign. Abuse can occur in the reverse and cisgender women and men are not the only identitie included within this data.
yes, i am the right person
in a post on my blog, i wrote some tales from my experiences as a sign-waver. i had another go on friday, waving labour signs in the morning and MMP signs in the afternoon. the morning session was great, but the afternoon one not so much.
we were at the corner of morrinsville rd & cambridge rd in hamilton, known by the burger king right on the corner and the big new world store behind that. i got quite a bit of positive support and of course, a few negative ones. mostly the negative stuff doesn't bother me. people have a right to express their dissension to a political statement after all. and if their expression of dissent involves a raised finger or a "f**k MMP", then so be it.
but i really did mind the middle-aged white male who yelled at me "are you the right person to be holding that?". the tone was offensive, but the implication much more so. he questioned my right to be holding an MMP sign on the basis of what? he doesn't know me from a bar of soap, so he was making that judgement solely on my physical appearance.
so basically, he's saying that because i'm a brown muslim woman, i don't have the right to express a political view on the electoral system of this country. that right is apparently to be restricted to people who look and sound like him. i didn't give him the response he deserved, but instead yelled out "absolutely! and we're going to win. have a nice weekend!"
i had a few other negative reactions but not too many. not surprising given the majority of people support MMP. but this is what i noticed. when i started the sign waving, there was an older white woman on the other side of the road, also waving an MMP sign. she left about 20 minutes before i did, and there was a noticeable increase in negative comments/reactions after she left.
this is something i'm having real difficulty in dealing with. and it manifests itself in so many small ways, a lot of which i can't speak about publicly. (well, i could but i'm not prepared to deal with the consequences or in some cases to breach confidentiality.) but they add up to a feeling of being unwanted, of not belonging. and i just can't pretend that it doesn't hurt. it does hurt, terribly.
even though i know that the majority don't feel this way. even though i know that the positive responses far outweighed the negative ones. knowing the logic of a situation doesn't always help.
here's something else. by far, the majority of negative responses were by white males, and they were generally in nice vehicles. this is no doubt because of the types of issues i've been advocating. MMP is something that benefits minority communities so they are less likely to respond negatively to it. labour policy is more likely to appeal to the less affluent. so it's probably no surprise that the pierced, the tatooed, the drivers of older & poorer looking cars, & even young brown males were giving me some pretty positive responses or no response at all.
so it wouldn't be fair to say that the more affluent people are, the less manners they tend to show. but it certainly did feel that way. maybe i should have tried waving paul goldsmith signs in the epsom electorate to see if i got a different reaction. or nz first signs in tauranga - actually, that sounds like a hilarious experiment which i could try in a year when they really look certain to lose.
i do want to reiterate what i said on my own blog: this stuff isn't going to stop me from participating in visible political activities. if anything, it shows that i need to be doing more of it, not less. the only problem is that it somehow is a huge drain on my energy. even though i try to not let it affect me, it does. there's only so much mental fortitude i can draw on.
we were at the corner of morrinsville rd & cambridge rd in hamilton, known by the burger king right on the corner and the big new world store behind that. i got quite a bit of positive support and of course, a few negative ones. mostly the negative stuff doesn't bother me. people have a right to express their dissension to a political statement after all. and if their expression of dissent involves a raised finger or a "f**k MMP", then so be it.
but i really did mind the middle-aged white male who yelled at me "are you the right person to be holding that?". the tone was offensive, but the implication much more so. he questioned my right to be holding an MMP sign on the basis of what? he doesn't know me from a bar of soap, so he was making that judgement solely on my physical appearance.
so basically, he's saying that because i'm a brown muslim woman, i don't have the right to express a political view on the electoral system of this country. that right is apparently to be restricted to people who look and sound like him. i didn't give him the response he deserved, but instead yelled out "absolutely! and we're going to win. have a nice weekend!"
i had a few other negative reactions but not too many. not surprising given the majority of people support MMP. but this is what i noticed. when i started the sign waving, there was an older white woman on the other side of the road, also waving an MMP sign. she left about 20 minutes before i did, and there was a noticeable increase in negative comments/reactions after she left.
this is something i'm having real difficulty in dealing with. and it manifests itself in so many small ways, a lot of which i can't speak about publicly. (well, i could but i'm not prepared to deal with the consequences or in some cases to breach confidentiality.) but they add up to a feeling of being unwanted, of not belonging. and i just can't pretend that it doesn't hurt. it does hurt, terribly.
even though i know that the majority don't feel this way. even though i know that the positive responses far outweighed the negative ones. knowing the logic of a situation doesn't always help.
here's something else. by far, the majority of negative responses were by white males, and they were generally in nice vehicles. this is no doubt because of the types of issues i've been advocating. MMP is something that benefits minority communities so they are less likely to respond negatively to it. labour policy is more likely to appeal to the less affluent. so it's probably no surprise that the pierced, the tatooed, the drivers of older & poorer looking cars, & even young brown males were giving me some pretty positive responses or no response at all.
so it wouldn't be fair to say that the more affluent people are, the less manners they tend to show. but it certainly did feel that way. maybe i should have tried waving paul goldsmith signs in the epsom electorate to see if i got a different reaction. or nz first signs in tauranga - actually, that sounds like a hilarious experiment which i could try in a year when they really look certain to lose.
i do want to reiterate what i said on my own blog: this stuff isn't going to stop me from participating in visible political activities. if anything, it shows that i need to be doing more of it, not less. the only problem is that it somehow is a huge drain on my energy. even though i try to not let it affect me, it does. there's only so much mental fortitude i can draw on.
Transgender Day of Rememberence - events
Tomorrow events are being held around the country to mark the Transgender Day of Rememberence.
In Wellington: Queer Avengers have organised a public gathering on Tuesday 29 November at 6pm in Civic Square. We all want an end to violence against people because their gender identity or expression. We welcome anyone to this gathering who shares this aim. Theevent will include lighting sparklers or candles and reflecting on the people who have been subjected to transphobic violence in the last year, including those people who have died as a result.
In Auckland: GenderBridge has a community event at St Matthew-in-the-City at 7pm on Tuesday 29 November. The church is on the corner of Wellesley and Hobson Streets. BYO a plate of food to share.
In Christchurch: the recently reopened Te Whare Puakitanga / Transition House will be holding a community meeting from 7-9pm on 29 November. Nau mai, haere mai koutou – everyone is welcome. Contact Cherise Witehira on (03) 372-9298 or agenderchch@clear.net.nz for the address.
In Hamilton: Agender Waikato, in conjunction with Hamilton Pride, held a Transgender Day of Remembrance at the Riff Raff statue Hamilton at 7pm, 20th November.
[The text is mostly stolen from the Queer Avengers facebook event]
Sunday, 27 November 2011
If I had a million dollars, could I still have socialism of the heart?
Post-election, my bus driver last night waxed lyrical about John Key "not having a mandate to sell state assets, 75% of New Zealanders are against, they just won't do it". Yet first thing this morning I saw this. Before I even sat down to think about gender equity.
Losing Carmel Sepuloni is terrible news. Not only because there's now no Pacifica women in parliament, but because Ms Sepuloni, with Labour's already departed Lynne Pillay, flew the flag determinedly for survivors of sexual violence:
Gone. Who, out of the current crop of women MPs, is going to take over the role of speaking out for women who survive violence?
Tariana Turia, with her innovative approach to ending family violence, "the look"? Judith Collins, with her rape culture supporting comments on male-on-male sexual assault? (Note: when we dismantle rape culture, it will not be acceptable for ANYONE to be coerced, forced or pressured into doing anything sexual).
The departure of Simon Power, with his personal committment to building better responses to sexual and family violence influenced by the murder of Sophie Elliott, is also a huge loss for parliament. Without him the National Party are harder right, less able to work across difference to produce good policy, like the improvements for survivors of sexual violence going through court process, or the extension of the national advocacy role for Louise Nicholas.
Well-known feminist Sue Kedgley, also gone. Just one feminist act among many, Ms Kedgley voted to decriminalise prostitution alongside all the other Green women, most of the Labour women, and one fifth of the National women.
Carol Beaumont's championing of pay equity, gone from parliament. Departing Steve Chadwick, another committed to women's rights in terms of maternal health, rights-based sexual and reproductive health and abortion reform despite Daddy Left not liking it. These Labour MPs flew the flag for women.
Who is going to pick this up and carry it?
Judith Collins wants to restrict access to abortion. Hekia Parata, an improvement on Georgina Te Heuheu in that she doesn't describe the Ministry of Women's Affairs as a "sexist relic", is yet to impress as a strong advocate for women's rights. Nikki Kaye and Jacinda Ardern are not scared to call themselves feminists - both may be important in putting gender on the agenda in their parties. Annette King and Lianne Dalziel have the experience in the house to continue arguing for where a women's place should be.
Women in New Zealand desperately need some of our parliamentarians to step up to the mark to challenge our violence stats, our pay equity stats, the cultural supports for violence against women, sexism in the media, the positions of immigrant women in our communities, the hypersexualisation of girls (tricky but possible this, without turning into sex-hating abstinence cheerleaders), the work-life balance available to all whether we are parents or not, the different experiences women have of the benefit system because we are often the ones with primary responsibility for parenting and care-giving etc etc etc. The best bet, on current form, looks to be Catherine Delahunty and the band of new Green women.
