by frog
One of the great 2011 electoral success stories for the Green Party has been in the Māori electorates. In all seven Māori electorates the Greens’ share of the party vote has at least doubled and in two, Waiariki and Te Tai Hauāuru, has more than tripled:
| Electorate | % of party vote 2008 | % of party vote 2011 | % increase in party vote |
| Waiariki | 2.60% | 8.62% | 231.08% |
| Te Tai Hauāuru | 3.47% | 10.73% | 209.64% |
| Ikaroa-Rāwhiti | 3.11% | 9.12% | 193.29% |
| Hauraki-Waikato | 3.17% | 8.89% | 180.88% |
| Tāmaki Makaurau | 3.99% | 11.13% | 178.87% |
| Te Tai Tokerau | 3.47% | 8.25% | 137.98% |
| Te Tai Tonga | 7.12% | 15.27% | 114.53% |
What’s more, in Te Tai Tonga, the Greens came second in the party vote, out-polling each of the Māori Party, Mana and National. Overall, the Greens’ share of the vote in the Māori electorates is 10.29%, only marginally less than the 10.62% we received nationwide.
The 2005 election was the only one since the Greens have been in Parliament that saw a loss of Green MPs. Part of the reason for that was a dramatic loss of votes in the Māori electorates to the then newly formed Māori Party. Now, despite the emergence of Mana as another Māori-led party, the Greens are back stronger than ever in the Māori electorates.
Immense credit must go to Metiria Tūrei and our Māori candidates for getting the Green message across to Māori voters. Two of those candidates, David Clendon and Denise Roche, will be joining Metiria in Parliament.
Published in Parliament by frog on Wed, November 30th, 2011
Tags: Green success, Maori Electorates
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
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The big question for the Greens is how to hold onto those gains if there’s a resurgence for Labour?
The Greens environment message probably resonates to some extent right across the political spectrum.
But the extreme left economic policies will always be a barrier severely limiting Greens picking up support from the mainstream.
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Theres a wave coming in..
A big Green WAKA is riding on the top.. Hop in everyone & paddle hard !
“Winners are Griners”
Kia-ora
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@photonz1 9:33 AM
First, there is no guarantee there will be a resurgence of Labour. Gains Labour make from National, which I presume they eventually will as the National Government inevitably becomes tired and moribund, may well be offset by further leakage of votes to the Greens.
It is worth noting that Labour’s best electoral performance under MMP was in 2002. That was also the year of the best electoral performance by the Greens until the current one. And as frog says above the only election the Greens lost MPs was 2005. Labour also lost MPs in that election. I therefore think the “Greens’ gain = Labour’s loss” argument is somewhat simplistic.
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I prefer to think, now, hopefully, Labour is starting to resile from being Neo-liberal lite, a vote for Labour, and/or the Greens will both be votes towards a fairer and more successful sustainable society.
We have to start somewhere. And it will be even more urgent after 3 years of getting deeper into deficits, debt and losing control of our future under National.
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So Maori are voting for the Greens less than the national average and you think this is a good thing??
I think you will find it has more to do with the current state of Labour than any thing else.
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You may have overlooked the fact that the Maori Party and Mana have more support in these electorates than nationwide.
Also if you actually looked at the results Shunda instead of presuming to know something, guess what you would have found?
Greens now have more votes than National in most of the Maori electorates. The National vote has been steadily falling in these seats for years and now just about anyone beats them. The Maori Party, Labour, Mana, Greens and NZ First. They come 6th most of the time in the party vote.
Maybe there is a price a party pays for not running a candidate in electorate seats?
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toad says “First, there is no guarantee there will be a resurgence of Labour.”
Agreed. But if the Greens want to take more from Labour, can they do that without shifting away from the far left and more into the middle?
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How many far left policies do you support – insulation, food in schools, clean waterways …
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Given where the Greens were at in the Maori seats in 2005 and 2008, this is a very good result. They have recovered all the lost ground, and gained some on that. The 0.33% difference between the Greens’ vote in the Maori electorates and the General electorates is miniscule. It may even turn around the other way on the special votes.
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SPC asks “How many far left policies do you support – insulation, food in schools, clean waterways ..”
Insulation – yes. Food in schools, not really. Clean waterways – yes. Better rental housing standards – yes.
If I think it’s a good idea I’ll support it no matter if it is left or right.
