Exceptional

I never ever thought I'd be in this situation.

When I was young and idealistic (stupid) I voted Labour.

When I married an Airforce guy I became a National voter.

Now that National wants to scrap the Maori seats I can't vote for a National Candidate.


So I thought and I watched and I thought some more and I even watched Maori Television, I grew more confused and confounded and then I realised HOW I was going to vote and WHO I was going to vote for. I was aghast.

I'm voting against the Labour Candiate in my electorate in the hopes that's one less MP they will get. And I'm voting for the the party that will work with National.

So... my party vote went to the man in the Yellow Jacket at ACT and...

My candidate vote went to Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira of the Maori Party.


I didn't ever ever ever in my life think that I would vote for Hone Harawira or the Maori Party.

While I believe there are some incredible and amazing and intelligent Maori in this country they are not reflected in the media and for the most part are not present in politics... this means that the perception of Maori in New Zealand, and I believe it's actually fairy accurate, is crap. A lot of our people are in jail, living in poverty, and are uneducated. I do believe that this is a long term effect of the history of this country but I also believe that we can sort it out and I don't believe that the Maori people need any more or less help from government than anyone else in this country.
I often feel embarrased by our Maori Politicians - Tariana Turia, Tau Henare, Parekura Horomia, Tuku Morgan and of course Hone Harawira are good examples of our incredibly poor showing.
It makes me feel like things are actually quite hopeless in that regard. It comes down to tribal groups and families and individuals to take responsibility for sorting out the problems ourselves. But this in itself is difficult when the rolemodels in the media are so poor and for the average Hone or Hine living in the suburbs you just don't know where to start.

So Mr Harawira, you have my vote- not because I believe in you, but because you were the lesser of two evils... it'd be nice if in four years time I could say that it was a vote well spent... I dare you do me proud.

I guess I'll just have to wait and hope that New Zealanders also vote for change in big enough numbers... I've done my bit as well as I could... in a way I would never have imagined...

...for what it's worth.
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