Parekura Horomia has been getting tributes from people all over the political spectrum.
With his tangi getting underway on the East Coast, I’d hope those attending are in for a gourmet treat.
I found this rattling around in my archive. Such a character. He’ll be missed.
RIP, big fellah.
It was 2008 and David Farrar and I were in Gisborne to watch a debate as guests of Richard Harman. His production company was televising the debate between Derek Fox and Parekura Horomia for the TVNZ 7 Swing Seats debate.
The theatre, I forget its name now, was packed, there were rosettes, banners, and good fun being had.
It was a good old-fashioned election meeting with opposing teams sledging each other in good-natured banter.
The stage was set, everyone was ready…and then the pollies came out to play.
Derek Fox came out first, his supporters went berserk with clapping and cheering. He sat on the stool provided.
Then Parekura Horomia came out…same reception…but he stopped, stared down at what was now apparent to everyone there at the tiny little stool..he threw back his head and laughed then turned around and proceeded to ever so slowly back himself onto the stool…the audience hushed, everyone stopped and as he sat down the legs on the tiny little stool groaned and spread…and then Parekura stood up…called for a more robust chair/stool.
Everyone roared with laughter and the debate got started. Parekura even joked about it several times.
That night was probably one of the most enjoyable political occasions I have ever attended, for the raw politics, for the old-fashioned campaigning and for the enjoyment of everyone in attendance.
Afterwards we all went out to dinner and stayed eating and drinking till late into the night. It was all very convivial and hugely entertaining.
I will always remember that night and it is one of my more enduring memories of Parekura Horomia….to me he was a man to tried to achieve many great things, but more importantly was a man who knew people, you could see that during the night, it was obvious.
Labour lost a good MP yesterday. My only hope is that the person they select is even half as good as Parekura Horomia was for his electorate.
Rest in Peace.
While I don’t excuse Matthew Hooton’s brain explosion tweet:
Go @derekfox for byelection. U wld win for @maoriparty against @nzlabour – and become leader. #nzpol
— Matthew Hooton (@MatthewHootonNZ) April 29, 2013
I could not believe the gall of this reply from the ‘C’ grade, NZ on Air remunerated ‘comedian’ Jeremy Elwood:
@matthewhootonnz You know someone just died, right? I want to think you don’t because the level of fucktardness if you do is inexcusable. — Jeremy Elwood (@JeremyElwood) April 29, 2013
Parekura Horomia has died this afternoon.
Labour MP Parekura Horomia has died surrounded by his family at his Mangatuna home, aged 62.
The Ikaroa Rawhiti MP was understood to have been unwell for some time, but the cause is not known.
Earlier today, his family issued a statement requesting privacy and saying he was at his Mangatuna home convalescing. Read more »
Since everyone is doing them I better get in. Here are my 13 predictions for 2013:
Once a mighty fighting force, the 28th Maori Battalion has dwindled to a small group of veterans.
Today a dozen of the remaining 25 men who saw such fearsome combat across North Africa and Europe gathered in Wellington to mark the end of their official association.
“It feels sad it’s come to a close, but it had to at some time,” 28th Maori Battalion Association president Nolan Raihania said after a military service at the National War Memorial in Wellington.
A leader with mediocre talents weighed down by a caucus whose bitterness is only matched by its shallowness. That is the plight of the Labour Party, and David Shearer’s next moves will entrench that perspective.
In light of his summary execution of David Cunliffe for failing to be a devout disciple in the face of sagging poll numbers, Shearer now faces the task of welding together a shadow cabinet. This task will be a study of the man’s ability to think about what’s best for himself and his party.
Cunliffe was arguably Shearer’s strongest asset on the front bench, a point Cunliffe himself knew only too well. Ironically he will now sit on the back benches with one man who is clearly the equal or perhaps better than most of the government’s front bench: Shane Jones.
Post Cunliffe, Shearer’s options are limited. Grant Robertson is deceptively smart, but he is the Environment spokesperson. Environment is not about green issues; rather it is about the apportionment of property rights in a world where human progress intersects with nature. What’s the point of ranking the Environment to number two in the caucus rank when Labour has no analysis of private property rights, let alone how those rights ought to be upheld?
Shearer is heavily reliant on David Parker in both Finance and now Economic Development. Parker is a clever politician, a lawyer by trade and has experience as a Cabinet Minister in the latter stages of the previous Labour government. But Parker’s is hog-tied to a party that is either incapable or unwilling to wean itself off a diet of big spending commitments. Why for example is Labour committed to KiwiBuild, a strategy that would see the state involve itself in the construction of 200,000 new homes? (More than three times the total stock of Housing New Zealand properties).
