No dirt and true blue in National heartland
Aimie Cronin takes the political pulse in National country and finds it beating strong for Team Key – Dirty Politics or no.
Donna Quinn is chewing through a big breakfast at the Prince Albert Tavern.
She owns a hair salon in Matamata and it’s her day off. She has an abundance of pink hair. She smiles hard when she talks about John Key. She’s team National, through and through.
‘‘I will always vote John Key, he’s a great man, he’s awesome, I’m a fan.’’
Her brunch date says he’s voting Green, but they both laugh in the way that means, ‘‘as if that would ever happen’’. ‘‘National has done a helluva job – in a good way,’’ she says. ‘‘They’ve kept us out of the proverbial sewer.’’
Quinn is paying no attention to Dirty Politics or the aftershocks.
‘‘Well, I haven’t followed it that closely, it’s a bit of a smear. There are always haters.’’ She says her clients haven’t discussed it much, either: ‘‘Matamata is such a big National seat – I don’t think they’d give a stuff.’’
Tim Bell is checking his Facebook and drinking a mocha in Cambridge before heading off to his job as a personal trainer. Yes, he confirms, team blue.
‘‘Yeah I like John Key, aye. I’m into business, he’s into business . . . I can’t see anyone else doing anything good.’’
David Cunliffe? ‘‘I just don’t like the
Warwick Palmer has always been a National man. He thinks John Key is doing a fine job, despite the problems following the publication of guy, I look at him and don’t like him.’’ And Dirty Politics? ‘‘It doesn’t bother me whatsoever, aye, they’re all dirty at the end of the day.’’
Sandy Kelman is a retired diesel mechanic with a Scottish accent and he’s in the middle of a game of pool at the Te Awamutu RSA. He leans on his cue while he talks and blushes at having his photo taken because he’s missing a tooth. His retirement has given him time to think more about politics. He’s disappointed. Up until now, he’s been a Labour man.
‘‘The Labour party seems to be in disarray and the only way they can get back is by being anti this and anti that, y’know, they’re not coming up with any genuine reason. I think Key is doing as good a job as he can with what he’s got and he’s doing his best. I think, give him another go.’’ He laughs in the face of Dirty Politics. ‘‘That’s just politics, its just the way it is, it doesn’t surprise me. I always suspect a bit of that rubbish when there’s an election coming up.’’
Warwick Palmer is a National Party voter. He’s nursing a beer at the Glenview Club, eyes glued to the horses racing on the TV in front. He’s always been a National man. He used to like Muldoon, ‘‘he had that little smirk on his face’’, and he likes John Key, too. ‘‘I think he’s done a good job. He’s been fair in what he’s done, so far.’’
At the moment, he says, ‘‘ you don’t know what’s going on with all this skullduggery. You don’t know who’s who and what’s what.’’
The party is hurting, he’s seen in the polls. ‘‘They were right up there and now they seem to be sliding away a bit.’’ And none of this is going to change his vote. ‘‘I think he’s doing a good job.’’
Julie Rowlands and Wendy Graydon are in the middle of a coffee meeting. When they hear the words ‘‘dirty politics’’, they sigh collectively. Rowlands says her mum has turned off the talkback radio. Her mum loves talkback radio.
‘‘Everyone I’ve spoken to, they’re so over politics, they can’t be bothered turning on the TV – it’s sad.’’
Does she mean to say they are unhappy with the National Party? No, she says, they’re just sick of hearing about it.
Graydon is a Winston voter – because she’s from the Bay of Plenty, she says, and because she doesn’t think he’s a liar.
‘‘I like John Key,’’ says Rowlands. ‘‘Who else would you trust? He looks like a prime minister.’’
Yes, she admits, Judith Collins should’ve gone earlier, but she puts Key’s stalling down to the fact that ‘‘he’s too much of a gentleman’’. ‘‘We need progress,’’ she says. ‘‘It’s just lies and stories,’’ says Graydon. ‘‘If we keep getting lied to all the time, we’ll stop voting. That’s what might happen this time.’’