Soybean Stew

Hello from Cloudy Carterton

After a rather drawn-out trip from Auckland to Wellington by bus and train (thanks to Aotearoa's mismanaged and moribund rail system) I found myself in the national capital, the night before the rugby Test between the All Blacks and the British Lions. Luckily I had my accommodation pre-arranged as I would have had no chance booking myself - the hotels were charging in the thousands of dollars a night! I did some leafletting and "jaffa donating" in the crowded streets of the city centre, successfully convincing a Chinese family to vote Labour after educating them about the consequences of not doing so (they were previously oblivious to the positions of the major players).

Wellington is small, about the size of Canberra, but the city centre is much more vibrant with a wonderful selection of cafes and liberal-left bookshops and department stores, whereas when I was last in Canberra last August I found it quite staid and lifeless. So far I have also found NZ less cold than I imagined - temperatures are on a par with Melbourne's. Anyhow, the All Blacks won in a landslide which was all too predictable - prompting wild celebrations in the windy city with copious amouts of EtOH.

My hosts in Wellington consisted of some quite prominent names in Young Labour, notably the immediate ex-President and the current Vice President who is a refugee advocate. The candidate for the seat of Rakaia in the south island and his partner also lived in the same house it made me feel somewhat privileged to be staying with these bigwigs. On Saturday night I went with them to a farewell party for one of their comrades who is heading to New York University on a Fulbright scholarship to study constitutional policy.

Today I am staying with the campaign manager for the seat of Wairarapa where I am working. I was able to meet the candidate for the first time. I figured out a little abit about what campigning in NZ involves. An integral part of campaigning, especially in a marginal like Wairarapa, is "canvassing" which is an extended form of doorknocking. It involves asking the residents their intended voting intention and this is recorded on a database. I don't recall doing this for the federal election in Oz last year. Anyway I am also learning to use "canvassing software" which provides electoral analysis. It all seems quite tech.

I also learnt that the Prime Minister of Aotearoa, Ms Helen Clark, will be visiting the new Masterton Hospital which is our local base health facility, under construction, on Tuesday week, and I will have the opportunity to meet her which I am quite looking forward to. I had one opportunity to meet my own Prime Minister when he came to visit during my last year of secondary school at Newcastle Grammar in 1997, but I decided against taking that opportunity.

posted by Max Soy @ 1:20 AM