Three words beginning with the letter M – mindset, media and Maori – combined to ensure the demise of the Labour Government. These three entities, representing the political apparatus required for Labour to win an election, all let them down. In those three words Labour should have had the winning of the election. The reality as it turned out was that, in different ways, all three ended up conspiring against Labour.
This might seem a strange assumption to make, given both the media and Maori are Labour’s friends. Mindset was what upset the apple cart for Labour. It was this intransigence that cost them dearly. Their blind adherence to their ideology put them firmly out of step with public opinion. This made them either oblivious to the fact or they simply didn’t understand the consequences of their actions. Either is plausible.
The outgoing government has shown itself to be one of the most dull-witted in the country’s history. Their inability to achieve anything meaningful is testament to that. The media, not being very bright themselves, decided to back them just the same. Instead of trying to point out what Labour might do to improve their chances, they simply became the cheerleaders for a bunch of incompetents. In doing so they reinforced in the public’s mind the idea they were merely agents of the government.
So we got weeks of stories and ridiculous claims laced with generous dollops of bias. The journalists decided to concentrate on National’s foreign-buyers tax policy. Fair enough to debate it, but to become fixated on it as they did became tiresome to the ears of the public. The policy was linked to National’s tax cuts, a policy that gave people more money in their back pockets and was less inflationary than continually increasing wages.
The media decided to take the side of their pals in Labour and joined in what turned out to be a forlorn crusade against tax cuts. It should have been obvious to even the dullest in Labour and the media that, with the cost of living being the number one issue, voters thought them a good idea. The few bright sparks in the media who agreed were the on-air intelligentsia couples at Newstalk ZB, namely Mike Hosking, Kate Hawkesby, Heather du Plessis-Allan and Barry Soper.
Maori had Labour at their beck and call for most of the last six years, particularly the last three. There was no end of pandering to their bosses in the Maori caucus. Practically every wish was Labour’s command. To Labour’s horror, the supposed big ‘thank you’ never materialised. The Maori caucus has been decimated. Instead the racist and radical Maori Party took the spoils. These activists, many young, will find out the error of their ways. Their rhetoric is an abomination to most of the population.
The majority of the country, even their own, don’t want them. This was illustrated by Willie Jackson pointing out that Labour won the party vote in all the Maori electorates. They may not realise it, but it’s the party vote that decides elections. The public also understand what a true ‘coalition of chaos’ would look like. I suspect the taste will be a sour one, thereby cementing National’s hold on power.
So, as it stands, National has won 45 electorates to Labour’s 17. It was the landslide that many, including Bob Jones and yours truly, predicted about a year ago. Labour have to be thankful the election wasn’t run on a ‘first past the post’ basis. To get this result from where they were in 2020 means the colour red is entirely appropriate: in this case signifying total embarrassment. They, the media and Maori, in reality, have nothing to cheer about. It was never going to be any other way.
Labour, their staunch friends in the media and their fair-weather friends in Maoridom all ended up on the wrong side of public opinion. The majority of voters opposed Labour, ignored the media and want no truck with the Maori Party. That leaves Labour, in voters’ eyes, as a political outlier. They are badly in need of new friends. As well as sorting itself out Labour has to find friends that will be attractive to the average voter. With friends like the Green Party and Maori Party activists, coupled with their own obvious shortcomings, the result was inevitable.
Labour were never going to win. It will be a long time between drinks.
