Sue Bradford joined us for a live chat, here is the transcript of the conversation.
.11:29 Sue Bradford:
Kia ora nzherald & koutou - I'm here, & ready to go - good morning everybody!
11:29 nzherald.co.nz:
Thanks Sue, let's kick off
11:29 Comment From referendum
Hi Sue, are you in
favour of keeping MMP? If not, what system do you think is best to replace it?
11:30 Sue Bradford:
I'm totally in favour of MMP, even though there are a few changes that could be made to improve it. Hope you'll tick MMP on Nov 26, it's really important for representative democracy.
11:30 Comment From Teira
Describe Hone Harawira in one word.
11:30 Sue Bradford:
Courageous.
11:31 Comment From Rotty
You have publicly condoned the vandalism of 700 National election signs. This is clearly a crime, so if you endorse vandalism and crime, why should I view you as a fit MP at all?
11:32 Sue Bradford:
I don't think that placing intelligent, easily removable stickers on billboards is a serious crime - it's part of election campaigning. The worse offence from my point of view is the Green Party leadership dobbing in their own members - goes against all principles of activist solidarity.
11:32 Comment From Guest
Why the move to the mana party where you not happy with the way things where/are going with the greens
11:34 Sue Bradford:
No, I wasn't happy with the way the Green were going - I didn't want to be part of a party that is happy to enter a governing relationship with National in some circumstances, and which is moving more and more towards the mainstream and 'centre' of NZ politics. I prefer to be with Mana which is clear about whose side it's on - Maori, low paid workers, beneficiaries, unemployed people - and won't sell out - Mana will never go with the Nats.
11:34 Comment From Leonie
what is your party's first priority?
11:35 Sue Bradford:
Improve life for those who have least in Aotearoa through lifting incomes, & ensuring people have access to decent housing, free, quality education, and decent jobs at decent wages.
11:35 Comment From Claire
Is Mana a Maori party? As a Pakeha, why should I vote for the Mana party?
11:37 Sue Bradford:
Mana is a Maori-lead, Maori-focused party which stands on the kaupapa of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and of improving life for the poor, the powerless and the dispossessed. Mana welcomes everyone who supports this kaupapa to join us, and/or to vote for us.
11:37 Comment From fugly
Are the poor getting poorer in NZ or is the disparity between rich and poor the real issue?
11:38 Sue Bradford:
The disparity between rich and poor certainly is a real issue - and it's getting worse all the time. Last year the richest 100 people in NZ (according to the NBR) had a combined wealth of $45.2 billion, an increase on last year of $7 billion. Meanwhile, the minimum wage is $13 an hour.
11:39 Comment From Geoff Ellis
You are seeking election to parliament for a third party after previously standing for the Alliance and then the Greens. You deserted your previous parties and political colleagues as you thought they were deviating from their course. Has it occurred to you that instead it may be that where your old political colleagues move with the times, the politics you represent are increasingly not what society at large wants?
11:41 Sue Bradford:
I don't know why you think I ever stood for the Alliance - I was never a member of that party, much less a candidate for them. I certainly stood for the Greens in 4 elections, and left for sound political reasons as described above. Mana is only the 2nd political party I've stood for, and I believe we're a party for the future - we face the economic and environmental crises with realism, and know we've got to build for a future in which everyone has a chance to live a decent life at the same time as protecting and nurturing the physical world around us.
11:41 Comment From backofbus
Following your criticism of the Greens, are the days of true activism dead?
11:42 Sue Bradford:
The days of 'true activism' are certainly not dead - there are plenty of us, younger and older people who are committed to working for social, economic and environmental change through action in our communities, workplaces and ont the streets. I am just sorry that the Greens no longer treasure their activist heritage - doesn't mean there aren't still plenty of us out here.
11:42 Comment From tony walker
What do you think about the Occupy evictions?
11:43 Sue Bradford:
I was really sorry to hear about the Wall St occupiers being moved on, with 200 arrests - I hope that doesn't happen here. However, I"m sure the Wall St crew will reoccupy before long.
