Rudman's city: Central city seat promises good old-fashioned stoush

By BRIAN RUDMAN

As a bit of an election junkie, I've found the biggest drawback about MMP is the way it has depersonalised the drama of election night. Those cliff-hanging results from marginal Eden no longer have the same impact when the fate of the nation lies with the party vote, not the sum of each electorate result.

As for individual candidates, there's not even the chance of tears, most of them have a second life waiting for them thanks to the list.

Under the new system, it's hard to imagine a repeat, for instance, of the titanic struggle for Hunua in 1978 between Winston Peters and Malcolm Douglas. That was finally decided in the courts months later in Peters' favour.

Still, there is a whiff of these old-style gladiatorial contests drifting about the inner-city seat of Auckland Central at the moment, with every man, woman and their dog looking to throw their hat into the ring.

All it needs is Mad Dog Richard Prebble himself to really bring it alive.

On the face of it, Labour incumbent Judith Tizard is a shoo-in. After all, in the 1999 general election she gained 39 per cent in the field of 11. Her 12,645 votes were 5285 ahead of her closest rival, National's Martin Poulsen.

But this time around, colourful Alliance president Matt McCarten could enter the contest. Toss in perennial candidate Sandra Lee of the Jim Anderton Alliance, Nandor Tanczos of the Greens, just-selected Pansy Wong for National and who knows what could happen?

That Wong, a list MP, was the only nominee when National's applications closed last Wednesday perhaps suggests the hopelessness of the task, as far as other aspiring National politicians are concerned anyway.

Still, she seems to intend making a race of it, having recently moved house from Christchurch to Auckland. Fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, she works the crowds at all the local Chinese and other Asian meetings and festivities in Auckland.

But the way she upset many New Zealand-born Chinese back in February when she tried to upstage Helen Clark's apology for New Zealand's past bad behaviour to Chinese immigrants is a black mark against her.

Organised by the descendants of those affected, the apology had been looked forward to as something to feel good about, a moment of reconciliation. Instead, Wong, a recent migrant, tried to score political points by pre-empting the announcement and complaining about "scant consultation with those affected" and attacking Labour union leaders as being "among the greatest agitators against the Chinese migrants".

No doubt Tizard's biggest concern is the growing traffic jam on the left.

The left in Auckland Central has been notorious for its schisms over the past 15-odd years. For those of us on the outside, it's been fascinating to see the old faces slowly moving in and out of the spotlight over the years.

McCarten, who returned to his old stamping ground to contest the Auckland mayoralty last year, is one of the originals.

It was he, in cahoots with present city councillor Bruce Hucker and others, who from the mid 1980s on slowly white-anted the sitting Labour MP, Prebble, out of his seat.

And what sport they had. Prebble, with his henchman Gene Leckey, was the loyal lieutenant of Roger Douglas, and therefore the anti-Christ to the Labour left. McCarten finally decamped to form the Alliance.

Victory over Prebble was finally secured in the October 1993 general election, when then Alliance co-deputy leader Sandra Lee secured a 16 per cent swing, smashing Prebble's 3277 majority and adding a 1300-odd vote margin.

Three years later, Labour's Judith Tizard, then the MP for the disappearing seat of Panmure, took Lee on and, in a field of 17, won the day with a majority of 3353. National's Shane Frith came third.

In 1999, Tizard gave Lee an even bigger whipping. The question is, will Lee return? The whisper is she will look elsewhere. But where? Auckland Central is her home base.

Also there's no love lost between the two rivals. Such is the animosity between them that when it was proposed to Lee that Tizard be her assistant as Minister of Local Government, Lee refused.

Then there's McCarten. If he has a stamping ground, it's Auckland Central. His diehard organisational team is there.

Added to that is the name recognition he earned during his mayoralty campaign last year. His 15,556 votes from across the city was a very creditable result.

His Alliance team have to win either a seat or a 5 per cent vote across the country to get into Parliament. With his history, Auckland Central seems as good a place for him to start as any.

And let's not forget Tanczos. He pulled in 3057 votes last time and, given his higher profile and the increasing support the Greens are scoring nationwide, that could well improve. His problem could be his growing association with the eccentric Water Pressure Group.

As for Act, Donna Awatere Huata was a bad also-ran with 2301 votes last election. It's reported she is eyeing up Hawkes Bay this time round.

This leaves the seat warm for old Mad Dog Prebble to have another shot.

Rejected by Wellington Central voters, we'd love to see him back. What a replay that would be.