Dunne dusted as Nats lose ally
Zealand Police Association Greg O’connor has been polling strongly for Labour in the Ohariu electorate, even in the face of Prime Minister Bill English’s nod to electors to support Dunne with their electorate vote, ahead of National’s own man Brett Hudson.
Dunne’s departure now leaves Hudson in an invidious position of effectively saying: ‘‘Guess I’m the man for the job anyway... who knew?’’
National now loses what, in the past, has been a small but significant ally – one that occupied the fertile ground of pretty-darned-centrist voters.
It’s a curious question whether, when voters compare party policies through online calculators, how many of them discover, to their pleasure or not, they most closely align with Unitedfuture.
And then how many among that group don’t vote accordingly because of other factors, like a sense that it’s a rinky-dink one-man party and something of a household pet for the Nats.
Whether or not Dunne’s stepdown came as a shock to the Government, National must surely have been formulating its plans on the likelihood that he wasn’t going to be a player anyway.
If anything, it’s probably better to have that certainty – or something as near to certainty as dammit – now.
Who celebrates Dunne’s decision hardest? For strategic reasons, Labour. For personal ones, perhaps New Zealand First’s kingpin Winston, who cannot have appreciated having Dunne muddying up the middle ground, and in recent times, succeeding far more spectacularly.
The outgoing MP deserves to be remembered as an adept politician. And since that in itself is a fairly wan claim to integrity we can go further and acknowledge the areas in which the man himself suggests he’s drawn the most satisfaction: Modernising drug policy, making fluoridation in drinking water more widespread, establishing Fire and Emergency New Zealand, bringing back 10-year passports and overseeing New Zealand help form the D5 group of digitallyadvanced nations.
How many people, you have to wonder, would have immediately brought him to mind if asked to identify the politician behind that little lot?