Teacher becomes pupil
Reporter continues his series of chats with Palmerston North’s political candidates over a pint at the pub with Darroch Ball, who is learning from a big personality.
‘‘Whatever has happened over the last 20 years hasn’t worked. That’s the seed for change.’’ Darroch Ball
Jono Galuszka
A long conversation with any NZ First MP is bound to turn to the topic of the party’s charismatic leader, a politician so well known that everyone refers to him as Winston.
Some likely think being in a party synonymous with such a character stifles the other members.
For Darroch Ball, a list MP and the party’s Palmerston North candidate, he sees having Winston Peters as his party leader as nothing but good.
‘‘If there is going to be someone you want to learn from when you first come into politics, it’s Winston Peters,’’ Ball says.
‘‘He is probably the biggest personality in New Zealand politics there has ever been, and you can’t get around that.
‘‘But for all of the speculation about him being a dictator, he’s not. He allows us and encourages us to debate.
‘‘Just the ability to learn from him about politics, as well as the smaller things – the thought processes behind things – has been excellent.’’
For Ball, the past three years have been about learning. The former school teacher and army officer entered Parliament in 2014 thanks to NZ First earning enough votes to get him in on the list.
While fellow Palmerston North-based MP Jono Naylor made it in on the list for National in 2014, Ball says he is glad to have ended up on the Opposition benches.
‘‘I’ve been fortunate to come into politics at this stage where the party is. You can’t hide in a small party. You’re forced into the deep end.
‘‘In my first week I was standing up and asking questions of a senior minister. I had to learn my stuff, know my stuff and be a media spokesman on issues.
‘‘In a larger party, [new list MPS] have got no responsibilities, really, at all.’’
Ball is hoping all that experience will come in handy during this year’s election campaign, which will be slightly easier for him this time.
‘‘Because I was a school teacher [in 2014], you can’t campaign when you’re paid by the state.
‘‘The first time was the first time I campaigned for anything. It was absolutely a totally new experience for me, really being thrown in the deep end and seeing if I could swim.
‘‘The best way I can describe it is that the campaign hasn’t stopped. Being an MP, you’re always campaigning. It’s just getting a little bit busier now and more focused.’’
Part of that campaign during the past three years has involved meeting Palmerston North residents, both while out and about and at his Cuba St office.
‘‘We get countless people walking into our office with stories. No matter what issues they have, it’s all about them being let down, being allowed to fall through the cracks.
‘‘They have faith and they should have faith in the system, because the system is the Government. But it’s let them down.
‘‘You have people who are classified as working poor – working hard, 40 hours a week, paying their taxes, lawabiding citizens – and they’re struggling.
‘‘Whatever has happened over the last 20 years hasn’t worked. That’s the seed for change.’’
NZ First is aiming to create change by gaining votes from regional New Zealand.
Peters has been running a ‘‘campaign for the regions’’, complete with a bus trip across the length and breadth of the country.
Ball says tagging along for the ride was both fun and tiring, with the team running on about five hours’ sleep every day.
‘‘Sometimes we had 24 hours’ notice to organise a meeting and it was packed wall to wall on a Tuesday morning.
‘‘That’s a huge difference from three years ago, when we were polling about 3.5 per cent and ended up getting nearly 9 per cent.
‘‘Now we’re polling up around 10 per cent. The mood has changed.’’
He compares the two biggest parties to Coca-cola and Pepsi – ‘‘there are a few differences but, really, most people cannot tell the difference’’ – but is coy about suggestions that this makes NZ First the Foxton Fizz of politics.
Either way, the polls show NZ First will get a major say in which party goes into Government after the September 23 election.
Ball is just as coy as his leader about if he would want to go into coalition with National or Labour, saying it is up to voters. ‘‘That’s because it is not about us and it’s not about what we think. It’s about what the people want.’’