Labour’s fresh new names

RNZ’s documentary project The 9th Floor is a fascinating series of long interviews with five former New Zealand prime ministers, from Geoffrey Palmer to Helen Clark. It should reach beyond politics nerds and aficionados of recent New Zealand history. The interviews show that the impact of the dramatic economic changes of the 1980s reverberated for decades and are still felt in the culture of the Labour Party.

Only now the debate is about how to define and move on from what has been called neoliberalism, known locally as Rogernomics or New Right economics. It has been the orthodoxy for three decades, despite some tinkering. But another political event this week showed that Labour is starting to find new ways to move into the future.

Clark’s strength, intellect and personal conviction made it hard for the party to find a convincing replacement. The 2017 election will be the third that Labour fights without her, and with its fourth post-Clark leader. However, we can see in leader Andrew Little’s decisive release of the party list on Tuesday, and the make-up of the list itself, that Labour has cleared out nearly all of the dead wood of the 1980s and 1990s.

Former leaders Phil Goff, David Cunliffe and David Shearer have moved on, as has former Waimakariri MP Clayton Cosgrove and former deputy Annette King. Little joked in an interview with campus radio station RDU in Christchurch that he was horrified to see that NZ First’s 2014 caucus was more diverse than his. New names in the top 20, including Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Willow-Jean Prime and Kiri Allan, add much-needed diversity to Labour’s surprisingly monochromatic caucus.

List placings virtually guarantee that Radhakrishnan, Prime and Allan will be MPs in September along with other newcomers, including Jan Tinetti in Tauranga and Jo Luxton in Rangitata. Tax expert Deborah Russell, who is running in New Lynn, should also expect to come in on the list. But with a place at 42, lawyer and academic Duncan Webb will probably have to win his electoral fight for Christchurch Central rather than rely on the list to transport him to Wellington.

Much less attention was paid to these and other new and promising names than to a beat-up story about former Alliance MP and broadcaster Willie Jackson having a tantrum over his ranking. While most reports claimed that Jackson was acting in self-interest, others said that he was really complaining about Maori under-representation in Labour’s top 15.

Labour courted Jackson, who is keen to return to politics and was considering the Maori Party, and he has been given a safe list place at 21. Unless there is a rout, he will be in Parliament again in September and, given his profile and broad personal appeal, will be a good addition for Labour.

Sadly, a media narrative has been in place since 2008 that says Labour can do nothing right. Small disagreements are turned into monumental crises. Changing leaders and sometimes arguing in public has not helped, but the Jackson issue was handled cleanly and decisively by Little and the list was released unaltered only a day later than planned.