Congratulations David Shearer, you’re leader of the Left now, and the prime target for the Right’s smear machine. The Right’s strategy is obvious: bait and switch. Having proclaimed Shearer’s virtues to high heaven, they (and their useful idiots) will now say ‘who is this man?’, try to frame unreasonable expectations, and try to beat up leadership rumours.
Here is David Shearer’s first speech as Labour party leader.
I’ve now seen David Shearer in three Labour selection contests – I was on the panel in Waitakere in 2002 and Mt Albert in 2009, and I was in Wesley Church last Wednesday in Wellington. He’s won two out of three, and been most impressive every time. Had I been a caucus member today, he would have had my vote. This is why.
Labour have come out of their caucus after their vote on who should succeed Phil Goff as leader. The new leadership team is David Shearer and Grant Robertson.
To Cunliffe and Shearer, good luck. To the 34 people choosing the next Labour leader, remember your task is to choose the person who can represent a million+ centre and left voters. The man to take the centre-left to victory in 2014. Don’t you dare let petty personal issues cloud your judgement. We, whom you are privileged to represent, deserve better.
Read this and weep: New rolling stock (carriages) for South Island scenic rail journeys are as good as, or better than anything I […]
David Lange was a good man with a sharp mind, he was quick as a cat thinking on his feet – especially debating – he was an excellent communicator. With only six years’ parliamentary experience before becoming leader of the NZLP he was also the least experienced of all Labour’s twelve leaders to date. David Lange got eaten alive.
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
The Labour leadership contest is not a left-right battle, but a tough call between an Obama-like orator and a down-to-earth guy who lives his values. Both talented and want to reform the party: but hard to chose who’s best to lead the fight to National.
Paula Bennett did pretty well in 2008, she won a seat that gave more party votes to Lab+Greens than Nat+ACT. But she was a bad MP. The electorate swung away from Nat+ACT and Bennett lost. But does she take it with grace? No she whines that Labour used “nasty and vicious” tactics like “mobilising the left” and getting out the vote on election day.
Official Election results are out. Carmel Sepuloni takes Waitakere back for Labour by 11 votes, and National loses one seat to the Greens. MMP wins by a mile. Well done Carmel – I’m really glad she stays in Parliament. I don’t think a recount will change anything – I scrutineered the official count last election and the people doing it were very very careful.
Nat masterminds Farrar and Slater are throwing it all into the anti-Cunliffe push. Farrar has a quote dredged up by the Nat research unit of Cunliffe in 2007 saying he doesn’t want to be PM because “it’s bastard of a job and I have a young family. I don’t think the two would go together.” “They must be older now” smirks Farrar. Yes, dumbarse. 7 years older by 2014.
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
Scott wants his say on the Labour leadership – even if he’s not sure who he’d vote for. But he’ll decide like many of us at the Sunday Meet the Candidates Meeting.
I am tribal labour. I am the son of an Anglican Minister known as the “Red Reverend” and a stalwart member of Timaru Labour. My political beliefs were instilled into me from birth. For me the foundation is that every human being is of equal moral worth and the structures of our society must give everyone a chance to be the best that they can be. That means leaning against the free market when it undermines human dignity and starves many of the opportunities they need to build a good life.
“That’s MMP for you” John Key smugly proclaimed in justification of his charter schools policy. Apparently, it’s MMP’s fault that he chose to rort the system and then us the one ACT MP as an excuse for unmandated rightwing policies. But why are the Nats suddenly acting so haughty and pushing through unmandated policies? The answer is MMP.
Coalition agreements are expected to be signed today, with Ministerial roles expected for both Dunne and Banks. But it is the details of the policy gains that will tell us the mettle of these two. Did they achieve anything significant with their negotiating power?
I enjoyed Jenny’s piece the other day on David Shearer’s leadership abilities. His skill at taking the ball and running with it, and doing what he thinks is right. I want to similarly praise David Cunliffe for his leadership in economic thinking. God knows we need someone who gets the problems and the solutions. Cunliffe brings that understanding in droves.
