Josie Pagani: National's silence befuddles voters

Prime Minister John Key appearing at the Newstalk ZB leaders breakfast show with broadcaster Mike Hosking. Photo / Jason Oxenham

John Campbell gave the best closing statement in last week's TV3 leaders' debate.

Replete with images of Tiananmen Square and an emotional appeal - "for God's sake, vote!" - it was an Oscar-worthy performance next to John Key's fumbled attempt to sum up why you should vote National in 60 seconds.

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Both leaders had performed well. But John Key's promise that "we're on the cusp of something special", without being able to tell us what was going to be special, revealed the flaw in National's campaign: not Dotcom or spies, but that National has spent the entire campaign unable to state the basic case for itself.

Elections are about what happens tomorrow, and most people have no idea what National wants to do next.

There was another moment on TV3's The Nation when Bill English failed to come up with any fresh ideas for boosting economic growth.

He was trumpeting National's record, and railing against the opposition. The pause when he had to come up with new ideas was all that anyone will remember.

Even the Herald's Mood of the Boardroom revealed most chief executives think National lacks vision.

"It's what National is not doing that is disappointing, such as a capital gains tax, focus on savings and raising the age for superannuation," said one.

VIDEO: John Key in the Herald Hot Seat

The biggest economic problem for New Zealand is that working people in good jobs don't earn enough. National can't set out a positive case for re-election because it thinks low wages and selling unprocessed wood and milk powder to the world is the way to prosperity.

We don't have a tax problem in this country, we have a wage problem.

Only one in five households earns more than $100,000 - the minimum needed realistically to be able to afford a home in Auckland.

To National's great relief, an army of foreign conspiracy theorists are attempting to define the election for them.

There are many important issues in the role of surveillance in democratic societies, but the number of people whose vote will change on this issue would fit on a silicon chip with room left over for a large German.

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