NZ Politics Daily: 5 April (liberation)

Labour suddenly appears to be in a fight back mood today – calling for the Minister of Finance to resign over the finance company bailouts as well as the Government in total to resign over it’s alleged mismanagement of the economy. Yet the media and blogosphere reporting and analysis are still heavily negative towards the party. Leftwing commentator Chris Trotter is possibly the most disillusioned and critical, and in his Press column today - Vacuum to fill in Labour camp – he says that Labour’s ‘inadequate political leadership’ means that ‘Left-leaning voters have been given a powerful incentive to look elsewhere for progressive representation this November’. There’s also ongoing unhappiness about Labour’s manipulation of the MMP party lists, with the Dominion Post and Press editorials heavily critical – see: Something distinctly unsavoury going on and Cynical exercise. The Dom Post says that Labour’s ‘practice discredits the electoral system on which Parliament relies for its legitimacy’ and the Press says that although the Greens’ Russel Norman created the precedent for the manipulation,‘Labour has now taken list manipulation to a new level’. And as a result, according to Patrick Gower, ‘Labour's list simply is not worth the paper it’s written on’. And the PM says Labour is guilty of ‘false advertising’.

Also, over the weekend there were some impressively in-depth profiles published about Goff’s future replacements – see: David Parker: MP who could be Labour's king, Quietly ambitious Labour MP bides his time, and Robertson a man of Labour's future. The Herald also published Phil Quin’s very interesting account of the failed leadership coup against Helen Clark in 1996 - The anatomy of a failed Labour coup. And today, David Farrar has a comprehensive blog post on Kiwiblog about why and how Labour stuffed up the situation with Judith Tizard.

Meanwhile, the full extent of NZ’s economic woes also continues to emerge – see: Govt debt could almost double by May – expert. Unsurprisingly, there’s now a lot of commentators putting forward their recommendations for economic reform – see: Bill English and the question of innovation; How the foreign profit and interest drain has made us poorer; We’re living beyond our means: Glenn; Budget a chance for radical rethinking; and Cap on public service right thing for Wellington. Whilst these are all worth reading, it’s a pity there isn’t a more diverse range of options and ideologies on offer. [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: [email protected]

Labour’s list and leadership woes

Chris Trotter (Press): Vacuum to fill in Labour camp

Dom Post Editorial: Something distinctly unsavoury going on

Press Editorial: Cynical exercise

ODT Editorial: Labour's self-perpetuated woes

Kate Chapman (DomPost): Rules being followed in ‘pass the seat’

Richard Long (DomPost): List rigging show need for better electoral system

TVNZ: Louisa Wall becomes new Labour MP

Claire Trevett (NZH): Moroney, Shearer and Barker take on Darren Hughes roles

Patrick Gower (TV3): Who in Labour will replace Darren Hughes? (see VIDEO)

Derek Cheng (NZH): Wall tipped for swift return to MP’s role

Vernon Small (Dom Post): David Parker: MP who could be Labour's king