Posts by Paul Williams
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Field Theory: The Cup Continues, in reply to Chris Bowden,
Wise comments Chris... and Russell's too. I confess I've been suckered into the hype. I saw some mention of a "Keep Calm and Colin Carry On" t-shirt. Nice.
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I want to do the decent think and support Slade, not least of all 'cause Carter told us too... but I can't help but think he's short on matches this year.
When he came on against Australia, a few years ago, for Cruden, he had an immediate positive impact I'm just not seeing that now.
Weepu has all the big match experience and, probably, a comparable skill set.
I agree Dagg's the best fullback in NZ, probably in the world, and shouldn't be mucked around, tempting though it is.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to BenWilson,
Certainly not in a city electorate they aren't. There's no hospital in my electorate. There's a number of schools near here, some in, some out, and I could send my kids further away if I had a reason. All of my facilities rely on massive infrastructure mostly outside of the electorate
I take the point that Akl is different from other places in NZ 'cuase of the density of population. Incidentally, do NZ schools still have a geographic zone or did National get rid of that?
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to BenWilson,
Did you rank postcode as #1? Why not? Apparently it's deathly important, so much so that you get a whole separate vote column, in which a selection of candidates from your postcode are allotted to you.
Ben, do you not accept that the majority of public services are experienced within a particular geographic area which is likely to be smaller than an electorate? I mean hospitals, schools and so on... that being the case, postcode is very relevant.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to BenWilson,
We could do away with electorates altogether. And all MPs could be available to all comers. The big parties would probably put their offices conveniently spread out. The small parties could spread them out, but probably not have anywhere near so many. Then, if I wanted to talk to an MP, I could take my pick.
There's no reason to consider this, there's no specific problem with the current arrangements and it'd undermine all the existing relationships and expertise built up over years within particular communities.
I certainly take your point about not having the same stake in all electorates when you live in one but spend lots of time in others but I fear this "solution" is unecessary as regional issues are matters for regional bodies.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Sacha,
Thanks. That alone suggests it was considered a key element and you're right, active party membership is low (active members, lower again I'd guess).
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Gregor Paul suggests Israel Dagg at Five Eighth! We always play someone out of position and lose... but is Dagg the exception?
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Sacha,
Our implementation of MMP relies on people joining political parties and influencing their internal list ranking processes. Party membership numbers have plunged over the last few decades for various reasons. The system has not been changed.
Was this explicitly thought at the time of it's development, customisation in NZ?
It now appears to me that the List is the primary mechanism by which parties broaden their traditional base (or ought too any way).
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to BenWilson,
In my experience, living in Mt Albert, my local MP held supreme executive power.
No she didn't, not as local MP, and that's an important distinction.
But you're misunderstanding me. What about providing this service of being a free advocate (if they feel like it) gives them the right to be in the clique of the most powerful people in this country? What's the connection? In voting for Richard Prebble, my Mum helped put someone in power who did a lot to wreck this country.
I don't think I am misunderstanding you at all. I'm saying their role as a local MP is a key to their job, whether they are in government or not, and that it is distinct from their role(s) within their parties.
Your example of Prebble, presumably as part of the 4th Labour Government, is an example of the power of the Executive in any government and I agree. However, that was under FPP, before the Select Committee reforms of Palmer and Caygill and before any number of other reforms including the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
I think you're criticising the role of local MPs based on the historical actions of a government that operated in very very different times.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Cheers, Joe I'll follow this up.