Mike Williams: Valuable political lesson for Labour

Labour learnt this week that even a little indiscipline can undo much hard work and months of positive publicity, writes Mike Williams. Photo/File

There was a valuable political lesson for the Labour Party this week.

Those of us who'd like to see a real contest of ideas in the general election this year are hoping that it will be a lesson quickly and profoundly learnt.

The lesson was that even a little indiscipline can undo much hard work and months of positive publicity.

Briefly, Labour Party Leader Andrew Little, like all good party leaders, has been shoulder-tapping potential candidates for the upcoming election.

His objective is to broaden the appeal of the party and recent weeks have shown that he has had some considerable success in this quest.

This is a necessary exercise.

With just 25 per cent of the Party Vote in the 2014 and Labour's vote among males reputed to be heading towards single figures, there can be no sensible argument against what Andrew Little is trying to achieve.

Early this month it was announced that Greg O'Connor, the long servicing Police Association boss had joined the Labour Party and will run in the key Wellington seat of Ohariu. This was a real coup for Little and, because of the wrinkles in the MMP voting system, this could cost National not one but two votes in Parliament after the election and it could be a decisive factor in deciding who leads the next Government.

Greg O'Connor has developed a very positive public profile over many years and handled questions about arming police - a Police Association objective but not a Labour Party policy - with real aplomb.

After much speculation, it was announced last week that the Maori broadcaster, Willie Jackson, had also joined the Labour Party and would be seeking a winnable slot on the Labour Party's list.

For the many that still aren't clear on how the MMP voting system works, List Members of Parliament are "top ups" that are allocated when a given party scores a quota of MPs in the Party Vote that is not filled by MPs who win electorate seats.

In the 2014 election while scoring only 25 per cent of the Party Vote, Labour did relatively better at winning electorates.

This meant that it was awarded only five list MPs, one of whom is Andrew Little.
Like safe Labour electorates, winnable list positions are obviously fiercely contested.

The list order is decided by a meeting of all of the New Zealand Councillors of the Labour Party (the peak body of the voluntary organisation) plus the Leader, the Deputy Leader and one other caucus representative.

This twenty-three member body, known as The Moderating Committee is a third smaller than the three times I chaired it, but it remains an unwieldy and unpredictable group.
It would be difficult for anyone, even the Party Leader to promise anyone a "safe" list position, however it must have seemed worth the risk to Willie Jackson.

Jackson has been around politics a while and was elected for one term as an Alliance MP eighteen years ago. He therefore carries quite a bit of baggage but he potentially amounts to a major asset in the key battle for Maori votes. He comes from a solidly Labour background and his mother is the Maori icon, Dame June Jackson.

Not only has he prospered for years in the cut-throat ratings-driven world of broadcasting, he is the founder and CEO of the huge and successful Manukau Urban Maori Authority.

Election results in the Maori electorates could well decide the outcome of the election, so Andrew Little is dead right to be doing all he can to secure Maori votes.

The announcement that Willie Jackson was indeed seeking a Labour list position caused a rare and unwelcome burst of indiscipline with Christchurch East MP, Poto Williams using social media to announce that Willie Jackson would not get her support until he apologised for statements he made on radio three years ago.

It was quickly revealed that Jackson had indeed already repeatedly apologised for the statements in question so that matter was settled immediately.

The lesson was that the media rightly leapt on the incident as an example of division in the Labour Party.

The positive story: that Andrew Little had recruited what a senior commentator described as "the equivalent of the proverbial 14-point intercept try" who will "attract the votes of young urban Maori and 'Shane Jones' Maori to the party" was obscured by the negative narrative around indiscipline and division.

There would undoubtedly be less tension if the Labour Party was doing better in the polls.
If for example the party was scoring around thirty five per cent, there could be as many a ten extra list seats to play with.

It's my belief that Labour will do better this year than it's historically low vote in 2014, but this week's events won't help with that quest.

Mike Williams grew up in Hawke's Bay. He is CEO of the NZ Howard League and a former Labour Party president. All opinions are his and not those of Hawke's Bay Today.