Mana Party to take policy plans on the road

Maori activist and Treaty lawyer Annette Sykes has been working on the party's policies. Photo / Chris Loufte

The Mana Party says it will travel the country promoting its policies over the next six weeks.

Fresh from Hone Harawira's win in the Te Tai Tokerau byelection, about 200 new members and supporters - including former Green MP Sue Bradford, attended the party's founding conference in Whangarei yesterday.

The party's constitution was released and Mana took the opportunity to broadly sketch party policies.

Maori activist and Treaty lawyer Annette Sykes said that she, lawyer Moana Jackson, unionist Mike Treen, Auckland University law professor Jane Kelsey and social justice campaigner John Minto had been working on them together.

Five specific policies would be on the party's website by the end of the week but a major one was the party's cost of living policy, which mooted that GST should come off essential services such as power bills.

Employment and housing policies were being developed, although no details were forthcoming.

The policies wouldn't be difficult to understand even though intellectuals had written them, Ms Sykes said. "It's really, really simple. We want equality, we want the poor not to be marginalised."

The policies weren't set in stone, Mana would seek feedback on them to improve them, Ms Sykes said.

Mr Harawira said the policies made the party relevant. "If we can be the people that the poor turn to when they need a hand then I think we will always have a relevance in this world until such time as poverty has finally been ended. It's a long time away but it's a big challenge for me."

Ms Sykes said she hoped the party would consider standing in general seats to appeal to a wider support base. No decisions had been made on what seats - general or Maori - Mana would contest.

"We're a long way from making a determination there. Up until last night it was one candidate, one electorate, and today we begin the process of working out where we go from here."

MANA POLICIES

* GST off power bills.
* Review the tax regime.
* Campaign for a Hone Heke tax, a financial transaction tax of one cent in the dollar.
* Review ETS scheme. Polluters pay.
* Oppose youth rates.
* No Treaty settlement deadline.
* Te Reo compulsory.
* The Treaty of Waitangi and 1835 Declaration of Independence at heart of constitutional arrangements.