Auckland Central
November 6th, 2008 at 5:51 pm by David FarrarReaders might enjoy this podcast of Auckland Central candidate Nikki Kaye on The Edge this week. It’s quite hilarious I thought – typical Edge irreverence.
Also NZPA have just done a piece on Nikki out on the campaign trail:
Auckland, Nov 6 NZPA – If power walking wins election campaigns then National’s Auckland Central candidate Nikki Kaye will be strolling into Parliament on election day.
The 28-year-old lawyer strides down the streets of central Auckland and up into Ponsonby trying to eat into Labour MP Judith Tizard’s majority of around 3500 on redrawn boundaries….
Ms Kaye has been doing it the old-fashioned way — knocking on doors and walking the streets.
It is a difficult electorate to target.
It has a high proportion of under 30-year-olds making up many of the more than 21,000 apartment dwellers in the city.
Many of them are not natural National voters, but they are courteous to the wanna-be MP and many say to her face they will be voting for her.
One Maori woman says “give me balloon and you’ll get my vote”… Ms Kaye gladly hands over the National blue balloon.
“Look even if you don’t vote for me and I do get elected, here’s my card if you ever need any help,” Ms Kaye said.
She cuts a confident figure, similar in size, style and politics to the retiring National front bencher Katherine Rich.
Her supporters say they have hardly seen the Labour machine on the ground.
For both candidates it could be a political struggle to the death, as they are both unlikely to get in on the list on current polling.
Ms Kaye grabs another voter by the hand, thanks her for her vote and moves on … trying to power walk her into Parliament.
I think a lot will come down to how Greens supporters vote. They will give the Greens their party votes. They then have to choose whether to put Judith back in, or an socially liberally environmentally friendly National MP who will be a voice within Government, or to vote Greens with both ticks.
UPDATE: Toad (who is a senior official of the Greens) has made the following comment in the thread below:
I’m not an Auckland Central voter any more (I was until about 18 moths ago), and as almost everyone here knows, I am a Green activist.
Judith Tizard is the biggest waste of space imaginable. I’ve lived in that electorate for most of my life, and the only decent MP it ever elected in that time was Sandra Lee. Before that we had Prebble! Enough said (before I say something defamatory).
I think Green voters should vote Green with both ticks in that electorate. If that means Nikki Kaye gets elected, then I could live with it. Tizard should have been pensioned off.
But why did the Nats rank Nikki Kaye as low as 57 on their list? If she were a bit higher, she would have been guaranteed election on the list anyway, and Nat supporters could then vote for the Greens’ Denise Roche in the electorate. Together we could have consigned the Minister of Wine and Cheese (and Wine, and Wine) to political oblivion.
This is something the Nats and the Greens could have worked on. Pity we missed the opportunity.
Related posts:
- HoS on Auckland Central
- The Auckland Central race
- Could specials change any electorates?
- Backbenches Tonight
November 6th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Phwoar! I’d vote for that…
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
PS: As I said on another thread – Jeanette Fitzsimons and Stephen Franks seemed pretty much at odds on all of the issues they were asked to discuss at the Engineer’s Institute political evening in wellington last week – from NZ’s climate change strategy right through to whether we should have an investment forum or not. So I’m not sure how well the Nats would sit with Greens supporters now…
(though that Blue-Greens faction we saw within National a year or two ago was quite tantalising – whatever happened to that?)
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Surely it will be the Asian voters who decide Auckland Central?
http://www.thinkbig.org.nz/?p=67 plus WhaleOil’s post about Tizard – I don’t even think Green voters can save Judith.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
What was the result of the TV3 poll?
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Ratbiter – the Bluegreens were gradually buried as support and interest from the broader National ‘church’ didn’t eventuate, due to their lack of real interest in the environment. Guy Salmon … who?
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Big Bro – What was the result of the TV3 poll? Home and Away is no.1
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
“What was the result of the TV3 poll?”
In a nutshell, Labour are f*&ked. National is NC on 46%, Labour is down 4.6% to 33%, etc.
A guy who looked a bit like Helen Clark, but with bad teeth, facial hair, a mole and a sarcastic growl, ranted on about a rogue poll.
And another guy who looked a bit like Duncan Garner was desprately saying positive things about John Key and National.
It was a surreal experience.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I’m not an Auckland Central voter any more (I was until about 18 moths ago), and as almost everyone here knows, I am a Green activist.
Judith Tizard is the biggest waste of space imaginable. I’ve lived in that electorate for most of my life, and the only decent MP it ever elected in that time was Sandra Lee. Before that we had Prebble! Enough said (before I say something defamatory).
I think Green voters should vote Green with both ticks in that electorate. If that means Nikki Kaye gets elected, then I could live with it. Tizard should have been pensioned off.
