Kerre Woodham: Harawira creates circus for attention

Hone Harawira. Photo / Chris Loufte

When Hone Harawira discovered that his new Mana Party was going to miss out on broadcast time and a taxpayer-funded advertising allocation, because he'd failed to register it in time, he was typically unfazed.

Would have been nice to have the money, because Mana didn't have much, but the media gave him plenty of free advertising and he'd work with that, he said.

And he's right - the media does love a clown. Look at the circus on Close Up this week with Don Brash and Harawira revelling in all the prime-time attention.

So I'm not going to play. I'm going to ignore the stupid, inflammatory remarks he made in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death because to respond to someone who is deliberately trying to get attention, and who will only ever be a footnote in this country's political history, is to play his silly game.

If Harawira comes up with constructive positive policies, if he has some plan for helping stop the violence perpetuated against children in this country, if he has ideas for getting more young people into work - great. I'll gladly help him spread the word.

But I refuse to react to what is essentially an attention-grabbing exercise.