Harre slates Anderton as 'irrelevant'

By JOHN ARMSTRONG, political editor

Alliance leader Laila Harre yesterday dismissed Jim Anderton's new party as irrelevant, saying it would not survive his retirement from politics.

Speaking at a selection meeting confirming her candidacy for the Waitakere seat, she said Mr Anderton's breakaway Progressive Coalition was motivated by individual ambition rather than being based on common values.

"If there is room for a principled party to the left of Labour, then of the choices now available only the Alliance can credibly fill it."

Facing an uphill task to capture an electorate seat so that the 5 per cent threshold is waived for the Alliance, Laila Harre said negative campaigning had started in Waitakere.

"The mantra from the Labour candidate is that a vote for me is a vote for National. The mantra from National is that both I and the Labour candidate are evil unionists."

Both lines were insulting to Waitakere voters, who could figure out that MMP meant they could vote for the person they wanted without it making any difference to the number of seats that Labour and National had in Parliament.

"They can figure out that they will get the Labour candidate in on the list anyway. They can work out that they can't take it for granted that I will be elected on the list, unlike in the last two elections."

Laila Harre said the Alliance would argue during the election campaign that it needed a greater level of influence in a second-term Labour-Alliance government if there was to be a more fundamental shift to universal provision of health and education services and redistribution of resources to low- and middle-income families.

"The popularity of our Government - or more precisely of Labour - is not just about the things we have done. It is also about the things we haven't done. We haven't slashed benefits. We haven't ripped off the elderly. We haven't sold assets. We haven't increased student fees or the student loan interest rate.

"While people's expectations of what a government can achieve remain low, it is not so hard to meet them. The converse is that the Alliance cannot expect to increase our support unless we are able to raise people's expectations."

If the Alliance could put the most basic issues of social provision onto the agenda in the election campaign, it would be back in Parliament.

Saying the "stupid" student loans scheme was a big target for the Alliance, she warned that unless the Alliance was back in government with a commitment to a universal student allowance and the phasing-out of university and polytechnic fees, there would be little more than fiddling with the student loan scheme over the next three years.

"I am especially worried that ideas like families and communities getting together to support young people in education by saving from birth are beginning to be floated by our coalition partner as an alternative to free education.

"I am not opposed to encouraging communities and families to prepare for the future, but such preparation will never be a substitute for full state funding."