NZ Politics Daily - 21 September (liberation)

While the legislative fix to allow police to use covert video surveillance reflects poorly on the National Government amongst liberals and legal academics, it might well be the Labour Party that ends up being damaged the most by the issue. Labour seems to be a possum in the headlights on the issue, not sure whether or not to risk being seen as ‘soft on crime’ by refusing to support the dodgy legislation, or risk the ire of commentators and most of its own supporters by ‘falling into line’ and bailing out the Police. Certainly John Armstrong thinks Labour has no option – see: 'Yes' - the only answer for Labour. Armstrong isn’t actually proposing that Labour should support National on this (as some might have read his column), but just that Labour is not strong enough ‘to take a stand and claim the moral high ground by not voting for the bill’. Labour’s apparent opposition really ‘amounts to little more than political window dressing prior to the party inevitably falling into line’. Of course Charles Chauvel has spoken strongly about the issue in his Red Alert blog post, Overturning the Supreme Court, but although this will please Labour supporters, a careful reading of his opinion – and any other public statements from Labour MPs – shows that Labour is being very careful to avoid saying that they will oppose the bill. What’s more, Labour’s main beef with the bill seems to be about process rather than principle.

Almost as if replying to John Armstrong’s prediction of Labour capitulation, Patrick Gower has written an excellent article to say that ‘It is high time that Labour hardened up’. For once, Gower says, Labour should follow principles rather than pragmatism: ‘Goff needs to take a look in the mirror and say slowly to himself: I am not going to cave into the petty politics of John Key on this one. Phil Goff needs to own his own future. Why be predictable and buckle to Key? Why don't Goff and Labour's MPs stand up for their principles?’. Read more: Labour must harden up and reject police spy-video law change.

The condemnation of the proposed bill continues – see, in particular, the Herald’s editorial (No grounds for knee-jerk law change) and the Dominion Post editorial (Law must apply to all). And Andrew Geddis has further sensible things to say about the ‘problem’: Too many problems, why am I here?.

The other big topic of the day is the Green Party jobs policy announcement – see: John Hartevelt’s Greens unveil policy: Jobs and innovation, not roads. Here the Greens are making yet another step towards orthodoxy and credibility – it’s all apparently fully costed, footnoted, and swishly communicated, showing why the Greens will be taken more seriously in this election than ever before. The Greens are talking about economics more than ever – and in a way that smartly appeals to more than just left voters. And the fact that they lined up eco-businessman Nick Gerritsen to appear alongside the announcement was very telling. The party has ditched all the extraneous radicalism as well as the amateur approach, and now looks surprisingly like a mainstream party (with business backing). The problem, of course, is that the more the party tries to blend in with the ‘suburban mainstream’ the more it risks becoming rather forgettable, grey, and bland. And the more the party attempts to copy the ‘machine politics’ of Labour and National, the more it will end up incurring stories like this one in today’s Waikato Times: Green candidate apologises to newspaper. Increasingly ex-Green voters might be asking why the Green Party has sold its soul? [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]

State spying

Andrew Geddis (Pundit): Too many problems, why am I here?

John Armstrong (NZH): 'Yes' - the only answer for Labour

Patrick Gower (TV3): Labour must harden up and reject police spy-video law change

Patrick Gower (TV3): National struggles for support over covert video bill

Derek Cheng (NZH): Govt has the numbers to push through surveillance bill

Derek Cheng (NZH): Small parties question police film law urgency

Danya Levy and Andrea Vance (Stuff): ACT won't support 'fixit' law under urgency

Ally Mullord (TV3): Urgency on surveillance law 'not right' – Greens

Keith Locke (frogblog): Retrospective surveillance laws shouldn’t be rammed through Parliament

Amelia Romanos (NZH): Labour support for urgent surveillance bill shaky

RNZ: Labour unconvinced on urgent covert filming change