Mike Williams blogs on Pundit with the conclusion that we have to do a better job promoting Shearer than we did for Goff.
Can’t disagree with that.
My public disagreement with some of the logic has to wait twenty years, the retirement of colleagues and/or WWIII.
In the first contested election since the early 1990s David Shearer and Grant Robertson have been elected as Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
Chris Hipkins and Darien Fenton are the Senior and Junior Whip and Clare Curran is the Caucus Secretary and rep to NZ Council.
I might do a more considered post at some stage about the process but that requires more thought.
I want to bring about positive change in Labour. Change to the way we look, change to how we work, and change in who we have been talking to and why. Our programme is one of significant modernisation and rejuvenation, which will be driven by our entire caucus. I have the skills, the vision, the plan and the Deputy to achieve this with you.
Here are the principles that would guide my leadership. First, our mission is to serve New Zealanders, not ourselves. Second, Labour must be true to its core values as a social democratic party. Third, we must rebuild a modern Labour Party together. Finally, we must create a winning team with integrity and purpose.
In order to achieve this we must earn the confidence of New Zealanders. We must reach out to communities we have lost touch with. The loss of votes in 2011 to other parties shows we need to rebuild our relationship with working Kiwi families, including middle income earners and small businesses. We must be clear that women, Maori, Pasifika and those most disadvantaged in New Zealand should also feel that Labour is their political home. Labour is the party that will work hardest in their interests. Right now these people don’t think it is, and many did not turn out to vote.
If elected as Leader, my first priority will be to reunite the caucus and to build a winning team. We will do this by taking a principled approach to our mission, empowering every member of the Caucus to give their best, allowing their talents to shine, and supporting them with modern, professional management systems and effective resources.
I will work in cooperative partnership with the broader Labour Party to modernise party and caucus structures and processes to best support a dynamic team fitted for victory in 2014. Expertise in and around Labour can assist us to build a capable political organisation that is the leading force in New Zealand politics. We must renew and rebuild our organisation from the ground up to ensure a strong presence throughout New Zealand, including in our provinces and rural New Zealand.
I will bring about a new era in Labour, one built on our founding values but also one that is more modern, agile and responsive to the New Zealand of today and tomorrow. I will lead a Labour Party that looks and feels like New Zealand, is true to our core values, that is reunified and rejuvenated and that will win the confidence of New Zealanders in 2014 to serve with purpose, integrity and passion.
I joined Labour in 1984 because our party is the primary force for progressive change in New Zealand.
I’ve spent my life working on inequality and fairness here in New Zealand and overseas.
When it comes to taking New Zealand forward and widening the net of opportunity, Kiwis have always looked to Labour, because Labour wants opportunities for you to make your life better tomorrow no matter where you live nor where you start.
But our success as a political movement hinges on our ability to build and retain deep connections with New Zealanders.
And if we are honest, we have to accept some of our connections to communities have frayed over time, and we need to renew them.
We need to act urgently to rebuild, and especially in places where New Zealand deserted us in huge numbers at the last election.
For our vision of renewal in New Zealand to be credible, we must be prepared to renew our party first – as we did when Helen Clark and David Lange led Labour back to government.
I want Labour to be a big tent, the voice of New Zealanders’ hopes and aspirations.
So we must offer our families and our communities a future full of potential, where they can achieve their hopes and dreams. I want our businesses to look to the Labour Party as the party that can best help them prosper.
Today an authoritative report was published showing the gap between New Zealand’s rich and poor has widened more than in any other developed country during the past 20 years.
It shows emphatically that increasing wealth doesn’t automatically trickle down, and so many of our young are locked into poor opportunities.
As the report showed, the most powerful tool to bring every New Zealander into the circle of opportunity is to give people skills, starting with children before they even start school and all the way through to work.
Opportunity for all is the immutable clause in Labour’s contract with New Zealand families.
We must not budge from this, and under my leadership we will not.
But I am asking your support to lead Labour because I will lead change and renewal.
I’ve worked in extreme pressure – sometimes life-threatening. I’ve built teams, led sensitive political negotiations in some of the world’s most dangerous places, and renewed services like schools, hospitals and power stations with a multi-billion dollar budget.
And I will bring these skills to lead Labour back to Government.
For me this leadership contest is about putting together the team that can win the 2014 election. It is only through winning that election that we can put in place the programme that will see the Labour values of fairness, equality and opportunity for all become a reality.
