Māori Party co-leader and Te Tai Hauauru candidate Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo / Bevan Conley
Māori Party co-leader and Te Tai Hauauru candidate Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo / Bevan Conley
COMMENT
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is a smart politician. She's eloquent, well connected, grounded to her community, and most importantly, passionate.
But she's a politician.
As the co-leader of the Māori Party, she undoubtedly would have overseen the decision for her party to request a recount in the electorate sheran in, as well as John Tamihere's in Tamaki Makaurau.
The request is laughable. There is no real reason to demand a recount; Ngarewa-Packer lost her seat by over 1000 votes. Not even National's Matt King, who lost his seat by a measly 163 votes, went through with a recount.
But despite what looks on the surface to be a stupid move, Ngarewa-Packer and her team calculated it beautifully.
Ngarewa-Packer has been in national politics for five minutes, but she's already mastered one of the most important skills; relevancy.
The call for a recount isn't going to change anything. She knows there's no chance of a recount flipping the vote - she said it herself.
What Ngarewa-Packer is attempting to point out is the inadequacies in the voting system, where Māori, like they are in so many social statistics, are short-changed and treated unfairly.
She is suggesting that from anecdotal evidence she's received, as well as what is agreeably an intriguingly high number of informal votes, some Māori voters haven't had their voices heard.
It is a fair and I would argue completely justified concern.
There is no real reason to demand a recount; Ngarewa-Packer lost her seat by over 1000 votes. Photo / File
The problem is, a recount isn't going to solve anything.
A recount is simply going to pour back over the already accepted votes. It isn't going to look at inequities in the system, how many people were given the wrong voting slip, nor how many people got fed up standing in the special vote line and walked out the door.
Calling for a recount is an exercise in headline grabbing, where what is being called for isn't for a minute realistic at all, but is fantastic in provoking a discussion.
It's politics.
The recount isn't going to change anything for the Māori Party, but it pushed their narrative. A narrative that in my view is rooted in a fair and genuine concern for the health of our democracy.
Ngarewa-Packer hasn't been in the game for long, but it's clear she knows how to play it.