11:44 Comment From Ashleigh Cussen
Hone Harawira is a strong advocate for increased protect of M?ori from smoking. As a member of the Mana party, how do you plan to support the government's commitment to Tupeka Kore Aotearoa/Smokefree New Zealand by 2025? -Ashleigh Cussen, Heart Foundation.
11:45 Sue Bradford:
I support Mana's policy on tobacco which is to work to decrease - and eventually ban - tobacco - as quickly as possible because of the huge damage it does to people's health and wellbeing.
11:45 Comment From Alison
Sue, are you concerned about splitting the left wing vote in Waitakere? Do you think most people will understand to give Mana their party vote, or are they more likely to give you their candidate vote, given that your name is so recognisable (arguably more so than Carmel Sepuloni's?)
11:48 Sue Bradford:
I've been making it really clear at every meeting I speak at that I am only asking for the Party vote for Mana in Waitakere, not the electorate vote. In the end, it is up to voters - and Paula Bennett will be back in Parliament no matter what, even if she loses the electorate vote, as she is high on the National Party list. Mana is also clearly to the left of Labour, and I am part of Mana because I think the voters deserve to have a choice of voting for a party which could ultimately do a lot to help keep Labour and the Greens honest - and more to the left.
11:48 Comment From Rabies
The Greens are the party that came up with the Electoral Finance Provisions, now the Greens are going to get hit with up to $40,000.00 fines for the vandalism of National billboards. You were a Green party member who voted in the EFA, National voted against it, do you think the full force of the $40,000.00 fine should now be applied against Anne Heins & Jolyon White? and if not, why not? given they have broken the laws quite clearly.
11:49 Sue Bradford:
I certainly don't think Jolyon and Anne should be subject to fines at all - not even arrested. As far as I know Anne had nothing to do with the action; no real damage was caused to the billboards - much worse destruction happens to our and other parties' billboards constantly. I can't believe people believe that putting removable sticky change outs on billboards is such a major crime.
11:50 Comment From thicky
Are the Greens a spent political force? Are they just the blue-greens now?
11:51 Sue Bradford:
The Greens are definitely not a spent political force - they are simply moving into a part of the political spectrum occupied by most other Green Parties around the world - ie an environmentally focused, socially liberal middle class party which is comfortable with greening capitalism and with supporting whichever major party of right or left they are able to cut the best deal with at the time. The Greens are winning blue green votes because of this - it's a very deliberate strategy.
11:52 Comment From Mandroid
Where is your favourite holiday destination? do you like to stay local?
11:52 Sue Bradford:
The place where I spent most of my holidays is in the Bay of Islands - I love it there, fishing and swimming etc with my family.
11:52 Comment From maddog
The election seems to be moving away from the issues, how can we get it back on track?
11:54 Sue Bradford:
I think the issues are still very much there, for example, Paula Bennett & John Key issuing their latest attack on beneficiaries yesterday. It's good if people get along to election meetings, engage in forums like this - do everything you can to hold the candidates and parties accountable for their policies and plans.
11:54 Comment From ThrowntoWolves
I heard you are against random drug testing, and if people are drug tested positive they could lose their benefits. Isn't it beneficiaries best interest to break the cycle of welfare dependance, be more positive, find employment and keep of drugs (which makes them frankly unemployable). Your Mana policy would seem to support a negative drug dependent, welfare society. How does this policy make any sense at all? It is not in the interests of beneficiaries or wider society.
11:57 Sue Bradford:
Mana doesn't support a 'negative, drug-dependent', welfare society - quite the opposite. We believe Governments should have a commitment to proactive job creation - to doing everything they can to maintain and create jobs for people who don't have them, and to provide better access to training and education for the jobless. We don't agree with National's welfare policies because they are all about punishing and harassing people on benefits even more than they are already - without the jobs necessarily being there for people to go to. If you push people off benefits and there's no job, they are likely to end up costing the taxpayer even more in downstream police, justice, health and corrections - and their children will suffer hugely.
11:57 Comment From Mikey
What leader would you least like the have a cup of tea with?
