Coughlan on Te Pati Maori

Thomas Coughlan writes:

The attacks made by National, Act and NZ First, that the party is all theatrics and no substance, and that its MPs never bother spending much time in Parliament, have begun to land – even Labour leader Chris Hipkins this week was explicit that he wanted to see the leadership in Parliament more.

It’s a pity Parliament doesn’t release attendance data for the House and select committees. It would be very very telling.

Proverbial chickens have come home to roost. The party has placed too much emphasis on style, social media, and assorted theatrics, at the expense of policy and hard graft in Parliament. On its worst days, it’s a party of influencers. As a result, it has almost nothing to show for the past five years in Parliament beyond changing the parliamentary dress code (a change that may soon be reversed).

Their only achievement from five years in Parliament is the dress code. What a waste of space.