The 2009 Transtasman Ratings
December 7th, 2009 at 4:10 pm by David FarrarTranstasman has published its annual ratings for our 122 MPs. As usual, I do some analysis. The overall average rating is 4.5
Average Ratings per Party
- Maori 5.2
- National 5.1
- ACT 4.5
- United Future 4.0
- Labour 3.9
- Green 3.7
- Progressive 3.0
The influx of new MPs saw the overall average rating drop from 4.8 to 4.5. All parties except National had their average drop. National went up 0.3.
Top MPs
- Lockwood Smith 9.25
- John Key 9.0
- Simon Power 8.5
Bottom MPs
- Hone Harawira 0.0
- Ashrad Choudary 1.0
Top Labour MPs
- Annette King 6.5
- David Parker 6.0
- Darren Hughes 6.0
Top Third Party MPs
- Pita Sharples & Tariana Turia – 7.0
- Jeanette Fitzsimons – 6.0
- Roger Douglas & Heather Roy – 5.0
- Peter Dunne – 4.0
- Jim Anderton – 3.0
Top New MPs
- Steven Joyce 7.5
- Rahui Katene 6.0
- Amy Adams 5.0
Group Ratings
- Ministers 6.2
- Cabinet 6.7
- National frontbench 7.7
- Labour frontbench 4.5
- National 2008 intake 4.2
- Labour 2008 intake 3.7
It will be interesting to see in a year how the ratings have changed. Hopefully by then the Labour frontbench has had a reshuffle. That is a huge disparity between the frontbenches.
Related posts:
- The 2010 Transtasman Ratings
- The 2012 Trans-Tasman Ratings
- The Transtasman 2008 MP Scorecard
- More Transtasman Averages
December 7th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Top MPs
1. Lockwood Smith 9.25
2. John Key 9.0
FFS!!!
If it is true that we get the politicians we deserve then we must be really bad bastards.
Dr, the honourable, Lockwood Smith (what type of wanker demands to be addressed that way?) is the trougher in chief, nobody is more divorced from reality than this man, I will never forget his totally out of touch comments defending the rort that is spouse travel.
Dr, the honourable, Lockwood Smith honestly believes that the rest of us hold our MP’s in high regard when the reality is that we would be more than happy to do away with the lot of them, his fucked up sense of entitlement and unbelievable arrogance is the best reason I know of for parliamentary term limits.
As for Neville Key, well if lying to your own voting base, ignoring the hard choices and contributing to massive intergenerational debt levels means you score 9.0 then we are well and truly fucked as a nation.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Lockwood Smith is an extraordinary speaker, even when compared to other than the speakers of the more recent past. Questions get answered, good god!
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Just looked at the website.
People actually pay for this low rent rubbish??
Unbelievable.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Are we really going to praise the speaker for doing his fucking job?
For gods sake people, demand better from your MP’s, after all, we are the ones financing their highly extravagant lifestyle.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I’m assuming Annette King’s stellar rating of 6.5 is because she’s shut her mouth and gone into hiding. If she keeps this up look out 7.0 and beyond.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
“As for Neville Key, well if lying to your own voting base, ignoring the hard choices and contributing to massive intergenerational debt levels means you score 9.0 then we are well and truly fucked as a nation.”
We’re beyond salvation if this pathetic and morose Prime Minister gets a rating of 9.0.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Hone’s score is far too high.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Dont think many people want a representative form of democractic government to be gotten rid off, so think your statement is relative bollocks in that regard.
Lockwood not only has done his job, but has done it better than it has been done in 50 years and has ensured the government is held accountable unlike speakers of the past.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Yep. That’s a good start. Now hoping the other 121….
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Jeff83
What is democratic about this government?
And if you are happy for our politicians to keep spending your money on themselves as they see fit then I suggest you are the one in the minority.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Chris Finlayson rates a 7, Tim Groser rates a 7, and meanwhile Paula Bennett is seen to be due a 6.5?! Oh, and Peter Dunne gets a 4, which presumably means he’s seen as 60% as good as Finlayson and Groser.
And Key scores an almost perfect 10 for grinning a lot and dreaming up a cycleway to nowhere.
Errr, guys… next time do the ratings before the Christmas party, not during it.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
FFS – Anne Tolley 6/10. The most bumbling incompetent Minister of Education since Merv Wellington was appointed by Muldoon. What a fucking joke – I’d love to know the criteria they use for their assessments. This is the Minister who admitted publicly that her own National Standards policy might be a disaster, and thought it was a cool idea to go on a helicopter ride to view educational institutions from the air.
