Bob Edlin: Media shun the Conservative Party.....

Media shun the Conservative Party (and shut off the oxygen of publicity) while TOP support is growing

The Conservative Party can’t complain they get a bad press. Rather, they get no press – or, at least, precious little.

We spotted a fresh policy statement from the almost-forgotten party on the Scoop website yesterday and became curious about how mainstream media had treated the information.

The answer was they ignored it.

Responding to PoO’s request for more information (“Conservative Party” NZ), Google’s search engine found a Stuff report about a month ago. This – it seems – was the most recent article published by mainstream media.

But it was more about New Zealand First.

New Conservative’s Elliot Ikilei to stand for NZ First in this year’s election

The report noted that Ikilei was the former leader of the New Conservative Party.

Google did not find mainstream media reportage of a Conservative Party press release at much the same time.

Former MP and Police Leader Ross Meurant Joins the Conservative Party as Senior Policy Advisor

Experienced law enforcement leader, former Member of Parliament and respected policy commentator brings decades of public service experience to strengthen the Conservative Party’s policy direction.

Meurant is a former senior officer in the New Zealand Police, former National Party Member of Parliament, and lcommentator on issues affecting justice, public safety and government accountability.

He has worked for New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.

The Conservative Party’s leader is Helen Houghton, who told a party conference in Nelson just over a week ag0.

She raised the question of special rights for Māori.

Equality before the law, irrespective of race, creed, colour, religion or beliefs is a fundamental pillar of the Conservatives.

A growing number of voters appear disconsolate with the centre right incumbents, for not having stated clearly, their position on this issue.

In fact, recently a board member of National said that it was “inappropriate” to address Māori related issues until after the election!

Houghton asked whether it is valid to retain separate Māori representation.

Is it time to put behind us, what a growing number of New Zealanders are seeing as an anachronistic system of reverse racism and separatism?

In my view, and the opinion of the Board of the Conservative Party, the answer is, YES. Time to change.

Her reasoning can be found HERE.

Just as PoO could find no media reports of Houghton’s speech, nor could we find reports of a press release in April headed Peaceful Nations Don’t Divide Their People by Race.

It is one of the great ironies that Te Pāti Māori promotes rhetoric that divides people into opposing camps of “Māori” and “European,” when the lived reality of our country is that New Zealanders, including Māori, are of mixed heritage. In a nation where intermarriage and shared ancestry are common, the idea of framing politics as a struggle against “European New Zealanders” becomes logically absurd. In many cases, the very people being told they are part of an opposing group share the same family lines, the same communities, and often the same ancestors.

And:

… Conservative Party policy is grounded in the principle that New Zealand works best when all citizens stand equal under one rule of law.

A stable democracy requires equality before the law. That means the same rights, the same responsibilities, and the same legal framework for every New Zealander. Cultural heritage can be respected and valued without creating separate political or legal systems based on ancestry.

Without the oxygen of publicity, small parties struggle to gain public awareness, let alone support in opinion polls.

The Conservative Party reached its peak under founder Colin Craig, capturing 3.97% of the party vote, but failed to win an electorate seat and did not enter Parliament.

Since then it has had a history of internal disputes, leadership shifts and party rebrandings.

Moreover, voters seeking economic conservatism generally back the National Party or ACT while populist or nationalist voters gravitate toward Winston Peters’ New Zealand First.

But the Conservative Party doggedly continues to campaign and release new platforms, including the bundle of policies posted on the Scoop website yesterday.

Among the policies:

• Conservatives will press for a flat tax rate for individuals and for companies. That’s a big idea worth discussing.
• Australia and China remain New Zealand’s largest trading partners but it is to China, that we must accord a trade priority.
• New Zealand must retain close military alliance with Australia.

PoO found the statement had been reposted on the Scoop website this morning.

But we could find no mention of it being followed up in the mainstream media.

The Opportunity Party – in contrast – is doing quite nicely, thank you, in terms of winning headlines and public attention:

Stuff

‘We stand by our numbers’: Opportunity responds to tax policy attack

Qiulae Wong is the leader of the Opportunity Party. OPINION: Damien Grant’s column published on Sunday is a helpful contribution to election discourse.

Newsroom

An Ode to .. Qiulae Wong

NZ’s ode laureate Victor Billot returns with lines in honour of the Opportunity Party leader

Newsroom

Boost for local innovation but skepticism hangs over Opportunity’s economic policy

The Opportunity Party unveils a $1.33b economic strategy, pledging $80m to revive regional polytechnics amid sharp criticism from academics.

Stuff

Damien Grant: The maths behind TOP’s biggest promise falls apart

The numbers do not add up and the images are probably AI and TOP 2.0 is not a serious enterprise. It is vibe coding and feels says Damien Grant.

Stuff.co.nz

Opportunity’s positioning not new, but it has a radical idea

OPINION: Opportunity (formerly The Opportunities Party) has often reflected not so much the spirit of the times as the online zeitgeist.

Those headlines have been recorded in the past three day.

And today we read ….

RNZ

This ‘centrist’ party is rising in NZ polls. Will it prove power broker?

Analysis – Of all the political parties contesting New Zealand’s looming general election, one seems to be generating more buzz than almost any other.

The Opportunity Party might have significantly more appealing policies than the Conservative Party.

But maybe a minor party will gain no traction when its policies – and the debating of them – are not given print space or air time.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.