And queer rights post election? The voting records of National's top ten listed MPs are consistently homophobic. Gerry Brownlee says queer people are "not the same as other people"; Nick Smith says legislation protecting transpeople would be a "step backwards for our country"; and Judith Collins said of civil unions:
Is this a human rights issue? The census figures stated that 0. 3 per cent of adults in New Zealand say they live in a same-sex relationship – not a very large portion of the population – as opposed to the more than 45 per cent of adult New Zealanders who are married.
The queer caucuses will have to work across parties if they want to address queer issues like bullying in schools, adoption and partnership rights, heterosexist media and queer bashing. Will they? Will National's Chris Finlayson realise not all queer people want to be celibate? And will some of the straight parliamentarians support queer rights? History shows if they do, they will probably be women, with 76% of women MPs voting for the Civil Union Act cf just 50% of male MPs.
I realise some on the left will think my interest in rights for women and queer people post this election is playing identity politics when the *real* issues of class and dosh should be being attended to. I disagree. I think we should be aiming higher. It's time for our parliamentarians who believe in equity and fairness and compassion - because those are the values which these issues have in common - to stand up for having a socialism of the heart:
My message to the 1% the National and Act parties - remember this last line. Please.
The Day After The Night Before
Consider this an open thread for a bit of a social chit chat, debrief, speculation about what next, which of course will be subject to normal moderation rules. Be kind to each other please :-)
Reasons to be cheerful
I'm not feeling particularly cheerful tonight.
This parliament will be the first parliament for 12 years that does not have a majority for abortion law reform. There was never a majority to talk about abortion, or to have the debate, but there has been a majority that would support abortion law if they had to vote. That majority almost certainly no longer exists, thanks to the mob Winston Peters brought in, and the high vote for National. Important abortion rights advocates in the Labour party are gone: Steve Chadwick, Carol Beaumont and Carmel Sepoluni (although there is a small chance of either, but not both, of the last two getting in on the specials). While we can expect some turn-over and some of them to get back in this term, it won't change the fundamental maths and ability to add up to 61.
While high National polling was inevitable, and under 48% is actually much less worse than it could be, the results themselves are pretty dire. My main hope for the evening was that both John Banks and Peter Dunne would lose their seat, that they didn't bring any cronies with them is not a particularly big silver lining. I did idly think "well it'd be funny if NZFirst got back in" in the last few days - I didn't mean it! That's all bad news. I'm not sad about Labour's collapse or glad about the Greens rise - apart from how it effects abortion politics. I would have liked to see Annette Sykes in there - although I'm sure she'll just as useful work from where she is now.
I find the rise of the Conservative party pretty depressing - a sign that money can buy your votes. But also everything felt reactionary last night - and the news that almost 3% of people want National to be more reactionary than they are - is pretty depressing.
The coverage was also pretty reactionary. TVOne's election coverage was so bad that I considered advocating a shift to TV3 - where Paul Henry, John Tamihere, Chris Trotter and Rodney Hide waited for us. It was wall to wall bloke, bloke, bloke bloke, matey, bloke. Which was only emphasised when they brought on Jacinda Arden and Nikkie Kaye and talked about their looks, or had Petra Bagust circulating round a party. On top of that with Willie Jackson on TVOne, John Tamihere on TV3 and Derek Fox on Maori TV each channel had its own Clint Rickards apologist. I'm not surprised by the male centred nature of this coverage, but the programmers should be ashamed.
Having said that there are always some reasons to be cheerful.
This parliament will be the first parliament for 12 years that does not have a majority for abortion law reform. There was never a majority to talk about abortion, or to have the debate, but there has been a majority that would support abortion law if they had to vote. That majority almost certainly no longer exists, thanks to the mob Winston Peters brought in, and the high vote for National. Important abortion rights advocates in the Labour party are gone: Steve Chadwick, Carol Beaumont and Carmel Sepoluni (although there is a small chance of either, but not both, of the last two getting in on the specials). While we can expect some turn-over and some of them to get back in this term, it won't change the fundamental maths and ability to add up to 61.
While high National polling was inevitable, and under 48% is actually much less worse than it could be, the results themselves are pretty dire. My main hope for the evening was that both John Banks and Peter Dunne would lose their seat, that they didn't bring any cronies with them is not a particularly big silver lining. I did idly think "well it'd be funny if NZFirst got back in" in the last few days - I didn't mean it! That's all bad news. I'm not sad about Labour's collapse or glad about the Greens rise - apart from how it effects abortion politics. I would have liked to see Annette Sykes in there - although I'm sure she'll just as useful work from where she is now.
I find the rise of the Conservative party pretty depressing - a sign that money can buy your votes. But also everything felt reactionary last night - and the news that almost 3% of people want National to be more reactionary than they are - is pretty depressing.
The coverage was also pretty reactionary. TVOne's election coverage was so bad that I considered advocating a shift to TV3 - where Paul Henry, John Tamihere, Chris Trotter and Rodney Hide waited for us. It was wall to wall bloke, bloke, bloke bloke, matey, bloke. Which was only emphasised when they brought on Jacinda Arden and Nikkie Kaye and talked about their looks, or had Petra Bagust circulating round a party. On top of that with Willie Jackson on TVOne, John Tamihere on TV3 and Derek Fox on Maori TV each channel had its own Clint Rickards apologist. I'm not surprised by the male centred nature of this coverage, but the programmers should be ashamed.
Having said that there are always some reasons to be cheerful.
- MMP is looking pretty safe.
- Turn-out was low. I find knowing that 35% of eligible voters voted National much more reassuring than the near 50% you hear in the news.
- National actually lost 100,000 votes over the last three years (Labour lost 200,000)
- Don Brash is resigning his farcical time as ACT leader.
- Paul "the most important thing to me that people in prison can't vote" Quinn is out of parliament, at least for now.
- Paula Bennett may yet lose Waitakere - that would be a thing of beauty.
- There are some strong advocates for abortion rights within the Green caucus.
- Mojo Mathers should get in on the Specials. Having a deaf MP should have some pretty awesome flow-on effects when it comes to accessibility and entrenching NZ Sign as an official language.
- Kelly Buchanan got 36 votes - so my friend should have had a pretty good night.
There's a more fundamental reason to be cheerful - and I'll expand on this tomorrow - we don't have to accept the world the politicians want to make. If voting is the most important political act you do, then election night is always going to be depressing. But if you dream of a world that is better, then there are going to plenty of opportunities to help make it over the next three years. After all the biggest steps towards women's liberation in this country were made under right-wing Male Chauvanist Piggy Muldoon.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Green Party HQ
So 9.30pm and I'm finally here.
Combination of gorgeous weather in Wellington and drinking cider in the garden. San Francisco Bath House is absolutely full to the brim, apparently the party sold out in an hour.
So the Greens at this point on 10% which means they'd have 13 MPs, a whole bunch of new bods in parliament. No Mojo Mathers though, and I have to admit I'd like to see that diversity issue addressed - imagine parliament using all three of our national languages.
9.36pm
Really only just checking seats and stuff out now, so excuse me if I'm a little behind. And I'm going to focus on seats I'm interested in so here goes.
Wow Auckland Central too close to call, ditto Waitakere. Bad news for Jacinda Ardern I'd have thought if she can't win this one back in terms of cred.
Hone and Kelvin are still pretty close in Te Tai Tokerau, while Rahui Katene looks like she's on her way out of Te Tai Tonga. Pita Sharples is being run pretty close by Shane Jones in Tamaki Makaurau too. Other Maori seats as expected, with incumbents looking strong.
This is a funky crowd who are very loud and full of beans at the moment. Live music playing - not the funky Newtown Rocksteady yet sadly. I'm not always a fan of this bar, too dark and grotty, but it's pretty positive atmosphere tonight.
James Shaw giving a speech about the Greens owing this town. Apparently they are equal with Labour in the party vote for Wellington Central. He's gracious in acknowledging all the people who get out there to support the candidates. Plus congratulating Holly Walker on being a new MP.
Now Holly is on stage. Cue wild cheering while she also gives credit to her team.
9.52pm
Some electorates which were awfully close last time are complete knock-outs at the moment, probably a credit to well-performing first term MPs. So Grant Robertson is home and hosed in Wellington Central, and the charismatic Simon Bridges is streets ahead. I have to say that, I interviewed him for a magazine when I was trying to be a journo :-)
9.55pm
It's hard to believe it but I reckon Winston's done it again (thanks to the two Johns, not the two Ronnies - though you'd be forgiven for getting them confused frankly). Horrifying but also hilarious - quite how someone with such a tenuous grip on the truth can continually reinvent himself - but also could there be a bigger f**k you to New Zealand politics?
9.57pm
So I'd been avoiding looking.....and that was wise as it turns out.....the National voters in Epsom are doing the very smart thing and making sure ACT is in parliament so National can position themselves as centrists. John Banks, the man who Don Brash got for free when he bought the ACT Party, is coming on home, thanks to tea tip-offs.
The music here is getting seriously funky, Motown covers by a woman who can sing, I am womanfully just moving around in my seat rather than throwing over my blogging duties, you'll all be thrilled to hear.
10.05pm
Now Ohariu, where it also appears John Key's instructions have been heeded. Good grief, Peter Dunne may never never never leave parliament.