And Nick Smith – rated very lowly on your own Kiwiblog poll a couple of months ago DPF, but scores 7.5/10. The Minister responsible for the manufactured crisis in ACC (which Transtasman admit) and huge subsidies to greenhouse gas polluters that the taxpayer is going to have to meet. The man who has managed an even bigger taxpayer subsidy to farmers than Muldoon did through his Supplementary Minimum Prices. Go figure!
The credibility of Transtasman must take a hit over those assessments. Although full credit to John Key for maintaining his 9/10 rating. To have two frontbenchers as hopeless as Tolley and Smith, but still get away with it as far as public opinion is concerned, has to be exceptional political management.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Toad are you a tosser or is it an act. Do you have any idea what Mrs Tolley was up in the helicopter for or will you just keep beating her for it.
Vote:A minister getting a grip on a portfolio may just have had a very good reason to take to the air.
Why dont you get out more and possibly give some thought to the colossal waste of time and resources involved with the circus that is Copenhagen.
December 7th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
gravedodger: No, I have no idea what Tolley was up in a helicopter for. I can see no reason why you have to go for a helicopter ride to view the geography of educational institutions.
You can do that at no expense, because, fortunately, there are satellites that map them and you can download them – eg Auckland Grammar.
Vote:December 7th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
The left have a particular hard-on for Tolley. My guess is that frogboy is a confidant of AUSA.
Vote:December 8th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Toad, I suppose you had the same concerns about Ms Clark flying in an Air Force helicopter to view a shipwreck in the Auckland Islands http://www.life.com/image/56077217 ?
Vote:December 8th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Since you have pointed out his hypocrisy Tim, the Toad has flown the coop.
Vote:December 8th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I think TT is unduly harsh on the backbenchers. They get poor ratings for not achieving things when there is actually no opportunity for them to do so. Keith Holyoake (I think) said first termers should breathe through their noses, and that is not bad advice. But the best of the backbenchers rates only a 6. What do they have to do to get more? Very interesting reading though. Amused by the description of Kennedy Graham as “A brilliant man from an alternative universe.”
Vote:December 8th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Farrar……any chance of you blogging on the MacKenzie Basin proposals? I’m pretty keen to understand what people on Kiwiblog think about the proposals. I’m personally hacked off with JK’s ‘pretty relaxed’ comment. I reckon this country is in a parlous state environmentally as well as economically. My personal judgment of the PM is that he really doesn’t understand that without an environment we don’t have an economy! Hence we can’t keep on treating our land, sea and air as though it is a resource to be utilised at 100% capacity. It’s not a machine, and if it breaks it is bloody hard to fix! Chucking more cows at each acre might increase $ returns but it creates a hell of a high cost to the environment that precludes future use of that same land. It’s akin to living off our capital now with no thought to the future. I think the PM needs to be listening to sound heads in this area because at the moment he’s an easy target for whatever outrageous messaging Fed Farmers wants to chuck out there. For goodness sake, even if he trotted down a floor to talk to the Deputy PM he might get a more balanced view and possibly come away slightly less ‘relaxed’ Sorry to rant but this has really got me wound up. Very keen to hear what others think.
Vote:December 8th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Of course Toad has a ‘hard on’ for Tolley, the left see our education system as their way of brainwashing the next generation, they will resist any move to actually educate our kids or heaven forbid, let them think for themselves.
Vote:December 8th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Trans Tasman seems to place a lot more importance on what happens in Wellington than what MPs do in their electorates – elecion results for many of the MPs who didn’t score very well show that their constituents appreciate them more than TT.
List MPs don’t have the excuse of electorate duties.
BTW – Jo Goodhew is National’s junior whip which TT overlooked.
Vote:November 30th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Interesting how some people praise Tolley for the sole reason of a perception that she is dealing to the teacher unions – which she isn’t by the way!
When you see her performances in parliament you soon realise that it is the same half a dozen slogans repeated over and over again – she actually knows very little about her portfolio. It took her a year to understand what moderation was! (a lack of which is why national standards aren’t going to tell you much about your childs progress).
I think transtasman said it very well: (rather her a 5.5 – generious in my opinion)
Vote:“National Standards still face much hostility and Tolley didn’t do the spadework needed before
they were introduced. Sure, teacher unions aretough but she isn’t really up to handling them.
Has difficulty dealing with Labour’s Trevor Mallard in the House – he’s identified her as
a Cabinet weak link, and she is. Key has been forced to declare his confidence in her but it
would be surprising if she isn’t reshuffled either before or right after the next election.”