Yesterday I went to the Avondale market as part of Labour’s local campaign efforts.
Chris Hipkins was planning a special visit and we wanted to make sure that he was welcomed.
We had scores of members present from early on. Red T-shirts were everywhere. Labour signs were very present. We handed out hundreds of pamphlets and we engaged in good old face-to-face politics with many, many ordinary Kiwis.
Hipkins arrived and did a walkabout to meet people.
He walked around flanked with Labour MPs and engaged with many members of the public.
He was greeted with a great deal of affection and enthusiasm.
I have taken part in Avondale campaigning for a couple of decades now. Apart from 2017 when Jacindamania was approaching its zenith, I cannot think of a more productive and happy walkabout than the walkabout that Hipkins had yesterday.
There was no spin.
This is Retail Politics in Aotearoa, New Zealand, or at least how it should be.
I had understood that Christopher Luxon had also planned to visit Avondale Market yesterday.
He was a no show and it was probably just as well. The reception for him would not have been welcoming.
The only sign of National was a local candidate standing in a Labour stronghold and his father handing out the occasional pamphlet.
I was surprised to read that Christopher Luxon is planning a walkabout in the Tamaki electorate. And that the message has gone out that National does not want members to wear party T-shirts.
Perhaps they are aiming for a repeat of the event in Ponsonby during the 2020 election. About this incident I said:
[National] planned and organised a “spontaneous” uprising of people [wanting to meet Judith Collins] as she walked along Ponsonby Road with Auckland Central candidate Emma Mellows.
But there was a problem. The media worked out what was happening.
The idea was to get film of Judith talking to ordinary people. But there was a second problem, ordinary people did not want to have a bar of talking to Judith. So National stacked the street with party activists instead.
Scenes became farcical as Hamish Price, right wing twitter troll, who I understand is Wellington based, was identified as one of the people expressing spontaneous support. Hilarity on twitter ensued as he seemed to have difficulty remembering his name but he did concede that he was involved in National. He apparently just happened to be on Ponsonby Road at the time, equidistanced from other National Party activists all wanting to say nice things about Judith while the cameras rolled, and this had nothing to do with the fact that he has a significant role in Emma Mellows’ campaign.
I am a bit surprised that Hamish was there. As far as I can tell he actively opposed dirty politics and I thought he would not be happy to support Judith.
I understand that Hamish has since died. I had some contact with him during the era of dirty politics. He was upset at what Cameron Slater was doing and clearly had a strong moral compass. There should be more tories like him.
But National’s directive that for the Tamaki electorate walkabout National members are not to wear tshirts suggests yet again an extreme form of media manipulation.
From Adam Pearse at the Herald:
A leaked message in a group chat for supporters of the National Party’s Tāmaki candidate Mahesh Muralidhar shows supporters have been instructed not to wear blue so they can “engage … organically” at an upcoming walkabout featuring National leader Christopher Luxon.
National says the directive is to ensure members of the public don’t mistake a public campaign event for a private National function.
The message, obtained by the Herald, was sent by a volunteer to a group chat which the Herald understands is a collection of people, including party members and non-members, who support Muralidhar’s campaign to reclaim Tāmaki from Act.
It referred to a campaign walkabout in the Tāmaki electorate tomorrow, which Luxon was expected to attend.
The message said numbers were still being finalised and advised when and where people should convene for the walkabout, alongside recommending avoiding wearing National’s colour of blue.
“Please don’t wear blue. You are there to engage there organically.”
Haha talk about sprung. They should recheck what they think “organically” means.
The National candidate in Tamaki has other problems. He conceded that Labour is more compassionate than National and that the right sometimes did not show heart. I am sure that this acknowledgement got him into big trouble with National’s top staff.
Such media manipulation surrounding has happened recently. I was told from a very good source that when Luxon recently visited Lynn Mall National Mt Roskill MP Carlos Cheung was seen bringing in two groups into a cafe and sitting them down at different tables. Then shortly after Luxon entered and made a beeline for those two groups and made small talk with them.
You have to admire National’s desire to manipulate everything that happens.
I hope the media asks questions about who attends Luxon’s latest walkabout.
Given the current state of the country the only people happy would be those remaining as National members. I guess if they have not left already they must have really rose tinted glasses on.