NZ Government, like no other!

Sometimes when we might get a little embarrassed with our government and our politicians for whoopsies like the silly tea party tapes, or Prime Minister John Key calling Hilary Clinton President Clinton, or Winston Peters being thrown out for calling Brownlee an ‘illiterate wood work teacher’ and David Benson-Hope falling asleep in the chamber (amongst other things) we can remember how truly unique our government is, and has been in the past.

In 1983 we were the first self-governing nation in the world to grant women the vote. With Kate Sheppard leading the charge, “women's suffrage quickly became a central element in New Zealand's image as a trail-blazing, progressive 'social laboratory' of the South Pacific.”

Some of our more colourful characters continued this trail blazing trend like the Labour Party’s Georgina Beyers, who was the worlds first openly transsexual Member of Parliament and Nandor Tanczos representing the Green party sporting an almighty head full of mid-back length dreadlocks.

Our politicians are diverse, interesting and from varied backgrounds. Some are lunatics, some are intelligent, some are a bit wild, however, as we address the MMP debate and think about how and who our government should be made up of, we can be relieved to know across the board, we are unique, innovative thinkers and characters.

At the core we hope their intentions are for the good of NZ. When Helen Clarke became Prime Minister her Dad was quoted to have said “ the country is in good hands” and I guess that is all we really want!