Northland

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This is in the World Headlines on Stuff today….seems like a great idea, perhaps we could trial it on the East Coast of Northland?

David Shearer’s ‘provincial reconnection’ will include a visit to Northland.

Apparently that region is suddenly important to him and Labour.

New Labour Party leader David Shearer will be chilling out in Northland as soon as he can take a breather.

Yesterday he promised to travel the country to listen to what New Zealanders wanted from Labour.

“Things have changed a lot in the provinces and I don’t think Labour really kept up with that change,” Mr Shearer said.

Asked if Northland would be one of the places on his agenda, he quipped, “sooner than you think”.

For years, he and wife Anuschka have owned a bolt-hole on the coast north of Whangarei. They looked forward to their family’s summer holiday there, he said.

This is fascinating – because Shearer has spoken very strongly against the upgrade of State Highway One North.

But at least now we know why Labour calls it the holiday highway – it’s where Shearer takes his holidays.

TIP: The first thing he could do to reconnect with Northland, would be to tell the locals that he belatedly agrees they should have a decent road link to Auckland.

Labour has been continually banging on about the so-called “Holiday Highway”.

I think it is egregiously wrong that Labour is continues to push the ‘Holiday Highway’ tag. So wrong as to almost be a lie. this road they disparagingly call the “Holiday Highway” is in fact State Highway One. It is our main highway from the top of the North Island tot he bottom of the South ISland. labour are being intellectually and politically dishonest in calling it the “holiday Highway”.

The fact is we need to get the region North of Auckland participating in the economy. Right now they particpate hugely in the welfare ecnomy and the “green” economy.

The North because of climate and deep water ports has huge potential for industry but is currently held back due to its lack of connection to the rest of NZ.

• Both Whangarei and Marsden Point are going to become a major part of Auckland’s strategy if we are to grow the region. (Auckland Regional plan states necessity for this)
• Unemployment in the North is rampant because of the lack of the employment opportunities.

I think Labour is dumping on the people in the North leaving them cut off by promising to scrap decent roading to the area.  I fail to see how this is bringing work to the people? In fact Labour’s plan is exceedingly disrespectful of provincial New Zealand North of the bridge. Little wonder that there isn;t a red

National face some tough choices in the next few election cycles. Some very blue seats will come up, and they need to make sure top quality people become MPs, rather than just party hacks.

The first two of these seats are Rodney and Northland. Both are blue seats with big blue majorities. John Carter has been a fantastic MP in Northland, and is well liked around the party because he has been very generous with his time helping out other electorates campaign. Rodney is just a blue, blue seat, and a blue donkey would win. No unkind comments about lockie please.

National need to be very careful that they selection people that have been successful in the real world. We don’t need staffers, bludgers, etc. We need good strong people, and if they havent been in the party for enough years to attain ‘hack’ status too bad.

The ideal candidate will have a track record of success in another field. They will have John Carter’s qualities, like being able to put people at ease and to work hard to win votes. They should not be too old or too young.

There are two candidates who have put themselves forward in Northland so far. These people have to get approved by the party first, so they may not be in the final five that the board allows to go to selection.

Mike Sabin is an ex-cop who has been heavily involved in trying to deal with P. The response to Mike has been lukewarm. I am not sure why, but maybe he doesn’t match up to John Carter, who has set a pretty high bar. My understanding of Mike Sabin is that he isn’t all he cracks himself up to be. I am yet to met an ex-cop I am comfortable to be in the same room with.

The other is Sarah Davies. A 29 year old woman who fails to meet the criteria of being a success before entering parliament. Sarah seems to be in the wrong party, being right into the UN and worshipping Helen Clark and having a virtual orgasm over meeting Hillary Clinton. Peter Goodfellow should rescind her membership, and pay for her new one with Labour. She is deluded thinking she is even remotely suitable to fill John Carter’s boots.

The other problem National need to be aware of is that young women without kids have a biological clock that ticks. And ticks pretty rapidly. All of a sudden you have an MP that wants to be mum more than MP, as happened with Katherine Rich, and the party and the MP has wasted a big opportunity.

This blog is not saying Sarah Davies can’t be a good MP at some stage in the future. It is saying now is the wrong time, and she should prove herself, establish a family and a financial base, and come back when she has done so.

Hopefully the board will have the wisdom to tell her to go away, prove she can make use of her talent, understand that the National Party hates Helen Clark, and politely reject her nomination. Constitutionally they can do that without even telling her anything, but if she actually does something useful with her life maybe she could make it at some stage in the next 15 years.

This blog will be covering all the selection processes and will not be afraid to point out the weaknesses of any candidate. It will also publish any candidate material without editing so the public can learn who National is looking at selecting.