United Future

"We are not a party of political hacks who sit in Wellington offices all day and rate Parliament TV above CSI & Grey's Anatomy"

Actually, I would much rather watch Parliament TV than Grey's Anatomy or CSI!! But then I prefer the West Wing anyway!

Seriously though, I wish more people would watch the often spirited, lively and highly informative debates in parliament - this is our national debating chamber where the big questions of the day are discussed in a more detailed, balanced and informed way then the snippets and soundbites that people absorb daily in the news.

We should care about what happens in parliament because it effects what is happening in our communities.

OK Joe, you are right - if we all indulge in CSI or Grey's Anatomy on a consistent basis we may end up with a severe reduction of brain matter and a subscription to the Woman's Weekly.

I'd be happy to watch Parliament TV consistently if they segmented the debates into episodes where, for instance, each night the "Dunne Deal" aired, along with the "Hey Jude!" spot. I might even tune into a bloopers episode now and then featuring actual live footage of Mallard swinging a punch (i'm still struggling to picture that)and Tau divulging what his three mystery words were that sparked the whole thing. The mind can only wonder ......

You're right Denise. Especially in light of recent antics, watching parliament is often like watching a cross between 'Jerry Springer', 'Big Brother' and 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' anyway! Parliament TV is Reality TV!

There is an important point here. Supporting passively a political party becasue you are broadly comfortable with the ideas it presents is one thing, but the reality is that that support needs to be turned into actual votes on election day before that party's ideals can be turned into practice. If everyone who tells me they agree with what we stand for and wish us well actually voted for us, we would be in danger of becoming a one-party state! If just 10% of them gave UnitedFuture their party vote, we would be able to make a real difference.

So, Peter - what's the answer to securing the 10%?

It seems at the crux is that in voters minds there is a difference between agreeing with and believing can be effective in change. ie There's still the idea that you must be the largest party to affect change. Whilst we've plenty of proof to the contrary, we can't rely on the media to report it ... how can we in less than 12 months convince 10% of the populace facts?

John, I think the only way we can do it is to make the things everyone agrees with us on our casue, our passion if you like. Our distinctive is that most people are in broad agreement with us. We have to be much more aggressive in taking the next step and getting them to vote for us.