In my time as a member of the Labour Party I have done everything from being a branch member to being an MP. I have always tried to act in what I believe to be the best interests of the Party and the people we work so hard to represent. It is in that spirit that I am putting my name forward as Deputy Leader in this contest.
While we face significant challenges as we acknowledge our defeat at this election, this is also an opportunity to rebuild our party, both inside and out, and to be an active participant in our communities. I believe that our approach needs to be equal parts organisation and inspiration.
In terms of organisation I welcome the announced review of the Party. Our core values endure, I believe we have a strong policy platform, but we must look afresh at all aspects of our organisation. Some specific issues we need to address are the recruitment and nurturing of talent, particularly women, in the party and the process for selecting candidates both in constituencies and on the list.
From this base, we move from organisation to inspiration. We must listen and connect or re-connect with a wide range of New Zealanders. We need to hit the road and hear from New Zealanders about their hopes, dreams and show them that Labour is on their side.
Our campaign must begin immediately. The first steps are to enrol, engage and inspire the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who did not vote at this election.
In politics I believe there are two fundamental emotions, hope and fear. There is much to be fearful of in the agenda of a visionless government that will see off our future and see the gap between rich and poor grow.
Where I believe Labour must do better is in inspiring New Zealanders. We must give them hope. Hope that we have the people and the plan that will support them in achieving their dreams, and look after them when they fail. Hope that we will make sure they get a fair go and that we will celebrate their success.
I believe I have the experience and political nous to make sure that our message is heard. I know that I can hold my own and best any of the National frontbench in Parliament and on the hustings. I believe I can connect and empathise with the wider NZ public. I can help unite the Caucus around our vision of a New Zealand as a country where everyone, no matter who they are is given the chance to achieve their potential and play their part in our success as a nation.
Teenaa Koutou. Like many, I love Aotearoa and I am passionate about our people, our diverse communities, our cultural identity as a nation and our natural heritage.
I was raised in the small town of Huntly. During those early years the major source of employment were the coal-mines, the Huntly Power station, AFFCo freezing works and the Railways. Our community was hardworking and they suffered under the 1990s drive to privatize SOEs. That’s why towns like mine looked towards community led solutions and better educational opportunities to get ahead and make a living. I believe that a strong platform of investment in education, skills and training makes all the difference for many hard working families.
Our communities are diverse. We need to harness the creative energy of all our young people so that they can contribute to a thriving and vibrant new economy. Better paying jobs in new industries must be articulated in policies that optimize the potential of our young people, drive science and innovation, r&d investment and look towards our export potential.
Young people are thinking in a different space where the new economy is critically linked to better environmental stewardship. Green growth, renewable energy generation, alternative fuel, clean-tech solutions, and labour intensive green jobs are a natural range of policies for a progressive Labour movement. For Maori, the concept of kaitiakitanga is strongly felt and can be complimentary to this different way of doing things.
To say that New Zealand is a great place to live, inequality and child poverty must be tackled head on. It’s my strong view that we must look for new and dynamic solutions. The Labour model for growth and wealth creation is just as important as sharing prosperity through better paying jobs for our people. Getting people into good paying jobs lifts families out of dependency. We have to look for solutions that are more targeted and support families towards transformative change. That will mean a greater emphasis on front-end investment where the benefits will be gained over time rather than immediately. This will mean that the old guard of economic thinking must go. This means a strong emphasis on job rich, high skilled, high paid employment for everyone.
I fully support an organizational review which can energize a new wave of Labour membership to join our “party of ideas”, mobilize activism at a community and regional level, build organizational infrastructure to mount campaigns and attract funding support. It seems that this would be followed by a constitutional review to revisit that way “we do things” against expectations of what it takes to sustain a modern political organisation.
I want to make a contribution to a Labour leadership team to reset our compass, to move forward with energy, conviction and passion for the people we serve. The aspirations of Maori, Pacifika and Ethnic communities are at a critical juncture. The values of Labour assure us that there is space for diverse communities to see themselves reflected not only in the party, but really helping to steer the Labour waka in a purposeful direction where there is a clear choice for change where everyone benefits!
Kia Ora Nanaia.
I am about to put up a post from each of the contenders for leadership and deputy leadership of the Labour Party.
The posts will be in my name and will moderated by myself, Trevor, Chris Hipkins and Darien Fenton. Moderation will be tight.
I will flip a coin to determine the order in which each of the leadership contenders and deputies are posted.
The contenders will be invited to participate in comments on their posts.
Phil Goff and Annette King have announced their intention to resign as leader and deputy leader of the Labour Party in a fortnight.
