But it was also very necessary. Hitting the government on its record is about the best thing the opposition can do.
The slow vaccine rollout, the MIQ shambles, the Infrastructure projects that have gone belly up, the money for the mob, the fanciful cycle bridge, the Ute tax – this is absolutely where National needs to be finger pointing.
But on top of that, they also need new ideas.
New policies, new directions, new approaches.
This is where David Seymour has the jump on them.
He manages to zero in on policy and promote alternatives to the government.
And at the end of the day, voters want to know they have real choices, options and alternatives. Otherwise what is it they’re voting for?
There was speculation going into this weekend’s conference that there might be new leadership at the top, the very top – as in Party president.
But Peter Goodfellow managed to retain his role.
I don’t understand that, given he’s presided over so much of the chaos that National has blundered its way through these past few years. But he got the majority vote.
His challenger David Carter was so aggrieved he missed out that he quit the board, and fired a few broadsides on his way out too.
Which doesn’t bode well for a party that’s supposed to be reining in all that talking out of turn.
This is a party that’s supposed to be showing it can be solid, it can be watertight.
But former Speaker and Cabinet minister David Carter said as he quit that he had "zero confidence" in Goodfellow.
He’s reported as saying he’d received “about 40 or 50 texts from people sitting in that conference, unhappy with the decision."
He didn’t think Goodfellow could revive the party’s chances, given the reviews into National’s woes showed ‘dysfunction of governance and lack of money to run a suitable campaign.’
Under Goodfellow, Carter argued none of that would change.
So spitting those sour grapes at the Party president, while not a good look, also highlights disquiet and disunity within the party.
Which is everything I thought National was trying to tone down.
But look you’ve got to hand it to eternal optimist Judith Collins who boldly informed them all that National will be triumphant in 2023.
“Easily winnable,” she said.
But, and it is a big but, only “if National focuses on the things that matter to New Zealand.”
And that’s the great challenge.
Can the Nats stay on message and not get distracted by side shows?
Collins says they’re “the party New Zealanders can rely on to get things done.”
Well hopefully that starts with proving their own house is in order first.
Kate Hawkesby is a political broadcaster on Newstalk ZB - her articles can be seen HERE.
3 comments:
National seem devoid of any original ideas and more content to argue amongst themselves. I have little faith in Judith Collins' abilities to draw together the different factions who seem more focused on who ends up in charge, rather than demonstrating to the public they are a viable opposition.
ACT have beaten them hands down on alternative ideas to Labour and present a united front.
Up to now, National don't deserve to be elected at the next election. They have a lot of work to do to get their house in order but, more worryingly, they also have some real woke MPs (Luxon) who will likely scare off centre-right voters.
National are nowhere. The Conference/AGM did them more harm than good. If anything meaningful was discussed then it was away from the conference floor itself. Never before has the opposition had so many issues to use to its advantage. Yet National cannot make anything of this vast resource. Act is to some degree filling the void. Surely those at National's conference must be whispering behind closed doors: why is that Act, and not they, who is receiving most of the vote that labour is shedding. It's the screaming question the leadership won't front up to - maybe they fear the finger will be pointed at them. Personally, I doubt the problem is Judith Collins, but she could be the scapegoat. The problem runs much deeper than leadership.
Retaining Goodfellow as Party President demonstrates the complete absence of renewal on the part of National. This is the Party President who insisted on sitting in on all appointments of candidates; and what a complete nonsense he made of that with something like five or more elected MPs being forced to stand down for "misbehaviour".
Cater was not spitting out sour grapes. He was showing the rest of the them that he wasn't prepared to accept this nonsense any longer. It is true he has much better things to do with his time. He is one of the most trustworthy people in the National set up but the idiot voters trusted Goodfellow instead. That will be the final nail in National's coffin. I'm not going to waste my vote on them.
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