John Roughan: Goff dyeing to remain relevant

Phil Goff. Photo / Sarah Ivey

It is the little things that say the most. Hone Harawira wears dark glasses. Phil Goff has dyed his hair.

I've noticed Harawira at Waitangi. He makes sure he is noticed but he doesn't engage. He like to stand to one side, preferably on a high spot where he can gaze down on proceedings in a detached sort of way.

I'm surprised commentators believe Maori take him as seriously as he takes himself. He has done nothing of substance in Parliament. The man is a pose.

I wouldn't have said the same of Goff but if a guy is going to dip into hair dye he needs to do it before anyone will notice. Many a politician may have done it, but not this late in the day.

Actually Goff was greying quite well to my eye. The silver was beginning to give him a certain eminence which he has earned with a solid record of senior ministerial competence in two governments.

Now, sadly, the hair is just the symbol of how seriously he has succumbed to the illusions of youth.

Newly coloured, he stood before an image of his old self this week to start election year with a presentation of some policy his young caucus has plainly adopted against his better judgment.

Taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables, for example. Goff was a junior minister in the government that introduced GST and he knows exemptions would be unwise.

Removing the tax from seasonal food would be particularly silly. The prices fluctuate widely and any reduction from the removal of GST would probably be wiped out within two weeks.

For that, we would be left with permanent anomalies, confusion, new compliance costs and a political precedent that would begin to unravel the tax. (Why only "fresh" food? What about "essential" food? Packaged bread, milk, cheddar, camembert? How would you draw the line?)

Goff knows this one's a doozy but obviously he couldn't convince the bright new sparks in his caucus. That is a worry, or would be if there was much prospect of Labour being elected this year.

It is the sort of policy you do not hear from a major party if there is any risk it will have to carry it out.

The same has been said about one or two other planks in the platform poor Goff has to promote. He said as little as he could about "changing the way the Reserve Bank works".

Reportedly his party wants the bank to be much more active in the currency markets to bring the dollar down for the sake of exports.

Presumably it would borrow the billions that would require.

The day after Goff's speech John Key made his opening gambit for election year. The case he made for floating shares in four specified state assets was not only economically sound but politically bold.

It proves him to be more responsible and courageous than many like me had thought him to be. It also ensures the election debate will be on his turf. Goff immediately took the bait, saying asset sales will be the issue of the campaign.

He will make Key's day. The case for releasing capital from state companies that already operate completely commercially enables Key to highlight the unsustainability of previous public spending and the country's debt exposure.

Public debt might not be the greater part of our foreign liabilities but it is the bit that bond markets watch when they are gauging how well we are governed.

Goff said nothing on that subject in his "state of the nation" speech. He preferred to talk about tax rates and the cost of living, subjects that bored the Mana byelection until TV3's Patrick Gower sat the candidates down and discovered that only National's Hekia Parata knew the price of milk.

Labour's "tax-free zone" on the first $5000 of all incomes will make about as much difference to living standards as its GST exemptions. Its intention to impose a new top rate of taxation will only widen the gap with company tax rates and encourage more avoidance.

The previous top rate was a Clark policy that would not have come naturally to Goff.

Opposition leader is the worst job in politics. Few who have done it ever want to do it again. That is why Helen Clark resigned as party leader the night she was defeated and Key has indicated he will do much the same when his time comes.

Convincing leaders have to be true to themselves. This year's election is Goff's one chance to be Prime Minister and polls suggest his only chance may rest on minor parties that together might have more seats than the winner.

I suspect the country would find a coalition of losers to be about as credible as the colour of his hair.