When is a subsidiary not a subsidiary, but an independent and untouchable private fortress? When it's being investigated by the keystone cops at Parata & Sharples Detective Agency
Read MorePita Sharples
Jesters do oft prove prophets
Can Pita Sharples afford not to be the co-leader of the Maori Party?
Read MoreEasing back into the year + Parata & Sharples
Two leading politicians are staying put. Risky stuff. And what I'm doing next...
Read MoreThe battle for Tamaki Makaurau
Organisation will be key to winning the Maori seat on the Auckland isthmus. But guest Pundit Morgan Godfery says even Labour's well-oiled turn-out machine will find Pita Sharples tough to topple
Read MoreGoodby patience... and goodbye Hone Harawira?
Rush, rush rush... if only the protagonists in the Maori Party squabble could taiho they may find a way to reconcile. But the political timetable is pushing them towards division
Read MoreAnd now the storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong
"Day after day, day after day, we stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean." Could this be Hone Harawira's parliamentary fate?
Read MoreHow do you solve a problem like Hone?
Hone Harawira thinks the Maori Party needs to dance to his tune. Are his colleagues going to pull the plug on his stereo?
Read MoreWhat the constitutional review will recommend - you heard it here first!
The Government has announced its review of New Zealand's Constitution. I'm announcing what it will recommend - except about thething that really, really matters.
Read MoreWho is indigenous? The coming question
New Zealand's support for the Declaration of Indigenous Rights ends one debate for Maori. But it begins another, one which strikes at heart of what it means to belong to this country
Read MoreWith nary a whisper of drama, signifying much
Pita Sharples cut a fine figure at the UN. But what, if anything, did it all mean?
Read MoreMāra Kai: Māori kai?
Pita Sharples’ Māra Kai Māori gardening initiative is a little jewel of sustainability policy, which could benefit all of us
Read MoreMayoral endorsements and shemozzles: Back Benches in Auckland
At Back Benches' Auckland special, a royal commissioner took aim at the local board structure and Len Brown got a major and surprising endorsement
Read MoreThe hide of Hide
Local government minister Rodney Hide didn't earn the nickname "Rhino" for nothing. Still trying to ramrod Super-City government into Auckland, he is now taking on the rest of New Zealand
Read MoreMt Albert – the nearest place to Hell
At the best of times, by-elections are never pretty. These are not the best of times, and
Decisions, dissent and the myths of collective cabinet responsibility
Pita Sharples attack on the Government's decision to drop Maori seats from Auckland's supercity proposals probably breached collective cabinet responsibility. So what?
Read MoreThe Beltway Blues: Random Thoughts from Inside the Bubble
Cue harmonica: It looks like the more things change in parliament, the more they stay the same.
Read MoreOf coalitions and kings
Colin Espiner has promised to eat his blog post if the Maori Party does a deal with National. I think he's right, and here's why...
Read MoreMaori Seats are the great survivors
The Maori seats are here to stay. NationaI has been purposefully vague about its abolition plans, and even if it was serious, getting the job done would mean a long and complex process of constitutional reform
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Tariana Turia tries to lure National voters
While the polls tell Pita Sharples that a coalition with Labour is the only realistic strategy, Tariana Turia is escalating her efforts to attract National and its base
Read MoreJohn Key and the Pita promise
The media gets its teeth into the question of whether or not National really intends to abolish the Maori seats
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