OPINION
The Labour Party and its union bosses have chosen, unsurprisingly, to show their nasty side. The unions are aware the politicians they support have turned out to be no more than a bunch of incompetent losers. Their answer is to attack. It’s not to attack in a constructive way, instead, like poisonous snakes, they spit their venom. They play the man, not the ball.
This is perfectly illustrated in Monday morning’s NZ Herald advertisement personally attacking Christopher Luxon. If the unions think this is the way to win an election they get zero out of 10 for intelligence. If I were a paid-up union member who intended to vote National I would be outraged that my money was being used in such a scurrilous way. If I were Chris Hipkins I would be outraged that my campaign had been hijacked in a way that did nothing more than bad-mouth my opponent.
But Hipkins won’t be outraged because he’s from a union background and they are the main funders of his campaign. He can’t say anything even if he wants to, for fear of losing his funding. He probably agrees with it. These types in the union movement and the Labour Party, many of whom have dual links, are simply out-and-out bullies. They don’t understand a fair fight. They don’t want one because they know full well they will lose.
Their shoddy attempt at an attack ad in the Herald will backfire on them. All they are achieving is to illustrate the fact that they know this election is already lost. Fair-minded people will see it for what it is – a desperate, unedifying attempt to take down an opponent.
This sort of bully-boy behaviour should not be tolerated in the unions, in the Labour Party or anywhere. It is reminiscent of school playground behaviour. If this is what the unions think it takes to win an election they are sorely mistaken. This is precisely why the last six years have been such a disaster and the country is in such a mess. The unions and the Labour Party are nothing short of an absolute disgrace to anyone who loves this country and wants to succeed.
People who recognise what is needed to get this country back on track should vote accordingly and ignore the campaigning. Embarrassingly amateurish behaviour like that displayed in the advertisement in the Herald is not worthy of attention or consideration. The majority of the public will see it for what it is: a despicable hit job.
If Hipkins wants a robust campaign as he has said he does, he’d better quickly grow a pair and bring his union bosses into line. Robust campaigning is playing the policies not the personalities. People are worried about feeding their families and paying their bills. The cost of living is the main issue in this election, not Christopher Luxon. If the unions were to support National’s policies their members would actually be better off.
Hipkins says National is being thin-skinned over the advertisement. He says he has been attacked by right-wing aligned organisations such as the Taxpayers’ Union ever since he took over as leader.
Nobody is suggesting the other side shouldn’t be attacked but the attack has to be constructive and the tenor of it is also important. The union advertisement fails both those tests. The examples of the attack advertisements Hipkins held up were mostly funny and creative and all were factual.
The attack ads came out before they were supposed to; confirming that the CTU couldn’t run a bath any better than the Labour Party. Richard Wagstaff says the CTU is not affiliated with the Labour Party. Maybe not, but it is so close that he could be accused of splitting hairs. What the CTU wants it gets. Hence the antiquated “fair pay” agreements of the 1970s which Labour have reintroduced on behalf of their union paymasters. Hopefully, they’ll be gone by the year’s end.
During my working life, as a younger person, I had the opportunity to belong to a union and, despite being constantly hassled, I chose not to. Their behaviour hasn’t changed over the years and Monday’s appalling disparaging personal attack on Luxon merely vindicates my decision all those years ago.