At some stage I will do a considered post to thank them and to highlight what I think are unreasonable expectations we place on political leaders in New Zealand.
There will almost certainly be a contest for both the leadership and deputy leadership.
Like most people I have a view, albeit preliminary. It is not the view ascribed to me by a colleague who thought they were anonymous when they spoke to the media.
I will be discussing the issue with Hutt South party members next week. Others are welcome to comment here or email me direct.
This blog gives the wider public a chance to express their views. It will be tightly moderated so please do your best to avoid editing or deletion. Remember we don’t moderate what you say but how you say it matters to us.
Most Labour MPs will read this. We will look for reasoning that is fresh rather than just names or copied comments.
Tonight, Channel One will be playing Labour’s TV Opening at 7.50pm.
The Broadcast is always an important milestone in the election campaign. Each Party has the opportunity to lay out their vision for New Zealand and tonight we know you will see two really different paths forward.
No doubt National’s broadcast will be full of the tired old short-term fixes we’ve come to see from John Key.
But we know that there’s a different way, a better way.
And we’ve used a doco style. Bold different fresh.
Make sure you tune in to watch our Address at 7:50pm on Channel One.
For the last three weeks the Labour Party team have been running a cool fundraiser – the No-Dinner Dinner. There’s still time left to buy yourself a ticket labour.org.nz/dinner
Book your ticket to the Great Labour Day No-Dinner Dinner and support NZ Labour’s campaign for change.
Every purchaser will receive a virtual No-Raffle Raffle ticket, as well as an on-the-day video link to our special dinner guest who will give the No-Dinner Dinner After Dinner Speech and draw the raffle, all while you sit back, relax and stay at home.
One of the things I’ve learnt about politics is that it’s a rollercoaster.
Another is that it’s important to acknowledge mistakes. I made one this week. For that I apologise. It was never my intention to argue entitlement to a share of the votes.
I have to earn votes. Whether it be personally or for the Party. And I’ll be judged, along with everyone else standing on November 26.
Labour has a proud history. The essence of being Labour is at the core of my being and I will always be Labour. It’s much bigger and more important than me.
I don’t want to relitigate the issue here. Though it’s important to keep the conversation going.
I am and remain committed to open-ness and transparency in communication with you all. Even if it’s painful.
I am a fighter. I care about the people I represent and the reasons for representing them. I want our country to be strong and proud. And I’ll fight for the policies and for a government that will benefit all of us.
And I don’t always get it right.
Phil Goff is answering your questions, tonight from 7pm.
You can ask questions & follow his answers here.
Ask anything you’d like, funny, serious or irreverent.
Today the Herald did part one of a two part story on Phil Goff. Today’s is a biographical piece and some interesting photos. Well worth a read. Lots of stuff I didn’t know, and some great input from Phil’s Dad, pictured above. He is going on 90 and is a real character.
The article sums up the views of the 40 people spoken to for the article this way
We have talked to a range of people about Goff and common themes have emerged. People say he is honest and has integrity, that he is a loyal friend and a loving family man.
Next week the focus of the story is his political life.
It’s hard to know what to say about what’s happened in Norway.
At least 87 people killed. 80 at a Labour Party summer camp. Our thoughts are with the Norwegians. It’s a small, stable country much like ours.
Events are still unfolding.
That’s for the police and others to comment on. For now, the people of Norway need to know that we are shocked and horrified and standing with them in whatever way we can.
Norway is a peaceful nation. Phil Goff and Maryan Street have sent their condolences today.
Norway hosted and worked hard to negotiate the Oslo Accords in an attempt to resolve the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and made a huge effort in its work to find peace in war embattled Sri Lanka, Phil said.
It’s a country much like ours in many respects and we in the Labour Party have many personal contacts with Norwegian politicians, Maryan said.
I know we are all thinking about Norway today as they face the aftermath of this tragedy.
I’m in a weird position. I know what is in next week’s package. But I can’t confirm or deny either the big planks or the details.
But watching the debate is fascinating. R0b at the Standard has done summary of media views and has some opinions of his own.
Very tempted to use a classic Yes Minister quote but will resist and do an unusual thing and quote the whole post :-
Notice how a single announcement (not even officially made) from the opposition Labour Party has generated more interest, excitement and reaction than the last (Sub-Zero) budget? More excitement, in fact, than anything the National government has done in the last three wasted years?
The Herald editorial heaps praise on Goff for a policy that is says is courageous and “not only would a capital gains tax be hugely beneficial to the economy but the time for its introduction is right.”
