Deep breath post

Thanks to those of you who noticed my absence. I have had some personal stuff to deal with (aak! who let real life get in the way of my blogging habit!) and I was waiting for the specials to be counted before sharing my thoughts. Those of you who read this blog will probably guess how I am feeling now about the loss of Nandor from Parliament. I'm absolutely gutted. Not because the Greens have lost their 'poster boy' but because we've just lost one of the most knowledgable, committed experts on Justice that this parliament has ever seen. Many people have discussed Nandor's demotion on the list as a reaction to his campaigning on drug law reform but I reject that notion. I think the main reason he dropped was due to a) the others getting pushed up and b) it's the result of a term spent working incredibly hard on low profile, yet exceptionally important issues. For example, the Corrections Act, the Supreme Court Act, the Constitutional Inquiry, just to name a few. Now it's a sad reality that the way we understand our world is in large part influenced by the way the media constructs 'reality' and they write on what sells newspapers, not necessarily what's important. Oh well, what's done is done. But I want to publicly thank Nandor. Dude, you got me involved in politics, you made me realise that just because politics is full of grumpy old white guys doesn't mean I'm excluded. In fact that gives me even more reason to get involved. I have never worked with anyone who has had to deal with so much bullshit and get so much done. If I had a dollar for everytime someone said to me "oh that Nandor he's just a stoner ropehead" I'd be a fuckin millionaire. The thing that always cracked me up is how quickly the story changes when people actually meet you. They always sound so suprised at this intelligent, gentle spoken, generally on to it as fuck man. But most people had no idea. Personally I will never forget the people I met who had life changing stories to say about you. The people who I meet who are some of the most disenfrachised people you could possibly meet, who hadn't even heard of parliament before you got here. Those people I have met who shed tears of joy when they tell me stories about how you helped them when no one else would. Those people who are at the bottom of this shit heap called capitalism who finally had someone to advocate on their behalf for their vision of how this world could be. Those people who are too young to legally have an opinion on how parliament runs but could at least come to you and share their opinion and it would be listened to. Those people who got involved in Green activism because through you they could see that this mission we're on is one for change, one for difference and diversity and one for the future of this world. Bro, thanks for being my hero. Thanks for all the inspiration and thanks for being human. Your mahi will live on and I hope that some of that mahi lives on through me. Kind of hard singing a waiata on a blog, but here goes. E hara i te mea No naianei te aroha No nga tupuna Tuku iho tuku iho Te whenua te whenua Te oranga mo te iwi No nga tupuna Tuku iho tuku iho Whakapono tumanako Te aroha ki te iwi No nga tupuna Tuku iho tuku iho EDIT Translation as requested: It is not a new thing Now that is love Comes from the ancestors Handed down through the passages of time The land, the land Is the life for the people Comes from the ancestors Handed down through the passages of time Faith and hope Love to the people Comes from the ancestors Handed down through the passages of time