NZ First passes ambiguous remit

Audrey Young

New Zealand First has just passed a highly ambiguous remit at its conference "restricting the sale of coastal and farming land and housing to foreigners."

You have only guess as to whether they wanted to limit sales to foreigners only, or whether they wanted to prevent the sale of the aforesaid land and housing to foreigners.

It must be said that president Dail Jones said the policy committee would interpret it to be the latter and that "foreigners" would be defined as people who did not live in New Zealand.

Delegates weren't all quite as moderate as Dail, though. One bloke said that Chinese could buy up the whole of New Zealand with no difficulty whatsoever and that "this is the biggest danger we have focused on since the second world war."

I"ll say one thing for New Zealand First: At least they have open remit debates unlike the saccharine procedures of most political parties that are too afraid to let the media report them or worse, don't have debates at all.

The NZ First convention is being held in Taupo at the Great Lake Centre. I don't think I have been here since 1996 when I had huge fun covering the successful New Zealand First bus-tour election campaign. Three weeks on a smoke-filled bus with Winston Peters touring heartland New Zealand was character-building. By the time we rolled into Taupo, it was pretty clear that a major shift was happening in the Maori vote. Maori were turning out everywhere. The late great Sir Hepi Te Heu Heu, confined to a wheelchair by then, came to Winston's campaign stop in Taupo.

This convention has a bit of a back to the future feel to it with a larger than usual proportion of senior delegates. That is not a criticism. It may mean that the party is well back in the affections of seniors, with the likes of the Supergold card and the like.

Peters opened the conference by saying that in November the party would pay back the money identified as spent unlawfully last election. Goodness knows why he couldn't have said that six months ago after getting his legal advice. I think the main reason he did not announce the decision sooner is that the media kept asking him when he would pay it back.

Winston also offered Trevor Mallard some support over the biffo in the chamber lobby with Tau Henare saying could there please be a little bit less of the hectoring, lecturing, do-gooder PC pointing the finger at Trevor Mallard "because he made one mistake."

"Imagine where the English would be and the cause of democracy would be if Churchill had been done for one mistake."

I think Peters has sympathy for Mallard on many levels, not only for the reasons above, but not least because they are the two roughest players in the House and there is some unspoken honour among such political gladiators - and also 'there but for the Grace of God, goes Peters,' (how many times has he come close to decking Tau?) and Peters and a sense of empathy. Peters' and his caucus have been the centre of several of their own fracas over the years.

I noticed my own paper's editorial arguing Mallard has had enough punishment already, while op-ed columnist Fran O'Sullivan is saying Clark should throw the book at him and dump him from cabinet. I take the more sensible approach - articulated well before the Beehive spinners had a chance to get at me, thanks Fran - that it was too serious not to have consequences, but that there are enough mitigating circumstances not to dump him from cabinet.

I also read Henare's version in today's Weekend Herald about what happened with a sense of incredulity.

I do not believe that uttering "shut up Sharon" sent Mallard off the edge.

It is far more likely that Mallard motioned Henare outside the House to explain there had been a gross error in the Herald on Sunday over the name and a retraction and apology, [his new girlfriend is Brenda Lawson] that an argument ensued, and that a bit of shoving led to the punch.

I am writing this from the media table in the conference hall. I'd better get back to the remit debate. Victoria University politics lecturer Jon Johansson is the guest speaker this afternoon.