NZ First's Shane Jones played the part of the grumpy uncle, jokingly berating people for not voting for him last election. Photo / David Fisher
In a dramatic turn of events, Northland’s final election debate took place last night in a pleasant atmosphere in which candidates were met with courtesy and given an opportunity to speak.
It was a sharp switch from a campaign trail that had thus far proved treacherous with angry crowds at debates hurling abuse in a way that has been described as “feral”, “misogynist” and “racist”.
Until now, the fight for Northland had resembled less the bear pit of politics and more a Roman circus in which - at times - the debate appeared a blood sport for an audience dominated by angry voters pursuing fringe policies.
Not so at Moerewa’s Otiria Marae where the warm evening sun and the people of Ngāti Hine welcomed 12 candidates standing in the Northland and Te Tai Tokerau seats.
At the close, Democracy NZ’s Matt King, who was Northland’s MP for National from 2017-2020, told the crowd of about 100: “Can I thank you for making our last candidates’ meeting the best one.”
It was a sentiment echoed by National’s current candidate Grant McCallum: “This is our last candidates’ meeting - I’ve enjoyed tonight’s meeting more than any other meeting.”
This was a shining verdict in comparison to earlier debates. A number had descended rapidly into ugliness.
Incumbent Northland Labour MP Willow Jean Prime had been howled down at Mangawhai a week earlier prompting McCallum to step in and ask an angry audience to “give her a chance”. Likewise, in Kerikeri, such was the abuse McCallum, NZ First’s Shane Jones and King all expressed regret at not calling it out.
Such peaceful consideration of divergent political views seemed at odds at a marae dedicated to Tūmatauenga, the god of war. And yet, it’s a dedication that reflects the cost of battle rather than the surge of anger that can spark a conflict.
There was policy. There was humour. There was recognition among candidates of the good works they had done. There was te reo Māori without the hooting derision from earlier meetings.
It could have been an unruly event in another setting with the 12 candidates representing nine political parties answering set questions and those submitted by the crowd.
Yet there was nothing but supportive applause for all candidates, patience in listening to answers constrained in time by a team of debate moderators - and a lot of laughter.
“A lot of youse think I’m the court jester or something,” said Jeffrey Lye, one of two from the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party who maintained the legalisation of cannabis was the Gordian Knot to be unpicked for all of society’s ills.
Lye’s repeated return to the theme showed the good humour of those attending. His single-themed jackhammer approach and sincerity took the crowd from a sceptical wariness to warm embrace.
A feature of the night was spot prizes for those answering questions on Northland history who followed with a song featuring “aroha”. A woman wearing an 1835 t-shirt correctly repeated the date as the signing of He Whakaputanga - the Declaration of Independence - then sang Bob Marley’s Could you be loved to secure the prize. “That was for you, Uncle Legalise Cannabis,” she called to Lye, sending the audience into fits of laughter.
It wasn’t all fun and games - but it was good-humoured. Shane Jones - no stranger to the marae - spoke to its “beautiful native carving … as much as I would like to call it indigenous”. Eloquent, always, it defanged any discontent caused when his leader Winston Peters’ rejected that description of Māori.
Jones wasn’t just on fire. That suggests an element out of place. He was in his element, revelling in a place where talk is not cheap but cherished - and he was eager to impress on those gathered of its (and his) value.
Like a grumpy uncle, he berated those present for not returning him - and NZ First - to Parliament in 2020, despite his status as the “$3 billion politician” of the Provincial Growth Fund. It was wealth, he said, that had been showered on Ngāti Hine. “Won’t make that mistake again,” he grumbled, tongue-in-cheek, at the crowd.
Jones was that grumpy uncle again when it came to the long-running Ngāpuhi settlement process, which also featured in the debate. He warned that his return to Cabinet - should the votes swing his way - would bring an end to delays: “Do it with me or I’ll do it to you.”
On the wall of the nearby hall, behind the candidates, was a memorial to the fallen from two World Wars, reading: “Dedicated to the memory of the gallant men, Maori and Pakeha, who gave their lives for King and Country.”
Kelvin Davis, who holds Te Tai Tokerau for Labour, spoke on division in New Zealand. “It is not a division on race. It is an ignorance division. There are some people who are so ignorant about te ao Maori that they are threatened and frightened by anything to do with it.”
He shared a vision of the Treaty of Waitangi as a bridge between Māori and non-Māori worlds and his hope that by 2040 the people of New Zealand would comfortably walk between the two across that bridge.
There was no shortage of passion although this debate saw it directed to the crowd, rather than heaped on the candidates.
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi is a candidate for Te Pāti Māori in the Te Tai Tokerau seat. When Davis and Prime pointed to a Moerewa housing development of 40 houses as an example of government success, she pointed out it was in partnership with Ngāti Hine. And she laid claim to the 16 houses delivered to Te Kao, where she is chief executive of Te Aupouri runanga.
“I got this done not because policy is great but because I am. It takes hustle and grit and backbone. I made those homes happen.”
Passion, too, from Green candidates Huhana Lyndon (Te Tai Tokerau) and Reina Tuai Penney (Northland). Lyndon raised the spectre of a National-Act coalition and the impact she believed it would have on Māori. “I’m really concerned we are at risk right now.”
Penney spoke of how it was the first debate to which she had brought her children.
“I can’t bring them to all the other political korero. They don’t need to hear that the Treaty is bad. They don’t need to hear that Māori are the problem, because we’re not - because the system is the problem.”
Everybody got a hearing. Candidates Michael Feyen from NZ Loyal Party and Mike Finlayson of the Northland Party might be seen as on the fringe of politics but they were as central as major players like McCallum, who polling suggests is in line to win the seat.
Feyen called for a new way of dealing with mental health issues. “We are all in this together, as much as I hate to say that Labour phrase.” And Finlayson found a welcome response from a crowd who applauded his pitch to return fishing to Māori control.
For McCallum, it wasn’t his regular crowd but impressed upon him that being an MP for Northland is not just representing those who might traditionally cast a vote for National.
And it was striking to hear the following from a candidate for a party that has held Northland for 77 of the 85 years the electorate has been in existence: “I’m sick of living in an area where we are treated like second-class citizens when it comes to roads.”
Prime, who went to school down the road, makes a point of highlighting education, health, housing and infrastructure improvements in the three years she has held the seat for Labour. “We have delivered so much for our area.”
When the meeting closed, candidates lingered. At other meetings, they left quickly. When the Kerikeri debate was held, a security guard was so concerned at the mood of the crowd he offered Prime an escort to her car.
“Very entertaining,” community leader Wiremu Keretene said at the close of the three-hour political inquisition. “Worth giving up a couple of hours of Netflix. Good for the heart and the soul.”
Good for democracy, too.
It follows concerns about use-of-force powers being given to staff.