liberation: NZ Politics Daily

There’s a bit of a debate going on about ‘style versus substance’ in the election campaign. Labour is currently attempting to take the high moral ground in this debate, arguing that it prefers to emphasise policy instead of personalities in the way that it sells itself. Of course the reality is that Labour is de-emphasising its leader, Phil Goff, out of necessity rather than any sort of principle. There’s been plenty of quality reporting and commentary on this today – see: John Armstrong’s Labour's decision to ditch campaign launch a slap in the face for Goff, Claire Trevett’s Labour takes spotlight off Goff, Dene Mackenzie’s Labour to push policy, not leader, and Blair Cunningham’s Labour's policy focus 'only way forward'. I also discussed this in terms of election billboards on RNZ’s Morning report – see: Labour focusing on policies, not leadership or listen here.

Regardless of Labour’s motivations for putting a greater emphasis on policy in its electioneering, it’s a positive step forward (albeit only a tiny one) in the need for robust and meaningful election debate. For decades now, New Zealand political parties have moved from stressing comprehensive programmes to emphasising the importance of leadership – with parties promoting the technical and managerial qualifications of their candidates and leaders. This form of electioneering also made for politics based around individual political personalities – and even celebrity endorsements. In this new schema of party politics, elections revolve more than ever before around a choice between politicians rather than between policies or programmes. This trend hit a peak at the 2008 election campaign which was both highly professionalised and bland. More than ever before, the New Zealand parties relied on professional campaign tactics and strategy, with the result that the campaign became meaningless for many voters, and because there was little to excite or enthuse the public, voter turnout was one of the lowest in over a hundred years. So let’s hope there’s a continued shift away from the meaningless electioneering, with a much greater scrutiny put on the actual policy pronouncements (and lack of them) from the parties. But we’ve still got a long way to go before we get to a point where substance outweighs style in the campaign.

The TV advertisements are also being analysed intelligently – see, for example, Toby Manhire’s NZ election 2011: the first TV ads, Gordon Campbell’s On our election campaign opening…, and John Pagani’s Opening ads. Pagani is probably correct in saying that overall, ‘the TVCs won't make much difference’.

Other notable items today (out of the many) include Tim Watkin’s Labour launches for Election 2011... or does it?, Giovanni Tiso’s The Meaning of John Key, Judy Callingham’s Lazy – or just plain ignorant? Why the under-25s aren’t voting, and John Hartevelt and Mike Houlahan’s Bill English backing Green Party - to a point – which reports, partly, on a public interview I had today with Bill English. [Continue reading below for a full list of the highlights of NZ Politics Daily]

Below are the internet links to all the NZ politics material from the last 24 hours that are either informative, insightful, interesting or influential. This list and the links are taken from a fuller document, NZ Politics Daily, which is emailed out, Monday to Friday, to various researchers, academics, journalists, MPs and so forth. The document is purely for research purposes only, and if you would like to be on the subscription list, please email: bryce.edwards@otago.ac.nz

Election – Labour Party

John Armstrong (NZH): Labour's decision to ditch campaign launch a slap in the face for Goff

Tim Watkin (Pundit): Labour launches for Election 2011... or does it?

Claire Trevett (NZH): Labour takes spotlight off Goff

Duncan Garner (TV3): Labour ads 'amplify' Goff's unpopularity - comms expert

Dene Mackenzie (ODT): Labour to push policy, not leader

Blair Cunningham (Newstalk ZB): Labour's policy focus 'only way forward'

Felix Marwick (Newstalk ZB): Cash not reason for Labour's unconventional campaign launch

RNZ: Labour focusing on policies, not leadership

TVNZ: 'Labour loner' ad misses mark – expert

The Standard: A campaign launch for the times

Stephen Franks (interest): Why gossip and personality stories should trump policy debate in our elections - Any dividend from Labour's policy-focused campaign?