Haere ra e hoa
Nandor is off today. Here’s the transcript of his valedictory speech and the first half on video.
The Dominion Post used his last day to begin a new era of reporting on him that did not focus solely on his dreadlocks and drug policies, noting a legacy that included:
Negotiating the creation of an independent body to investigate abuse of prisoners and a select committee inquiry on the rights of crime victims. He spurred the Government into allowing the commercial cultivation of hemp – versatile, but banned as a relative of cannabis – inspired a law allowing minor criminals to expunge their records after seven years, and took the controversial waste minimisation bill inherited from former colleague Mike Ward to the point where Labour adopted it as its own.
There’s all that and then, more importantly, there’s the legacy he leaves for many of us proving that there is space in Parliament for all of us. I haven’t deleted your frogblog password Nandor so plenty of space for you to keep sharing your opinions here for a while. We’ll all miss you here at frogblog, and I’m sure many readers will want to have their chance to say below.
Here’s the second half of the video:
June 26th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
A leader before his time.
Ka whawhai tonu matou.
I hope we haven’t seen the last of him.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
I’ll miss having Nandor in Parliament. He’s always been a great voice there, especially for youth.
Isn’t it a sad trend that Green MPs only get their considerable achievements noted after they’re gone? Apparently it’s only while you’re agitating that you’re pesky and radical
June 27th, 2008 at 12:22 am
he couldn’t just have recycled the watch?
June 27th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Thank you, Nandor for your work and personal sacrifice on our behalf and for the planet we all share. We owe you much. See you around.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:01 am
cheerio..
..gizzayell if you need a hand with anything..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
June 27th, 2008 at 10:08 am
So we say goodbye to the face of the Greens “soft on crime and criminals”
policy.
What actually has he achieved apart from another increase in tax through the waste management bill?
Thankfully he never managed to get anywhere with his cannabis law reform and despite all the platitudes the fact is that he achieved very little.
Despite that I liked him in some ways, unlike the man who is about to replace him there is no air of unbelievable arrogance about Nandor and while I will mostly disagree with his policies he is at least a man that is true to his word, with Nandor you knew what you were getting.
Sadly he is about to be replaced by a man who the people of NZ can trust about as far as they can throw him.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Like him or not, his valedictory speech as reported in the Herald seemed a good one. The sign off line about not needing a watch to know what time it was seemed particularly poignant.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Any chance of the speech notes going up anywhere? There’s a bit I’d like to comment on, but I need something other than a video to link to.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Breakfast and their two tame politicians were all very nice to Nandor yesterday.
June 28th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Thanks Nandor for the good work in parliment.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am
i had a dream last night..
it was about now..
nandor was the leader of the green party..he was setting the house on fire with passionate speechs about the urgencies facing us all..
..about our countries’ need for ‘a new deal’..
..and on the back of this..the greens had surged to 15% in the polls..with commentators picking them to possibly reach 20% on election day..
..and latest polling was showing nandor on track to take auckland central off the hapless judith tizard..
..then i woke up…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
June 29th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Maybe he’ll come back.
What was meant about half way through when he said he’s getting no perks. I can see why a gold watch probably isn’t a good idea. What about super …
June 29th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
fin - What he was referring to was peoples insistence that he was going to get the very plush pension that MPs used to get. Well, he missed out. Rod Donald led the charge that killed off the super perks that MPs used to get when they retired. Nandor came in after that reform. Nandor will get ordinary super like any other Kiwi, plus whatever he has saved up, when he decides to totally retire.
June 29th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Phil
“i had a dream last night..”
Then stop smoking that poison.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Thanks for putting yourself forward for Parliament, Nandor. I have to say it made me feel proud to be a Kiwi to see you standing there.
Excellent speech, poignant in parts and just damn funny in others.
I hope you enjoy being back with the family and moving on with other things in your life.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Nandor,
You will always be remembered for your sagaciousness, free spirit and vision - but most of all your incredible zest for life and all things meaningful.
You and I may not have always seen eye to eye on various philosophical points (you might remember the debates we had on ‘the Left’ in person and on the GreenForums), but I’ve always appreciated your wisdom and non-dogmatic perspectives, which have been humbling experiences for me.
