Hard News: The sole party of government
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I was surprised to be deprived even of the schadenfreude of National being forced to deal with Winston.
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The Cameron Slater connection, suppression of democracy in Canterbury, and apparent political dallying with the OIA process are appalling. Couple those with failure in climate change policy, the abandonment of poor people, foul governance and diminishing democracy in education, the GCSB legislation, and unswimmable waterways, and these are not my leaders.
David Cunliffe is a good man, but he didn’t connect with voters and couldn’t foot it with JK, the master media manipulator. For the good of NZ he needs to resign as leader.
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From out here, with Key looking ahead to a fourth term and the whole National campaign being based seemingly on promises to do as little as possible while invoking the name of Aunty Helen (not, if I recall correctly, a National Prime Minster), they are at least going to stick to the rhetoric of the centre if not the substance. I expect slow erosion and piecemeal sops like PPPs for muesli bars in schools.
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With Crusher back in, I guess operational matters will get the boost needed to keep NZers ill informed. Now that the Election has passed, will Jason Ede be back on the 9th Floor, 2 doors down from JK?
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Euan Mason, in reply to
Tze, if they were planning to do as little as possible then I'd heave a sigh of relief. Look out for direct Ministerial control of universities, privatisation of education and prisons, lower taxes for the rich & corporates, lower wages for those at the bottom, and even more punitive rules for the down and out in our society.
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Deleted, cause I fail at reading.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
David Cunliffe is a good man, but he didn’t connect with voters and couldn’t foot it with JK, the master media manipulator. For the good of NZ he needs to resign as leader.
Meh... I feel rather queasy standing up for Cunliffe (who I actually thought was solid if unspectacular), but unless he actually dictated every aspect of the campaign he deserves to get bumped down the queue of people waiting to get thrown under that bus. Of all people, Jeanette Fitzsimon made a good point on Nat Radio earlier -- in times of uncertainty a lot of people's instincts are small-c conservative. I definitely think it was was true in '02 and, to a lesser extent, three years later. I knew a hell of a lot of people who weren't tribal Labour, but they were doing OK more or less and the alternative was unconvincing if not actively terrifying. This morning Cunliffe kept talking about "a mood for change", but at the risk of being catty a million or so voters begged to differ - and their votes counted.
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Tze Ming Mok, in reply to
Not sure which bit of the screen you are looking at there, but to me it looks like the. Nat party vote in Roskill actually decreased on 2011. Same pattern in Mt Albert.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
David Cunliffe is a good man, but he didn’t connect with voters
Well, he phoned us on Friday night, too (as others have commented), seemed affable enough, forceful, but wouldn't say how he got our number, or answer a straight question, then we were disconnected, before I could pursue it further...
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Bart Janssen, in reply to
Yeah I deleted my fail.
I still think there is something weird going on with people who vote Goff but party vote National. They need to be understood.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
With Crusher back in
LALALALALA
I can't hear you!:- (
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I have been fairly confident that the tangle of Dirty Politics and the more recent, alarming evidence that the official information process is being corrupted would have to be examined in public over the next year. Now, I’m not so sure.
This is the stuff that goes beyond policy, and right into the integrity of government, especially the alleged direct violations of law and the Cabinet Manual. I'm hoping that National Party members will still take serious notice of all this stuff, now that the election's out of everyone's face, and demand improvement.
I'm not hoping very optimistically, though. Does anyone have a gauge on whether NP internals are treating it seriously? Or is it just being seen as a giant pre-election conspiracy?
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I’m still trying to find the total voter turnout. Someone please spare me the trouble of reading the Herald. My own calculation is that it’s 69.8%, but I don’t claim those are solid figures.
ETA: I'm also surprised that this number got no air that I could discern on the news I was stuck watching last night. It was held up a lot the time before.
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Tze Ming Mok, in reply to
Goff has been Roskill's MP since time began (barring those weird few years with Gilbert Myles) and he's to the right of the Labour Party.
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It seems the conservative right have skewed MMP, the right block won this election as if it were FPP. Seemingly, the only way to slay the beast is by forming a similar behemoth on the left. It does not seem that Kiwis understand the benefits nor want the politics of difference and compromise.
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BenWilson, in reply to
I still think there is something weird going on with people who vote Goff but party vote National. They need to be understood.
I think a pause to actually check all the figures and analyze what really actually happened is important. Because I just don't buy how it is being spun by the triumphant owners of a small minority generated mostly by overhang.
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People like Goff, Mallard, King, Dyson, but don't like the Labour Party. So they'll vote for those MPs, but not the Party. It's a big problem for Labour.
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BenWilson, in reply to
Seemingly, the only way to slay the beast is by forming a similar behemoth on the left.
I still don't buy this. I think last night was proof that no such behemoth exists any more. There is a small party with support of a diminishing number of old people, which once had wide appeal. It's not like Labour haven't been trying to be this behemoth. Their only real success of the night was killing Mana and the Internet party, but not by growing their own base, just tactically killing the coat-tailing on the left. It seems to me that the problem this election is just the same as the last one - that basically the youth didn't vote. I'd love to be corrected, but it looks like that problem only got worse this time.
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Alfie, in reply to
David Cunliffe is a good man, but he didn’t connect with voters and couldn’t foot it with JK, the master media manipulator. For the good of NZ he needs to resign as leader.
The Herald quote says it all.
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I think two things destroyed Labour, firstly changing the party laws to get more women MPs just pissed off male voters and didn't gain them any female voters. Secondly trying to pretend that dirty politics wasn't happening and trying to remain above the fray just sucked all the oxygen out of their campaign and sidelined them into irrelevance.
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Euan Mason, in reply to
Ben, one of the few things that Labour got right was realising that the Internet/Mana alliance would fail to get public support. I have met so many centrist voters who have said that they are concerned about neoliberal policies but can't back a left coalition that might include "that criminal" Dotcom.
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Amanda Wreckonwith, in reply to
'People like Goff, Mallard, King, Dyson' - these guys are not well liked in my rural social circles. They are just a reminder of the old Labour Party that is now as dowdy and worn as they are.
I would say - 'People in their electorates know them well, don't have big issues with them and 'will trade again'.
Labour will need to do a hell of a lot more than rely on this if they want to regain power. -
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
and he’s to the right of the Labour Party.
Goff is the voice of reason for Labourites. He is still there alongside all the old school Roskill residents. I vote Goff because he's red. Simple as that. I don't get emotionally involved other than to be strategic. I voted early so not sure if I have been counted yet? Being a bible belt, would not have been beneficial for the more progressive platform offered I suppose, and more and more people don't want to get involved with any debate on any subject . Would rather not rock the boat. It's weird. Our churchees along the road were voting Conservative. He was at their church. They would have been Labour before.
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"The “swing” towards National in Mt Roskill was actually a matter of Labour’s voters staying home."
Nope. Total voters were down in Mt Roskill, but Goff got almost the same proportion (very slightly lower) as did the Nat candidate (very slightly lower) with a slightly higher proportion going to Coates compared to Genter last time. However, the party vote change is a swing: While Goff is liked, his party isn't. A higher Green vote in Mt Roskill, so Labour looks like it's lost net support a little to Green but mostly to Nats.
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James Green, in reply to
I still think there is something weird going on with people who vote Goff but party vote National. They need to be understood.
I've been toying with the idea that both electorate and party votes are effectively person votes. You vote for the person you like in your electorate, and for the person you like in a prime minister. This seems like a plausible mechanism for a disconnect between electorate and party vote. (With more than a little debt to Daniel Kahneman's What You See Is All There Is principle)
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