22 September 2004

Tamihere not going on Labour List

It's first past the post or not at all for Tamaki Makaurau MP John Tamihere in next year's general election.

The outspoken Cabinet Minister's electorate committee chairman, Mike Tolich, announced today that Mr Tamihere will not be seeking a place on the Labour Party List.

This was decided last night at a meeting of the Tamaki Makaurau Labour Electorate Committee executive, and will be confirmed at the committee's annual general meeting on October 8.

Mr Tolich said the electorate team was 100 per cent behind Mr Tamihere's intention to seek the mandate of voters for his third term in Parliament, and as a consequence he would not be taking or relying on a list position.

"We have a strong electorate organisation that fully endorses the stand of our member," Mr Tolich said.

In both previous elections Mr Tamihere has relied on a majority vote to win his seats.

He said today that he had always considered it preferable to get the mandate of his constituents. "I have always counted it important to have the respect and backing of people at the grassroots level, because this is what empowers me in Parliament," he said.

Asked if the announcement meant he was now embarking on his 2005 election campaign trail, Mr Tamihere said: "As always in Tamaki Makaurau, the Labour campaign started on the morning after the last election."

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>