‘Don’t speak ill of the dead’ is increasingly the practice when it comes to the death of public figures – nowhere more so than in Maoridom.
The responses so far to the death of MP Parekura Horomia are unsurprisingly focused on his political achievements and on the strong consensus about Horomia’s affability.
She draws attention to his political strengths and weakness, in particular to Horomia’s role in helping Labour push through the Foreshore and Seabed legislation, and keeping the Maori electorate onside when Labour could have been wiped out in the Maori seats.
Similarly, today’s Herald editorial points out that his refusal to depart along with Tariana Turia was hugely important to Labour: ‘His decision not to leave with her was probably crucial to Labour's retaining three of the seven Maori electorates at the 2005 election.
While his impact was effective for Labour, others saw the saga as a lesson in why an independent Maori political movement was needed. With both the Maori and Mana parties gaining a foothold in Parliament, the final outcome of those torrid times will play out without Horomia’s considerable influence.
It seems universally agreed that Horomia was loved and respected by those he worked with. Brian Edwards’
Anecdote about A Lovely Man is one of the most insightful responses, and argues strongly that nothing negative should be said about him, because ‘He was a lovely man and little more needs to be said’. The column also provides an interesting look into the political spin world, with accounts of media training Horomia, and how he learnt to give one-word answers instead of his usual tendency to verbiage.
The public reaction to Parekura Horomia’s death is being contrasted to the response to the recent passing of Margaret Thatcher. This has sparked a small flame war on Twitter and some blogs, well covered by Peter Aranyi in
Mourning public figures The Right Way. See also David Farrar’s
Total hypocrisy.
Nonetheless, the focus of debate will soon turn to the impending by-election in Ikaroa-Rawhiti. Newstalk ZB details the process needed to bring the by-election about: ‘Parliament's Speaker will announce to Parliament, most likely next week, that there is a vacancy in the Maori electorate. The Governor-General will have 21 days to act on the advice of the Prime Minister and announce a by-election date’ – see:
Tolaga Bay to burst at the seams for Horomia's tangi.
In the meantime there’s a tangi to be held. Air New Zealand is putting on extra flights, the Labour Party has chartered a plane so that the whole caucus can attend, and the Defence Force has been called in to provide catering for what is increasingly looking like a state funeral.
Other recent items of interest include:
Over twenty years after its one and only broadcast, TVNZ’s Frontline programme, For the Public Good, about political funding is still contentious. TV3’s Media3 discovered this last week by way of various legal threats and restrictions when trying to look back at the controversy – you can watch the special:
Media3 on For the Public Good. The consensus seems to be that the TVNZ journalists ‘stuffed up telling a good story’, but this is disputed by Chris Trotter: ‘for all its production and journalistic short-comings, was a programme based on the moral truth of what had happened to New Zealand in the years since Avalon’s dreamers of the day attempted to arm the New Zealand electorate with accurate information about all political alternatives’ – see:
Dreamers Of The Day.
Who is ‘Person A’? This mysterious figure is being accused of leaking MFAT secrets – see Tracy Watkins and Kate Chapman’s
Details about report 'leaker' suppressed. David Farrar says ‘The identity of Person A is well known around Wellington’ – see:
Person A.
The furious reaction of the right to the electricity reform policy is in sad contrast to the much quieter condemnation of the Government’s latest poke at unions and workers thinks Chris Trotter – see:
Left wavers on workers' rights attack.
‘Nice to have but we just can’t afford it at the moment’ is the Government line on extending paid parental leave in the face of polls showing nearly two-thirds of voters support the move – see: TVNZ’s
Government veto of paid parental leave 'an overreaction'. There will no doubt be close scrutiny of this month’s budget to see what policies are considered worthy this year.
Bryce Edwards
Thu, 02 May 2013