11:57 Sue Bradford:
John Key
11:57 Comment From Betty
In your vlaedictory speach you said your heart was no longer in this job (being an MP). Have you had a change of heart, or do yo miss the salary ?
11:59 Sue Bradford:
It's certainly not about the salary, I have been very happy doing many other things with my life (including earning income elsewhere) since I left Parliament. My heart was no longer in the job at the time because I no longer felt supported by the party which I represented in Parliament, and I didn't support the underpinning direction it was taking - an impossible position to be in. I never thought I'd stand for Parliament again, but I"m doing so because I think Mana is such an exciting opportunity to take NZ politics on a positive direction into the future.
11:59 Comment From Richie
Sue, do you think the anti smacking bill has had a postitive impact on child abuse statistics?
12:01 Sue Bradford:
I think amending s59 of the Crimes Act so that parents no longer have a legal defence of 'reasonable force' to use when they assault their children has had a really positive impact in terms of changing the culture of how we bring up children in this country. However, changing the law in this small way was never going to stop people doing terrible things to their kids, and none of us on our side of the debate ever pretended it would - it's like saying that because there is a law against murder, no more murders will happen.
12:01 Comment From Guest
Do you think the " cup of Tea " tapes should be released ?
12:02 Sue Bradford:
Yes, I would love to hear what's on that tape, and I'm sure many other people would like to know too, especially as so much of the content is basically out in the public sphere already.
12:02 Comment From Greg
What would your response be if your billboards were defaced?
12:04 Sue Bradford:
It depends what had happened - if they were really defaced or destroyed I wouldn't be happy about it - but that's not what happened on Sunday night - it was simply a matter of removable stickers being placed on a small part of the billboard, no damage done.
12:04 Comment From blackrivercreole
Had you heard the rumours that Green activists were planning to place stickers on the billboards?
12:05 Sue Bradford:
I'd heard rumours to this effect - but not just about Greens, others too.
12:05 Comment From Kane
So your saying it's ok to put removable stickers on any parties billboards?
12:06 Sue Bradford:
No problem with me, as long as it's tastefully done and makes political sense - it's all part of election campaigning - would rather have pointed political comment than silly mustaches or wholesale deconstruction of my billboards.
12:06 Comment From BJC
What about 'Tagging' a billboard instead of the "gentle" aproach taken by Joylon and co?
12:07 Sue Bradford:
Again - depends on exactly what the tagging involves, hard to say in abstract.
12:07 Comment From Darrell
Presuming Goff walks post election, from your experience in Parliament can you see a credible new leader that could lead a Labour led Govt in 2014?
12:08 Sue Bradford:
Labour has a number of people it could choose to be leader - I don't want to nominate anyone in particular, that 's a decision very much up to Labour folk, not those of us outside their organisation.
12:08 Comment From CHris
Hey Sue, I really want to know what you think is the biggest mistake you've made politically?
12:09 Sue Bradford:
Thinking that an essentially middle class Green Party would ever ultimately challenge the power structures that ensure their members' comfort.
12:09 Comment From Levi McKenzie
Sue, your leader is not very popular in most New Zealand households nor is he too popular with other political parties and he is very racist. How do you expect Mana to continue into the future with the amount of support for Hone and the party diminishing by the second?
12:11 Sue Bradford:
Our support isn't diminishing, quite the opposite - though it's hard to tell with polls which rely on land line calls - most of our members and supporters don't have landlines. Hone is not racist, I've known him a long time and have never known him to be racist in any situation I've shared with him - but he does speak very openly about racial tensions and racial matters. We need this kind of honesty as we go forward together.
12:11 Comment From Lila
Hi Sue, would you support law reform that removed abortion from the Crimes Act?
12:12 Sue Bradford:
Not 100% sure of the implications of your question but I support women having the right to choose.
12:12 Comment From Richie
What has been Nationals bigget failure since elected to lead this great country?
12:13 Sue Bradford:
National's biggest failure is their lack of any real understanding of how the NZ economy really works or any vision of how we could all work together to make a fairer, happier society.
12:13 Comment From S. Felming
What is Mana's strategy for dealing with the deteriorating child abuse situation in NZ? What systems would you have put in place?
