Hell freezes over

No, this post has nothing to do with Global Warming, the phenomonen now known as climate change! Rather, it's a reflection of the shock that we feel in having to agree with nearly every word written by Matt McCarten in today's Herald on Sunday.

McCarten's chosen subject today is the relationship between the Maori Party and its various poltical big brothers. Have a read of this:

Hands up all those who never thought the Maori Party could coalesce with a National-Act duo, and are now surprised that it has worked far better than they imagined.

The experience of smaller coalition partners in governments under MMP hasn't been a happy one and conventional wisdom would be the National-Maori arrangement would blow up in quick time.

It now seems the novice John Key has learned from his predecessors' mistakes and has worked hard on the Maori Party relationship. The result is we have the most stable coalition arrangement under MMP yet.

That's high praise indeed from McCarten, the High Priest of the Left, and it must have stuck in his craw to write it. But he's absolutely, dead-set correct. And he's also bang on the money when he says:

The coup for National, of course, was getting the Maori Party. I remember the Left being shocked at the time. But if it had been paying attention it wouldn't have been. In many ways it's a perfect relationship.

Indeed. And we will note, with a sense of self-satisfaction, that we suggested some time before last year's election that the Hon Pita Sharples, Minister of Maori Affairs had a ring to it. Of course, the left scoffed that it would never happen. More fools them!

And in closing, McCarten can't resist firing a parting shot at the Labour Party, who, when all is said and done, caused the Ratana Accord to collapse:

The desertion of many Maori from Labour to the Maori Party is a bit like a failed marriage where the spurned partner blossoms in a new relationship and the old spouse belatedly realises what a fool they were letting them go. Goff and his party have a lot of catching up to do. Supporting the scrapping of the foreshore and seabed legislation is a good start.

The problem for Phil Goff as we see it, is that the time for catching up has gone. The days when Maori blindly followed the Labour Party are nowt but history.