Opinion: When Principles Blur – Matt McCarten, Unlikely Alliances and a Political Reckoning

Lets start with a simple word – lies.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but even by those standards, Matt McCarten’s decision to align himself with right-wing bloggers such as Cameron Slater raises serious questions about credibility, principle, and political judgement.

McCarten built his public profile as a unionist and left-wing organiser, positioning himself as a champion of workers, collective action and social justice. For many Māori and working-class communities, he was seen as part of a broader movement pushing back against corporate power and political cruelty. That history matters – which is why his recent alliances feel so jarring.

Cameron Slater is not simply another commentator with a different point of view. He is synonymous with Dirty Politics and the Whale Oil era – a period marked by personal attacks, misogyny, racialised abuse and the deliberate degradation of public debate. For someone who once claimed the moral high ground of progressive politics, choosing to work alongside that legacy is not a neutral act.

McCarten’s defenders may argue that politics requires tactical flexibility, or that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But that logic collapses when the cost is normalising behaviour and platforms that have consistently targeted women, Māori and other marginalised groups. You cannot credibly claim to stand for social justice while amplifying voices that have spent years undermining it.

It is also impossible to ignore McCarten’s own trajectory. He is no longer the union leader he once was. He is a sacked former unionist, removed from positions of influence and relevance, now seemingly seeking attention and leverage through provocation rather than principle. That context matters when assessing motive. This does not look like strategy; it looks like grievance politics.

For Māori communities in particular, this matters. The damage done by figures like Slater has not been abstract. Māori women, Māori leaders and kaupapa Māori organisations have been frequent targets of abuse, ridicule and bad-faith attacks. Any alliance that legitimises those platforms, even indirectly, is an affront to the values of manaakitanga and collective responsibility.

There is also a broader lesson here about political identity. Being “left-wing” is not a brand you wear forever; it is a set of values you must actively uphold. When those values are traded away for relevance, access or revenge, what remains is not radicalism – it is opportunism.

Matt McCarten is entitled to choose his allies. But the public is equally entitled to judge those choices. And many will see this latest chapter not as fearless truth-telling, but as a sad coda to a career that once promised more.

In the end, politics is not just about who you oppose – it is about who you stand beside. And in choosing to stand with the architects of some of the ugliest chapters in New Zealand’s recent political history, Matt McCarten has made his position painfully clear.

Matthew Tukaki