December 31, 2015
2015 Top 3 Maori MPs
OPINION: Indirectly 2015 was another terrible year for Maori. Youth suicide rates skyrocketed. Private prisons became more draconian. Welfare reforms were vicious. Unemployment grew and inequality increased.
Because Maori are on the front-line of all those negative social statistics, the lack of any real champion to articulate a counter narrative was also compounded by the lack of media platform to do the challenging on as Native Affairs on Maori TV was punished for asking hard questions.
In Parliament, Maori MPs achieved little.
The Maori Party did make some gains by demanding Maori consultation on the RMA but also pushed for new Maori land reforms which will simply open up Maori land to more exploitation. The tactic of 'sitting at the table' seems pointless when John Key has already sold the table.
In Labour, Nanaia Mahuta was punished for supporting Cunliffe despite Maori coming home to Labour in 2014 and Kelvin Davis managed to shine only because no one else in Labour wanted to associate with standing up for prisoner rights.
In the National Party Maori were given the usual token representation they've come to know and loath.
It was only in the Greens that Maori MPs managed to cut through.
Here is how I ranked the top 3 Maori MPs for 2015
3: Kelvin Davis – Labour
Standing up for prisoner human rights is not a popular task in NZ and Kelvin rightly earned much respect for doing it, but he was always going to be on a winning streak because SERCO are just so awful.
2: Marama Fox – Maori Party
The gains made in the RMA were a major success for the Maori Party, but it was Fox's own style that made her a stand out. Ruling out a deal with MANA was a terrible blunder, but if anyone has the ability to re-orinatate the Maori Party away from National, it will be Fox who does it.
1: Marama Davidson – Greens
She has only been in Parliament for a tiny amount of time, but her impact and flax-root support base means she is the most socially conscious Maori MP since Hone Harawira. If there is any real hope for Maori leadership within Parliament in the coming years, it will be from Marama.
Martyn Bradbury
Editor – TheDailyBlog.co.nz
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