But why did the Nats rank Nikki Kaye as low as 57 on their list? If she were a bit higher, she would have been guaranteed election on the list anyway, and Nat supporters could then tactically vote for the Greens’ Denise Roche in the electorate. Together we could have consigned the Minister of Wine and Cheese (and Wine, and Wine) to political oblivion.
This is something the Nats and the Greens could have worked on. Pity we missed the opportunity.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Guy Salmon’s been a force for good in the environment for decades. Sadly over-looked by many in the environmental movement now.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Back to the topic:
Is there any chance that Judith Tizard will get a good licking on Saturday night?
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Toad said: “But why did the Nats rank Nikki Kaye as low as 57 on their list? If she were a bit higher, she would have been guaranteed election on the list anyway, and Nat supporters could then vote for the Greens’ Denise Roche in the electorate.”
Hmm – I dunno – maybe to stop the socialist Greens from winning the seat as they are just as bad as Tizard…
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Duxton: it depends – is she going to be hanging out with Helen on election night?
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
WraithX: that is disgraceful!
I wasn’t referring to any of those nasty rumours. I was merely wondering whether she could wriggle her way out of this one.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Duxton: oh sorry – my bad
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Duxton, there’s never been a field of lefties in Auckland Central who deserve votes more than Judith. She’s toast.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I can see two very good reasons to vote for her
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Well I’ve voted Labour for 30 years, but this time I’m giving my Party and Electorate vote to National.
I’ve live in the Auckland Central electorate for 10 years and never once observed Tizard do anything for the electorate except get herself published in almost every edition of the Ponsonby News posing at some social function. Uterrly invisible in all other respects and I’m looking forward to her, and Labour’s departure, on Saturday.
I think for the first time in 30 years that my vote will actually count.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Wraith: Apology accepted.
dog: So your’re saying that you expect her to go down on Saturday?
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Yeah, she’ll go down…. she’ll completely muff her campaign
[DPF: Okay enough of the jokes]
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Went to school with Guy he was a bloody clever fellow then and undoubtably still is anyone know what he is doing now?
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Guy Salmon is director of Ecologic, so can be probably contacted via their website.
if you want a bit more direction, you can try contacting me via my blog (linky via Chthoniid above).
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Johnboy – Guy is probably despairing at the lack of respect he receives from his National Party ‘overlords’. Why he puts up with that shoddy treatment, I can’t fathom. He’s articulate, wordly and bright and just doesn’t fit in. The Bluegreens have been relegated to some back room somewhere. I listened to Guy speak at a Bluegreen conference. He was far and above the best there and caused consternation with his enlightened ideas on consultative decision making. Liberal thinker- psshhhh….
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
What the hell are “Bluegreens”. I seem to remember he was the “Maruia Society” man a while ago but vaguely remember some sort of falling out. Anyone know more than me?
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
johnboy – where’ve you been? Natty lobby and research group. Probably produced things the Nats couldn’t stomach.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
http://www.bluegreens.org.nz/
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
How come Auckland Central gets a hot 28yo woman, and Wellington Central gets Stephen Franks???
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Virtual: Both Judith Tizard and Grant Robertson would be quite happy with their respective opponents.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Hang on guys – I think Judith Tizard is an incompetent and lazy MP and should be dumped.
But bringing in some of the sleazebag stuff about her sexuality that’s been posted here is not on – either from an ethical or a pragmatic point of view – imo.
And it may backfire, especially in the most queer-friendly electorate in the country where some people may vote for her just to shove one to you homophobes.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Maruia Society transformed into Ecologic.
Ecologic has become more thinktank’ish and less of an NGO.
Guy is still good value.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Toad I don’t even think the most butch lesbian in Grey Lynn would go down on Judith (sorry I meant vote for Judith).
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I don’t see the point in bringing her sexuality into it either, but then, the more you complain about it, the more they do it. Not sure that it is a slur really – nothing wrong with a bit of lesbian action.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Toad said: “And it may backfire, especially in the most queer-friendly electorate in the country where some people may vote for her just to shove one to you homophobes.”
Umm – I think the gay-implied jokes are funny. Surely you don’t brand everyone that makes a joke at the expense of a person’s sexuality a “homophobe”? Oh – and I am gay btw.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Chthoniid – Guy Salmon suffers from that incurable disease that has inflicted many a fine candidate under MMP: (WMCM Syndrome) – White Middle Class Male syndrome.
You see under MMP it doesn’t matter if you’ve got better potential as a candidate or MP, what matters is whether you’re a minority. If Guy was a one-armed lesbian transsexual dwarf he would have been top 10 material. That way National could have sold him/her as being a party of ‘diversity’, rather than a party of merit.
