‘Man ban’ proposal divides Labour MPS
David Shearer is set to clash with his party’s Left wing. Vernon Small reports. Labour leader David Shearer may be on a collision course with the party’s Left wing rank and file over proposals to ensure half its MPs are women – a move that would also allow for ‘‘women-only’’ candidate selections.
Mr Shearer declined to comment yesterday, saying through a spokesman it was ‘‘just a proposal to conference’’.
But he is expected today to say that while he is in favour of more women MPs he is not convinced a quota system or ‘‘man-ban’’ in some seats is the right way to achieve that.
The proposals would also require the party’s list to showcase a mix of ethnicity, gender, geographical spread, sexual orientation and disability representation.
A separate Te Kaunihera Maori list would be established to rank Maori electorates and list candidates in bands of two. They would then be incorporated into the final list selection process.
The proposals, signed off by the party’s ruling council, will be voted on at the party’s annual conference in November.
They will inevitably revive Labour’s reputation for ‘‘political correctness’’ and be seen as a challenge to Mr Shearer’s attempts to move the party away from perceptions it panders to factions in the party.
Some MPs quickly distanced themselves from the proposals.
West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O’Connor said he was confident his electorate would ‘‘not ask for something so stupid’’ as a women-only candidate selection.
List MP Clayton Cosgrove joked that he had been a Labour member for a long time and would do most things for the party but not ‘‘have the operation’’.
Labour deputy leader Grant Robertson said the aim was to achieve gender balance.
List MP Shane Jones said Labour had to be careful not to drift too far from the views of middle New Zealand.
Labour added to its woes yesterday by claiming in a press release it had 15 female MPs in its 34-MP line-up.
It actually has only 14, even after the addition of Ikaroa-Rawhiti MP Meka Whaitiri.
The proposed changes would force the party’s list selection committee to ensure the Labour caucus would be 45 per cent women in 2014 and 50 per cent by 2017.
It would also have to take into account the electorate MPs that were likely to be elected, to ensure that balance.
A local electorate committee could ask the NZ Council to rule that only women may nominate for the position of Labour candidate.
That would override the right granted elsewhere in the rules for any member to be eligible for nomination.
Labour Party general secretary Tim Barnett said the aim was to ensure a more equitable gender mix in caucus, which had been stuck at between 35 per cent and the low 40 per cent range for the last 20 years.
Labour’s current female MPs represent 41 per cent of its caucus.
Josie Pagani, who stood for Labour in Rangitikei in 2011, was baffled by the move.
‘‘I can’t understand why the Labour party would be emphasising something like this when they’re trying to get the focus on jobs and power prices and the need to get wages up, so strategically it doesn’t make sense to be talking about this right now,’’ she said.
’’Certainly I wouldn’t stand in a seat where I felt like the implication was I couldn’t win it on my own accord,’’ she said. ‘‘I can’t understand why the Labour party would be emphasising something like this when they’re trying to get the focus on jobs and power prices and the need to get wages up.’’ Distance: Photo: Fairfax NZ