The Opposition benches of Parliament will be the scene of the most important and interesting political repositioning and re-alignments this year. The embattled Labour Party is at the centre of this flux, and it has the biggest job to do. Today’s Dominion Post editorial (Shearer needs more than a catchy slogan) identifies the party’s problem when it states that the new leader’s existing vision ‘is so platitudinous as to be almost meaningless’. The editorial goes on to say that ‘Shearer is yet to give any meaningful indication of what he stands for, what his aspirations for New Zealand are and what he would do differently from Prime Minister John Key to achieve them. Mr Shearer is in danger of wasting the honeymoon traditionally enjoyed by new party leaders’.
In the Otago Daily Times, Colin James describes Labour’s problems as being its increasing disconnect from voters he identifies as the ‘beleaguered middle’: ‘Labour has over the past 40 years become the party of the margins: the very-low-paid, Polynesian commoners, the disabled, gays, feminists’. Meanwhile, James says that the party’s activist base lies within the middle class. He recommends ‘a deep rethink of policy and organisation’ – see: Labour's task: out of the margins, into the middle.
But it’s Labour’s relationship with other opposition parties that is most interesting at the moment – see Claire Trevett’s Shearer looks for potential allies in unlikely places. Trevett says that ‘David Shearer has begun wooing potential coalition partners - including dinner with NZ First leader Winston Peters and calling an end to the Cold Shoulder War with Mana leader Hone Harawira’. It’s the Greens that Labour may need to work hardest on, especially in light of that party’s more aggressive and confident showing in recent months.
The Greens’ new approach is the subject of John Armstrong’s column today – see: Greens need to get in the Opposition swim, or sink. Armstrong says the Greens are aware that in order to stay afloat and prosper, ‘they must be much better at basic Opposition politics. That means being more hard-edged, taking advantage of new Labour leader David Shearer’s relative inexperience, and keeping a high media profile.’ On issues such as foreign investment and state asset sales the party is in a better position than Labour to capitalise on voter discontent with National. This all means, Armstrong says, that Labour needs ‘to grasp that the political landscape had changed’. He points out that Metiria Turei’s ‘provocative, yet important, scene-setting speech’ contained some ‘posturing’ but an important message: ‘Labour could no longer afford to adopt a ‘‘take it or leave it’’ attitude towards the Greens’.
This fraught Labour-Green relationship is also dealt with intelligently in Tim Watkin’s blog post, Greens growth: The political maths of the centre-left, in which he argues that the two parties ‘need to figure out a new way of growing the centre-left bloc without tearing each other to pieces’. Labour insider Robert Winter also blogs on this topic – see: Enter the Greens?: goading Labour?.
A hint of a potential new direction for Labour can be seen in Shane Jones’ attack on Maori tribal leaders yesterday – see: TVNZ’s Jones tells tribal leaders to 'salvage' children. Jones says that ‘iwi leaders should spend less time "dreaming of ways to profit" from sales of state-owned assets and more time on salvaging the children of their tribes’. Such a foray into ethnicity and politics is significantly more sophisticated and coherent than Paul Holmes recent outburst, but it will also resonate strongly with some of Labour’s lost voters.
Meanwhile, the responses to Paul Holmes keep coming, with Rawiri Taonui labeling Holmes A cheeky Pakeha. Taonui commends Holmes for coming out with his controversial column, as ‘Only in the open can reason and compassion overcome such views’. In his rebuttal, Taonui makes two particularly interesting points: that ‘the major beneficiaries of the "Treaty industry" have been Pakeha who make up 98 per cent of professional researchers, and the majority of legal teams acting for the Crown and Maori’ and that the ‘Treaty settlements which now total $1.3 billion are less than the $1.77 billion paid to compensate mainly Pakeha investors in South Canterbury Finance’. Another response, from Richard Swainson, writing in the Waikato Times, challenges Holmes view that Anzac Day would be better replacement for Waitangi Day as the country’s national day, saying that this day is ‘not as unproblematic an occasion as it may first seem. Gallipoli was not a "great effort for international freedom". It was a misconceived, meaningless bloodbath in which the exceptionally brave died for next to nothing’ – see: There's no perfect day to celebrate NZ's nationhood.
