Audience members said National Party leader Simon Bridges' speech was easily his best. Photo / Getty Images
Audience members said National Party leader Simon Bridges' speech was easily his best. Photo / Getty Images
Opinion by Derek Cheng
Derek Cheng is a Multimedia Journalist for New Zealand’s Herald. He values holding those in power to account and shining a light on issues kept in the dark.
Simon Bridges' fondness for rugby analogies lately seems apt, as his performance at the party's annual conference was a game of two halves.
His opening address on Saturday followed a typically hilarious welcome from Gerry Brownlee and a warm and witty speech from his wife Natalie.
Bridges' performance wascomparatively flat, as indicated when the auditorium half-erupted into a half-hearted chant of "Si-mon! Si-mon!"
Also far from inspiring was Bridges' new slogan - "Our bottom line is you" - which may or may not resonate with voters, but has provided Bridges with an excuse to inject more of his distinctly Kiwi vowels into any interview.
The sector has been calling for both for some time.
But it was political dynamite, hitting the Government where it hurts by essentially stealing Labour's policy - it was in their 2017 election manifesto - and emphasising their failure to follow through.
Voters will hardly care that it was the previous National-led Government that cancelled the independent cancer committee in 2015.
Who could argue with better cancer treatment? Cancer issues have a very human face.
How to implement the fund and the agency might be tricky.
Pharmac is lauded for its independence, and a $200m "use it or lose it" pot of gold raises questions about whether it might be pressured to spend that money on drugs that fall short of its usual high standards.
That is essentially what happened in the UK with its Cancer Drugs Fund, according to a British Medical Journal article in 2017.
National deputy leader Paula Bennett introducing Simon Bridges at the party's annual conference in Christchurch. Photo / Derek Cheng
But for now, it's easy for Bridges to say that Pharmac would do its job properly and deliver only proven products.
He also needed to deliver his keynote speech in a way to avoid being upstaged by Paula Bennett, who introduced him on Sunday in her leopard-print suit.
The rapture in the auditorium after his speech was far more convincing than on Saturday, and the consensus, even among the sceptics in the party faithful, was that it was easily his best speech.
"By a long shot," said one MP.
Another said that it had transformed some doubtful delegates into believers.
His speech even had humour, even if the go-to joke for Bridges seems to be any comment about his accent.
Rocket Lab boss Peter Beck (left) was the special guest at the National Party's annual conference, which was also attended by Sir John Key. Photo / Derek Cheng
It's a tad premature to say that it sets enough of a platform to see Bridges leading his party to the promised land in 2020.
That may require more cut-through, perhaps in the form of buffoonery or brilliance, traits that Bridges praised in Boris Johnson last week and which the party faithful insists he has.
Or it may not.
Even Sir John Key said that National's internal polling showed again and again that the leader didn't really matter, and voters cared much more about the economy, health - including cancer care - and education, and law and order.
That is also the subtle message in the new slogan.
The 2020 election will be much more about what National can deliver for "you" and much less about Bridges.
