Yesterday I warned the National party against cosying up to the Maori party. It seems that I was right on the money.
National may not be able to rely on partnering up with the Maori Party after the election – if that party is able to secure a seat to get itself back into Parliament.
The Maori Party is mounting a fightback after the crushing election defeat in 2017, in which it found itself turfed out of Parliament and Labour sweeping all seven Maori seats.
National Party leader Simon Bridges has talked about a resurgent Maori Party as a potential ally, but it may not have a willing partner, with the Maori Party President Che Wilson indicating a strong preference for Labour.
“We’re clear that our people align more to Labour and so we are open to having a conversation with Labour.
“If we ever do talk to National it will have to be a big deal for us to move that way again,” Wilson said.
“The perception and reputation by aligning with National affected us.”
“It kicked us out and so it would have to be a pretty impressive package for us to consider it,” he said.
The focus is on winning a seat and getting a foot back in Parliament.
Radio NZ
In other words, Simon Bridges is considering working with the Maori party despite a clear indication that there would be a considerable amount of brown-mail involved to buy their support. On top of that, the Maori party doesn’t even want to look at National.
The Maori Party has a goal of winning back one seat; that is hardly going to help National. Let’s assume that the Maori party gets two like they had before, the maths still doesn’t help National. It especially doesn’t help National as they have stated that they will go with Labour unless Bridges drops his trousers and pays them off bigly.
Tell me again why National should suck up to Maori interests? That is a sure-fire way to kiss your remaining support goodbye.
It’s quite sad really; National won’t consider a deal with NZ First, but will consider a deal with an extortionate, race-based party who don’t want a bar of them.
Well done National, way to go.