Patricia Schnauer: Rich row obscures key issues

Patricia Schnauer

Loyalty is at the centre of the Katherine Rich debacle. Nobody can deny she has done major damage to the National Party. Many people say the caucus shot itself in the foot.

Media reports suggest Don Brash's Orewa speech was given to Rich before he delivered it, and he took account of some of her objections. The fact that her point of view was not totally adhered to is surely the preserve of the leader.

Rich gives the impression of a woman using dissent to position herself for a future advantage. The only mistake Brash made was not to demote her further down the list.

The Orewa speech addressed welfare reform. No thinking New Zealander can believe our welfare system is not overdue for reform.

While most of us want to ensure that the disadvantaged and those who have fallen on hard times are protected, hard-working average New Zealanders who pay their taxes must not be taken for a ride.

Short-term welfare use may help people; long-term, inter-generation welfare often causes damage to its recipients. Welfare reform can in the long term help both taxpayers and welfare recipients

Brash's Orewa speech said: let's review welfare. Yet the media frenzy over Rich's dissent has resulted in most of the critical issues upon which he was trying to comment being missed.

That is regrettable. The focus of some media on the immediate sensation obscured the wider message that Brash delivered.

Few politicians have the courage to tackle welfare reform. Few people can doubt that some welfare recipients adjust their circumstances to take advantage of available benefits. Few people can doubt some politicians use welfare policy to try to buy votes. Look at the many political fights there have been over government superannuation.

Even since Brash's speech, the Prime Minister has provided another graphic example. It is suggested that paid parental leave, a new benefit introduced by the Government, will be extended dramatically to 12 months. There has been no public outcry for it to be extended. It is an example of the Government pandering to a group in the community by increasing taxpayer help.

The main reason paid parental leave is being increased is that the Government sees it as a bonus for its re-election plans.

Politics involves a large element of marketing. Politicians know that to get elected you have to market yourself to the public and push a few hot buttons.

Brash pushed some hot buttons a year ago, and his initial rise in the polls last week suggests he has done it again on welfare reform. He did so to get elected. The Prime Minister promised increased parental leave payments for exactly the same reason.

The most important issue from the past two weeks is: who can most successfully govern New Zealand for the next three years? To reach any considered answer, voters have to consider the biggest problems facing this country, and decide which party can best deal with them.

The Prime Minister's speech at the opening of Parliament candidly admitted that the New Zealand economy, despite recent gains, has generally underperformed the economies of other developed countries. As Brash says, the average Australian worker now earns $200 a week more than the average New Zealand worker because the Australian economy has moved ahead of ours.

After six years the major economic moves by the Government have been to increase taxes and increase compliance cost to business. The recent requirement that all businesses enter into new employment contracts with their workers is a good example.

Voters should be deciding which major party can best propel the economy forward after the next election. That is the wider issue which the opening skirmishes of election year have obscured.

* Patricia Schnauer, a former Act MP, is a North Shore lawyer. She is responding to the view of political scientist Jon Johansson that Katherine Rich is the victim of a flawed strategy that will alienate women.