0 Labour's Tamaki Makaurau farce continues

Labour's Tamaki Makaurau nomination farce gets even more farcical. TVNZ's Te Karere reporter Iraena Smith reports (read the bottom tweet first):

If this isn't a clear signal from the Labour Party's council that Shane Taurima is no longer persona non grata, we don't know what is. That is reinforced by these tweet from Katie Bradford:

In bending over backwards to apologise to Mr Taurima, Labour is effectively saying that him breaching an undertaking to his TVNZ managers not to get involved politically after his failed Ikaroa-Rawhiti bid is all ka pai. 

Labour also seems to have forgiven, on behalf of TVNZ and the taxpayer, Taurima's unlawful use of TVNZ resources and facilities for Labour Party purposes. That is outrageous.

With Julian Wilcox having ruled out a bid for the nomination, and with the way seemingly clear for Taurima to be put forward, it would seem that Labour's Tamaki Makaurau candidate selection is a fait accompli, and a third former TVNZ staffer will stand at the General Election. We reckon that is deeply flawed.

Will Flavell through his hat in the ring for the nomination some time ago. We've lost count of the number of times nominations have closed and then been reopened, but Mr Flavell ought already have been confirmed as Labour's candidate. Dark forces however (where have we heard that phrase this week?) seem to be conspiring against Mr Flavell, and there is now a real issue of fairness and due process if he decided to challenge the nomination process.

Here's our advice to the Labour Party, for what it's worth. As Will Flavell was the only nominee at the time nominations most recently closed, give him the Tamaki Makaurau candidacy. Then let Shane Taurima take his chances on the Party List.

That won't happen, of course. In its indecent haste to rehabilitate Shane Taurima and restore his reputation, the Labour Party seems to have forgotten about the reputational damage it is inflicting on itself with this stitch-up.


UPDATE: The hashtag on Newstalk ZB political reporter Laura McQuillan's uppermost tweet also gives an insight into what's going on in Tamaki Makaurau. But if Shane Taurima doesn't sue the Labour Party, Will Flavell should!

 

0 What's going on in Tamaki Makaurau?

Labour's troubled Tamaki Makaurau candidate selection took another turn yesterday. Maori broadcaster Julian Wilcox confirmed that he is no longer interested in trying out for the Labour nomination; Stuff reports:

Maori TV's Julian Wilcox has quashed speculation he will stand for Labour in the coming general election.
Wilcox has long been rumoured to be a potential candidate in Tamaki Makaurau, with speculation strengthening after the Labour Party council refused a waiver to allow ex-TVNZ presenter Shane Taurima to stand.
Maori Television issued a statement today saying Wilcox, the station's general manager for news and current affairs, would not be standing for Labour.
"To clarify his position Julian Wilcox has made an unequivocal statement to Maori Television that he is not seeking political office for any political party in the forthcoming elections and remains committed to his job as GM of news and current affairs at Maori Television," the statement said.
Chief executive Paora Maxwell said the company accepted Wilcox's written statement "and we will continue to value our editorial independence in providing impartial and independent news coverage of significant regional and national stories from a Maori perspective". 

We don't blame Mr Wilcox for putting his career ahead of his political aspirations for now. He is a very good and influential Maori broadcaster. He has nothing to gain from getting involved in Labour's Tamaki Makaurau train-wreck, or with the Labour Party.

When Pita Sharples announced his intention to retire from politics at the election, Labour aggressively targeted Tamaki Makaurau. Initially, it was thought that Shane Jones would stand. When Jones opted out, Shane Taurima was touted, then the stink at TVNZ blew up. Julian Wilcox considered standing, but only if Shane Taurima was excluded; Wilcox was not prepared to stand against his broadcasting colleague.

Of course, nominations for the Tamaki Makaurau candidate selection have already closed. Educator Will Flavell's nomination has been accepted, and that should be all she wrote. But David Cunliffe indicated on Breakfast this morning that it is likely that Labour's council will reopen nominations, and that there will be "significant interest" in the nomination. If that's the case, where was the "significant interest" all the other times that nominations have opened, closed then opened again?

Will Flavell should be given the opportunity be Labour's candidate for Tamaki Makaurau. He has played by the rules, and there seems to be no legitimate reason why he should not be confirmed as the Labour Party candidate. To once again reopen nominations, and to have someone else given the nod would be contrary to the principles of fairness and natural justice.

Then again, this is the Labour Party we're talking about, so the principles of fairness and natural justice probably do not apply. The Tamaki Makaurau candidate selection is a complete and utter dog's breakfast which does Labour, the Tamaki Makaurau LEC and the TVNZ branch of Tamaki Makaurau Labour no credit whatsoever.

0 Trouble at t'mill in Tamaki Makaurau

As if the Labour Party didn't already have enough internal problems, there's a massive shit-fight brewing in Tamaki Makaurau. Radio New Zealand reports:

A former Labour MP for Tamaki Makaurau has accused the Labour Party president of abusing her power over the Shane Taurima case. It follows a request from the Tamaki Makaurau electorate committee for a review of the Labour national council decision not to let Mr Taurima stand.
John Tamihere told Morning Report that independent sources have confirmed party president Moira Coatsworth met with another broadcaster, Julian Wilcox.
"It's OK for a president to shoulder tap a high profile candidate or nominee like a Wilcox, but where it goes a bit awry is when you use your authority and power to then skew the scrum completely by taking out a major adversary on the pretext of an error of judgement in his employment" he said.
Mr Tamihere went on to say he believed Mr Taurima had good grounds for a judicial review of the Labour Council decision.

We can just imagine how that's going to go down; a Labour Party electorate committee dragging the party and its president to court just months before the General Election. That's really going to reinforce the notion that Labour is ready to govern; not! The party is at war with itself at the moment.

The RNZ story continues, outlining some pretty deep discontent within the Tamaki Makaurau LEC:

In a statement, the electorate committee said it was disappointed with the decision, and wanted Labour's council to review it. It said it continued to support Mr Taurima as a candidate and would be seeking further advice.
The decision was made after Mr Taurima was found to have used Television New Zealand resources for Labour Party campaigning.
A senior member on the electorate committee Shane Te Pou said there was a lot of hurt stemming from the decision to veto Mr Taurima's candidacy.
He told Morning Report there there was lot of ill feeling on the electorate committee and a lot of patch-up work needed to be done. Mr Te Pou said it was time to move on and it was highly likely nominations for the seat would reopen.

We don't know whether Shane Taurima would have a case for judicial review, given the decision of the Labour Party council. We do know however that Will Flavell, the only nomination to date will have every reason to feel hard done by if nominations are reopened again, and he faces competition for the role of Labour's Tamaki Makaurau candidate.

The Labour Party is a far from happy place at the moment, and this morning's Fairfax-Ipsos poll will have done nothing to lift spirits. There's all sorts of trouble at t'mill.