Four hours of heckling

Audrey Young at NZ Herald reports:

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia was sickened by what she called “psychological abuse” meted out to her and others by MP Hone Harawira’s mother and sister at a hui yesterday.

Mrs Turia said the entire meeting, at Waitangi’s Te Tii Marae, was disrupted from 10am to 2pm.

“It was just terrible. It was the whole hui. It wasn’t just two minutes. It was shouting, abusing, swearing, singing loud over the top of people.”

She said Mr Harawira’s mother, Titewhai, “kept shouting at me that I was a liar … bloody liar … snakes”.

“Nobody could shut them up. They just shouted and denigrated people the whole way through the hui.”

Mrs Harawira and daughter Hinewhare also tried to intimidate people by saying they had written down ethe names of those present.

These tactics might backfire on the Mana Party. This could well send some voters who were considering voting for Harawira (if there is a by-election) to instead vote for Labour’s Kelvin Davis.