Shearer made the right decision
DAVID SHEARER has done the right thing. The departing Labour Party leader is a decent, likeable bloke, but seldom, if ever, has a major political party been led by someone so ill-suited to the task. In hindsight his colleagues paid too much attention to his backstory as an international aid worker and too little attention to the qualities needed of a leader when they chose him to replace Phil Goff 20 months ago.
From almost his first day it was apparent that he lacked the appetite, the acumen or the antennae for the job.
Pratfall followed missed opportunity followed stumble. The harder he tried, the worse it got, culminating in this week’s horror show in Parliament when he humiliated himself twice in a matter of minutes. First he invited Prime Minister John Key to reveal secret discussions between the pair over controversial spy legislation that he had previously asked the prime minister to keep to himself for the good reason that he knew the talks would not look good for him. Then he flourished two dead fish in the chamber, seemingly oblivious to the headlines that would eventuate.
However, Mr Shearer’s biggest failing was that he was never able to convey the impression that there was anything he particularly wanted to achieve as prime minister. On his watch Labour responded to public anxiety about the high cost of housing by unveiling proposals for a government home building programme, a capital gains tax and a ban on foreigners investing in the residential property market. The party responded to concerns about the high cost of electricity by promising to scrap the electricity market and put the industry back under the control of Wellington bureaucrats. Housing and electricity costs are both issues that resonate with focus groups but neither are the sort to excite supporters or persuade the politically undecided to get out of their armchairs.
As leader Mr Shearer was a stunt in search of a philosophy. The strategy concocted around him did not wash and, with the help of his colleagues, he rightly came to the conclusion that things were not going to get any better while he remained leader.
Like any political party, Labour needs a leader possessed of self-belief, a sense of purpose and an unwavering determination.
The challenge for Mr Shearer’s successor, whoever it is, will be to unite a fractured party that has allowed itself to become distracted by peripheral issues . What proportion of the party’s candidates is female may be of vital interest to party apparatchiks but it is of little, if any interest, to young parents on the minimum wage struggling to give their children a good start in life.
The task of refocusing the party will be made all the more difficult by changes to Labour’s constitution that mean the contenders to replace Mr Shearer must spend the next three to four weeks not only trying to secure the support of caucus colleagues, but also the wider membership and Labour’s union-dominated affiliates. They face a daunting task. Mr Shearer will not envy them.