Garth George: Labour must stick to old gameplan

Young and old fans across New Zealand rose to the occasion of hosting the Rugby World Cup and made it a huge success. Photo / Dean Purcell

Well, now that it's all over I have an admission to make. In the end, even I, who have never had more than a passing interest in rugby, became not just physically but emotionally involved in the closing stages of the World Cup.

I suppose, given the hectares of newspaper, and hours of television, coverage, and the presence in the house of a wife and a visiting son who take an intense interest in the game, it was inevitable that I would be drawn into it.

And on Sunday night I have to admit I sat on the edge of my easy chair in front of the TV and would have chewed my fingernails to the quick had I not trimmed them that morning.

Half an hour into the game I started to wonder what had happened to the All Blacks team that had so convincingly and brilliantly disposed of Australia the week before. And by halftime I had started to worry that the unthinkable might just happen.

Thank God it didn't. But a one-point victory is not what the nation expected and the failure of our team to convincingly stamp its superiority over the French took some of the shine off the celebrations - for me, anyway.

However, I concede that the enormous pressure on each and every one of the All Blacks that night is something I would never want to experience and I admire them to a man for their courage and fortitude - a team with everything to lose playing against a team with the freedom of having nothing to lose.

I must say, too, that the way the whole country rose to the occasion is a credit to New Zealanders and we can take pride that our legendary reputation for hospitality passed what could be seen as its ultimate test.

And we can be reassured that our Kiwi ingenuity, inventiveness, imagination and organisational ability remains alive and well and provided a spectacular, smooth-running six-week sporting festival that has been labelled by those who know as the best Rugby World Cup.

However, the huge bills still have to be paid for this extravaganza and it will be a long time before the nation breaks even, if it ever does, which I doubt.

So now, perhaps, we can turn our attention to another contest, which will last for the next four weeks or so, a triennial event that could well be named the Election New Zealand Cup.

There are a number of teams competing, only one of which, National, is at this stage given any chance of winning and, if the polls are to be believed, at a canter. It might pay the campaign organisers of that party to take a lesson from the contest just ended and note how easy it is for a hot favourite to stumble at the finish and sneak home by the skin of its teeth.

There won't, of course, be anywhere near the interest in the election as there was in the rugby - a lot of eligible voters, particularly among the young, haven't even bothered to enrol.

And while I believe it is the duty of every elector in a democracy to cast a ballot, I can understand why so many will not. It's not because they can't be bothered or because they don't care, it's because they have lost faith in politics and in politicians as untrustworthy self-seekers.

The second favourite, Labour, still struggles to make its mark on the campaign, with a captain who seems way out of his depth, although it is early days yet.

I sense a return to fundamental Labour policy, which is the only thing I can see that might make a difference to the party's fortunes.

For too long we have had the choice of centre-left and centre-right with only smaller parties further out on the fringes. The differences between National and Labour have become so blurred that the public sees them rather as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Not so in this campaign, however. Labour's plan for a capital gains tax, which almost every other Western country has had for yonks, was the first sign of a return to its roots. Now it is proposing establishment of an independent Workplace Commission to set up industry standard agreements, where appropriate, to apply as a statutory minimum across the entire industry, regardless of individual contracts or whether the workers are part of a union.

It has also promised, among other things, to repeal the 90-day trial period for new workers, to lift the minimum wage to $15 an hour and ensure public holidays that fall on weekends are carried forward to Monday.

This is more like the Labour Party we used to know and if it persists with this return to its socialist principles, the working and middle classes, who have seen themselves, quite rightly, as shamelessly screwed by Labour and National since the mid-1980s, might return to the fold in their thousands.

garth.george@hotmail.com