Cunliffe proposes a Maori co-deputy leader
The Herald reports:
Outgoing Labour leader David Cunliffe has offered leadership rival Grant Robertson the job of deputy leader.
“If Grant is not successful, I would like to hold out my hand to him as my deputy so we can bring both sides of the team together and we can go forward together,” Mr Cunliffe said on TV3’s Campbell Live tonight.
He also said he had approached Mr Robertson last week with a peace-making deal.
“That’s why I reached out to Grant last week and I said ‘mate, is there any way we can do this thing to bring people together?’ – and that’s why I’ll tell you now that I’d be very happy to have Grant as my deputy if I am elected by the broader party and caucus to lead this thing for another three years.”
When asked to comment tonight, Mr Robertson said: “I’m running for leader. I have not made a decision about a deputy yet.”
Grant is not that stupid as to accept.
Mr Cunliffe indicated on Campbell Live he had lost the support of his deputy and finance spokesman, David Parker, who is expected to become acting leader after tomorrow’s Labour Party caucus meeting.
Doesn’t that say something?
A short time after appearing on TV3, Mr Cunliffe appeared on Maori Television’sNative Affairs and then TV3’s Paul Henry show. On Native Affairs, he raised the prospect of Labour having co-deputy leaders, one of whom would be a Maori MP.
“We need to see more Maori MPs in senior levels,” he said “and one of the ideas that is floating around – that is a party matter because it would require a constitutional change – is to examine the possibility of having co-deputy positions where one may be Maori.
This is an attempt to get the Maori caucus on side. He is basically offering them a permanent co-deputy leadership position.
But why stop there. Surely there must also be a female co-deputy leader also?
Mr Cunliffe said the culture of the party had to change and that playing “musical chairs” with the leadership was not the answer.
From the man who undermined the last two leaders.
He also implied that the party had become too focused on special interests at the cost of appealing to middle New Zealand.
“We’ve got to get the alchemy right between being true and faithful to our base, our Maori and Pacific and our affiliates and reaching out to middle New Zealand,” he said.
“We can’t be seen as a party of special interests. We have to be inclusive. We have to stand for aspiration.”
He says they can not be a part of special interests at the same time as mooting that there be a co deputy position reserved for a Maori MP.