Few stumbles in Shearer’s novice steps

DON BRASH began his leadership with the infamous Orewa speech; John Key launched his with his Burnside ‘‘underclass’’. The test for David Shearer after his first major speech as Opposition leader is whether the slogan ‘‘a new New Zealand’’ sticks to the same extent.

The signs were not promising yesterday. On the trip downstairs to waiting media after delivering his speech, Mr Shearer forgot about ‘‘new New Zealand’’ and started promising a ‘‘brighter future’’. That was National’s slogan from the past two elections. Oops.

But that was just a moment of fluster in an otherwise good day for Mr Shearer. He has started the process of repositioning the party closer to the centre. He has positioned the lens by which all future Labour policies will be judged. A tax-free zone does nothing to transform the economy, so it goes. A capital gains tax does, so it stays.

Like another leader who was still a rookie not so long ago – Mr Key – Mr Shearer says he is only interested in what works, not ideology.

He may still be on a steep learning curve – once the autocues were gone yesterday, the delivery turned from polished to stumbling – but for voters, the speech was an important step along the way in getting to know the new Labour leader and what he stands for. He is stamping a fresh face on the party, even if he still seems to be a long way away from delivering on the promise of bold new policy.

And he was blessed by Mr Key’s decision to go head-to-head with a speech on public sector reforms on the same day. It turned what might otherwise have been a couple of worthy speeches into a Super Thursday double-header, gaining a gloss they probably wouldn’t have otherwise earned.