Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
David Cunliffe
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David Shearer
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Labour Party
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Shane Jones
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Valedictory speech
Shane Jones will deliver his valedictory speech today in Parliament.
We've just seen him interviewed on the TVNZ Breakfast programme. He recounted his maiden speech to Parliament, describing how a copy had to be screened by Helen Clark then Speaker Margaret Wilson to ensure that it was of sufficient quality. Jones described his maiden speech as "a bit wooden", but has promised that today's speech will have a lot more personality!
Mr Jones has been something of a character, and with his views on advancing the aspirations of Maori through economic development (including drilling and mining) left him offside with many of his colleagues. At times he has looked to be a square peg trying to fit into a round hole in the Labour Party.
It remains to be seen whether Shane Jones will fire any parting shots at his about-to-be former colleagues. He made one interesting comment on Breakfast; that he had a lot of time for former Labour leader David Shearer, and that he believed that Mr Shearer's appeal to the public would have grown had they had the opportunity to get to know him better. Is that a hint that David Cunliffe's systematic undermining of David Shearer may get a mention?
We look forward to Shane Jones' E noho rā speech early this evening, and wish him well for a future away from the cut and thrust of Parliament.