David Cunliffe has said that, if he is Labour leader, he will look to buy back any assets National sells once he is PM. Under the existing Takeovers Code, that wouldn’t be too hard. But why not go a step further and make it clear to any potential investor that our energy sector won’t be their cash cow? A bit of regulatory reform would sink the assets’ share value.
What questions would you ask David Cunliffe, and why? What questions would you ask David Shearer, and why?
A tough decision for Labour looms – go for the gamble on the hero, or back the proven performer? (This post should have been on Friday night but got munched by Wordpress…)
I ran David Shearer’s campaign headquarters in the 2009 Mt Albert by-election. That gave me unique perspective to get a good hard look […]
Party reform is high on the agenda of the ALP conference, being held in Sydney this weekend. The conference is being carried live on Sky. Party reform is also high on the agenda of the NZLP – President Moira Coatsworth announced that Labour would conduct an organisational review after the election in her speech to Labour’s Conference in May. It was a prescient move.
It worries me that the media and right wing are trying to take control of the Labour Leadership contest. There’s no great hurry with Christmas around the corner (no new leader is going to get a lot of traction over the summer holidays), but the consequences of making a hasty decision will be disasterous for the party, and disasterous for New Zealand.
Have just received an email from Labour’s President Moira Coatsworth. Phil Goff and Annette King to resign Labour’s leadership effective December 13. Moira is urging all Party members to make their views known to their MPs about the new leadership.The caucus will make the decision but members will have their say. Good.
No Right Turn takes Key to task on his perception of a “large majority”.
Looks like Labour will have a proper leadership comp with Goff as caretaker till early next year. Good. Let’s get to know the options. Labour needs to get this right. Because the next Labour leader needs to be the next PM in 2014. Needs to be able to win. The poor people of NZ can’t afford another lost 3 years being squeezed and ripped off by the Tories.
The Old Masters give us their verdict on the 2011 election.
Pundit’s poll of polls tracked 57 individual polls this year, four of them appearing just a day or so before the election. Every single poll predicted National with the seats to govern alone. Didn’t happen. The polls over estimate Nat support to the tune of about 4%. They need to rethink their methods.
The specials are going to be crucial in a number of seats, and to determine whether National can form a majority without needing the Maori Party. National could easily lose 2 seats on specials, leaving 58. Banks and Dunne bring 1 each, which equals 60 out of 121, not enough to pass legislation without at least tacit support from elsewhere.
I’m just back from cleaning up our election day HQ after last night’s party. With apologies to lefties who aren’t feeling too flash today, and with particular sympathies to Labour MPs who didn’t make it back, I had a good election night.
I agree with Anthony Hubbard in today’s SST “Turning the spin around” – not yet on-line. The most outrageous piece of spin in the election was Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem’s justification for allowing the Treasury to refuse to release documents relating to asset sales as requested by TV1, the Greens and Labour. Hubbard calls it a cop-out and a cave-in – he’s right.
It’s been a funny kind of election and there’s a lot to ruminate on over the next few days.
Here’s a handful of random thoughts on the matter…
We will try to keep updated with the results of the election as they come through. And we hope that you will do […]
We’re not posting posts and not allowing comments from 2359 tonight to 1900 tomorrow after the polls close.
Thanks everyone….
Regardless of who you decide to vote for, it’s really important that you do exercise your democratic duty to vote. Here’s a link […]
76% of Kiwis are against National’s plan to sell our assets. We know it just doesn’t make sense. We know privatisation leads to higher prices, under-investment, asset-stripping, and profits going overseas rather than into public services. Make no mistake: the only way to stop asset sales is to vote Green, Mana, Labour, or New Zealand First.
Over at norightturn idiot savant has declared his voting intentions. And let’s face it, in a representative democracy how you vote is where the rubber hits the road.
With that in mind Standard authors who feel comfortable with the concept are declaring the who and why of their democratic activities this Saturday. Commenters are free to join in.
