Red team takes back seat to 5 million

Centring an election campaign on recent tragedies may seem like a potential problem for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

How far does one go in pitching one’s party brand, Labour, as the best to lead the recovery from the ravages of the global pandemic, Covid-19?

The answer, as evidenced in Ardern’s speech to the Labour Congress, is not much. It was largely so non-political it could have been given in the bluest of blue constituencies.

It was not a speech usually required of Labour leaders to motivate the foot-soldiers to get out and campaign. With Labour in Government and polling so high it could govern alone, no extra motivation is needed.

Ardern’s was the speech of a Prime Minister, making a few adjustments to Government policy to take effect in three weeks; policy that has been signed up to by New Zealand First and the Greens.

For that reason alone, it would have been wildly inappropriate to have made it too party political. It had to be prime ministerial.

Instead of invoking traditions of the red team, she will be invoking something more powerful: the “team of five million” that propelled her to stellar popularity and the country to a state of togetherness.

She will make the most of being Prime Minister. There is hardly any need to be Labour leader.

Attacks on National will be limited and delegated to others, as it was at the Congress, to Kelvin Davis.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t material worth criticising. Her socalled five-point plan was not a plan.

For instance, point two is “jobs, jobs, jobs”. Others are “investing in our people”; “preparing for the future”. These are slogans, not plans.

Muller’s response, however, could have been written a week ago. It was a generic statement that could be wheeled out for almost any Government announcement.

It adhered to the Rule Number One, pan it by mentioning KiwiBuild as often as possible; Rule Number Two: mention more tax under Labour; and Rule Number Three mention a strong National Government to deliver more jobs.

Ardern’s announcements were all about jobs as well, extending the end date for the small business loan scheme and announcing the 23 projects for 2000 environment jobs and $1.1 billion in the Budget.

Ardern has said she will govern right up to election day, and this is what she means. It is going to be an ongoing problem for Muller, but it is not a problem for her.