Part of the Labour Party’s rebuilding will involve identifying with the growing concern about issues of economic inequality. Today’s major items on this relate to the nexus between health and inequality – see: Hayley Hannan’s Disease figures a national 'embarrassment' and Isaac Davison’s Wealth gap linked to rise in infections. Also in relation to this, Chris Nobbs argues that growing inequality in New Zealand is a response to the wider neoliberal economic reforms in this country, of which asset sales are one important element – see: A promise that failed.
But the most important item on inequality this week is Ruth Laugesen’s lengthy Listener magazine analysis of the ‘reasons for soaring executive salaries, and how they feed inequality’. In The Overpaid executive, Laugesen surveys the growing global concern about high corporate pay, but suggests that the mood in New Zealand is (so far) relatively muted on this issue, and ‘there is no government mood for action on corporate pay’. Not only does the article deliver an array of information on the pay disparities in our economy, but it also provides an interesting insight into Bill English’s orientation to the question of economic inequality.
New Zealand looks set to see a good old-fashioned class struggle on the wharves, with the Maritime Union about to commence a major publicity campaign followed by a two-week strike – see Jenny Keown’s CTU president backs support campaign. A particularly useful article by Greg Ninness (Mayor demands monopoly rent) clearly outlines why the rate of profit demanded by the Auckland City Council is unrealistic and how some powerful players in the Auckland business sector think the POAL and Auckland mayor Len Brown's approach is wrong. Two weeks of striking might only be the start. With the company proceeding with re-structuring they could move to lockout and then make all the union members redundant. Brown is under mounting pressure from his own supporters – especially the Labour Party and union movement – who appear to be increasingly angry with him.
The importance of the issue of foreign investment and farm sales is underlined by TV3’s latest political polling that shows 76% of New Zealanders agree with the Call for land sale clampdown. Meanwhile, the rival Michael Fay-iwi bid gets a bit more complicated with the news that a group of South Waikato Ngati Rereahu Maori ‘with links to a bid for 16 Crafar dairy farms’ have started occupying two of the Crafar farms – see: Adam Bennett’s Maori group sets up camp at Crafar farms. For more on this, see: Iwi protesters occupy for-sale Crafar farm. Gordon Campbell’s latest blog post also deals with the Crafar farms sale – see: On comparing the Crafar Farms court ruling with the China/NZ Free Trade Agreement.
Other important political items today include Sam Sachdeva’s Marryatt will exit if lacking support, Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons’ Outrage at foreign fishing fleet hypocritical, and John Drinnan’s Concerns over secret deal to cut NZ radio content. And finally, Paul Norris makes the case that Sky could save public service TV. [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]
Party positioning
Tim Watkin (Pundit): Greens growth: The political maths of the centre-left
John Armstrong (Herald): Greens need to get in the Opposition swim, or sink
Herald: Editorial - Greens can't claim to be equals yet
Robert Winter (Idle thoughts): Enter the Greens?: goading Labour?
Colin James (ODT): Labour's task: out of the margins, into the middle
Claire Trevett (Herald): Shearer looks for potential allies in unlikely places
Dom Post: Editorial - Shearer needs more than a catchy slogan
Crafar farms sale
John Hartevelt (Stuff): Call for land sale clampdown
Kate Chapman (Stuff): No run on Kiwi farms – Key
TV3: Key: Government still committed to economic plan
Herald: Crafar delay looms as government lawyers weigh opinion
Gordon Campbell (Scoop): On comparing the Crafar Farms court ruling with the China/NZ Free Trade Agreement
RNZ: Don't hurry Crafar decision, says Key
Adam Bennett (Herald): Maori group sets up camp at Crafar farms
Stuff: Iwi protesters occupy for-sale Crafar farm
Newswire: Occupation of Crafar farm into second day
RNZ: King Country iwi occupy Crafar farm
Newstalk ZB: Iwi group move to occupy Crafar farm
