The Labour Party is still unable to select a candidate for the Tamaki Makarau seat; the Herald reports:
Labour is still facing delays in selecting its candidate in the key Tamaki Makaurau seat as a result of broadcaster and potential candidate Shane Taurima's TVNZ problems.
Party figures are now worried the delays will put Labour at a disadvantage given the Maori Party which holds the seat yesterday selected its candidate Rangi McLean to replace former Maori Affairs Minister and former Co-leader Pita Sharples.
Labour's contenders for the candidacy were to be announced late this afternoon after three delays as the party waits for a TVNZ report into the actions of Mr Taurima.
He resigned as TVNZ's head of Maori programming in February after emails leaked to 3 News showed he was still involved in party meetings despite assuring his bosses he had given up his political aspirations.
Mr Taurima has denied his affiliation impacted on his work or on the programmes he oversaw.
TVNZ was expected to release its report today but last night Shane Te Pou of the Tamaki Makaurau Labour Electorate Committee said he understood that was unlikely to happen.
Labour Party General Secretary Tim Barnet acknowledged a further delay in the release of the report and therefore in the announcement of nominations was a real possibility.
TVNZ has been investigating the behaviour of Mr Taurima and several other staff since mid-February. Candidate selection in Tamaki Makarau has already been delayed several times.
And it seems that some within Labour are not happy with the process being so drawn out in Taurima's favour; read on:
Mr Te Pou said it was "crazy" the process was taking so long and was dependent on what happened with one candidate.
"Nominations close tomorrow but we won't have a candidate til mid May or the end of May. We're not the incumbent party, we're challenging for the seat and we won't have a Shane Jones as the candidate and I think we've placed ourselves in an unnecessary tough position, I just don't understand it at all.
"We shouldn't have delayed things around a particular candidate we should have thought about the overall picture and that not having a candidate in mid May when we've got an election in September is not good."
Mr Te Pou believed the issue should have been addressed through discussions between Mr Taurima and party leadership who could have asked him "is there anything in that report that is likely to embarrass you or us?".
"That could have been addressed at a very high level and certain assurances made and the process could have continued we should have had our selection by now and that's a huge issue to confront."
So what's the hold-up? Has TVNZ made an interim finding that is being contested by one or more of those being inquired about? Or has the inquiry been stonewalled by people not being prepared to provide explanations to those conducting the investigation? Whatever the reason, it seems inexplicable that what seemed to be a pretty straightforward inquiry has taken so long.
And given that this inquiry was largely about Taurima's leadership of Maori programming at TVNZ, and allowing his personal politics to interfere, wouldn't Labour be taking a huge risk if it handed him the Tamaki Makarau selection on a plate? Perhaps Mr Taurima's political ambitions need to be set aside for three years when he may be less tainted by the events that led to his resignation from TVNZ.
