Waikato students and residents gather in te Pā to witness our very own political debate. With Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke representing Te Pāti Māori, Opportunity party leader Qiulae Wong, Dr. Parmjeet Parmar from Act, Hamilton East candidate Georgie Dansey (Labour), Hon Tama Potaka – our current Hamilton West MP with National, Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan of the Greens Party, and Hon Casey Costello representing NZ First all coming together to debate students issues, the cost-of-living crisis, healthcare, racism, and more.
Sacha Coburn was here to moderate while the University’s Jelle Keizer and Te Paea Parengaio Maurirere emceed and hosted the event. Right off the bat, Coburn was testing our MP’s patience as she cut off Dr. Parmar and accidentally skipped Dansey during the first long answer question. As the debate went on, it was clearly not Dr. Parmar’s night. Pokata opened the floor with the first heckler, and our left winged parties – Dansey and Xu-Nan – were called out for not proposing solutions to our current NCEA system. And Costello claimed her tūpuna, who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ceeded sovereignty to the crown.
I was personally impressed with Wong’s ability to not only hold the crowd, but her own compared to her more well-known and respected counter parts during the debate. Potaka ruffled her feathers by claiming Opportunity Party was left-winged rather than central but considering she agreed to firing racist ministers, that is one left-winged idea she should hold. Compared to Potaka and Costello who declined. And it was to no surprise Xu-Nan – recipient of implied racism – was in favour of keeping prejudice out of our ministers.
Was an eventful night, shout out to Te Piringa Student Events Association and the WSU for hosting such an awesome night and remember to register to vote!
