Editorial: Reshuffle only the start for Labour leader

Phil Goff. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Probably the most notable aspect of the Labour Party's reshuffle was Phil Goff's acknowledgment that further change is needed.

Halfway through the electoral term, his party is struggling to dent the Government's popularity, despite the helping hand provided by policies such as the mining of the conservation estate and an increase in GST.

Clearly, Mr Goff will need to place more figures with vigour and political appeal around him before the end of the year. Yesterday's reshuffle of positions and responsibilities should have been merely the starting point.

Perhaps this was always going to be so because Mr Goff's hand was forced. He had to act quickly to try to limit the damage arising from last week's exposure of ministers' misuse of taxpayer-funded credit cards during Labour's time in office.

His two-step strategy first demoted Shane Jones, Chris Carter and Mita Ririnui in the caucus ranks and stripped them of their portfolio responsibilities, although Mr Carter - previously a favourite of Helen Clark - somehow received the conservation role even before a belated apology for persistent credit-card misuse.

Second, Mr Goff promoted, most particularly, Charles Chauvel, Nanaia Mahuta and Grant Robertson. Mr Chauvel and Ms Mahuta will move to the front bench, where Mr Chauvel will become the environment spokesman and Ms Mahuta the spokeswoman on energy.

Neither of these two appointments is likely to cause great unease in the Government ranks. More interesting is the rise of Mr Robertson, a former president of the NZ University Students Association and an MP only since 2008.

He moves to Labour's second row and becomes spokesman on tertiary education. Noticeably, he provided a vigorous response when asked about his promotion.

"There are lots of issues in tertiary education and I'm not sure National has really got a plan for that area, so I'm looking forward to taking [minister Steven Joyce] on," he said. The jousting with the well-performed Mr Joyce will provide an insight into Mr Robertson's ability.

It may have been too early for him to take a seat on the front bench, but his rapid elevation shows the shallowness of Labour's mid-level talent pool.

The list thrown up by the 2005 intake, for example, dwindles rapidly after Mr Jones and Maryan Street, who has been handed Mr Carter's foreign affairs role to go with her trade responsibilities. This lack of depth creates problems for Mr Goff, and for the party's chances of moulding a credible shadow cabinet and mounting a credible challenge at the next election.

Significantly, yesterday's reshuffle did not involve areas such as health, basic education, social welfare or the police. These are areas where governments customarily get into trouble, and where Labour spokespeople can expect to find themselves in the news.

That means the newly promoted will, generally, have limited opportunities to shine. There will be a continued focus on the old faces, the senior MPs at the top. In that regard, the loss of Mr Jones, who stood out as representing the fresh blood that would take the party forward, will be keenly felt.

He provided a relatively new face to people who had turned against the party after its long period in power, saying, effectively, that many senior MPs had passed their use-by dates. But instead, Mr Jones' indiscretion pointed to the party's past just when the future needed to be emphasised.

Mr Goff has acted decisively against those exposed for their misuse of credit cards. A tougher test will be orchestrating a thorough Labour renewal this year.

The party's failure to gain traction leaves Labour that option or one other - a resuffle from the bottom, in which Mr Goff and deputy Annette King are moved by their colleagues rather than the other way around.