Russell Norman via videolink in the house. Getting rousing cheers as he, quite rightly, points to a third party getting 10% of the party vote as a significant victory.
10.09pm
15 seats counted all to Nats, including the thumbs down to Andrew Little in New Plymouth. Not a good look for a potential leader.
Looks like the only Maori seat changing hands is Te Tai Tonga. Which will leave Tariana Turia the only woman in parliament from either Mana or the Maori Party. Mana wahine?
10.15pm
Steve Chadwick safe for Labour at this point, I'm sure I understood Maia's post about voting and abortion choices but I'm pretty sure that's good :-)
Thirteen Green MPs still on target to get in - seven women - but distracted by the best dance song of all time, Stevie Wonder's Superstition - this band is fabulous.
Ok, so the 13 women - all of whom except Metiria Turei and Catharine Delahunty newbies. What can we expect? I thought Denise Roche was very good in the Backbenches Auckland Central debate, plus at least Holly Walker and Jan Logie are out and proud feminists. Not sure about the others. Interesting.
10.20pm
Brendon Burns, Christchurch Central. Just holding on at this point by 4 votes.
Pacific MPs standing in electorate seats are doing well. Sua William Sio is in Manakau, Kris Faafoi is ahead of Hekia Parata (she'll be disappointed I think) and Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga is ahead in Maungakiekie.
Far more muted applause for live feed of Russel Norman and Metiria Turei talking about going into talks post election with different parties.
Back to funky music.
10.30pm MMP is safe. Which is a welcome relief - despite all the people who like unbridled power doing their damnedest, New Zealanders vote for the most representative kind of democracy on offer. No doubt Winston will become the stick to beat MMP with now - I wonder if he will be able to stop himself giving them good cause?
One of the provincial city seats National said they were targeting, Palmerston North, is staying red. Don't know enough about this seat to say why.
10.35pm
Not likely to have the Conservative Party in parliament. Which will disappoint those who like to hit their children without it being frowned upon no end, no doubt. Colin Craig nowhere near Rodney and miles off the magic 5%.
Waitakere's voters are not be be tempted by Mana's Sue Bradford so far - she's got just over 200 votes - and Sepuloni is more than 700 behind queen of the Westies Paula Bennett.
Don Brash is resigning. Crikey. That's the shortest leadership period in history, unless you count those where someone is killed, isn't it?
Stuff is calling this the worst result for Labour in nearly a century.
James Shaw back on stage here, to a crowd chanting his name, because Wellington Central has 26% party vote Green. Apparently it's the highest percentage in any electorate?
10.47pm
James Shaw says he thinks the Greens will pick up another seat on special votes. If so, that makes Mojo Mathers another new Green MP, and, he says, just the fourth deaf MP in the world. Enough already with not knowing anymore I can share about Mojo Mathers - but this is a diverse Green list in terms of gender, sexuality and disability.
Phil Goff looking sombre on TV, not loud enough over the party going on here to hear properly. Wonder how Julie's getting on? Do wonder too, if the policies Labour floated this election are going to be a whole heap easier to talk about now they are "out there" - capital gains tax in particular.
10.56pm
I'm nearly done here. Bit of a dud night for me - I'd hoped against hope that Epsom and Ohariu voters would refuse to vote in line with the Prime Ministerial instructions, and actually vote for the candidate they wanted. Very pleased to see MMP still with us though, and good result for the Greens, holding their polling rather than dropping off as they have done the last couple of elections.
Labour will not be surprised, but it must still be devastating. And who knows where NZ First leached their votes from?
11.03pm
Nikki Kaye holds Auckland Central and Brendon Burns Christchurch Central - the second certainly close enough to change hands after the special votes.
And my electorate, Rongotai, with the three MPs actually in parliament - Annette King, Chris Finlayson and Russel Norman - stays firmly red.
Wellington Central also has three MPs in parliament - James Shaw, Paul Foster-Bell and the returning Grant Robertson.
That's all from me folks - have a good night celebrating or commiserating - and to all the people who've put hours and hours of voluntary time in to supporting people they want to see speaking for them, enjoy having your lives back.
I'm going to drink cider and dance. Ciao for now.
In the Red Corner - Election Night Live Blog 2011
Tonight I'll be live-blogging from Labour's Mt Roskill headquarters, which is at the Mt Roskill War Memorial Hall on May Rd.Sorry I disappeared after 10pm - I wasn't in a corner crying, but did end up lending my laptop to another and doing stuff that wasn't commensurate with live blogging (largely running numbers and the projection of the results onto a screen). No tears for me on the night, although a few shed the next day for Carol and Carmel in particular, as well as the policy implications.
10.02pm The figures being run here now are not so much about which new MPs Labour will get as how many current MPs will be back in. Still surprisingly upbeat mood here given the political reality of this situation.
10pm Carmel 468 ahead in Waitakere, huge cheer here, Jackie singing "ding dong the witch is dead".
9.57pm Jackie has noted lots of vote splitting in Te Atatu, largely benefiting NZF at the expense of Labour it appears.
9.54pm Labour is slowly slowly edging up. but so so slowly.
9.48pm On current numbers we are looking at a big loss of Labour MPs - with only 10 in off the List but Cosgrove looking shakey in Waimakariri that would mean probably last one in for Labour at this stage would be Moana Mackey or Rajen Prasad. Losing Carol Beaumont (who is 12 on the effective list) would be a huge blow for the women's caucus and the union affiliates.
9.47pm Big cheer here as Phil Goff's majority with 60% counted is announced to the crowd. Goff hasn't arrived yet and will be waiting until the result is clearer apparently.
9.44pm With nearly 80% counted it's looking like National won't make 50% (currently falling from 49%) but Labour is struggling to rise above 26%.
9.42pm Winston on two screens simultaneously, with screens within screens behind that. Somehow fitting for his return.
9.41pm Scube is confused about why ALCP isn't doing better in the party vote in Waitakere.
9.38pm The man whose chair I stole never came back to claim it.
9.34pm As Cosgrove is 8th on the Labour list, if he loses Waimakariri he will still be there. Hipkins is looking safe in Rimutaka now.
9.31pm Bennett ahead now in Waitakere, and Wilkinson in Waimakariri. Labour currently looking like 32 seats - 10 list - and National 61 - 19 list.
9.27pm The room here is packed, with many people using their phones to check various things. Banks ahead in Epsom but the count there seems to be incredibly slow.
9.24pm Informals on the second part of the MMP referendum show the lack of understanding of the fact people were allowed to do the second vote even if they voted to keep MMP. Looking like MMP is a reasonable margin ahead with 95% of the advance votes counted - it hasn't moved from 95% for a while so I'm going to stop looking at that - we won't know for real until Dec 10th anyway, but yay MMP!
9.22pm Lots of people taking photographs of those us pouring over the laptops and running the projectors and the numbers - Scube is doing the laptop with the projector, stef is trying to get her laptop to work, Jackie is providing moral support and trying to work out how to take photos.
9.16pm Big cheer here for Carmel Sepuloni as she is just ahead in Waitakere. Just been looking at Auckland Central in a bit more depth - very close, with almost no votes going to other candidates than Kaye and Ardern - Denise Roche (Greens) has under 1000 with over 2365 for their party vote.
9.13pm Alright I am back up, and so is the live projection of the results here at Labour HQ. There was an insufficiently large cheer imho.
8.41pm Quite close in Ohariu and Maungakiekie. OK, I have to go again, hopefully back in another half hour.
8.38pm Now, on the radio before I heard Pete Hodgson doing some extrapolating from Advance votes, based on how they worked out last time, and he said iirc something like 46% for National, 30% for Labour, 11% for the Greens and 6% for NZF. Someone who was actually listening properly may wish to comment with more precision.
8.34pm Ok, that took longer than expected, sorry. Currently O'Connor ahead in WCT, Sepuloni ahead in Waitakere, Kaye ahead in Auckland Central. Young well ahead in New Plymouth. Mood here is quite god, lots of people here and they're all quietly watching the various screens - we've got TV3 and TVNZ with a massive flat screen each showing their channel and now, just now, we have up a projector screen showing results from electionresults.org.nz and basically responding to requests from the crowd to look at various electorate results. Lots of tense waiting, it's incredibly warm with all these ridiculous media lights.
7.24pm In terms of results to date, looking like MMP may be safe, if the 150,000 advance votes are extrapolated - 54% to keep, 42% to change last I checked. We won't know for sure until 10th December.
7.21pm Well I'm live now, for a brief period, then I'm going to run away to pick up something forgotten and be back by 8pm I hope. The Labour HQ is probably going to lack space and be very hot by the end of the night - the media are taking up an enormous amount of the available space, setting up their live cross thingies, and insisting on media tables that must NOT be moved as apparently everyone is about to go live, or something. I feel positively low impact as a lowly blogger sitting here at a table tapping away. Anyway, the feeling here is tense, as you'd expect, surprisingly upbeat, as you might not, and I really love the dress the TV3 reporter is wearing. Certainly a very diverse crowd so far - Pakeha in a minority
What follows is a little bit I've prepared in advance, to go up at 7.01pm.
Mt Roskill is a safe Labour seat, and the electorate of the Labour leader, Phil Goff. In the interests of disclaimer and context, I am on the Puketapapa Local Board, along with my partner, which covers most of the electorate of Mt Roskill. I was elected to this role on a Labour/Greens/Alliance affiliated ! ticket which also features independent lefties such as myself. My aforementioned partner is a Labour list candidate, at no. 32, and part of the nail biting this evening will be in regard to whether or not he gets in.