12:16 Sue Bradford:
This is hard - there is no one simple answer on this. However, we need to start from the top by governments giving much greater priority to the needs of children, including through working to end child poverty, improve health and family support , and commit to job creation and state housing programmes. Where children grow up seeing Govts like the present one openly abusing and slagging off a section of our society including their parents (where they're beneficiaries) then they're growing up in an atmosphere where it's OK to bully people. Removing bullies from Parliament would be a good start.
12:17 Comment From Dave
Why should people on the run from police be entitled to benefits?
12:17 Sue Bradford:
I don't think they should be - but their families need support.
12:18 Comment From Aaron Kirk
Could you please clarify MANA's stance on raising the minimum wage and subsequently "pegging it" at two thirds.
12:19 Sue Bradford:
Mana wants to immediately increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and then peg it to two thirds of the average wage from April 2013 onwards.
12:19 Comment From philip
Why do you think you are creditable and authentic as an MP?
12:20 Sue Bradford:
I'm not actually an MP at the moment - but in terms of my record I spent ten years as an MP, & had a reputation across the House and from the media as someone who worked hard and achieved a lot, despite never being part of a Government. I will continue to work hard should I be elected as an MP for Mana.
12:20 Comment From Cassidy M
What do you think about John Key and National
12:22 Sue Bradford:
This country and the rest of the world are still in a recession caused by dodgy bankers who speculated against the best interests of most people. John Key was right at the heart of this sort of dealing and is the last person we should be putting in charge of our economic, social and environmental wellbeing. Our problems will be overcome by working together, not by relying on the greedy types National represents, who got us into this situation in the first place.
12:23 Comment From Andrew
Are you expecting a substantial Ratana support for Mana party?
12:24 Sue Bradford:
We're certainly expecting some - some Ratana leaders have expressed support, and we have Ratana amongst us - but like everyone else, Ratana people will make their own political choices come election day.
12:24 Comment From tom
are you willing to work with the green and labour parties?
12:24 Sue Bradford:
Yes.
12:24 Comment From Levi McKenzie
Sue, I would like to know. What is your stance on the income tax system? Do you believe if you earn more money you should be disadvantaged and made to pay more tax or do you believe in a more fair flat tax system?
12:26 Sue Bradford:
Mana believes in progressive, not regressive taxes - we want to abolish GST< introduce a Financial Transactions Tax. Overall we want a fairer tax system where the rich pay their share, eg through a capital gains tax on profits of the sale of property, shares and businesses (though not on the sale of the family home).
12:26 Comment From RJ
Too many times do I see children being placed into foster care by CYFS, into a home that is just as broken as that of their biological parents. Would you support some form of deeper inspection of potential foster families before they are approved to foster a child, in order to ensure the safety of said child?
12:28 Sue Bradford:
Yes, for sure - and Mana also supports more help for those who become foster parents, setting up an independent review and appeals system for those who have complaints about CYFS, and improving the quality of CYFS work overall.
12:28 Comment From phil
i worked hard and made a lot of sacrifices to get to $16 an hour, what happens to my wage when the minimum is $15
12:28 nzherald.co.nz:
Time for just another couple of questions folks
12:29 Sue Bradford:
What normally happens if the minimum wage goes is up is that wages above that level rise proportionately. We would expect this to happen again.
12:29 Comment From Dave
What was your personal reaction when Hone Harawira came out saying he would be dissppointed if his daughter was with a Pakeha?
12:31 Sue Bradford:
I wondered why he said it - and I'm aware that we always have to look quite carefuly at the context in which these sort of remarks are made.
12:31 Comment From philip
In the event that you're not able to be an MP what will you be doing for the next 3 years ?
12:32 Sue Bradford:
I hope that I"ll be finishing my PhD in public policy, continuing to undertake various pieces of paid research and teaching work, and remain heavily involved in Mana and activist politics.
12:32 nzherald.co.nz:
That's all the time we have today - thanks to Sue for chatting to us.
12:32 Sue Bradford:
Thanks for having me nzherald - and to all of you for the questions.