Press gallery leader Guyon Espiner says “most New Zealanders do not have an investment property and if Labour can argue this properly they should be able to carry this argument”.
Fellow press gallery heavyweight John Armstrong reckons that “Goff goes for broke with huge gamble”. Got that right. But – what – you thought Labour was just going to sleepwalk to defeat? Hell no.
Poor John Key reckons that a capital gains tax will send NZ “screaming backwards”. He’s quite the expert on that I guess. In the same piece Key predicts that the CGT will raise only “$700 million a year, after 15 years”. Unfortunately for the PM the recent Tax Working Group report put the figure at more than $4 billion a year (the 2009 report from the Victoria University of Wellington Tax Working Group agrees). Perhaps Nice Mr Key should check his sums. Or even wait a week and see precisely what form Labour’s policy will take.
Danyl at DimPost nails it with characteristic economy – “National wants to finance the rebuilding of Christchurch via asset sales; Labour via a tax on property speculation”.
Everybody’s favourite Tory mouthpiece DPF was strangely muted in his criticism at Kiwiblog. Perhaps that’s because he recalls saying, just last year that “… I think the time is right to now take a serious look at capital gains tax”.
For a take out of left field, Rob Carr at Political Dumpground argues that even if the CGT causes a property market implosion, that might be a Good Thing.
John Hartevelt at Stuff reckons that that this is “Labour’s big policy play”. Key’s good buddy Duncan Garner reckons the CGT is a “bold and courageous move”. And so on, and so on.
Labour have started setting out a bold, fair and plausible policy framework for the election. No asset sales. A tax system for the many not the few. $15 minimum wage. Children at the centre of social policy. R&D tax credits. Keep ACC and Pharmac. GST off fresh food. Strengthen KiwiSaver and the Cullen fund. All good stuff!
And the Nats? A budget almost universally panned as lacking in vision, they are simply recycling meaningless promises from one budget to the next. And news yesterday that the government’s “new” $17 billion infrastructure plan in fact contains no new plans at all, just re-announcements of old ones (which were mostly Labour’s anyway).
In short, Labour has a plan, National has a record of three wasted years. Labour have taken hold of the political agenda. Now they have to keep it for the next 5 months.
Key’s reaction to the confirmation the Labour will announce a tax package next week has been almost incredible.
Pulls possible policies from the air. Makes up figures. Puts lines out for testing. Looks awful.
Captain panic pants clearly running the show.
There will be a choice between Labour’s bold plan to pay back debt, grow the economy and ease the burden on middle and low income earners and National’s scheme to sell our assets.
Poll warning again. Native Affairs poll has Hone and Kelvin within 1%.
Sample only 500, done by landline. Maori electorates notoriously difficult to poll.
It is clear that the race is close and the Maori Party is collapsing (actually nationally as well as up north).
But as Kelvin pointed out it is who gets more votes not who answers their phone that counts and therefore organisation will be vital.
Fairly soon the Maori Party will informally throw in the towel because they want Hone to lose more than they hate Labour winning.
Never thought I would find myself agreeing with Bill Ralston – or at least hardly ever, but his column in this week’s Listener, where he says that ‘most of what Human Resources departments do is ludicrous” caught my eye.
Ralston says that
HR people are the new corporate shamans, weaving their spells to improve business outputs to the detriment of any real humantity
He describes some HR tools – psychometric testing for new employees, the setting of KPIs, the annual employee engagement survey, and most insultingly of all – the “exit interview” – even where a worker has been sacked.
I don’t want to denigrate HR people. It’s important to have competent and capable Employment Relations practitioners among firms and unions.
But the worst mistake HR people make is thinking that they are the voice for their employees. They’re not and that’s where I think this whole fad has gone horribly wrong.
Someone I met recently observed that he had just attended a conference with 1200 employment lawyers and HR specialists. This intrigued me.
When I first started working as a rookie union organiser in the late 1980’s, disputes were negotiated between hands-on lay people. It would have been hard to find 120 employment law specialists and HR people, let alone the thousands that are out there today.
Ironically, the National Government’s Employment Contracts Act (ECA), which lasted a decade in the 1990’s, was designed to bring so-called freedom and individual choice to the workplace contributed to this. It spawned a whole new growth industry.
It promoted individualism over collectivism and a “contractual relationship”; it was regulation-lite with words like “freedom” and “choice” prominent in the ideological language of the time (sound familiar?). What regulation there was shifted from collective to individual workplace relationships and a deliberate undermining of unions as representatives of working people.
(more…)