What I'm hoping to cover tonight is the key events and feel here at Labour HQ, as well as some of the progress of the voting results through-out the night. I'll be keeping my eye on a number of electorates - ones of particular interest to me are Auckland Central, Epsom, West Coast-Tasman, Ohariu, Maungakiekie, Te Tai Tonga, Hunua, Waikato, Waitakere. Some because they have broader political implications (e.g. Epsom), others because I have friends standing in them. Jordan Carter was my little light of happiness in the gloom of 2008, beating Roger Douglas to a strong second in Hunua, and this election I'll no doubt grasp something else as a similar touchstone.
I'm going to have some mates around me, whose witticisms and observations may make it onto the web, and I'll try to give them nicknames so that there is some form of credit going their way. Hopefully one or two of them might be familiar to you from past endeavours...
Okay, back to actual live blogging now, as interesting things happen, here in the Red Corner.
Maia's Election Live-blogging
1.31am Just an update on who is in and who is out. I was right about the barrier for the Nats - Paul Quinn is out and Aaron Gilmore is in (although National may lose out on the specials).
However, Raymond Huo at number 21 on the list is in, but Carol Beaumont (number 22) is out. This could change about depending on Christchurch Central and Waitakere though.
12.17am I think I might wind up this post and write some final thoughts in a new post. I will find reasons to be cheerful.
12.14am OK I'm back - there was some very obnoxious dickheads driving past my house tooting really loudly at almost midnight. It's a super obnoxious thing to do - and then on top of that a National party victory is a problematic thing to celebrate.
11.43pm I am talking a short break to drop some of Rabbit's friends and relations home.
11.35 By my count at the moment Aaron Gilmore is the last person in on National #53 on their list. The last person in on Labour is Carol Beaumont at #34 - but that does depend on both Christchurch Central and Waitakere. Everyone else you can just count down.
Does anyone have different ideas about the people?
11.31 I am finding the streams and cheering for John Key pretty repulsive.
11.25 Final votes in in Waitakere Paula Benett is leading by 349 votes. That isn't looking solid and it'd be amazing if it was overturned in the specials. I'll now try and do some final calculations around who exactly is in.
11.24pm Violence may break out at this election party because Tigger just said "Buffy is stupid." I think we may conclude that we're not expecting any more news - good or bad.
11.23pm Now we've put it on mute, as John Key may be speaking soon.
11.14pm The sign is for very low turn-out. I think this is important, because this is a sign of disappointment with parliamentary politics. National's vote is only actually around 35% of eligible voters. It doesn't help the make-up of parliament, but I find it less depressing.
11.09pm Ugh - according to the comments Chris Trotter is saying that the reason Labour did badly because they weren't manly about. As if the wall to wall blokes on the TV coverage wasn't bad enough.
11.01 CHRISTCHURCH CENTRAL IS A TIE! 10,493 votes each for Brendon Burns and Nicky Wagner - this is on 100% vote counted. Now it's up to specials.
10.59pm There's conflicting advice about where the Labour line is and whether Carol Beaumont is in or not. I think she is, but it does depend on Brendon Burns and Carmel Sepoluni.
10.58pm Phil Goff's family wanted him to stand down a decade or more ago - so would I.
10.57pm As Tigger pointed out, ACT is currently the 1%.
Mana is on .98% just two decimal points off the 99%.
10.51pm Don Brash resigned. Tigger says "Apparently we should have listened to Don Brash - first time I've ever said that."
Him not being in parliament is one of the few non-awful things tonight.
10.45pm TVOne cut away with the Mark Sainsbury Walrus saying "Look it's John Key" and then "Oh no it's an empty car". We looked at the empty car and then we came back.
10.42pm Now we are discussing Christchurch Central where Brendon Burns is up by 12 votes. Owl says "I'm not saying I want Brendon Burns to win, but I definitely want Nicky Wagner to lose."
10.39pm Owl is claiming that we should be happy because National is looking to get under 48% - and that this is a miracle compared to the previous three years of polls.
I am sceptical. NZ First being in is hardly a font of joy.
10.34pm Don Brash has quite amazing lighting with the powerpoint on his face.
One of Roo's friends voted for Labour, because they voted National last time and they like to alternate.
10.32pm Don Brash is on screen, but won't be in parliament. Another small mercies.
Things aren't looking as good as Waitakere - which I think means Carol Beaumont will be in.
10.26pm OK abortion update. The 8 NZ First MPs are pretty bad news for abortion (presumably). Currently depending on whether Carmel Sepuloni wins Waitakere either her or Carol Beaumont will be in. It'd be good to have an extra seat for Labour when it comes to abortion politics. There's no chance of Steve Chadwick or Kate Sutton getting in.
National are currrently not bringing in Paul Foster Bell, but Jacqui Blue is in.
10.22pm We have some insightful political analysis from an 8 or 9 year old friend of Eyeore's who said that National's policies were "the rich deserve more when the rich already have heaps of money and they should just give it to charities or poor people and labour aren't really any better either".
10.12pm New Plymouth has a final count. Jonathan Fletcher is 4,130 above Andrew Little. This doesn't really affect parliament, but it is sad for another friend of mine. She has been campaigning for Andrew Little because Jonathan Fletcher is a pray the gay away level homophobe.
10.08pm As Anita points out Paul Quinn might be out - which is good news for democracy since he disenfranchised people in prison.. National party and swinging between 60 and 61 MPs - as long as they settle on 61 Quinn is out. That means Paul Foster-Bell also won't get in.
I should have credited Eeyore for the observation about James and Mojo. Roo said something wise and pertinent.
10.06pm John Banks is praising Paul Holmes as the Great Optimist of the Fourth Estate - because Holmes called Banks's win. Optimism and right-wing are not synonymous.
10.03pm I hate Russel Norman.
10.00pm So far turn-out is kind of low 68.25% based on the polling booths counted so far. This lessens the mandate of the almost 50% of people voting National.
9.52pm The Greens are on 10.5% and 13 seats. This is actually perfect. They'll go up a seat in the specials and Mojo Mathers will come in - but there's no danger of James Shaw coming in.
9.50pm Carmel Sepoluni is back ahead in Waitakere. That may be a meaningless good news, but I'll take it.
Kelly Buchanan now has 23 votes - so that's something.
9.49pm We are currently directing our rage towards the Green party and Gareth Hughes for bringing in Peter Dunne. And if Left-wing people voted tactically in Epsom John Banks wouldn't be in.
9.43pm It seems like ACT and UnitedFuture are in in Epsom and Ohariu - that's depressing.
The new person wants to be called Roo - she brings our number of Green voters to 2.
9.39pm I can't believe NZ First is back. At 6.8 surely they're in? This is terrible for abortion politics.
National is now under 49%. Small mercies.
9.33pm Bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke - the television coverage is awful.
9.32pm Google says he does vote and it will.
9.31pm We're arguing about whether or not the speaker votes and whether 61/121 will be a working majority.
9.27pm We're collecting good news - MMP is looking good and Kelly Buchanan now has 10 votes - which is some nice drinking for my friend.
9.25pm Paula Bennett is now ahead by 291. Clearly the election Gods don't want me to have any joy.
9.20pm We are now discussing Roger Sowry - who is on TV1. Tigger doesn't understand why we're not being mean to him the way we're being mean to most commentators. Then Eeyroe claimed that he used to be leader of the National Party but no-one knows who he is. I corrected him, because I have protested outside Sowry's electorate office.
9.18pm NZ First is not going down! Neither ACT nor Mana are looking like getting another seat. There are few joys tonight.
9.16pm National is almost down under 49% - hopefully the drop has begun.
We've had a new person join our watching party. She said "Oh God Labour are doing really badly I need alcohol."
9.13pm Gerry Brownlee is on TVOne and now I'm officially wondering if we could change to TV3. We are now holding out hope for 10pm where things start to get less depressing.
Eeyore is giving us really bad maths on Ohariu and whether Peter Dunne's lead is really Gareth Hughes's fault.
9.09pm Carmel Sepuloni is now 87 votes ahead of Paula Bennett. I may just focus on that - because everything else is badness.
9.05pm More from the "apparently we have nothing to think about but John Key's food" John Key is collecting Pizza.
8.59pm Hone did a pretty awesome speech about class and fighting for working-class issues.
8.57pm Anita has an interesting point in the comments - it's possible that there are quite a few people enrolled in Christchurch who are voting somewhere else, which would swim back to Labour. The thing about Christchurch is that no-one really knows.
8.50pm As Owl said - it looks like the Horizon poll was a little out. We both answered the Horizon Poll regularly, as university students we are always looking for things to procrastinate on.
Also National is back below 50% - small mercies.
8.47pm We are now discussing how we voted. 1 Maori party, 1 Green party, 4 Mana, and one wrote "Boo! Hiss! on the paper.
TVOne now has David Farrer as well as John Pagani. Why don't we get MaoriTV?
8.43pm TVOne is now outside Phil Goff's house. This is almost as bad as John Key's breakfast.
8.36pm Kris Faafoi is only 24 votes ahead in Mana - should I take credit?
