Opposition parties must up the ante
Thursday, 22 August 2024
Jack McDonald is a campaigner and political commentator who has worked for Te Pāti Māori and the Green Party.
OPINION: Greg O’Connor’s comments that new benefit sanctions might not be a bad idea were jarring to hear from a Labour MP, but they are in line with his party’s policy and previous positions on welfare.
For all their talk of kindness and compassion, Labour kept in place most benefit sanctions, including work obligations.
Leader Chris Hipkins is reportedly going to have a word with his MP, but as he hasn’t committed to repealing the new sanctions or implementing the recommendations of his government’s Welfare Expert Advisory Group, it’s hard to imagine that O’Connor will face any repercussions.
His greatest sin was talking in a way that didn’t align with his party’s communications strategy.
The faux pas highlights the wider issue that Labour doesn’t have a clear vision for the future of the country, let alone a comprehensive policy manifesto.
Hipkins is better known for what he doesn’t support, rather than what he believes in. His time as Prime Minister was defined by ditching many of his own government’s ambitious policies.
As Leader of the Opposition, he has been missing in action, and has failed to capitalise on the Government’s self-inflicted woes. His excuse that he didn’t want to “bark at passing cars” seemed like a particularly poor cop out.
He has improved in the last few months, pushing back on the coalition’s divisive anti-Māori agenda and promoting the idea that the country does well when Māori do well.
His recent barb that the Government “hasn’t met a redneck that it didn’t want to scratch” is the kind of strong language that we aren’t used to hearing from him. But it suits him. People appreciate politicians telling it like it is and are sick of message-tested platitudes.
If Labour is to have any hope achieving their goal of winning back the government benches at the next election, they need to lead the fight against the coalition’s divisive policies, while also capturing hearts and minds with new and innovative ideas that speak to a broader vision.
None of the opposition parties can claim to have landed many hits on the Government. While it seemed more than possible earlier in the year that together they could defy the odds at the next election, that prospect will quickly evaporate if they don’t up the ante.
The Greens are failing to get any significant cut through, as they continued to be bogged down by internal party drama.
Chlöe Swarbrick is always a strong performer and is ably stepping up while Marama Davidson is on leave, effectively holding the Prime Minister to account in Question Time, including by demonstrating that he had no idea what Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act actually does.
But other Green MPs aren’t creating waves or making a noticeable impact in their portfolios. The exception is Ricardo Menéndez-March who has scored some real wins on immigration and continues to be the most across the welfare portfolio of anyone in the House.
Te Pāti Māori are brilliant at energising their supporters and continue to lead the Māori political conversation, easily outshining other parties on the marae and in other Māori cultural spaces.
Their MPs know how to create headlines and put high-level pressure on the Government. But they have failed to get stuck into the details of policy issues and create an impact in the House or in select committees. Only two of their six MPs currently has a Member’s Bill in the ballot, despite there being no shortage of local and national issues that their people would want to see them championing.
The focus for opposition MPs should be delving deep into their portfolios and undermining public trust and confidence in their ministerial counterparts. Achieving that requires dedicated research and policy work – submitting OIA requests and written questions, drawing on the expertise of the parliamentary library, getting stuck in at select committee, and working closely with NGOs and community groups.
The key is then using the ammunition you’ve built up through that work by pitching detailed angles to reporters and catching out ministers in the cut and thrust of the House. It’s not easy or glamorous work, but first term MPs will quickly learn that it is the only way of being effective.
In the face of an extremely aggressive government that is ramming highly controversial policies through parliament and dominating the public conversation, there is no excuse to not leave everything on the field.