Tommy Kapai: Plight of children food for thought

Poverty is now an election issue.

"Haere mai ki te kai," was one of the first phrases of Maori I can remember growing up as a child in a family of 11 kids, when getting a feed was paramount.

And if you didn't hurry up and get to the table you would miss out.

Feeding our families is something we all want as parents and not being able to do that must be soul destroying.

The feeling of failure can only be understood by those who live life below the poverty line and cannot feed their kids.

I see these people every day.

They are not exclusive to up north or down south. They are in our own back yard here in Tauranga Moana.

"Feed the kids" is not new as far as political promises go, nor are they new as an election promise of any one particular party.

For me, in the line of work we do as advocates for the poor, we see the face of poverty and their kids without kai every day.

Many, but not all, are Maori.

Many, or most, do not vote. They don't see any rainbow, no pots of gold or even kai. They just see billboards with flash promises splashed across them.

For my vote and my voice I focus on who will have the keys to the kitchen where the kai is to feed the kids.

It's that simple. Why would I vote for any party that will be standing outside on the steps?

One thing is for sure: besides the kids needing to be fed, we will all wake up with a post-election hangover next Monday morning.

And when we peel back all the hype, the I-spy and the spin, we will have 120 MPs saddled with the task of feeding the kids.

In some ways this will be the end of a political era; not just for some parties and politicians but in the current voting process.

Digital democracy is knocking on the door and during this election that knock got a whole lot louder.

Much could depend on what happens today, which some are calling "Mana Monday", when Dotcom drops his bomb.

Will it help feed the kids?

I doubt it.

Will it help his cause to stay in this country and hide behind Hone?

I expect so.

I keep asking myself over and over again how Maori have allowed their mana to be hijacked by a hacker.

So who are the winners and losers of this election?

The early voters, already 200,000 and 300 per cent up on the last election, will be the swinging vote and create the surprise of who gets in.

David Cunliffe will lead Labour into government - but he will have to wait three years to do it.

Locally, Tauranga-born Todd Muller could well be our first home-grown prime minster in three elections' time.

Dotcom will disappear leaving Mana in disrepair and the chances of seeing Hone in charge of any political party will be nil.

Colin "Scary Eyes" Craig will become the new "sensible" face of the Caucasian conservatives and that to many Maori is scary.

The Greens will regroup and hook up with the about-to-be-formed Happiness Party that could have them laughing all the way to the Beehive - well before the next Stonehenge festival.

Whatever way it goes, this will be the final curtain call for the kingmaker, the poker-faced pin-striped politician, whose cards carry more bluff than an Invercargill oyster.

By the time the next lot of billboards go up in three years the kingmaker will be 73 and living where his bed will be made for him.

Meanwhile, the little girl waits.

She waits to be fed, just like all the other hungry kids do, each and every day in Aotearoa, the supposed land of milk and honey.

Will Dotcom feed our kids? Not likely. He will be long gone before the Mana Movement wakes up and smells the hangi he has cooked them in.

For me it's all about the keys to the kitchen and who holds them. That's how we are going to feed our kids.

If Maori think it will be Hone then they should vote for him. If not then they need to work out how they can make their vote count for the next three years.

Yes, it could be closer than a cake-tin test.

However, one thing is for certain: the puku of the people who need the keys to the kitchen most will be best served by those sitting inside Parliament at the decision-making table; not outside looking in.

broblack@xtra.co.nz