Now John Pagani is on TVOne! Are they trying to drive us to the arms of Paul Henry?
Tigger is complaining that this is the most hateful group of television watching people ever. Piglet says that maybe given the level of hatred Winnie The Pooh wasn't necessarily the most appropriate naming pool.
8.22pm Christchurch appears to be going right. Both Waimakariri and Christchurch Central have National party candidates ahead at this point.
I wonder if this is about people in Christchurch changing their views or (more likely in my opinion) working-class people no longer being able to live in those areas.
8.16pm So it seems money can buy you votes. The Conservative Vote is 2.4%, while Colin Craig is second in Rodney only 218 behind Mark Mitchell.
However, Eeyore has discovered that google have a special tool that allows you to block all search results from Stuff. This sounds like the daily mail ap which substitutes all website on dailymail.co.uk with pictures of kittens.
8.05pm NZFirst is still over 5% and Damien O'Connor is now ahead in West Coast Tasman. Will there be no good news tonight?
I have taken bets on all the worst outcomes. I get chocolate if Damien O'Connor wins and gummi bears if Peter Dunne and John Banks win.
7.59pm As I mentioned my friend is the partner of Kelly Buchanan who is running for the Alliance in Wellington Central. She is taking a shot for every vote her partner gets - so far she has only had a safe 6 votes. I will keep you updated on the alcohol abuse throughout the night.
7.53pm TVOne is giving us a blow by blow account of John Key's day - which we could have done without. As Owl said (everyone is named after Winnie the Pooh) - is it a really a revelation that he started the day with breakfast?
And in special news Willie Jackson TV1 so every channel has their Clint Rickards apologist.
7.46pm Carmel Sepoluni is ahead of Paula Bennet in Waitakere! Only by 39 votes - but that'd be OKper cent 7.7% of the vote counted. Harawira is now ahead in Te Tai Tokerau.
TV one is showing that horrible late night add about chafing - with animated body parts supposed to be free from chafing.
7.31pm Bad news for electorate results: John Banks is now ahead in Epsom by 2,157 to 1,756.
Ohariu: Charles Chauvel 1,399 - Peter Dunne 1,591. Gareth Hughes has 216 votes - and so I'm blaming him.
Also Rino Tirikatene is ahead of Rahui Katene in Te Tai Tonga - I don't know what I want to happen in that seat.
Chipkins is still looking OK in Rimutaka.
My flatmate who is in the room is reading my liveblogging - which is quite sad. We are arguing about tactical voting.
7.28pm Now National are under 50% on the party vote - given how depressing things are looking - that is about as good as we can hope. And if their vote continues to go down over the night that's not a total disaster
We'd had enough with endless male talking heads with Petra Bagust doing hte fluffy stories. But we don't get Maori TV - so TV1 it'll have to me. Unless at least 50% of TV3 commentators spontaneously combust we're sticking with TV1 tonight.
MMP is 10% up. I think I'm going to be looking on the bright side.
7.21pm This isn't going as well for National as it could - they do well with those who come in early. So they may not be able to govern alone. However, it's also obviously not doing particularly well for Labour. Minor parties are pretty depressing.
I'll just repeat
7.20pm Electorate updates - here's the first news from electorates that I'm interested
Epsom - John Banks is behind but they've only counted 407 votes so while fun it means nothing
West Coast Tasman - Damien O'Connor is almost 100 votes behind Chris Auchinvole (only 636 votes counted) - I want some good news tonight so we may pay a lot of attention to this.
Ohariu - Charles Chavel on 130 and Peter Dunne on 134.
Rimutaka - 2,151 to Chris Hipkins and 1,613 to Jonathan Fletcher - which is good news for abortion rights.
7.08pm I'm not impressed with TVOne so far. Way too many people and most of them are boring. Although MMP is streaking ahead.
7.06pm First lot of votes on the referendum MMP is 3% ahead - good news - but I'd like it to be more.
7.00pm Welcome to Maia's home of grumpy election watching. Unlike the other live-bloggers I'm just at my house with some friends and relations. Collectively they'll be called "Rabbit's friends and relations."
The first decision for the evening is which channel we're going to watch. This has been made easier because TV3's commentators include Paul Henry, Rodney Hide, John Tamihere and Chris Trotter. Obviously their goal is to repel all women and men who have heard of feminism.
So I think we'll be flicking between Maori TV (who do have Ron Mark, Mike King and Derek Fox so we may not stay for long) and TV1.
We also have chocolate and gummi bears - for the sole purpose of taking bets. I'm going to try and take bets only on the most depressing outcomes - so if the worst comes to the worst I will have snacks.
However, Raymond Huo at number 21 on the list is in, but Carol Beaumont (number 22) is out. This could change about depending on Christchurch Central and Waitakere though.
12.17am I think I might wind up this post and write some final thoughts in a new post. I will find reasons to be cheerful.
12.14am OK I'm back - there was some very obnoxious dickheads driving past my house tooting really loudly at almost midnight. It's a super obnoxious thing to do - and then on top of that a National party victory is a problematic thing to celebrate.
11.43pm I am talking a short break to drop some of Rabbit's friends and relations home.
11.35 By my count at the moment Aaron Gilmore is the last person in on National #53 on their list. The last person in on Labour is Carol Beaumont at #34 - but that does depend on both Christchurch Central and Waitakere. Everyone else you can just count down.
Does anyone have different ideas about the people?
11.31 I am finding the streams and cheering for John Key pretty repulsive.
11.25 Final votes in in Waitakere Paula Benett is leading by 349 votes. That isn't looking solid and it'd be amazing if it was overturned in the specials. I'll now try and do some final calculations around who exactly is in.
11.24pm Violence may break out at this election party because Tigger just said "Buffy is stupid." I think we may conclude that we're not expecting any more news - good or bad.
11.23pm Now we've put it on mute, as John Key may be speaking soon.
11.14pm The sign is for very low turn-out. I think this is important, because this is a sign of disappointment with parliamentary politics. National's vote is only actually around 35% of eligible voters. It doesn't help the make-up of parliament, but I find it less depressing.
11.09pm Ugh - according to the comments Chris Trotter is saying that the reason Labour did badly because they weren't manly about. As if the wall to wall blokes on the TV coverage wasn't bad enough.
11.01 CHRISTCHURCH CENTRAL IS A TIE! 10,493 votes each for Brendon Burns and Nicky Wagner - this is on 100% vote counted. Now it's up to specials.
10.59pm There's conflicting advice about where the Labour line is and whether Carol Beaumont is in or not. I think she is, but it does depend on Brendon Burns and Carmel Sepoluni.
10.58pm Phil Goff's family wanted him to stand down a decade or more ago - so would I.
10.57pm As Tigger pointed out, ACT is currently the 1%.
Mana is on .98% just two decimal points off the 99%.
10.51pm Don Brash resigned. Tigger says "Apparently we should have listened to Don Brash - first time I've ever said that."
Him not being in parliament is one of the few non-awful things tonight.
10.45pm TVOne cut away with the Mark Sainsbury Walrus saying "Look it's John Key" and then "Oh no it's an empty car". We looked at the empty car and then we came back.
10.42pm Now we are discussing Christchurch Central where Brendon Burns is up by 12 votes. Owl says "I'm not saying I want Brendon Burns to win, but I definitely want Nicky Wagner to lose."
10.39pm Owl is claiming that we should be happy because National is looking to get under 48% - and that this is a miracle compared to the previous three years of polls.
I am sceptical. NZ First being in is hardly a font of joy.
10.34pm Don Brash has quite amazing lighting with the powerpoint on his face.
One of Roo's friends voted for Labour, because they voted National last time and they like to alternate.
10.32pm Don Brash is on screen, but won't be in parliament. Another small mercies.
Things aren't looking as good as Waitakere - which I think means Carol Beaumont will be in.
10.26pm OK abortion update. The 8 NZ First MPs are pretty bad news for abortion (presumably). Currently depending on whether Carmel Sepuloni wins Waitakere either her or Carol Beaumont will be in. It'd be good to have an extra seat for Labour when it comes to abortion politics. There's no chance of Steve Chadwick or Kate Sutton getting in.
National are currrently not bringing in Paul Foster Bell, but Jacqui Blue is in.
10.22pm We have some insightful political analysis from an 8 or 9 year old friend of Eyeore's who said that National's policies were "the rich deserve more when the rich already have heaps of money and they should just give it to charities or poor people and labour aren't really any better either".
10.12pm New Plymouth has a final count. Jonathan Fletcher is 4,130 above Andrew Little. This doesn't really affect parliament, but it is sad for another friend of mine. She has been campaigning for Andrew Little because Jonathan Fletcher is a pray the gay away level homophobe.
10.08pm As Anita points out Paul Quinn might be out - which is good news for democracy since he disenfranchised people in prison.. National party and swinging between 60 and 61 MPs - as long as they settle on 61 Quinn is out. That means Paul Foster-Bell also won't get in.
I should have credited Eeyore for the observation about James and Mojo. Roo said something wise and pertinent.
10.06pm John Banks is praising Paul Holmes as the Great Optimist of the Fourth Estate - because Holmes called Banks's win. Optimism and right-wing are not synonymous.
10.03pm I hate Russel Norman.
10.00pm So far turn-out is kind of low 68.25% based on the polling booths counted so far. This lessens the mandate of the almost 50% of people voting National.
