12 Wairarapa Midweek Opinion Wednesday, August 10, 2022 EDITORIAL
The Bishop’s next big move
PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
Young(ish), scrappy & hungry
Opinion
Erin Kavanagh-Hall Oh, Brian Tamaki. God loves a trier. Although, someone up in Heavenly HR needs to remind “Bishop” Brian his taxes are due. And that it’s “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy man to enter the kingdom of God”. It’s right there in the Good Book — the one “the Apostle” claims to follow. Oh, wait. The only good book is Brian’s chequebook. Silly me. For those of you who have missed the news from Camp Destiny, “da Bish” is making another grab for The Beehive. Last week’s Freedom and Rights Coalition protest at the Auckland Domain doubled as a recruitment drive for Tamaki’s new political outfit — an “umbrella movement” made up of four existing
parties — which plans to contest the 2023 General Election. Tamaki refused to confirm the identity of the parties in question. He was a little prickly with reporters — he has called the media “modern-day terrorists” after all. The man himself won’t be standing. “[Parliament is] the last place I want to go. I’d have to turn into a deceiver, a liar and a crook.” You gotta laugh. Slightly less amusing, however, is what Tamaki and his band of merry men plan to do next. The next phase for the new party is the “Let’s Get NZ Back Again!” campaign, culminating with a “roadtrip” to Parliament. There, the group intends to lead a “mass parliament clean out”. Demonstrators
will present a “petition for a vote of no confidence”, urging the Opposition to call a snap election. They will also stage a “People’s Court for crimes against Kiwis”. Does this sound … scarily familiar? The slogan? The references to “cleaning out” and “trials”? The attempt to force hands to swing an election in their favour? The delegitimising of the media and the questionable hairdos? Anyone else a little nervous? Trumpian comparisons aside, media analysis doesn’t fancy Tamaki making any real dent in the election outcome. As Alison Mau mentioned in a Stuff editorial, Tamaki’s previous bids for Parliament — with the Destiny and Vision Parties — brought in 0.1%
of the vote. His “lack of focus”, the decline of New Zealand’s religious population, and the number of Aucklanders annoyed by his gridlocking of the Harbour Bridge don’t exactly bode well for the Bishop. 1News’ Simon Mercep agreed. Tamaki needs numbers — and numbers at the Domain protest were thin on the ground. Auckland University’s Disinformation Project isn’t so sure. As academic Sanjana Hattotuwa told The Spinoff, Tamaki has become “increasingly and troublingly more populist”. Like Donald Trump and other populist leaders before him, Tamaki is appealing to “the ordinary people”. The disaffected “silent majority”,
debilitated by inflation, the housing crisis, and vaccine mandates, whose concerns the establishment has ignored. Classic demagogue tactics: reach out to people who have been kicked to the curb by current systems. Tap into their mistrust of the media. Rile them up at rallies. Unite them against a common enemy. It’s worked before. Hattouwa didn’t mince words: “To dismiss these political machinations as unlikely to manifest in serious electoral success is as simplistic as it is naïve.” I don’t personally rate Tamaki’s chances of holding office. That said, I agree we’d be unwise to count him out. In 2016, Americans wrote Trump off as a buffoon and a circus attraction. That didn’t work out so well. Don’t get complacent, folks. If you don’t want Tamaki — the same dude who charges $3000 for a sermon and blamed earthquakes on the LGBTQ+ community — anywhere near our seat of democracy, then show up and vote — for anyone else. Hold on to your hair gel, Wairarapa. We’re in for a bumpy ride.
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country fair Sunday 4 December
All age s and vehicle types are we lcome!
Calling for stall holders $70 per site (4m wide x 3m deep) Book and pay before 1st November and receive a reduced rate of $60 -Craft -Food -Wooden toys -Wooden furniture
SUNDAY 21 AUGUST 2022 It’s the Vintage Car Club’s National Day and across New Zealand, hundreds of vehicles will be on the road or on display to raise money for your local Cancer Society
Martinborough to Masterton Registration at Martinborough from 8.30am
On the way to Masterton we will visit Carter Court Retirement Village, Carterton, and Masonic Village in Masterton. Our finish will be at Farriers Car Park around 1pm As this is a fundraiser all cars are welcome. Just come and enjoy an outing and help the Vintage Car Club. Enquiries: Val Ball P: 06 377 1236 M: 027 957 7426 E: wtakevin@xtra.co.nz
Clarke Domain Mauriceville To book your stall email Jenny today mauriceville85@gmail.com
