Barry Soper: Senior Political Correspondent discusses TPM drama

Te Pati Māori has had an eventful week, with two prominent MPs being ousted from the party.  

Party leader John Tamihere said that this was done to prevent an internal coup – however that may not be the case.  

Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper told Heather duPlessis-Allan that a, “attempted takeover of the party's leadership was a made-up story.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hither I won lotter and I was hit by a
car thirteen away from five very sober senior political correspondent
is with me.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, Barry, good afternoon. Hither I've almost been hit by
a car. And if I am cycling.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
And you have one, well.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
On the way home today, I'll then go out and
take a lotto ticket.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
What was that? Ads? And and since he's almost one
lotter before, this feels very unscientific. What is happening right now?
Talk to me about the Maori Party and well, how
could it possibly get worse?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
And yet it does. Well, It's incredible, isn't it When
you think the Maori Party in terms of the national
vote is inconsequential. But why we talk about it so
much is that if Labor gets itself in a position
next year to form a government, then these people will
be in that government and more likely at the cabinet table.
That's who will be left of them, if they've got

(00:54):
anyone left of them. This morning, the new independent MP
like you said, Takuta Ferris, told Radio New Zealand that
talk by the party's president, John Tammerherry of an attempt
to take over of the party's leadership was a made
up story. Pharah says the story had its origins with
a statement made by the party's former president, Nida Glavish,

(01:19):
and what he said went something like this.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
It's an invented story by John Tommy Headack. About four
or five months ago, a leader in the North, Dame
Nada Glavish, told JT that she thought he should step
down and that Rawdi and Debbie should move aside, and
her view was that Muddiamnon and Tarputer should be leading
the party. She hadn't talk to me. I hadn't talked

(01:43):
to her. I'm not even in their picture, not even
remotely in it. I was informed that by muddia Mental.
She told me that I'm sort of oh well, we'll
have to just wait and see now. I ended up
at a dinner with fire Nada in August and she
was openly saying that to all in attendance. See John's
taking that story and manipulated it into oh Maria Menoin

(02:04):
tut trying to take over. It's completely untrue.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
He's not the flavor of the month. John Tammahiry is he?
And it's interesting. I've had that story verified by Knighted Glavish.
I talked to her. She's in Australia at the moment,
but I think she'll be talking to a national Hui
when she gets back next week, and I think there'll
be more fireworks there. And some of your older listeners
may remember Dame Glavish got a lot of publicity in

(02:32):
nineteen eighty four at the dying stage of the Muldoon
government that she was a telephone operator here in Auckland
and always answered the ornto the call Kiura and that
caused a hall of astir she was demoted, but then
Rob Talbot, who was the Postmaster General under Muldoon, persuaded

(02:53):
Muldoon to reverse it. Now, of course, Kiora, look how
far that's kind.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Of crazy has even involved the level of incredible. Talk
to me about the COP thirty conference. How many people
are we sending? It's about fifteen, isn't.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
It fifteen people? Yea? You know how many people are
going there?

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Thousands?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
How many do you think here's a ten thousands? Like
you started this program off for the question exactly tictic,
how many people attended the biggest COP conference in Dubai
twenty thousand?

Speaker 1 (03:24):
No, thirty thousand, wasn't it more than that, fifty more
one hundred.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
No under that eighty thousand.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Now we're in eighty.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Thousand in Dubai in Brazil, which is a lovely place
to go, of course, and they'll be done in Cocoa
Cobana no time. I would think fifty six thousand. It's
like transporting the whole of Napier to Brazil.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
And all the associated climate emissions.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, all the damage to it will be such a
negative effect on the climate. But look, it'll be interesting
because simon what climate change minister he's going there, and
the submission he'll be making is he said he'll be
focused and I quote him on deepening cooperation to support
New Zealand's own transition to a low emission climate resilient

(04:09):
economy through innovation, technology and investment. And then Deba Russell,
because you're going to have her on, So what's she
going to contribute? Well, I'm not sure she'll be able
to tell you that, but she did say in her
press release announcing her decision to go there that Chris
Luckson's government is taking them us backwards by watering down

(04:30):
at targets, So no doubt she'll have that sort of
message so we'll be arguing with each other at this
conference of fifty six thousand people. I real think will
be noticed.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Thank god. What's the National Ewee Chairs Forum representative there.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
For we're at the Climate obligation. Yeah, well you know,
I guess you know it'll have something to do.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, probably treaty obligation to the time obviously, right, Okay,
police graduates have heard from the top today that.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
They have and you can imagine being a new graduate.
I mean you're told to respect the officers at the
top of your institution. Well, Richard Chambers, he was giving
an address and now they're graduating in Auckland as well
as in Wellington because they moved a school up to here,
and he talked about his predecessors for their group think

(05:23):
self interest.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
I still still going hard on it.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well he is, and you know, full on interestingly. I
found the patron of this wing here in Auckland as
John Key. And John Key himself knows what controversy is
all about because he was the center of the ammunition
when it came to dirty politics. He was accused of
feeding right wing bloggers information and made himself look well

(05:53):
that's what it was.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
We'll talk to you later in rap the political week
that was, it's very super political senior political correspondent. For
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