National is not alone in this I might add.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The silly thing about this lesbian bashing is that they did a survey somewhere and discovered that most straight guys prefered to watch a bit of girl on girl action for their porn.
Vote:I guess they forgot to ask what shape and size those girls should be though and that might rule out some of tonights targets!
November 6th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Gooner when I knew him back at old Snots Porridge he was a fairly handsome, fair haired bloke, normal height, no ethnic blood, with all his limbs.
He had a really bad acne problem then so if he still has it now like 40 years later do you think it might make him acceptible to the PC brigade?
Shit if so we could send the scrawny ginger tosser back to the DSP and make him leader of the Greens.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
everyone here (all sides of the House) is really looking forward to seeing Nikki in the intake
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Why would you vote for the Green Auckland Central candidate who is at this moment, wandering around getting as much press as possible with her saying she doesn’t want to go to Wellington as an MP? I say, give the woman what she wants.
Toad can assemble a highly structured party meeting – that can’t happen until a very specific time – and get a members decision on something, sometime in the future, like on every other issue…oh wait, this just to hand the greens have decided to forego the highly structured, strict timeline meeting and they have a statement to make, and yes, it’s exactly what we expected and what the “loose 3″ wanted.
Boy, toad, pretty soon you won’t need any special highly structured and booked in, no changing the date, can’t move it forward, meetings. Or members.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Apparently Judith once said “It’s very hard being part of New Zealand’s equivalent to the Kennedys ”
She’s missing in action, has been for years.
Vote:November 6th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Toad: I agree wholeheartedly with your 6.42pm comment (which I’m glad to see DPF has highlighted in the post). Such opportunities probably aren’t confined to Auckland Central but the fact is the “strategists” in the parties have failed to grasp the good things about MMP but have instinctually figured out how to manipulate all the bad bits to their advantage, like stacking the list with no-hope lazy loyalists to ensure “discipline” (aka lack of independent thought) if elected.
The other problem is that to suggest to the kind of person who takes an active role in politics these days (aka a rabid nutter
) that someone from “the enemy” might actually have a worthwhile contribution to make if elected leads to much foaming at the mouth and accusations of treason.
It’s the inverse of the problem I noted yesterday in relation to party supporter’s blindness to the bumbling stupidity of some of their candidates (I’m not naming names because I’m sure we don’t want to go there again).
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 12:54 am
It will be good to see Judith Tizard booted out of parliament. She always was a fair weather friend. When Labour fortunes were up she was in parliament in 1990 and when Labour fortunes things don’t look so good for her.
Labour’s fortunes are currently down.
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 12:57 am
I hope that Nikki Kaye isn’t another wet like Katherine Rich. That’s not what the country needs.
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Nikki Kaye didn’t turn up to a candidates debate last night. Possibly has something to do with Michael Coote ripping the shit out of her in Express Magazine.
The ACT candidate didn’t turn up either, but to his credit, Rodney Hide stepped in and represented ACT in the debate at Forde’s.
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Ryan Sproull – Re Coote.
Gay men can be so bitchy – particularly when they’re jealous. There is absolutely NO substance to ANYTHING he says about Nikki and it’s certainly not worth giving the spoilt child any attention!
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Gay men can be so bitchy – particularly when they’re jealous. There is absolutely NO substance to ANYTHING he says about Nikki and it’s certainly not worth giving the spoilt child any attention!
It did kind of come across as being personal, just because of how strongly worded it was.
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Cootes won’t have done himself any favours within the party organisation I expect, particularly as I understand he fancied becoming an MP one day!
Basically Cootes shot himself in the foot and destroyed any chance of ever becoming an MP now.
Coote was pissed off because he backed Jackie Blue as the AC candidate and she didn’t make it. So this is his immature way of taking revenuge. (Thus, the jealousy and spoilt child comments above.)
No worries anyway because Express readers will be voting for lazy arse Lizard, or they’ll know Cootes and know he’s a bitch and therefore ignore his comments.
However, I would expect many Express readers have actually had their door knocked on by Nikki Kaye, and/or have actually met Nikki, liked her and will vote for her (unlike Lazy Lizard who’s been invisible on the street or last seen stuffing her gob in Wellington.)
GO NIKKI.
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I was interested to read in the same article an 18-year-old writing about some defence against assault charges that amounts to saying you’re allowed to punch someone if you think they’re coming on to you. That’s pretty fucking insane.
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
She gets my vote for Auckland Central… all the way from London
Vote:November 7th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I’m an auckland central voter, and even though I’m going to give my party vote to ACT I will vote for her as I don’t want Judith winning. Even my far left flatmate is voting for National as he doesn’t want Judith winning over Nikki
Vote:November 9th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Well done Nikki. All that door hard work and knocking worked. .
Vote: