The Labour Party's silence on the Ports of Auckland dispute is getting louder. That's what political and media commentator Denis Welch argues in a blog post that excoriates Labour for failing to show support for the workers, and suggests that the party are re-running its 1951 waterfront line of being 'neither for nor against the watersiders' (Neither um nor ah).
The insightful and cleverly written missive from Welch goes on to express concern that Labour's rebuilding and redirection under David Shearer is akin to Richard Pearse's doomed convertiplane: 'Never mind that most of the electorate no longer has any idea what Labour stands for: party strategists are convinced that with Kiwi ingenuity, No 8 wire and lashings of aviation glue they can design a convertiparty capable of soaring into the political firmament. Unlike the old model, this baby will fly!' According to Welch, Labour's 'fiendishly cunning plan' is to create a political party that will be 'all things to all people'.
Of course, a century ago Pearse was able to beaver away in his workshop with only the occasional snooping neighbour, but modern political parties have no such luxury. The advent of the political blog means that supporters, independents and political enemies have unprecedented opportunity to publicly comment on every facet of what parties do.
This issue of political communication continues to exercise Labour, particularly with its experimental MP's blog Red Alert which has proved problematic for the party, and which the MPs are currently reviewing (see: Re-thinking Red Alert).
Trevor Mallard has bristled at suggestions on The Standard that he and Clare Curran have dominated Red Alert - often with embarrassing results - and used it to promote policies they can't get wider support for in caucus - see: Become an MP - lose your right to comment on policy.
