Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Electability needed for credibility

By Andrew Austin
Hawkes Bay Today·
12 Oct, 2014 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

David Cunliffe, flanked by David Parker, left, and Grant Robertson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

David Cunliffe, flanked by David Parker, left, and Grant Robertson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It is almost a case of who isn't running for the Labour Party leadership rather than who is.

At this stage, four MPs - former leader David Cunliffe, former deputy leader Grant Robertson, current acting leader David Parker and former party president Andrew Little - have announced they want the top job, while there is speculation that another former leader, David Shearer, will throw his hat in the ring before tomorrow's deadline.

Our own Stuart Nash indicated early on that he would not be seeking the job at this stage.

He is well advised to keep out of it, because already it is looking like becoming one big mess. You can only imagine how much John Key and his colleagues are enjoying the show.

Some may argue that such a leadership battle is democracy at its best and that left-leaning parties around the world always give the impression of infighting because they are such a broad church of opinion.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, it must be concerning to the party's rank and file that no clear leader is rising above the rest, because it opens the way for the sniping and backbiting to continue after the contest is over.

It will be interesting to see who the party membership actually chooses, because whatever the various interest groups want, the new leader has to have one thing - electability.

If the voters out there don't like the person, it will not have mattered a jot that the strongest faction in the party won.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Whoever is victorious needs to work hard to quickly rebuild Labour into a strong and effective brand.

A vibrant democracy not only needs a capable government, but also an effective opposition party keeping it in check.

Discover more

Editorial: We need to complain more often

15 Oct 04:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre

12 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

‘Still there’: Removal of logging machine sent tumbling over cliff proving tricky

12 Jul 05:59 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre

New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre

12 Jul 06:00 PM

The existing Taradale Four Square would be demolished and rebuilt under the proposal.

‘Still there’: Removal of logging machine sent tumbling over cliff proving tricky

‘Still there’: Removal of logging machine sent tumbling over cliff proving tricky

12 Jul 05:59 PM
Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM
Green light for fires on Napier beaches after council quietly revokes bylaw

Green light for fires on Napier beaches after council quietly revokes bylaw

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP