Pundit

My New Year’s resolution was to show aroha towards the people who matter to me this year. It was always going to be a tough ask to sustain but some good things have happened to me so far in 2008, so for today I’d like to indulge myself a tad.

I got married this year, after a sixteen-and-a-half year courtship with Paula. We had our honeymoon before we got married, and it was fun that way. I also insisted, before our ceremony, that Internal Affairs remove the Queen’s portrait so that Paula and I could marry at least in the spirit of my abiding republican sentiment. The nanny state proved itself malleable on our special day, so we ended up living the dream.

I was also very lucky to be recently selected by Fulbright to represent it at Georgetown University for five months next year. This means I’ll get to experience Obama’s Washington first hand and I can’t believe my good fortune, so aroha goes to my referees, and to Mele, Rae, the Fulbright panel and the board.

My aroha reaches across the Pacific Ocean, to America. It showed a week ago that it still has the capacity to surprise and delight. Barack Obama’s election to the presidency will lift the ambitions of so many Americans. He proves that anything is still possible in his country.

And these nice happenings make me want to turn my aroha towards our own politicians and politics. Talking positively about politicians is not the norm, as all polling shows, so I’d like to give it a crack.

First and foremost, aroha to Brian Donnelly’s whanau, both inside and outside of politics. His was a tragic loss. He was a first class parliamentarian, an astute co-captain of the parliamentary cricket team (cheers to Paul Swain too), and a committed New Zealander in every way. It was a pleasure to make his acquaintance, not least because he had more faith in my bowling than I did. Anyone who has met Brian will miss him sorely.

Aroha to Labour’s Winnie Laban, the MP with the most infectious smile in town. Not only has Winnie endured her own health difficulties this year, but by being very open about her cancer she’s shown true leadership for her own community, a sparkling inspiration which has seen a subsequent rise in Pacifica women reporting for breast screening. More power Winnie Laban.

Aroha to, to John Key’s National Party for its embrace of Maori. In two short years he and it has turned far from the path of his predecessor, and his party and our country are the better for it. And aroha to Georgina te Heuheu for her patience in holding an optimism that the storm would eventually pass. Aroha also to Katherine Rich. She was the only liberal in National who was willing to walk her talk and she gained well-deserved and widespread respect for it. Aroha, too, for Katherine placing the ambitions of her family ahead of her ambitions for power. Parliament will miss her.

Aroha to several departing Labour politicians, two of whom I’d like to mention. For years Marion Hobbs, as MP for Wellington Central, came to address my students in Pols 111. She was always superb and a story she told one class, about the pollution of Lake Taupo, has never left me and also made me a staunch supporter of any and all efforts to repair and restore our waterways. They are the arteries of our country’s brand and we can’t preserve our bounty with pervasive and maladaptive short-termism.

Aroha to Steve Maharey, also. He epitomized for me someone who poured enormous energy into making our country better and whether we agreed with his policies or not we should acknowledge this contribution, and his sacrifices, for things larger than himself.

Aroha goes to Russel Norman. It was difficult enough to replace Rod Donald, something many doubted was possible, but Russel has faced even more challenging hurdles since taking on the co-leadership of his party. He has met them in a fashion which commands respect. His partner Katya is also a daily reminder to me of how safe and promising our country’s future is. She is an inspiration.

Now, here’s a sentence offered in defiance of the laws of media physics – aroha to Winston Peters. He buried his mother this year and he finally has some space to reflect upon the hub in the Peters whanau’s wheel. He was afforded no space at the time.

Most of all aroha to every Kiwi who voted on November 8 (not enough of us). Whether things went your way or not, we’re all in this together, and on the day we were in charge it all went off peacefully. There’s plenty to celebrate in our democracy and its history, and that second Saturday in November gave us another chapter.

On election night we got the change more Kiwis wanted, and we also got a strong opposition which has to be good for our next phase of politics, which is going to be difficult. Let’s hope enough aroha rubs off so that National might work with Labour and all the other parties to give us our best chance of overcoming the economic storm.

It’s all possible under MMP, if the will exists, and if our economic situation is as bad as it seems it will be all Kiwis to the pump, both inside and outside of parliament. National and its partners can govern away, but for the most contentious issues, if National has learned from Labour’s experience, it has to reach across the aisle.

Let’s hope there’s enough aroha to go around then.

I was sitting on a train today, on the way to Martinborough, when I heard two young New Zealanders talking about politics. They were chatting about the election and I overheard one say that it’d made him want to study politics. This keeps me in work, of course, so it’s to be encouraged, but what made me happier was to hear two young people interested in and talking about politics without my generation’s cynicism.

Good things can happen in politics, and the people I’ve mentioned here have all done their bit to try to improve their country. During a transitional phase in our politics and history it’s also reassuring that politicians no longer with us, those now here, and those still to come, all think that the pursuit of politics is a worthwhile one.

But that’s enough aroha for one day. The wind and rain has returned to Wellington so a different mood is taking grip.