LABOUR’S SAVIOURS?

Labour is pinning its hopes of political survival on the youngest leader it has had, electing Jacinda Ardern to the job in a last-ditch bid to rally its fortunes. Ardern, 37, got the job yesterday after Andrew Little stepped down in the face of dire poll

Labour is pinning its hopes of political survival on the youngest leader it has had, electing Jacinda Ardern to the job in a last-ditch bid to rally its fortunes.

Ardern got the role yesterday after Andrew Little stepped down in the face of dire poll results — a potentially risky move for the party, which has been punished for instability after going through five leadership changes in nine years.

It will pit Ardern against the experience and track record of Prime Minister Bill English, but Labour is relying on Ardern attracting young or disinterested voters as well as drawing Labour’s old voters back from National, the Greens and NZ First.

Speaking to the Herald yesterday, Ardern said she was not worried about footing it with English in election debates, saying while she expected to be tested she was willing to pit her own leadership style against his.

“He’s a seasoned politician, he’s spent obviously a significant amount of time in hefty roles like finance and he’s built credibility in those roles. My job will be to challenge the vision he has for New Zealand and the vision he is presenting about New Zealand. I expect I will be tested but you should be tested in a leadership role.”

English was careful not to dismiss Ardern, saying it was important to respect the leader of the Opposition. He told Newstalk ZB he expected Ardern would be skilled at debating. “But it’s going to be the contest of ideas more than personalities which matter in a head-to-head debate. We always respect the Leader of the Opposition, she has the possibility after the election to be the Prime Minister, therefore we will be working hard to win that battle of ideas.”

Ardern will take 72 hours to do a stocktake of Labour’s campaign plan and indicated some policy changes were afoot. She said while policies in areas such as health, housing and education were already in line with core Labour values such as fairness, “there are some areas I feel we can amplify that even more”.

Ardern will have to deal with coalition partners. Part of Labour’s polling woes have been put down to Green Party and co-leader Metiria Turei’s admission of welfare fraud drawing Labour voters either to the Greens in sympathy, or to NZ First in disgust.

Ardern refused to discuss Turei’s confession or whether she believed the Green Party was eating into Labour’s vote.

“I see that as a distraction to our own policies and ideas. So, going forward I want to be talking about Labour’s agenda rather than speaking about the impact another party has had on ours.”

She said she had known co-leader James Shaw since both lived in London and also knew Turei well “which will be helpful”. However, she would not give her view of Turei’s confession.

When asked how she would approach NZ First leader Winston Peters, Ardern simply joked that she enjoyed single malt — one of Peters’ favourite drinks.

Peters put Labour’s position down to the Memorandum of Understanding Labour signed with the Greens.

“When the Labour Party signed the [MoU ] I knew it was all over rover for them. If you begin from a position of weakness, that’s all you’ll be, is weak.”

Ardern defended the agreement, saying it was about transparency for voters.

“My focus, though, will be . . . to actually focus on what Labour stands for.”

Little’s decision to quit was prompted by three polls which put Labour at 23-24 per cent, though he left Wellington on Monday night saying he was committed to fighting the election.

Meanwhile, other MPs and senior party figures, understood to include Michael Cullen, were working out the options. Ardern was asked if she would be willing to take the role should Little step down. She agreed and Kelvin Davis was settled on as the deputy.

As he headed back to Wellington for caucus, Little was yet to confirm even to Ardern that he was standing down. She did not know of it until soon before he announced it publicly, when he called her from a cab.

For the MPs, it involved weighing up the risks of changing the leader so close to the election with the risk of carrying on under Little.

Labour’s caucus had faced a similar problem in 2014 when its polling was dropping under David Cunliffe. That time they did nothing. This time they did.