2020 general election – Evening Report

Election 2020: Green Party Negotiation Team Sets Its Terms of Reference

Selwyn Manning — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 03:38:28 +0000

By Selwyn Manning – Editor, EveningReport.nz

Selwyn Manning, editor of EveningReport.nz.

The Green Party has settled on its negotiation team, agreeing to who will represent the party’s members when considering the shape and outcome of talks with the incoming Labour-led Government.

The negotiating team has a similar make up to the group that considered the merits of negotiations with Labour post the 2017 General Election.

The group, called Tatau Pounamu, a Negotiation Consultation Group, has also settled on its terms of reference, giving a guideline for how it will settle on a final decision on what the Green Party’s relationship with Labour in Government will look like.

Tatau Pounamu’s terms of reference proposes a consensus be sought, and, if that fails, then a 75 percent vote of the Tatau Pounamu group in favour will be required “to carry a proposal that alters the status quo”.

Green Party co-leader, James Shaw. Image, Wikipedia.

The terms of Tatau Pounamu agreement state: “All decisions concerning the negotiations, including what agreement, if any, would be taken to a Special General Meeting (SGM) will be taken by the combined membership of Tatau Pounamu.”

“Decisions will be reached by consensus. When this is not possible it will be by vote, with at least 75% of votes in favour to carry a proposal that alters the status quo.”

“Only members of Tatau Pounamu selected by the three-petal approval processes are involved in decision-making.”

The group consists of 16 Green members, including some MPs, ex-MPs, and the upper echelons of the Green Party who have existing positions in the hierarchy. Significant among them are Gwen Shaw (General Manager), Roland Sapsford, John Ranta.

Green Party co-leader, Marama Davidson. Image, Wikipedia.

The Green’s negotiating team incudes:

The membership of the Ihu (the team that are talking directly with Labour’s leader Jacinda Ardern and her negotiating team are:

Wiremu Winitana
James Shaw
Marama Davidson
Tory Whanau.

It is believed the membership of Tatau Pounamu are:

Briar Wyatt
Julie Nevin
Elizabeth Kerekere
Eugenie Sage
Gwen Shaw
Julie Anne Genter
Jan Logie
James Shaw
Marama Davidson
Mojo Mathers
Roland Sapsford
Teanau Tuiono
Tory Whanau (chief of staff, that is Green parliamentary staff)
Wiremu Winitana

(male party co-convenor)
Penny Leach

(co-convenor of Tatau Pounamu & female party co-convenor)
John Ranta (co-convenor of Tatau Pounamu).

Keith Rankin Analysis – The 2020 New Zealand Election is Not a Foregone Conclusion

Keith Rankin — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 23:36:56 +0000

Analysis by Keith Rankin.

Keith Rankin.

The most recent TVNZ Colmar Brunton poll felt about right: Labour/Green on 54% and National/Act on 38% of decided voters. But I sense that Labour is losing momentum.

What needs to happen to make Judith Collins the Prime Minister in October? National/Act need just five percentage points more, and Green to fall below five percent. This combination of possibilities is not improbable.

Act is running hot with many voters just now, and seems to be winning over many undecided voters, just as the Bob Jones party did in 1984. While Act’s message of fiscal rectitude – a message laced with comedy – is quite cynical, it is effective with an electorate trained by almost all of our political messengers to be very afraid of public debt.

National has managed this fiscal policy issue much better than Labour, by promising – through ‘temporary’ tax cuts – both the need for immediate fiscal stimulus and the promise of lower future public debt. Further, Labour has boxed itself into a corner with its doubled ‘winter energy benefit’ soon coming to an end. Many poor Auckland families will fall into immediate poverty as a result, because they have been using this to pay the rent.

Disenchantment arising from the insensitivity of withdrawing benefits at this time may see many potential Labour voters not bothering to vote at all.

Labour stands to being seen as, simultaneously, both stingy, which it is, and profligate, as Act paints it. Both perceptions could be costly to Labour. The Green Party suffers likewise, and is looking less attractive to its past left-feminist supporters, thanks to the James Shaw ‘Green School’ gaff.

Not only has Labour mismanaged the messaging about fiscal stimulus and public debt, it has also mismanaged the messaging about our two-vote voting system. Labour has failed to train the media into properly distinguishing between the proportional party vote and the plurality (ie ‘FPP’) electorate vote. Labour has shown no inclination to facilitate the election of a Green electorate MP, and that naïve pretence that the candidate vote is also a party vote could cost the present Government dearly.

To vote Labour in Auckland Central or Wellington Central or Tamaki-Makaurau (or anywhere else) is to vote for the Labour Party, not for the Labour electorate candidate. To vote for a Labour-led government, Labour supporters in those named electorates should vote for the Green Party candidate; in each case, to achieve their political objective, it is crucially important that those three Green candidates be in Parliament.

Even if Labour wins this time despite the Green Party failing, this would make a Jacinda Ardern led government unnecessarily vulnerable in 2023.

I think that Labour/Green will prevail, nevertheless, despite both parties’ ‘own goals’. First, Labour’s billboards emphasising the electorate vote over the party vote may inadvertently help the Green Party get over five percent. Second, Labour’s biggest asset is the Judith Collins’ billboards showing Gerry Brownlee standing behind her. Gerry is truly yesterday’s man, is gaff-prone, and unpopular. The important question is whether Labour or Act becomes the main beneficiary of the Brownlee ‘turn-off’ effect.

(Judith Collins will be very happy if National gets 30% and Act gets 20%. Indeed, in that scenario, National may get some overhang MPs. And, with Paul Goldsmith not making it back to Parliament under that scenario, then David Seymour may become the next Minister of Finance. Help!)

National MP Jian Yang, who admitted training Chinese spies, quits politics

Asia Pacific Report — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 00:17:57 +0000

By RNZ News

Opposition National list MP Dr Jian Yang has announced his retirement from New Zealand politics and says he will not stand in the 2020 general election after three terms in the party caucus.

He said politics was “demanding” and he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“Accordingly, I have informed the party president that I should not be considered by the regional list ranking committee of the Northern Region in its meeting tomorrow, hence my announcement today.

“I truly believe that New Zealand is a great country.”

Of the 21 years he has been in New Zealand, he has spent 12 years in academia and nine in politics.

“I have been proud to be a part of what I think is a caucus that is truly representative of the ethnic diversity that is modern New Zealand, and to have played my part as a Chinese New Zealander in the governance of our amazing country.”

He said he was honoured to represent the Chinese community in Parliament.

Support for Chinese community
“I am proud that I have been able to assist numerous Chinese constituents and enabled the Chinese community to better understand and participate in New Zealand’s open and democratic politics. And I will continue to support New Zealand’s hard-working Chinese community outside of caucus.

In 2017, Yang confirmed he had taught ‘spies’ in China, but denied that he was a spy himself. A story on the Newsroom website raised questions about his involvement with Chinese military and intelligence.

He was a member of the Communist Party while he was in China but had not been since he left the country, he had said.

He said he enjoyed being part of governments led by Sir John Key and Sir Bill English and to have chaired two select committees.

“My trips to China with Prime Minister John Key, ministers and colleagues are some highlights of my political career. I have witnessed the rapid growth of New Zealand’s trade with China and I am pleased to have played a role in it.

“I wish Todd and the team all the best to win the election. New Zealand needs a National government.”

Last month National MP and ousted deputy leader Paula Bennett had also announced she would not be standing at the upcoming election.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz