OPINION
Does anyone remember the song Welcome Home by a duo called Peters and Lee from 1973? The chorus of the song is particularly applicable to the situation the Labour Party finds itself in, Opposition. The words are:
Welcome home, welcome
Come on in, and close the door
You’ve been gone, too long
Welcome, you’re home once more
Opposition is the rightful home of those on the left of politics. They have spent most of their time there post WWII. It is familiar territory to them. Had it not been for Winston and Covid they would have spent the last six years there as well. Their long demise started when some intelligent MPs in the Lange Government had a ‘road to Damascus’ moment and left. With the possible exception of the Clark years they have looked like an apology for a political party ever since.
Those who left included Michael Bassett, Richard Prebble and Roger Douglas. On Tuesday this week, Michael Bassett wrote an excellent article, republished on The BFD, highlighting the reasons for Labour’s election defeat. Point by point he nails how Labour turned a euphoric win in 2020 to a disastrous loss in 2023. He says Labour’s ministries were weak in personnel and couldn’t extract even a respectable performance from the bureaucracies.
Michael is not wrong. The public service increased by thousands with no results to show for it. It reminds me of the episode of Yes Minister where Hacker asks Humphrey how many work for the Department of Administrative Affairs. “Two thousand, three thousand”? Humphrey replies, “Ooh, um, about 23,000 I think. Hacker says “23,000! to monitor all the other public servants! We need a time and motion study.” Humphrey replies “We’ve already done that Prime Minister.” “And what did you find?” asks Hacker. “We need another five hundred,” says Humphrey.
Again, Yes Minister reflects how Labour operates. Everything they engage in produces no results. National have worked this out hence public service numbers will be pared back to 2017 levels. The emphasis will be on increasing frontline staff, doctors, nurses, police etc. There are billions to be saved for the benefit of all. Steven Joyce notes this in his Weekend Herald article.
Labour was the classic ‘spray and walk away’ government. Spray the money around with no follow-up to see if it was getting results. That will not happen with the incoming government. There will be targets and accountability. Michael mentions how Labour has deserted, and therefore lost, its core supporters, the workers. Labour now represents, thanks largely to Ardern, the so-called ‘progressives’ and those in academia.
Michael mentions how Labour was captured by the Maori elites’ arguments of special needs and co-governance. Indeed they were and got no thanks in return. Both Maori and other voters gave them the bum’s rush. There were other factors such as wealth taxes, excessive control through unnecessary regulations particularly affecting the rural sector and the Auckland lockdown. Hence Mt Roskill and New Lynn have gone blue, and there is a recount in Mt Albert.
Labour was seen as having no idea when it came to sorting out the economic mess they had created. They appear to have learnt nothing from their election defeat. They don’t seem cognisant of the reasons which brought it about. Having been re-elected, leader Hipkins said Labour would start again with a blank page. He then intimated there could be (read will be) a wealth tax at the next election. Don’t be surprised if co-governance is item number two on their blank page. These people are extremely slow learners.
The lunatics on the left are already showing their true colours. Chloe Swarbrick is supporting violence ‘from the river to the sea’ and Willie Jackson says if his meaning of the Treaty is interfered with there will be such violence in the streets the Springbok protests will look like a Sunday picnic. If in fact they want to stay in their natural home, they are going the right way about it.
It’s this sort of nonsense that saw them booted from office. They are going to have a hard job convincing the majority of ordinary Kiwis to vote for this sort of idiocy. It doesn’t represent who we are. The same goes for the antics of those in the Maori Party. They will never get to govern if they keep up their current rhetoric and they will ensure no party on the left does.
Labour now finds itself where National was just three years ago. There will be a lot of out-of-control behaviour between now and then. Nastiness is in their DNA. That’s something they do understand. It is doubtful if Hipkins will still be the leader in three years. I’m picking Carmel Sepuloni is wetting her lips at the thought of becoming the leader. Good. Let’s have Willie as the deputy. Female, male, Pacific Island, Maori, what diversity! They have no one of Luxon’s calibre to sort it.
Labour, at least for the moment, has a death wish. Watch policies of envy (capital gains tax) and ethnicity (Maoris and maybe Pacific Islanders only) rule their policy agenda. In which case Peters and Lee will get another spin on the Labour turntable. And another Peters, Winston, might yet get another spin in government.
Interesting times ahead, methinks.