As I said at the top, environmental issues resonate right across the spectrum. And waterways and insulation are environmental issues. And I see rental housing standards mainly as a health issue.
But my point was simply if the Greens want to become a major party they’re probably going have to move towards the centre where the voters are.
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Cite one Green policy you consider is “far left”. I don’t see “socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange” anywhere in Green policy.
The Greens favour a mixed economy, with the private sector doing what it does best and the State doing what it does best. That necessarily involves the intervention of the State to ensure inequality is reduced, the market is regulated to prevent unfair monopoly and cartel practices; and regulating to ensure employment health and safety and adequate minimum wage and employment conditions.
What is “far left” about that? Until the Douglas/Richardson far right revolution imposed on us under the undemocratic FPP electoral system, those policies were considered mainstream and moderate by almost all New Zealanders.
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“..Maybe there is a price a party pays for not running a candidate in electorate seats?..”
yeah..that’d be it..
..nothing else to really consider…eh..?
..maybe national fucking maori over forever..(cf:..growing underclass this time..)
..might that be a wee part of that widespread opposition to national in the maori seats..?
..d’yareckon..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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toad asks “Cite one Green policy you consider is “far left”. ”
Lifting taxes on people who do work, and giving it to people who don’t, as a WFF “in work tax credit” for people who don’t work.
And reducing the working week to 35 hours, doubling sick leave to 2 weeks per year, adding a dependents sick leave of another 2 weeks per year, and paid parental leave of one year and one month each time an employee has a child.
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The Greens just want to “Investigate the economic and social effects of a 35-hour working week in New Zealand” and for Government agencies to “Provide advice to the Minister of Labour on how to address barriers to a 35-hour working week, including the issues of over- and under-employment in a transition process, and suggest strategies to move those earning below average wages to a living wage”.
Not a fait accompli, the Greens just want to explore the evidence.
As for the sick leave and domestic leave issues, I agree with the Green policy. I save my sick leave up in case I have a long-term illness, and still work even though I am not feeling well, as long as I consider I can still perform to an adequate standard in my job.
There is actually evidence that having highly limited sick leave provisions encourages employees to “use it up” even though they are not actually sick.
I’m taking annual leave to watch the NZ/Aus cricket Test over the next few days – not pretending to be sick when I am not; which is what the current law encourages.
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That will end up as a right wing policy, only very few have cottoned on to it yet.
As business quality and value improves (as it has done so for decades if not centuries) the proportion of of potential employees “wanted” to “not wanted” will continue to swing towards “not wanted” , and thus there will be more and more people “not wanted”, and so unemployment will continue to rise.
This will lead to two interesting developments.
The first will be the renaming of “unemployed” to something else, to shift the responsibility of not employing people away from businesses, and to make the idea of not having a job to be not that different to having a job, ie your job status isn’t a differentiating factor.
The second will be that the business will not want to directly pay for the people they dont want, because if they have to pay for them they may as well employ them, and they have already decided they dont want to do that. So business will want the cost of looking after the people they don’t want to fall to the taxes of those working.
The problem with this whole thing isn’t politicians, or the unemployable, or the business owners, but people (many of them right wing supporters) who dont like the idea that they are working to support those who aren’t wanted. Thats the PR packaging job that needs to be solved.
This could well lead to a fracture in the right wing, as there will be tension between the right wing supporters who are workers, and the right wing supporters who own busnesses, as the right wing in power will have to disadvantage one against the other.
There will be plenty of right wing supporters who figure out that they are working to support the country, whilst many of what they regard as lower class citizens (and left wingers at that) are benefitting from their labours and inellect, whilst not having to lift a finger.
Right wing politicians could well benefit by painting this whole thing as a left wing policy and attempt to shift the responsibility. It might work too, for a while, but not for ever, you cant fool all of the people all of the time.
One might even think its happening already…
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the Greens should be about getting the disenfranchised – those challenged by the tyranny of distance, to a Polling Booth in 2014 – dynamite!
I note here that several older(70yrs plus)Maori I know who voted Green for the first time this year – I hope that sends a message to all concerned…..heart-warming I reckon!
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toad says “not pretending to be sick when I am not; which is what the current law encourages.”
No – new law allows employers to ask for a medical certificate (at their expense) when the suspect workers are pulling a sickie.
The problem with the idea for 13 months parental leave, is who pays over a years salary for no work – the taxpayer, or the employer?
Either way, someone gets massively penalised.
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