Shearer places great faith in Jacinda Ardern in Social Development. Aside from being disliked and isolated from the majority of her female caucus colleagues, Ardern is both linear and doctrinaire. Her default position is to argue every issue from an ideologically left perspective, something that more adept operators like Annette King and Phil Goff would periodically avoid. As a result Ardern has little in common with blue collar conservative voters, many of whom consider welfare to be an unfair wealth transfer from the battlers to the bludgers.
Clayton Cosgrove is a formidable debater in Parliament. But like Robertson he struggles to make an impression due in part to Labour’s lack of analysis for the ownership of assets or the future of New Zealand’s capital markets.
Maryan Street continues to be overrated and ineffective both inside Parliament and on the hustings. Labour has been completely outgunned by Tony Ryall in Health, and Street’s perseverance in that portfolio (while earnest) fails to close the yawning gap between the Labour and a historic Achilles heel for any government.
Nanaia Mahuta has never been popular with her caucus colleagues.. Nicknamed “the princess”, Mahuta has done well to hang on to her Tainui constituency. But she has performed poorly in Education, and is consistently bettered by her junior colleague Chris Hipkins. The trouble for Shearer is demoting Mahuta will send a signal to the Kiingitanga movement that their designated representative in Parliament is less valued, a tough sell coupled with the fact that Mahuta is a Cunliffe supporter.
William Sio is not to be underestimated for his links within the Pacific community. But Sio is a social conservative in a party that is seeking to redefine marriage to allow men to marry men and women to marry women. This strategy both offends and tests Labour’s ties with the Pacific community, a point that Sio himself has made publicly.
Phil Twyford has done well to dig in in Te Atatu and has scored headlines on local government and transport issues. But that in itself is small fry compared to the task of building an alternative government.
Beyond that Shearer has a caucus of candidates who are in the twilight of their careers (e.g. Parekura Horomia, Trevor Mallard, Phil Goff and Annette King), or who are simply too lightweight to be taken seriously (e.g. Sue Moroney, Moana Mackey, and Louisa Wall). Some options are simply not trustworthy (e.g. Charles Chauvel and David Cunliffe himself), or have yet to make an impact (e.g. Claire Curran).
Shearer could and probably will promote Chris Hipkins and Andrew Little. But neither man has any reason to show loyalty to Shearer long-term, particularly if Shearer is unable to reverse Labour’s sagging poll ratings.
Labour’s caucus is the by-product of a party and a selection system that rewards cronyism over talent, gender and sexual orientation over competence and union-dominated fiefdoms over political smarts. That is why Darien Fenton rather than Kelvin Davis or Stuart Nash sits behind Shearer at question time. The lack of talent means Shearer turns up to a gunfight with John Key holding a bread and butter knife rather than a loaded firearm.
It’s no wonder Labour’s rank and file members are itching to have a go at shaping that party’s leadership. Maybe they should start with their own MPs too.
Someone? Anyone? Please skip past the Maori at 1m 25 secs enlighten us as to what Parekura Horomia is talking about here?
Was he drunk? High on weed or has he been sucking on too many deep-fried Moro bars? It really is completely incomprehensible.
He does though make the astute observation at 2m 35 secs that Trevor Mallard talks shit.
Taking a leaf out of Labour Party Chief Strategist Trevor Mallard’s book in wearing lycra to get attention, David Cunliffe with the beard and Parekura Horomia eating pies, David Shearer is resorting to strumming a guitar. On the plus side when Shearer is on the guitar he is not ughmming and aghing through interviews. Another plus is unlike Mallard thankfully Shearer is fully clothed in looser fit pants while exercising the gimmick.
“When in doubt, the guitar comes out” is now the Shearer motto.
With Labour Party coffers still in tatters Shearer may next be busking down Lambton Quay at lunchtimes to raise funds.
Beware the gimmick, like Mallard and the cycling, Cunliffe and the beard and Parekura and the pies, Shearer may only be wanted in attendance if he shuts his mouth and strums. The guitar is over-shadowing his message because he has no message. He looks like the socially awkward guy who hides behinds the guitar at a party in an attempt to be popular because he cannot actually talk to the chicks.
Mallard will quit the cycling the same time Parekura quits the pies, but Cunliffe did shave off his beard as he realised it was becoming more strategically prominent than he was. All men with beards have something to hide.
Will Shearer put away the guitar?
We know he is serious about becoming Prime Minister when he does.
A timely reminder for David Shearer about the reasons why children don’t eat breakfast, now that Labour is set to fund their breakfast.
Parekura Horomia suggests that:
“They are trying to stay trim”
He then goes on to suggest that children going to school without breakfast is a massive beat-up…for once I believe Parekura Horomia.
Labour in government scoffed at proposals to feed children at school and now they are converts to it…has David Shearer bought shares in Hubbards?
