Joyce on Kaye and Turia

Steven Joyce writes:

I first met Nikki Kaye more than 20 years ago. She was a young researcher in the National Party Leader’s Office, and I had just been appointed to chair the investigation into what was then (and remains) the National Party’s worst-ever election result. The deputy leader at the time, Roger Sowry, directed me to the Backbencher pub to meet some of the key staffers from the campaign.

He sat me between two passionate young women, one of whom was Nikki. The two of them, and mostly Nikki, proceeded to give me chapter and verse of what went wrong, without pausing for breath, for the next two or three hours. It was by turn invigorating, relentless, and ultimately exhausting, and I’ve never forgotten it. It was my first real introduction to party politics.

Nikki never changed. She entered Parliament in 2008 at the same time as me. She was a truly lovely person, but man, once she formed a view on something, she never gave up. She was a relentless advocate for what she thought was right. Only her humour and self-deprecation leavened the ceaseless lobbying, and that was definitely for the better.

There was no such thing as a short conversation with Nikki!

Another who gave much of her life to politics was Tariana Turia. I didn’t know Tariana as well as I knew Nikki, but she was a calm, patient, and determined presence in the Parliament and in Government. I enjoyed her dignity and her sometimes mischievous sense of humour.

Tariana sold Whanau Ora to John Key and to Bill English first, and then painstakingly pitched it and repitched it to the rest of her colleagues, many of whom either didn’t understand what she wanted to achieve or didn’t want to. It was when Bill pointed out that monolithic government departments didn’t know it all, and that contracting out social services to Māori (and other) providers was exactly what National stood for, that the penny dropped and Tariana won the day.

I tell these little vignettes about two very different politicians because they had at least two things in common. They were both passionate believers in making a positive difference in our country, and they knew who they were elected to represent, in what is, after all, a house of representatives.

Determined advocacy can work in persuading others.