Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

Q+A interview with Hone Harawira


S unday 26th June, 2011

Q+A interview with Hone Harawira.

Points of interest:
- Maori Party “sold out the people of Te Tai Tokerau”, “slapped a glove” in their face
- Asked about last night’s comment that the Maori Party must “pay a price”, Harawira said they must walk away from the policies of the rich and from “Don Brash and the policies of racism”
- If people want him to compromise with the Maori Party, he’s happy to do so
- Suggests the Mana and Maori parties coming together in parliament as “Mana Maori”
- “crushing defeat” for Phil Goff and the Labour party – ‘they’ll never get such a chance again’
- Predicts 2-3 more MPs for Mana come the general election


The interview has been transcribed below. The full length video interviews and panel discussions from this morning’s Q+A can be watched on tvnz.co.nz at, http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news

Q+A , 9-10am Sundays on TV ONE. Repeats at 9.10pm Sundays, 10.10am and 2.10pm Mondays on TVNZ 7

Q+A is on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/NZQandA#!/NZQandA and on Twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/NZQandA

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

HONE HARAWIRA interviewed by PAUL HOLMES

PAUL Victory came for Hone Harawira last night, and with it the songs and celebrations, but it was a close-run thing. Off a low turnout, his majority over Labour’s Kelvin Davis was slashed from 6000 to only 867 Still, with his new Mana Party holding its first conference in Whangarei today, last night Mr Harawira was in ambitious voice.
HONE HARAWIRA – Tai Tokerau MP
You, the Maori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau, have shown once again that nothing happens in this country until the tail of the fish is ready to move.
PAUL Hone Harawira therefore the MP for Te Tai Tokerau is live from Whangarei. Hone, good morning and congratulations.

HONE Kia ora, Paul. Thank you very much.

PAUL And Sandra Lee sends her congratulations as well. She asked me to pass that on to you.

HONE Give her my love.

PAUL He sends his love. How did you do it, Hone? Why did you win?
HONE Actually, it was the power of the people, I think, Paul, more than anything else. We didn’t have the money, we didn’t have the machine, we didn’t have the advertising, we didn’t have the billboards, we didn’t have the flyers. All we had was an ability to connect with the people that we should not slide backwards, that we are the children of the north, we are the sons and daughters of Ngapuhi nui tonu, and we can rise to any challenge. I think it was— At the end of the day, it was the people against the machine, and the people won.

PAUL Well, the word was you had the Maori Party machine.

HONE Yeah, I had the Maori Party machine, but the Maori Party machine had sold out the people of Te Tai Tokerau, unfortunately. They sold us out on the foreshore and seabed, they sold us out on the GST, they sold us out on the issues like the increase in— the privatisation of ACC, on cuts to benefits, etc, etc, etc. The Maori Party machine had moved away from the kaupapa and moved away from the people of Te Tai Tokerau, and they wanted something different.

PAUL So we’re not particularly in a mood for compromise with the Maori Party, Mr Harawira?

HONE Oh, look, at the end of the day, what I say and Tariana and Pita might say are immaterial to what the Maori people want in their leadership and want in their future. And if that future requires of me that I make a call to Tariana and to Pita, I’m happy to do so. But I tried last night, couldn’t get through. I’ll try again this morning.

PAUL Didn’t you say last night, I think, ‘The Maori Party will have to pay a price’?

HONE Absolutely. And I think that price will have to be to walk away from people like Don Brash and the policies of racism and the policies that attack the working class and the policies that embolden the rich and empower the rich. I think the Maori Party has to realise that Maori people do not want us to be alongside politicians like that. Maori people want the Maori Party and Mana to be alongside one another and alongside the people.

PAUL Just one little slight negative – were you disappointed by your margin?

HONE Actually, Paul, given the power of the machine, the Labour Party machine, the Maori Party with their ministers and all of their press staff and all of their communication staff and flying the MPs and their leaders in and out and flyers all over the place, all of that kind of stuff, if you were to qualify it, it’d probably be about $100,000 up against up. Any victory for the Tai Tokerau was a crushing victory for the Tai Tokerau and a crushing defeat, like, I mean, Phil Goff will never ever again get the opportunity to mount so much firepower in one battle against one man who hasn’t even got a job and the poor people of the Tai Tokerau, and Phil Goff lost. That’s the victory for the Tai Tokerau.

PAUL Going back to you and the Maori Party, though. You said you tried to call Tariana and Pita this morning. Can you work with them, because what can you do as one lone ranger, Hone? You know, as a one party caucus— a one-man caucus, what can you do for the people without working?

HONE Tariana was a lone ranger in 2004 until she was joined by others in 2005. I’m a lone ranger only for a few months before I come back in after the General Election, and I’m picking I’m going to have at least two or three others alongside me. If we can manage our relationship so that we’re not fighting one another and focus on the needs of our people, then we might be able to bring the Maori Party and Mana together, maybe with eight seats, Mana Maori.

PAUL All right, so I take it, then, you will not be— have the ambition to have a Mana candidate in each constituency seat in the next General Election?

HONE That’s something we’ve yet to talk about within Mana and that I’ve yet to talk about with Pita and Tariana. I hope that we don’t have to go down that track, but clearly they’re the ones who have taken the glove and slapped the people in Tai Tokerau in the face by standing a candidate against me, but we just have to see whether or not in a positive way we can move on from that.
PAUL Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira, thank you very much for your time and congratulations again.

HONE Thanks, Paul.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.