9.52pm The Greens are on 10.5% and 13 seats. This is actually perfect. They'll go up a seat in the specials and Mojo Mathers will come in - but there's no danger of James Shaw coming in.
9.50pm Carmel Sepoluni is back ahead in Waitakere. That may be a meaningless good news, but I'll take it.
Kelly Buchanan now has 23 votes - so that's something.
9.49pm We are currently directing our rage towards the Green party and Gareth Hughes for bringing in Peter Dunne. And if Left-wing people voted tactically in Epsom John Banks wouldn't be in.
9.43pm It seems like ACT and UnitedFuture are in in Epsom and Ohariu - that's depressing.
The new person wants to be called Roo - she brings our number of Green voters to 2.
9.39pm I can't believe NZ First is back. At 6.8 surely they're in? This is terrible for abortion politics.
National is now under 49%. Small mercies.
9.33pm Bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke-bloke - the television coverage is awful.
9.32pm Google says he does vote and it will.
9.31pm We're arguing about whether or not the speaker votes and whether 61/121 will be a working majority.
9.27pm We're collecting good news - MMP is looking good and Kelly Buchanan now has 10 votes - which is some nice drinking for my friend.
9.25pm Paula Bennett is now ahead by 291. Clearly the election Gods don't want me to have any joy.
9.20pm We are now discussing Roger Sowry - who is on TV1. Tigger doesn't understand why we're not being mean to him the way we're being mean to most commentators. Then Eeyroe claimed that he used to be leader of the National Party but no-one knows who he is. I corrected him, because I have protested outside Sowry's electorate office.
9.18pm NZ First is not going down! Neither ACT nor Mana are looking like getting another seat. There are few joys tonight.
9.16pm National is almost down under 49% - hopefully the drop has begun.
We've had a new person join our watching party. She said "Oh God Labour are doing really badly I need alcohol."
9.13pm Gerry Brownlee is on TVOne and now I'm officially wondering if we could change to TV3. We are now holding out hope for 10pm where things start to get less depressing.
Eeyore is giving us really bad maths on Ohariu and whether Peter Dunne's lead is really Gareth Hughes's fault.
9.09pm Carmel Sepuloni is now 87 votes ahead of Paula Bennett. I may just focus on that - because everything else is badness.
9.05pm More from the "apparently we have nothing to think about but John Key's food" John Key is collecting Pizza.
8.59pm Hone did a pretty awesome speech about class and fighting for working-class issues.
8.57pm Anita has an interesting point in the comments - it's possible that there are quite a few people enrolled in Christchurch who are voting somewhere else, which would swim back to Labour. The thing about Christchurch is that no-one really knows.
8.50pm As Owl said - it looks like the Horizon poll was a little out. We both answered the Horizon Poll regularly, as university students we are always looking for things to procrastinate on.
Also National is back below 50% - small mercies.
8.47pm We are now discussing how we voted. 1 Maori party, 1 Green party, 4 Mana, and one wrote "Boo! Hiss! on the paper.
TVOne now has David Farrer as well as John Pagani. Why don't we get MaoriTV?
8.43pm TVOne is now outside Phil Goff's house. This is almost as bad as John Key's breakfast.
8.36pm Kris Faafoi is only 24 votes ahead in Mana - should I take credit?
Now John Pagani is on TVOne! Are they trying to drive us to the arms of Paul Henry?
Tigger is complaining that this is the most hateful group of television watching people ever. Piglet says that maybe given the level of hatred Winnie The Pooh wasn't necessarily the most appropriate naming pool.
8.22pm Christchurch appears to be going right. Both Waimakariri and Christchurch Central have National party candidates ahead at this point.
I wonder if this is about people in Christchurch changing their views or (more likely in my opinion) working-class people no longer being able to live in those areas.
8.16pm So it seems money can buy you votes. The Conservative Vote is 2.4%, while Colin Craig is second in Rodney only 218 behind Mark Mitchell.
However, Eeyore has discovered that google have a special tool that allows you to block all search results from Stuff. This sounds like the daily mail ap which substitutes all website on dailymail.co.uk with pictures of kittens.
8.05pm NZFirst is still over 5% and Damien O'Connor is now ahead in West Coast Tasman. Will there be no good news tonight?
I have taken bets on all the worst outcomes. I get chocolate if Damien O'Connor wins and gummi bears if Peter Dunne and John Banks win.
7.59pm As I mentioned my friend is the partner of Kelly Buchanan who is running for the Alliance in Wellington Central. She is taking a shot for every vote her partner gets - so far she has only had a safe 6 votes. I will keep you updated on the alcohol abuse throughout the night.
7.53pm TVOne is giving us a blow by blow account of John Key's day - which we could have done without. As Owl said (everyone is named after Winnie the Pooh) - is it a really a revelation that he started the day with breakfast?
And in special news Willie Jackson TV1 so every channel has their Clint Rickards apologist.
7.46pm Carmel Sepoluni is ahead of Paula Bennet in Waitakere! Only by 39 votes - but that'd be OKper cent 7.7% of the vote counted. Harawira is now ahead in Te Tai Tokerau.
TV one is showing that horrible late night add about chafing - with animated body parts supposed to be free from chafing.
7.31pm Bad news for electorate results: John Banks is now ahead in Epsom by 2,157 to 1,756.
Ohariu: Charles Chauvel 1,399 - Peter Dunne 1,591. Gareth Hughes has 216 votes - and so I'm blaming him.
Also Rino Tirikatene is ahead of Rahui Katene in Te Tai Tonga - I don't know what I want to happen in that seat.
Chipkins is still looking OK in Rimutaka.
My flatmate who is in the room is reading my liveblogging - which is quite sad. We are arguing about tactical voting.
7.28pm Now National are under 50% on the party vote - given how depressing things are looking - that is about as good as we can hope. And if their vote continues to go down over the night that's not a total disaster
We'd had enough with endless male talking heads with Petra Bagust doing hte fluffy stories. But we don't get Maori TV - so TV1 it'll have to me. Unless at least 50% of TV3 commentators spontaneously combust we're sticking with TV1 tonight.
MMP is 10% up. I think I'm going to be looking on the bright side.
7.21pm This isn't going as well for National as it could - they do well with those who come in early. So they may not be able to govern alone. However, it's also obviously not doing particularly well for Labour. Minor parties are pretty depressing.
I'll just repeat
7.20pm Electorate updates - here's the first news from electorates that I'm interested
Epsom - John Banks is behind but they've only counted 407 votes so while fun it means nothing
West Coast Tasman - Damien O'Connor is almost 100 votes behind Chris Auchinvole (only 636 votes counted) - I want some good news tonight so we may pay a lot of attention to this.
Ohariu - Charles Chavel on 130 and Peter Dunne on 134.
Rimutaka - 2,151 to Chris Hipkins and 1,613 to Jonathan Fletcher - which is good news for abortion rights.
7.08pm I'm not impressed with TVOne so far. Way too many people and most of them are boring. Although MMP is streaking ahead.
7.06pm First lot of votes on the referendum MMP is 3% ahead - good news - but I'd like it to be more.
7.00pm Welcome to Maia's home of grumpy election watching. Unlike the other live-bloggers I'm just at my house with some friends and relations. Collectively they'll be called "Rabbit's friends and relations."
The first decision for the evening is which channel we're going to watch. This has been made easier because TV3's commentators include Paul Henry, Rodney Hide, John Tamihere and Chris Trotter. Obviously their goal is to repel all women and men who have heard of feminism.
So I think we'll be flicking between Maori TV (who do have Ron Mark, Mike King and Derek Fox so we may not stay for long) and TV1.
We also have chocolate and gummi bears - for the sole purpose of taking bets. I'm going to try and take bets only on the most depressing outcomes - so if the worst comes to the worst I will have snacks.
Election night live-blogging 2011 - Index
- Julie - at Labour HQ in Mt Roskill
- Luddite Journo - at the Greens HQ in Wellington
- Maia - in front of the telly and the interwebs
If you click on the links above you'll go straight to that person's live-blogging post, which they will update through-out the night. (The links will be going as soon as people have started putting their post up).
Comments will be off moderation, for all posts, from 7pm-ish, unless we find we need to turn them back on cos people aren't playing nice.
Friday, 25 November 2011
On moderation until 7pm Sat 26th Nov
 |
| Line drawing of a woman with a cool scarf. "Wear your nicest t-shirt tomorrow" (But please don't if it's a political one!) |
There's been various advice swirling around the interwebs which basically seems to me to come down to the following:
No new posts, and no new comments, about election stuff (even whether the weather is good for voting or not!) between 12 midnight Friday and 7pm Saturday.We may be putting up new posts, but they won't be about the election. We will allow new comments that aren't about the election through during the day (as time allows), but won't publish any that are about the election, even loosely, until after 7pm.
Normal moderation rules as to content and anonymous comments will apply.
Thanks for participating in our pre-election blogging here - there was quite a lot more I had personally hoped to get to (like finishing my party list gender analyses and doing a bit of a wrap up post on that), but hey, there's always next time.
And don't forget - at least three of us will be live-blogging here from 7pm Saturday night. Which could be fun or horribly depressing or a bit of both.
See you on the other side.
How I'm voting
So in my last election related post before the polls I thought I'd describe my plans for tomorrow.
