I thought I ought to discuss this waka jumping scenario today.

To be fair, I haven’t talked about it or run talkback on it because it seemed to me to be one of those no-brainer policies that everyone would agree with.

Because, after all, a party MP is elected either by an electorate or through the list system and a fundamental part of the decision to appoint them is that they align themselves with a party, it’s policies and the fellow members. If that MP decides to leave that party then the MP is also abandoning a significant amount of the mandate that put him or her there in the first place. Enough for me to say, quit and seek a new mandate.

But this morning Mark Mitchell was on with Mike Hosking and explaining why anti waka jumping laws are a bad thing. So here is his example. He said that the people of Rodney elected him knowing he was part of the National Party.  If the National Party then changes it’s policies so much that he feels it no longer represents the mandate that it received, he felt that he should have the right to call them out, quit the party and stay in the job as the true voice of Rodney.

For a moment there I thought fair enough and then the alarms bells started ringing again. What if it wasn’t the party that changed but Mark Mitchell.  Does the electorate have the same right to say you’ve changed, you no longer represent us and throw him out? Of course not. If that was the case I wonder if any politician would ever serve a full term.

At its heart, a person who thinks waka jumping is OK is a person who thinks they know better than the electorate they serve and better than the party they joined. It’s more than a little narcissistic and arrogant. No wonder the Greens thinks it’s a great idea as they’re a party full of people who know best.

If you want to waka jump then quit and get a new mandate from the people you claim to serve. Mark Mitchell this morning says why should the country be burdened by the cost of a by-election?  To that I say, it’s the price of democracy. And maybe bearing that cost in mind might make you think twice before deciding you as an MP know better than the electorate or the party.

Also from this morning is the Pauline Kingi affair over the inquiry into Wally Haumaha. Maybe Tracey Martin is just ignorant. I’m on Linked In.  I know that to endorse anyone or anything you have to press a button. I’ve never endorsed anyone. Dr Kingi must have pushed the button on Wally unless she gave her log on to someone else.

She’s already copped criticism because she is investigating the process of selection of senior public servants a job she has done. In other words, she’s being asked to judge the work of workmates. That’s also a bit dodgy.

But my big question and one no-one asked this morning is why Tracey Martin is so determined to keep Dr Kingi. Me, I’d just say sorry Pauline, not your fault, move on and find someone else, preferably one from the private sector.  Meanwhile, if I was Pauline Kingi I’d quit and run for the hills away from these amateurs.