Barry Soper: Mt Albert byelection waste of money

David Shearer's off the Parliamentary payroll at the end of this month. Photo / Duncan Brown

Most of us with a social conscience could think of many things to spend a million bucks on. For example it'd provide relief for almost 50 people needing a hip replacement which most of us who're paying our taxes would say, it's money well spent.

But as taxpayers we'd resent our hard earned cash going down the gurgler for no reason at all, and that's about to happen because former Labour leader David Shearer's decided to up sticks and take a job with the United Nations in South Sudan. He's off the Parliamentary payroll at the end of this month and we're about to stump up with a million bucks to run a by-election in his Mt Albert electorate.

He's the second former Labour leader to force Aucklanders living in the electorate to go to the polls in a by-election, the last was of course Helen Clark who held the seat for close on thirty years.

So they'll now be forced back to the polling booth on February the 25th for what will be a farcical vote, probably for Labour's golden girl Jacinda Ardern who looks a dead cert to win the party's nomination and therefore the seat.

It's farcical because the National Party's decided not to field a candidate with Bill English saying it's a safe Labour seat and they want to concentrate on winning the General Election later in the year. Perhaps the party's gun shy after being thumped in the neighbouring Mt Roskill seat just a few weeks back.

But the point is, in the last two elections with Melissa Lee, a candidate not seen as a great performer, they collared almost 30 percent of the electorate vote. Imagine what they could do with the likes of former All Blacks Inga the winger Tuigamala, or Michael Iceman Jones who're both itching to get into Parliament on the Tory ticket.

It's hard to envisage John Key chucking in the towel in the way English has done on this one. Democracy is about choice and the people of Mt Albert are now being denied it.

Labour's saying Bill English should do everyone a favour and call an early election rather than putting the country to the expense of a by-election.

On this one the electoral law's an ass. If National accepts Mt Albert's a lost cause, then the law should allow a caretaker MP to look after its constituents until the election, which will occur just a few months after the six month time frame that requires a by-election before a General Election once an MP bows out.

This will not be money well spent!