TVNZ have made the decision to exclude the Māori Party from their election debates.

The argument being forwarded by TVNZ is that the Māori Party is polling too low to be included.

However, TVNZ is the state broadcaster and the state broadcaster carries larger obligations to New Zealand’s political process and to Māori.

READ MORE: Minor parties hit out at exclusion from multi-party debates

So the decision seems to fly in the face of the broadcaster’s wider obligations.

The seven Māori electorates barely get news oxygen as it is, and while the Māori Party are currently polling 1 percent, a small increase in that number alongside an electorate win would bring two MPs into Parliament.

But those pathways to power aside, the Māori Party represents the only uniquely Māori political aspiration running this election, and banning their leaders from participating in Leader debates seems more 18th century colonialism than 21st Century public broadcasting.

The Māori Party have challenged TVNZ’s decision on this, but if it isn’t overturned, the Leadership debates look set to be a very Pakeha Party discussion which is especially dangerous to Māori seeing as they are the ones who feel the bite of a recession far worse.

Also in the post-covid virus recovery, Māori political aspirations will be silenced.

TVNZ should be ashamed as the public broadcaster.

Martyn Bradbury is the editor of The Daily Blog. This commentary was first published by Waatea News and The Daily Blog.

With less than 24 hours to go before polling booths open for the Solomon Islands election tomorrow, RNZ Pacific’s reporter in Honiara, Koroi Hawkins, describes the mood and effect of a first-time campaign blackout period.

Commenting on RNZ Dateline, he described the atmosphere in the capital Honiara today as very quiet, like a “ghost town”, especially compared with the colourful float parades of yesterday.

But he also said that in spite of the blackout, most media published political content today.

LISTEN TO RNZ DATELINE

“All the papers are splashed with various people holding campaign posters. I think there is even one paper that has a political ad still in it,” Hawkins said.

“It is a very new thing for the country. So it’s the first time they are trying to have a blackout. I think they might have thought they would get away with it; probably just a lack of understanding.”

The Solomon Star reported that over the weekend many candidates and their supporters had hit the roads with convoys of truckloads of voters and supporters.

According to the recently passed election regulation, there should be no election related activities from campaigning, parading and displaying election related materials 24 hours before the election day on Wednesday.

Campaign activities
As such over the past few days, Honiara like other constituencies have been busy with campaign activities and street parade, the Solomon Star reports.

With the remaining days before the election, candidates and their supporters had used whatever means they could to reach out to the public.

Many candidates conducted a number of float parades last week with their final one yesterday.

On Sunday, similar parades were conducted within three of the Honiara constituencies after lunch.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.