The Three Musketeers
The new political “A” team
This weekend Mana held its first AGM in West Auckland where I got to see something that has been a little while coming.
For those of you who thought that Hone Harawira was a force to be reckoned with, you were right.
However as Suzanne Paul would say in her earlier days:
“BUT WAIT THERES MORE”
And that could not be any further from the truth than this.
This weekend Activists and Academics Annette Skyes and John Minto took to either side of Hone as they sat down to give
their first press conference together.
Let me tell you, every political party should be afraid, very very afraid, this is a force that has not been seen in
parliament before and the fact that in my mind it is a given that they will all get in, it is a force that the National
Party, The Act Party and every other party are going to have to endure.
No longer will every politician and political party be about politicking people but now it will be about people
politics.
If I was not sold before on the Vice presidents, I certainly am now!
Annette Sykes has such a way with words, with phrasing what she wants to say and with getting her point across in a very
genuine, serious and non offensive way yet with the point being sharper than a needle in your eye.
Annette Sykes has been a lawyer for 30 years and a bloody good one at that, winning land back for the people and always
being aware of those less fortunate.
John Minto, well I was not %100 sold at the beginning however that was more due to the fact that I had not researched or
fully learnt who he was. The dynamic that Minto adds to the trio is like that extra ingredient that sets one restaurant
apart from the rest.
Awful terminology however I had to make the connection somehow and as I am thinking about lunch that is what came out!
Minto is an Activist, and educated man, a policy man and a confident speaker.
The great thing about this is that these three individual personalities cover such a large, broad and different
demographic of people.
So you have John Key, Don Brash and Bill English playing the three blind mice on one side and Hone Harawira, Annette
Skyes and John Minto playing the three musketeers on the other side.
The way they sat there composed yet relaxed through the press conference was a sight that I think made us all sigh with
relief that all the hard work had to paid off.
There was no rehearsal, no picking who was going to say what, it was just a straight flowing exercise where you could
see how comfortable and relaxed Hone was showing that he really does put his trust in to the hands of these two
individuals.
We cannot forget though some of the brains behind this party, strategist and maybe we should also call him a psychic or
oracle, Matt McCarten was re elected as the president of the party, which that alone probably scares the other parties
as well.
Mana has announced contesting all seven Maori seats and has not ruled out the general seats either.
Now with the foundation put down and structure building we find ourselves 16 weeks out from the General Election.
Which really is quite exciting, when we do the same thing in every other electorate that we did in Tai Tokerau for the
by election the result will be shown on election day!
ENDS