The field for the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate is still unclear. There have been a number of issues around the selection of candidates, particularly for the Labour Party. It is outside of the scope of this blog to detail those issues. But because of these issues, there has been a focus on the yet to be selected Labour Party by the media. This has resulted in some interesting tweets from Marama Davidson, who is the Green Party candidate.
In the past, there would have been very little that a candidate, or party, could do to draw attention to what they felt was the media ignoring them, or overlooking them. Social media in general, and Twitter in particular, offers a way for this to be over come. Marama only has 2000 followers, at the moment, but this tweet alone has been retweeted to a potential audience of over 6,000.
Marama has followed up with this tweet today:
It is interesting to see a candidate calling the media on their work. Hopefully others will start to call them on their choices. We all benefit from a well functioning media. However they don’t always function as we would like. Will social media allow, and encourage, politicians to start openly commenting on the way the media works? This can be a double edged sword, look how it went for Judith Collins? However, I don’t think that what Marama has done is anywhere near the same as what Judith did with Katie Bradford. This potential trend is just another of the many to watch this election.
Finally, an observation about the seat. With the situation as it is with the Labour selection for the seat, no incumbent, and a no clear contender from any party, the battle for the seat will be one that is followed by many. Whoever the Labour Party ends up selecting, they will most likely have a large amount of support to try and win the seat off of the Maori Party. The electorate is a very young electorate, with a median age age of 24, compared to the national median of 35. It has 43.7% of its population between 20 and 49, with another 31% between 5 and 19. I would not be surprised to see this electorate leading the field in the use of social media in the Maori seats.
I can understand why any candidate would like media coverage, but if she’s complaining about the lack of it, I’d have to ask what precisely she’s been doing that’s worth covering.
To me, the Julian Wilcox saga is an actual story, given a) the high-profile demise of Labour’s previous favourite Tamaki Makaurau candidate; b) the fact that the next favourite candidate (allegedly) is also a high-profile broadcaster; c) the length of time Labour has dragged out their selection process and are still without a candidate; and d) the way Labour’s Tamaki Makaurau electorate committee have turned feral and are taking very public aim at the national committee over “shoulder-tapping” of candidates.