Electorate Vote
As I live in Wellington Central I can't use the ridiculously complex analysis I did of electorate seats. On top of that familiarity has certainly bred contempt when it comes to the parliamentary parties' candidates.
As it happens I can more easily make a case for voting for Paul Foster-Bell the National candidate than either Grant Robertson or James Shaw. If the polls were swinging differently Paul Foster-Bell could be a tactical abortion vote, but they're not so he's not. James Shaw appears to have been grown in a lab to personify everything those on the left criticise the Greens for.
Then there's Grant Robertson - who gets a lot of support round Wellington. I don't like him - not just because other people do - I think I sometimes come across as more contrarian than I am. But for actual good policy based reasons on an issue that is important to me. Grant Robertson was involved in designing the PBRF (performance based research fund) system that is currently doing such damage to tertiary education (and was always going to do damage in exactly the way that it did). And I am a little bit contrary so any time people on facebook are nice about him I mutter PBRF and get a little more entrenched. Plus my second rule of voting is "1984: Never forget, Never forgive." - and I take that very seriously.
So who am I going to vote for? I have two choices: Kelly Buchanan - the Alliance candidate I know and broadly agree with (she posted her responses to the Right to Life on The Hand Mirror). Or the Pirate Party candidate - because I believe new episodes of Joss Whedon TV shows are a fundamental human right.
I will probably vote for Kelly - mostly because I'm very good friends with her partner - and they're going to drink a shot every vote Kelly gets. It's been a hard year and it's time for my friend to have fun. Also I don't know the Pirate Party Candidate's position on abortion - and a girl has to have standards.
Party Vote
A few days ago my facebook status was "I think I'm a reasonably unprincipled voter; all I want is to vote for a left-wing party, where no-one in an achievable position on the list is anti-abortion or a rape apologist." So obviously I've been having trouble figuring out if I can vote at all.
Rule 2 obviously rules out Labour (and I'm looking for a left-wing party).
I've written at some length with my problems with the Greens in general and Russel Norman in particular. But my not voting for the Greens this time is more fundamental, because my first rule of voting is "Tories are evil":
I've written at some length with my problems with the Greens in general and Russel Norman in particular. But my not voting for the Greens this time is more fundamental, because my first rule of voting is "Tories are evil":
I don't care it's a 1 in a 100 chance that the Greens will abstain on confidence and supply for a National party government after the election (and I think it may be higher than that) - it's still astronomically too high.
So if I'm voting with my party vote I'm voting for Mana. I was doing a pretty good job of convincing myself to vote for the lizards so the wrong lizards don't get in. But then I read their policies. Now some Mana policies are great - the disability policy is radical, and clearly addresses many of the problems with the current system in a way that takes disabled people's lives and liberty really seriously. And (as you'd expect) their Te Reo and Te Tiriti policy are awesome. They released their Industrial Relations Policy today and it's very impressive (I am a little worried that a 25% loading which made casualised labour a legal category would entrench casualisation - but since it's not going to happen that's of rather minor concern).
However, their education policy is just weird. In some places it is strangely specific, but it ignores or is unclear many of the really important education. So it's very clear that every school needs a community garden, but doesn't mention the level of the operation grant. It appears to be promoting a work for the student allowance system (but that isn't really clear).
Then there's their National Standards policy:
Abolish National Standards and replace with information that lets parents know how well their children are doing compared to other children, nationally, without the bad effects of the current direction.
Their policy to make NZ tobacco free is so ridiculous that it's hard to know how to respond. The failure of prohibition is pretty well documented when it comes to alcohol and drugs. Criminalising marijuana has hardly been liberatory for anyone.
On one level it doesn't matter because it's never going to happen. But I think it shows a fundamentally problematic attitude towards working-class people's lives. Working-class people are making complex choices about their survival strategies and the path towards liberation involves fighting for more resources and more choices. Taking away the chance to find a break, breath deeply, and get a hit of nicotine so they can keep going from those who feel like they need it is not liberatory.* They're ignoring all that and instead asking how can we use the power of the state to get people to behave how we want them to behave?
With National Standards and Tobacco in particular - my problem is not just that the policy is bad, but that it shows a way of thinking about society and state roles that I fundamentally disagree with and makes me distrust the way they are thinking about politics.
See writing this I have almost persuaded myself not to vote for them. But I really do want to vote for the least worst option, and they are it. Unless something dramatic happens in the next 24 hours I'll party-vote Mana.
Referendum Part 1
MMP.
(I can on occasion be brief)
(I can on occasion be brief)
Referendum Part 2
I think I've decided to vote for STV.
STV is the least bad of the four options. It also has the added advantage that it'll struggle against MMP, because then it'll be seen as just as (if not more complicated). In general I don't like it, because I think it kind of formalises protest votes and encourages (or forces in Australia) people to vote for candidates who will win, and it has a high threshold for minor parties. Although it would make voting on abortion easy.
If SM was in the picture at all, I would consider voting FPP - but as the choice is between STV and FPP - it's pretty simple.
I'll be live-blogging the election at The Hand Mirror. Expect mostly mockery, bile, depression, and obsessive attention to who is in parliament and where they stand on abortion.
* I guess I should be clear here that I addiction isn't liberatory either. I totally support any moves that makes it harder for people to get addicted to ciagerettes and assistance towards quitting.
If SM was in the picture at all, I would consider voting FPP - but as the choice is between STV and FPP - it's pretty simple.
I'll be live-blogging the election at The Hand Mirror. Expect mostly mockery, bile, depression, and obsessive attention to who is in parliament and where they stand on abortion.
* I guess I should be clear here that I addiction isn't liberatory either. I totally support any moves that makes it harder for people to get addicted to ciagerettes and assistance towards quitting.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
skin deep
and just as i was commending national in my previous post on changing their stance on issues around race after the resignation of dr brash, i received the letter below which i am posting with permission from the author. i'm sorry, but it's not enough to have your party leader make public platitudes about the importance and value of diversity. if the rest of your MPs don't have the courage to call out discrimination and to challenge racism, then those platitudes are just a sick joke.
priyanca tells me she was the only brown face in the room at this event. i'm so sorry that she had to sit through this kind of thing at a public meeting.
Dear Editor,
Never before was structural discrimination more blatant than at Monday night’s public meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Wairarapa MP John Hayes at the Royal Hotel. I attended this meeting along with about eleven other members of the public and left the meeting feeling physically ill.
The conversation began with a discussion around economic issues, primarily related to the forestry industry in the Wairarapa and Hayes, in a bid to assert that high youth unemployment in the region is the result of individual choice as opposed to the lack of employment opportunity, referred to a group of 25 youths who were keen to be employed in the forestry industry of which 22 failed a mandatory drug test. This comment was met with much sighing and shoulder shrugging by a number of members of the audience and by Hayes himself. The discussion quickly deteriorated into a session of benefit-bashing, migrant and refugee-bashing and culminated (for me, as I was unable to take much more and left the meeting shortly before it drew to a close) in Hayes vociferously denouncing MMP as an electoral system that does not work as it “forces” the government to address issues that they had not even mentioned before they came into power – like the foreshore and seabed issue.
A member of the public who was fed up with the social welfare system was resentful that hardworking taxpayers had to support tax bludgers and made a reference to the “900 turbanheads [referring to Sikh men who wear turbans] who are driving our taxis in Wellington” who were misusing the welfare system (I could not quite make the connection between driving taxis and benefit fraud) and his remark was acknowledged with a number of nodding heads and although the Deputy PM attempted to joke that he liked the “turbanheads” the seeds of discrimination were already sown.
The seeds were carefully nurtured during an ensuing discussion on state housing, the “poor job that Housing New Zealand was doing” in ensuring that tenants did not sublet their state homes and fertilised by the Deputy PM’s comment about refugees who “often did not speak any English” and only too easily got straight onto the Emergency Benefit, moved on to the Unemployment Benefit and did not work “even for a day.” Mr English commiserated with audience members who felt that state housing was a waste of time and promised that his government, if re-elected, would ensure that they took a hard line towards state housing. I find this especially interesting considering funding to state housing was slashed by fifty per cent in the 2011 budget from $18.1 million to $9 million despite research that indicated an increased demand for state housing possibly exacerbated by a global economic recession[1].
Department of Labour research[2] on the economic impacts of immigration 2005 - 2010 points to “investment-induced productivity growth when the number of immigrants increased.” According to the same report, the 2006 census indicated a migrant population of approximately 927,000. It then quotes a research study that estimated that this migrant population had a positive net fiscal impact of $3,288 million in the year 2005/06. The study then compares this with the New Zealand-born population of 3.1 million which had a lower net fiscal impact of $2,838 million.
What I am trying to say here is that migrants make a positive economic contribution to New Zealand despite documented evidence of structural discrimination. Inward migration has also contributed to diversity in terms of food, music, festivals and if we want to go back to economics, contributed to the growth of the tourism industry. Refugees are people who have undergone severe trauma, terror and experienced the loss of homes and loved ones prior to coming to New Zealand. They are accepted into the country under the government’s Refugee Quota Programme on humanitarian grounds.
Given that New Zealand as the host country stands to benefit from inward migration, there are myriad government initiatives to address ethnic inequalities and target structural discrimination. As a result of this, I would expect the current government to set certain standards towards fostering race relations and was appalled at the blatant prejudice and lack of information displayed by the Deputy Prime Minister and this region’s incumbent MP. As a migrant myself, and one who has never accessed social welfare benefits, I was disgusted by the tone of the meeting and the perpetuation of a stereotype that migrants and refugees are bludgers of society.
