News Jaya

Jones wants Māori Party gone: Māori Labour voters want Goff gone

Nearly half Māori voters who vote Labour do not believe Goff is the man to be leading the Labour Party. Just over a third (36%) say he is and just under a half (49%) say he isn't. However, of Labour voters not on the Māori roll the vote was pretty much 50/50 thanks to the expected overhangs..

It’s a pity the pollsters didn’t ask who is the person that should lead the Labour Party. The answer would have been interesting, given that Shane Jones, who wants to get rid of the Māori Party, is the least preferred PM after Key, Goff, Sharples, Turia and Harawira - and even Helen Clark and Winston Peters who aren't even in Parliament.

In fact Māori electorate voters would rather have Harawira as PM than Goff - but they’d also rather have Goff than Jones. Perhaps some Labour Maori voters would rather have Harawira as leader of the Labour Party.

Yep, Jones is at the bottom of the preferred PM pile, and is the only Labour MP in the list other than Goff. The poll of 1001, constituted 68% on the Māori roll and 32% from the General roll - and of those on the General roll, 51% would vote Labour. About a third of those on the Māori roll would vote Labour,despite a proportion of them preferring someone other than Goff as leader.

Why would Māori vote for a party if they want that party to have a change of leadership, and don’t believe that the leader is providing good leadership on Māori issues? Perhaps because a vote for the Maori Party is perceived to be wasted due to an expected overhang.

Phil Goff has said that he will work with a party “if we think that is in the interests of the country”. Personally, I don’t believe Labour considers the Māori Party is in the best interest of the country, purely because it is more friendly with National. That’s an incorrect position to take, because imagine the mess the country would be in if National was in full coalition with ACT, with Roger Douglas as a cabinet minister, and the Maori Party arguing with Labour from the sidelines?