Indigenous Wainuiomata

Trevor Mallard’s speech on race relations comes across as a desperate effort to reverse the polls. On the one hand he steals language from National declaring “We are all New Zealanders now”, “get over the past” and finally delcares himself indigenous as “I come from Wainuiomata.”

But then, oblivious to the irony of his own words he states “Partisan and sectional politics on these issues will get us nowhere” and one paragraph later compares National’s policies to North Korea!!

If there was an award for least intellectually consistent speech of the year, I think this one would be a winner. Condemning partisan politics on race, yet comparing National to a dictatorship which murders and tortures its citizens would be funny if it was not so sad.

So is there a single person out there who can read that speech and now claim a better understanding of Labour’s policies?

Oh and a true story about Wainuiomata. A few years ago we had some school kids visit the Beehive on Careers Day and meet with various staff, incuding Don McKinnon’s press secretary who told them about her and Don’s work, including the peace treaty for Boungainville. At the end of each meeting, the presenter was meant to ask a question with a prize for the student who coudl ask it. The press secertary asked who knows where Bougainville is, and a student shot him arm up. He then responded “Wainuiomata, miss”. It was hilarious. So perhaps Trevor is indigenous after all.