Geoffrey Miller

New Zealand geopolitical analyst & Arabic/Russian learner

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Politics

Dual citizenship restrictions on MPs

This week in Melbourne I attended a lecture at which I learnt that here one is barred from standing for parliament if he or she is a dual citizenship holder. This means that every MP in the Australian House or Senate in Canberra is an Australian citizen only. As far as I know, no such rule applies in New Zealand, although the Harry Duynhoven case in 2003, in which a special law was passed to allow Duynhoven to continue as an MP despite breaking the Electoral Act by reapplying for his Dutch citizenship, while still an MP. The Christchurch Press...

Politics

Another reason why a “Country Party” is not a good idea

Earlier in the year I covered an op-ed piece by former ACT MP Gerry Eckhoff in which he advocated the establishment of a Country Party to better represent rural interests in New Zealand. He used the example of the Nationals in Australia to support his argument. Well, the results of the recent Australian federal election should provide him with some advice. Australians gave the Nationals just 10 seats, its worst ever result. One of the reasons suggested by the Sydney Morning Herald for the party’s decline in fortunes was that urban lifestylers have encroached into more traditional rural territory, thus...

Politics

The real home of ACT – and Derek Quigley

This week I’ve been in Australia and I can’t get over how much stuff in the papers there is on ACT. Much more than the Herald. The “Roger Douglas Fan Club” (as a journalist described ACT in 1996) must have definitely found a home across the Tasman, right? Well, although ACT likes to highlight its “global heritage”, I’m afraid this is not the case. For those who did not see through my feeble attempt at humour, I’m referring to the Australian Capital Territory. But on a more serious note, former ACT (New Zealand!) MP Derek Quigley moved to the Australian...

Politics

Stephen Franks to stand for National!

Some very interesting news out today: Stephen Franks is standing for National in Wellington Central. Although this was signalled in the NBR in July 2007, the big surprise for me is that he is standing in Wellington Central, where Heather Roy recently announced she was standing for ACT. This can only be seen as a slap in the face for ACT. Admittedly, it is quite likely that Franks’s nomination was already finalized before Roy announced her candidacy. Still, this will make for some interesting campaign meetings. Although we knew that Franks was being courted by National, I wonder if he...

Politics

NZPA on Roy

NZPA has a report on Heather Roy standing in Wellington Central and gives some good background: Wellington Central is going to be open territory for candidates next year because the Labour MP who holds it, Marian Hobbs, is standing down.Ms Hobbs retained it in 2005 with 20,199 votes – a majority of 6180 over Mark Blumsky, the former Wellington mayor who stood for National.A former Act MP, Stephen Franks, contested the seat in that election but gained only 1254 votes, fewer than the Green’s Sue Kedgley who came third. Richard Prebble, a former ACT leader, won the seat in 1996...

Politics

It’s a Right Roy-al con!

The candidate ACT will be standing in Wellington Central, mysteriously foreshadowed last week and reported at this blog, is none other than….Heather Roy! Readers who take only a passing interest in ACT may be forgiven for not knowing who Roy is, but she is currently ACT’s sole list MP. Douglas to Dancing will analyse the pros and cons of standing Roy in Wellington Central in greater detail later, but for now some raw data from this evening’s events: – Roy has launched a personal website, http://www.roy.org.nz. The 1990s-style website design must be a deliberate ploy to subtly remind visitors of...

Politics

Gerry Effed-off

The Otago Daily Times reported today that former ACT MP and now Otago Regional Councillor Gerry Eckhoff was annoyed about being excluded from a workshop on air quality, because he had made a submission to council on the matter in a private capacity prior to being elected: As a former Act New Zealand MP, and having sat on a select committee, he had more than illustrated he could not be accused of predetermination or bias, he said. It was ‘‘insulting’’ to suggest otherwise. ‘‘Councillors say it’s not personal. It’s just a matter of process. I do not see it that...

Politics

ACT vs. New Zealand First

The latest Roy Morgan poll finds that New Zealand First has increased its support from 3.5% to 5.5%. ACT, however, continues to be down in the cellar at 1%, where it has been pretty much for the last two years. Now, I’m no fan of the Duncan Garner-style breathless commentary (“will come as a massive blow to the…”) on individual polls, but I think it might be useful to look at the differences in ACT and NZ First behaviour in recent weeks. First and foremost, New Zealand First found itself a winning issue for its potential constituents. The support of...

Politics

On Newztext

A major resource for anyone writing about a New Zealand political topic is the Newztext database. This is a online subscriber-only database but is commonly accessible through institutions. When I was writing my dissertation, I had access to the database through the University of Otago. If you don’t belong to such an institution, however, don’t despair. Newztext is also freely available through many public libraries and is quite likely accessible simply by going to your local library’s website (click here for a list of every library in the country) and entering your library card number and PIN. What’s so great...

Politics

ACT contesting Wellington Central

Party newsletter ACTion! reported today that ACT will be contesting the Wellington Central seat at the 2008 election, with the candidate to be “unveiled” next Thursday. By the sound of the announcement it must be a stellar candidate, who knows, perhaps a former MP or city councillor? Or someone from media or sport? Whoever it is, he or she will have to be well known to Wellingtonians to have any chance of winning the seat. Richard Prebble held this seat from 1996-1999, but the electoral boundaries have since changed, making this a harder seat for ACT to win. Indeed, Marion...

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