I am now grappling with some of the ‘leftwing’ values that I’ve held dear for a good many years, after having reconnected with my cultural roots and revisited my conservative upbringing recently. I now understand what you said to me a few years ago that a part of your political worldview is shaped by the experiences and history had by you and your family in Hungary - just as I am currently re-moulding my political worldview based on my family’s history in Singapore, Malaysia, China and beyond.
For instance, I have long been a sympathiser of Mao and his thought. I have now learned of the atrocities that Mao and his supporters inflicted on my family and the wider Chinese communities, a revelation which fills me with great sadness and indignance.
I relate this experience to you, to demonstrate the power of words when spoken with sincerity and conviction. Being an academic, amongst other things, I am often persuaded by the cogency of theories rather than their implications in practice. That is, until now. I remember our conversation (about your background in Hungary), because your words struck a chord with me. And your words, actions and achievements during your nine-year stint as a parliamentarian will, no doubt, have struck–and continue to strike–a chord with a great many others too.
One of my law lecturers once described you as “the best mind on criminal justice matters Parliament has seen in recent times”. As a logical corollary of this statement, the implication is that criminal justice matters, amongst your various areas of expertise, are now being left in the hands of those who may well lack the finesse and insightfulness that you possess and so readily display.
Indeed, it is incontrovertible that your presence in Parliament will be sorely missed.
I remember with much endearment the very first time we spoke, and you happened to be standing outside the old Green Party office in Auckland (even before the one on Great North Road); I was on my way home from my Law lectures at the time. You took the trouble to speak to me, someone who would have been some random stranger to you at the time, and even asked me what my thoughts were on how the Greens could appeal to voters for the (then) upcoming 2002 General Election. You then proceeded to ask me for my opinions on other subject matters, and really took an interest in what I had to say (and I don’t remember being particularly politically well-informed back then either). I was astounded by your humility and sincerity; it’s not often an MP genuinely asks an average Joe Bloggs (let alone a rather foreign-looking one) for their thoughts on matters such as these. It takes a real people’s person to conduct yourself the way you did. We might only have spoken for a few brief moments, but your words and the manner in which you spoke them left an indellible impression on me. I joined the Greens soon after, and the impact of this experience on my decision cannot be trivialised.
And this is why Parliament will never be the same without you: you have a uniquely personable way of relating to people, of making even the most downtrodden individual feel like an esteemed person of stature. Not many politicians can boast such a feat. And that’s why you are so valued and venerated in the various grassroots movements that you have served so valiantly.
Now is certainly an opportune time for you to catch up with the people and things that really matter. When the time is right (and no doubt you’ll know when this might be, regardless of a timepiece, literal or figurative), there is much more shattering to do beyond the shackles of time in their infinite guises. I shall await this day, for I have much time on my unshackled hands.
- Shawn Tan
June 30th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
It is sad to see you leave politics. I disagree with the Green party position on most things (as all will have seen from my comments here) but generally find myself agreeing with most things you say. I feel the Greens are losing possibly the most sensible and principled MP in the party. Without your logical voice I do fear for the future of Green policy, it may slide further into socialism and away from true environmentalism.
Best wishes for the future.
July 1st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Kia ora Nandor!
I really would like to give you a hug. You make me feel very proud to be a Green. I loved watching/listening to your speech.
This is the third incident over recent weeks that has made me feel so proud to be a Green.
Just a few weeks ago when there was another scandal in the Labour Party… or was it the Maori Party… or was it National… I can’t remember. that’s not important. It was just that it occurred to me how HONEST our Green politicians are. They are REAL people - they believe in what they stand for, and they stand for what they believe in. Talk about INTEGRITY.
The other thing… just tonight… I remembered how about 25 years ago I had stood as the Green candidate for the Hunua or Clevedon electorate. Warren Kyd was the sitting MP, his biggest adversary was the Labour candidate, some Anglican woman who seemed both spiteful and hateful (especially when it came to National Party sitting MPs).
And how, at a small campaign meeting in Paparimu, I felt so “stupid” when the local farmers had laughed at me when I talked about reducing the trucks on the road and using more rail. Who’s laughing now? Well, I’m smiling. Why does it take 25 years or so for for green policy to become valued?