Rachel Stewart
OPINION: Riding Shotgun column: NEW PLYMOUTH: Ten reasons why I like the independent Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira:
1. No one else seems to.
In my world when someone is universally disliked that's often a sign that they are just telling the truth. The masses generally don't like to hear truths so I figure Hone must be on to something.
2. He's not a natural disaster.
Arguable I know, but anything or anyone on the news of late that is not an earthquake, tsunami or a mass killing destructive force is very welcome in my living room come evening news time.
3. He loves his mother.
I quite like his mother, Titewhai, too. Anyone who can make Helen Clark cry is alright by me.
4. He's loyal to his roots.
Just as being raised as a child by a pack of wolves would lend itself to the odd howl at the full moon, so goes Hone. He was raised by activists. It's in his DNA. The average white boy raised by average white parents tends to espouse average white man rhetoric when he grows up, too.
5. He's loyal to his Te Tai Tokerau electorate.
Remember when politicians knew why they were in Parliament and who they represented. Yes, that's right, their electorate. A quaint notion but this is how democracy is actually supposed to work. The majority of Hone's electorate voted for, support and care about him - and he for them. He will likely be back representing them again in 2011 and bringing with him a few more like-minded colleagues. Get used to it.
6. He's out to get the tobacco companies.
Hone has single-handedly done more to assist the long-term health of Māori than anyone before him. He has been actively promoting a private member's bill to ban tobacco since 2007. Both consistent and strident on this issue he once said "this is not one of those issues that you do for votes. It's one of those issues that you do because you know it has to be done." Right on.
7. He values honesty over expediency.
As the old saying goes, "those that tell the truth should have one foot in the stirrup." Hone has a tendency to mount the moving horse alright but then he proceeds to proudly trot around. This tends to annoy the ringmasters somewhat. Despite such blatancy, he passionately and directly tells his truth. He could have gone far if he was slimy, pragmatic and prepared to sell out his values to the party machine. We may not agree with his beliefs but at least he lives by the sword defending them - and is ready to die by the sword too.
8. He is able to laugh at himself.
It's a rare politician that makes a complete dick of himself and then says "Gee, I'm dumb". He is not one who is busy denying, lying, embellishing and justifying. Not our Hone. He misses the second reading of the Marine and Coastal Area Bill on his first day as an Independent MP and quickly admits his cock-up. Where would this country be if all politicians were as candid?
9. He is not a bad man.
By all accounts Hone is a good husband and father. He is not known for philandering or watching porn movies. Personal scandal does not follow him wherever he goes. However, he did miss the tact gene at conception. Sometimes he writes private emails calling Pakeha bad names. Big deal. There are worse political crimes. Think David Garrett stealing a dead baby's name or Dover Samuels drunkenly peeing on the floor in a hotel lobby or Philip Field's free tiling job. Go a little further back, if you will allow yourself, to the trading of tobacco and blankets for hundreds of thousands of acres.
10. He is right about the Marine and Coastal Protection Bill.
Never has a proposed bill been so fundamentally flawed. It does not suit either Māori or Pakeha and is potentially unfair to both. Whether you subscribe to the fear mongering of the Coastal Coalition or to the antagonism of the hikoi currently en route to Parliament, or are somewhere in between, we will all be let down by it. It is a patch up job, a temporary fix. It is only being supported by National and the four Māori Party MPs. It is no better than Labour's Foreshore and Seabed Act before it. It is wrong on so many fronts.
Finally, if you still find that none of my 10 reasons are enough to make you even just a teensy weensy bit more predisposed toward Hone, then I guess you need to seriously ask yourself whether it's his skin colour you don't like. Just a thought. - Taranaki Daily News/Pacific Media Watch
Pacific Media Watch