Instead of tearing the social fabric of this nation apart, I would like to see the National Party work towards educating themselves first before professing to be inclusive and addressing underlying structural causes instead of playing the blame game. It would be great if, along the way, they would also develop some compassion for fellow human beings.
Regards,
Priyanca Radhakrishnan
priyanca tells me she was the only brown face in the room at this event. i'm so sorry that she had to sit through this kind of thing at a public meeting.
Dear Editor,
Never before was structural discrimination more blatant than at Monday night’s public meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Wairarapa MP John Hayes at the Royal Hotel. I attended this meeting along with about eleven other members of the public and left the meeting feeling physically ill.
The conversation began with a discussion around economic issues, primarily related to the forestry industry in the Wairarapa and Hayes, in a bid to assert that high youth unemployment in the region is the result of individual choice as opposed to the lack of employment opportunity, referred to a group of 25 youths who were keen to be employed in the forestry industry of which 22 failed a mandatory drug test. This comment was met with much sighing and shoulder shrugging by a number of members of the audience and by Hayes himself. The discussion quickly deteriorated into a session of benefit-bashing, migrant and refugee-bashing and culminated (for me, as I was unable to take much more and left the meeting shortly before it drew to a close) in Hayes vociferously denouncing MMP as an electoral system that does not work as it “forces” the government to address issues that they had not even mentioned before they came into power – like the foreshore and seabed issue.
A member of the public who was fed up with the social welfare system was resentful that hardworking taxpayers had to support tax bludgers and made a reference to the “900 turbanheads [referring to Sikh men who wear turbans] who are driving our taxis in Wellington” who were misusing the welfare system (I could not quite make the connection between driving taxis and benefit fraud) and his remark was acknowledged with a number of nodding heads and although the Deputy PM attempted to joke that he liked the “turbanheads” the seeds of discrimination were already sown.
The seeds were carefully nurtured during an ensuing discussion on state housing, the “poor job that Housing New Zealand was doing” in ensuring that tenants did not sublet their state homes and fertilised by the Deputy PM’s comment about refugees who “often did not speak any English” and only too easily got straight onto the Emergency Benefit, moved on to the Unemployment Benefit and did not work “even for a day.” Mr English commiserated with audience members who felt that state housing was a waste of time and promised that his government, if re-elected, would ensure that they took a hard line towards state housing. I find this especially interesting considering funding to state housing was slashed by fifty per cent in the 2011 budget from $18.1 million to $9 million despite research that indicated an increased demand for state housing possibly exacerbated by a global economic recession[1].
Department of Labour research[2] on the economic impacts of immigration 2005 - 2010 points to “investment-induced productivity growth when the number of immigrants increased.” According to the same report, the 2006 census indicated a migrant population of approximately 927,000. It then quotes a research study that estimated that this migrant population had a positive net fiscal impact of $3,288 million in the year 2005/06. The study then compares this with the New Zealand-born population of 3.1 million which had a lower net fiscal impact of $2,838 million.
What I am trying to say here is that migrants make a positive economic contribution to New Zealand despite documented evidence of structural discrimination. Inward migration has also contributed to diversity in terms of food, music, festivals and if we want to go back to economics, contributed to the growth of the tourism industry. Refugees are people who have undergone severe trauma, terror and experienced the loss of homes and loved ones prior to coming to New Zealand. They are accepted into the country under the government’s Refugee Quota Programme on humanitarian grounds.
Given that New Zealand as the host country stands to benefit from inward migration, there are myriad government initiatives to address ethnic inequalities and target structural discrimination. As a result of this, I would expect the current government to set certain standards towards fostering race relations and was appalled at the blatant prejudice and lack of information displayed by the Deputy Prime Minister and this region’s incumbent MP. As a migrant myself, and one who has never accessed social welfare benefits, I was disgusted by the tone of the meeting and the perpetuation of a stereotype that migrants and refugees are bludgers of society.
Instead of tearing the social fabric of this nation apart, I would like to see the National Party work towards educating themselves first before professing to be inclusive and addressing underlying structural causes instead of playing the blame game. It would be great if, along the way, they would also develop some compassion for fellow human beings.
Regards,
Priyanca Radhakrishnan
[1] Otago Daily Times. (2011, May 20). State housing funding cut in half. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from Otago Daily Times: http://www.odt.co.nz/
[2] Department of Labour. (2010). New Zealand Research on the Economic Impacts of Immgiration 2005 - 2010: Synthesis and Research Agenda. Wellington: Department of Labour.
MMP and diversity
People who support MMP say it has increased the diversity of our parliament like that's a good thing.
Now there are arguments here, about what "representative" means, and whether you believe diverse views are valuable and important. And there are also arguments about whether you believe parliament looking more like Aotearoa's demographics means parliament is more likely to approach political issues in ways which are mindful of all Aotearoa's people, or if that requires policy and engagement with community as well as MPs in parliament. Then there's the oft squaring off from the right of "diversity" and "competence", like they are two different things, really just code for "white, middle-class, heterosexual men know what's best for everyone."
I'm not debating those points this post, but I am going to explore diversity by looking at parliamentary make-up pre and post the first MMP election in 1996. I've struggled to get good data on this, so it's a bit of a patchwork of different sources, not all of which compare well. Feel free to follow the links and let me know if I'm wrong.
Pre 1996 we'd had:
- 44 women MPs over 25 elections (women could only be elected to parliament after 1919. The first women MP, Elizabeth McComb, was elected in 1933). Collectively those 44 women served 125 terms or 2.84 terms each on average. Just four of these women were Maori (Parekura Horomia's speech names three Maori women, but he has missed Jill Pettis, who won election before 1996)
- 79 Maori MPs over 43 elections (before 1967 Maori could not stand in general electorates, with the odd exception of Sir James Carroll, on account of his Pakeha whakapapa). After 1967 there were just a handful of Maori elected in general seats.
- 1 Pacifica MP - Taito Phillip Field
- 1 out queer MP - Chris Carter - who came out after being elected. (Marilyn Waring did not come out as lesbian until after she left parliament).
After 1996:
- 79 women over 5 elections. Collectively those 79 women have served 196 terms, or 2.48 terms each on average. Fifteen of these women have been Maori (Parekura's 12 plus Paula Bennett, Hekia Parata and Rahui Katene)
- Maori political representation has almost exactly matched population percentages, with a total of 92 seats held by Maori MPs over 5 elections (some MPs have served multiple terms, so this doesn't equate to numbers of MPs)
- Pacifica MPs have held steady at 3 MPs per election, or 2.5% of MPs (cf 5.8% - 6% of our population describing themselves as Pacifica). This includes NZ's first Pacifica woman MP, Samoan Luamanuvao Winnie Laban and first MP of Tongan descent, Carmel Sepuloni
- Georgina Beyer became the world's first openly trans MP in 1999, so far the only one
- Maryan Street became the first out lesbian MP in 2005, joining Tim Barnet, Chris Finlayson and Chris Carter, all of whom, post MMP, were elected as out queer people. Since then Louisa Wall (first Maori out queer person), Grant Robertson, Charles Chauvel and Kevin Hague have joined them, and this election there are 14 out queer candidates standing, of which Jan Logie (lesbian) is a near certain newbie. "Lesbian end of bi" Kelly Buchanan and "bisexual" Rachael Goldsmith may be the first candidates daring to use the B word, though they are probably not headed for parliament.
- In terms of ethnicities wholly unrepresented when we had First Past the Post, MMP has seen the first Chinese MP (Pansy Wong), later joined by Kenneth Wang and Raymond Huo; first Tahitian MP (Charles Chauvel); first Korean MP (Melissa Lee); the first Indian MPs (Fijian Indian Rajen Prasad and Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi); the first Pakistani MP (Ashraf Choudhary) and the first MP of African descent (Nandor Tanczos)
- In terms of religion, MMP has given us the first Sikh MP and the first and second Muslim MPs
Let's look at some pictures. Numbers of women in parliament pre and post MMP:
Or Maori political representation and population demographic, compared with pre MMP in 1993:
I'm going to collate MPs with Asian, Pacifica and African ancestry (so ethnic minorities of colour, based on this, with the addition of Arthur Anae, Kenneth Wang, Ashraf Choudhary, Rajen Prasad, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Nandor Tanczos):
Despite the steep curve after MMP, in 2008, with 9% of seats in parliament being won by people from these ethnic minority communities, it is still woefully short of the population demographic of 16.6% last census. Diversity has some way to go it seems, if you're Pacifica, Asian or African.
How about absolute numbers of queer MPs:
It's only in the last two elections that the percentage of out queer MPs gets close to 5%, the figure of secondary school students reporting same and both sex desire. This is about the only general population survey asking about sexuality, so it's probably the best estimate we have. Just where are those gaggle of gays, anyway?
Joking aside, it's clear that MMP has driven real diversity and movement away from a parliament which is completely unrepresentative of anyone but white, middle class, heterosexual men. Of course those guys are still doing alright - leading the National, Labour, United Future and ACT Parties and co-leading the Greens - so no need to worry about them.
There's a simple choice to make on Saturday if you value diversity.
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