Karl du Fresne: Foreign investment secrecy nothing new
The Jackal: Tenants in our own land
John Braddock (WSW): New Zealand moves to broaden economic ties with China
Economy
Audrey Young (Herald): Key says $6b 'best estimate' of asset sale revenue
Chris Nobbs (Herald): A promise that failed
Richard Long (Dom Post): Here's some free PR advice for the Government
TVNZ: Government deficit soars beyond forecast
Brian Fallow (Herald): Tax growth outstrips spending
John Peet (Herald): Time to defy the worship of growth
Nevil Gibson (NBR): Relief will be short-lived for post-election markets
Waikato Times: Editorial - Government steps lightly
Bernard Hickey (Herald): A big hairy cat among the City pigeons
Grant Miller (Manawatu Standard): A good time for hard decisions
Inequality and poverty
Hayley Hannan (Herald): Disease figures a national 'embarrassment'
Isaac Davison (Herald): Wealth gap linked to rise in infections
Stuff: Findings on disease rate 'a disgrace'
TV3: Labour backs study linking poor health to inequality
No Right Turn: The cost of cuts
TVNZ: Jones tells tribal leaders to 'salvage' children
Tangatawhenua: Shane Jones criticises Iwi Leaders, Maori Party
Audrey Young (Herald): Minister spells out $43,000 'salary' claim for solo mum
Alan France and David Craig (Herald): Tough times for the young
Jan Logie (Frogblog): Aspirational beneficiaries get shut down and shamed
Ruth Laugesen (Listener): The Overpaid executive
Christchurch
TV3/RadioLive: ChCh assets could be sold to pay for rebuild
Sam Sachdeva (Press): Marryatt will exit if lacking support
TVNZ: $108,000 to treat survivor of crushed bus
Ruth Laugesen (Listener): Marryatt pay saga: potential conflict of interest?
Claire Trevett (Herald): Key upbeat about quake recovery work
Newswire: Quake one of NZ's 'darkest days' – Key
Will Harvie (Press): Thanks for the quake help New Zealand
Ports of Auckland
Jenny Keown (Stuff): CTU president backs support campaign
Jenny Keown (Stuff): Union behind wharf PR campaign
Greg Ninness (Stuff): Mayor demands monopoly rent
Robert Winter (Idle Thoughts): Mayor Brown nailed on Ports: a recipe for a one-term mayor.
Helen Kelly (Dom Post): Modern voice of business includes principles in its vision for port [Not online]
Susan Hornsby-geluk (Herald): Compromise deal better than zero [Not online]
Broadcasting
John Drinnan (Herald): Concerns over secret deal to cut NZ radio content
Robert Winter (Idle Thoughts): John Drinnan on National's business agenda
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Pay TV regulation unlikely – minister
Karl du Fresne: Brownlee goes to the man at the top
Paul Norris (Herald): Sky could save public service TV
RNZ: Fiji TV accuses NZ of 'childish' ban
MFAT restructure
Kate Chapman (Stuff): Governent criticised over MFAT retsructuring
TVNZ: Foreign ministry to cut jobs in radical restructure
TV3: Former minister confirms MFAT job cuts
Stephen Fry on NZ’s Broadband
Amelia Wade (Herald): Actor urges revolt over 'pathetic' broadband
TVNZ: Broadband 'holding us back' - Internet NZ boss
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Fry puts focus on data limits
TVNZ: Labour lauds Stephen Fry over Telecom tirade
Other
Rawiri Taonui (Herald): Paul Holmes, a cheeky Pakeha?
Richard Swainson (Waikato Times): There's no perfect day to celebrate NZ's nationhood
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): The popularity of PMs
Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons (Herald): Outrage at foreign fishing fleet hypocritical
Michael Field (Stuff): Report sparks US probe into NZ fish imports
Patrick Gower (TV3): Govt, SkyCity nearing pokie deal
Southland Times: Editorial - A not-so-pretty profit
APNZ: Local Government reform on the cards
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): McClay not Mathers
The Standard: Young Labour taking the lead
Stuff: How got Mojo Mathers got her name
Cathy Odgers (NBR): Who is John Banks?
Fruits and Votes: Primaries for party-list candidates?
Sue Kedgley (Herald): Growing fears for bill’s impact on small gardeners
Tapa Misa (Herald): What’s right with young people today
No Right Turn: More on Immigration's secrecy
APNZ: NZ to chip in $1m for Queen's Jubilee fund
TVNZ: Happiness of New Zealanders revealed in survey
iPredict: Weekly Update #3