Silver Scrolls: Why does Paul Goldsmith keep turning up to these things?

At last night's Silver Scrolls ceremony, the National Party's arts minister left early. You could hardly blame him.

Madeleine Sami had an early warning. “You’re brave,” said the MC during her introduction for last night's Silver Scrolls ceremony. The Labour Party’s Rachel Boyack and the Green Party’s Steve Abel were in the crowd, but Sami's words were almost certainly directed at the National Party’s arts minister Paul Goldsmith, also in attendance at Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre. “Did you come for a roast?”

We were supposed to be honouring the best songs of the past year, but politics was on everyone's minds. “Kick these punks out,” spat Rob Ruha while accepting the first Silver Scrolls kapa haka songwriting award. “Send these ideas back to the dark ages where they belong,” declared a feisty Don McGlashan during an impassioned speech that listed all the things he believed National has done wrong over the past three years.

Sami kept the jabs up. She accused National of “making it hard” to vote, encouraged everyone to enrol before time runs out on October 25, then asked for contributions to a donations box at the front door. This, Sami suggested, could be used as the government's arts budget for 2027.

The crowd was hostile too. Near where I was sitting, anytime anyone mentioned Goldsmith's name someone made a violent retching noise, and I counted at least five of them across the three-hour ceremony. After the interval, as we sat back down, I heard someone else yell, “Whaddup, Paul Goldsmith?” as if inviting him to the Aotea Centre's carpark after the show.

You have to wonder why Goldsmith keeps putting himself through all this. National has cut arts funding and continues to refuse to mandate local openers for international acts. Tourism and hospitality minister Louise Upston's $40m events attraction package has come under intense scrutiny, with a member of her own coalition calling it a “slush fund”.

A theatre full of lubricated musos is quite possibly the worst place for a National Party member to spend three hours just weeks out from a tense election. Goldsmith had other options too: just a few blocks away, the latest leaders debate was underway at NZME. At least he would have had one friend there.

Yet, Goldsmith keeps showing up to these things, and he keeps getting it in the neck. At May's Taite Music Prize, it was industry veteran Carmel Bennett who gave him a serve. “Why the hell are we allowing international acts to play here without local openers?” she asked while receiving her Independent Spirit Award.

Then, a few weeks later at the Aotearoa Music Awards, a tearful Lynda Topp dished it out. “We need support for artists in this country. We need a government that says the arts is more important than a defence budget,” she said to a standing ovation. “What the fuck?”

Last night, between blasts at Goldsmith, there was a tonne of music to enjoy. This, the 61st edition of the Scrolls, also doubled as APRA's 100th anniversary and its three-hour party offered frequent history lessons and messages from birthday well-wishers – including Anika Moa, who baked a cake then offered to show off her bush (not that one).

The ceremony's live music was often thrilling, from an opening medley featuring more than a dozen musicians showcasing songs from around the Pacific, to a haunting in memoriam segment that sent chills down the spine.

As has become customary at the Scrolls, the night's five finalists had their songs reinterpreted by surprise guests. Those songs were bent in different shapes with varying results, like Borderline, who turned Aldous Harding's shapeshifter 'One Stop' into a stadium rock moment Bon Jovi would be proud of.

As Neil Finn stepped up to announce the night's big winner, an award that honours the best Aotearoa song written over the past year, he confirmed Goldsmith had left the building early. He couldn't help but get one last shot in. “There has to be something more to life than, 'No new taxes,” he said, a reference to a National Party election slogan.

Then Finn opened the envelope and announced the winner, the night's clear crowd favourite LEAO. Their song 'LALELEI' is the first Silver Scroll winner sung entirely in Gagana Samoa and is an infectious surf-pop jam that oozes pure joy. If anyone could have used a dose of that last night, it was Paul Goldsmith.

The winners:

Silver Scroll Award | Kaitito Kaiaka winner: 'LALELEI' – LEAO.

Maioha Award | Tohu Maioha winner: 'Puna Ora' – Aro.

SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha winner: 'Light Lines' – Dylan Lardelli.

Te Tihi o te Maunga Tito | Kapa Haka Songwriting Award winner: 'Te Tapuni' – Rob Ruha, performed by Te Taumata o Apanui (TOA).

Best Original Music in a Series Award | Tohu Paerangi winner: Claire Cowan, Bust Up.

Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award | Tohu Pūmanawa winner: Karl Steven for Pike River.