Phil Goff

It is hugely ironic that Labour is making leadership an issue in the lead up to the budget on Thursday.

I say ironic because Labour appears bereft of leadership.

With the Bill Liu/Shane Jones cash for citizenship affair making its way through court and the political beltway it can;t have been a surprise to labour that this was going to cause problems.

Phil Goff certainly has known about it for all the time he was a minister, and leader of the opposition. He would have been hoping and praying it didn;t come to court while he was leader.

Shane Jones has certainly known about it, he was even called to give evidence on Monday. So it is somewhat bemusing to watch Labour, Shearer and Jones claim that they know nothing except what Shane Jones has told us and he has told us he can’t remember much as it was 4 years ago.

Let’s hope he was more forthcoming with evidence in the court room than he has been so far with the general public.

Given that this case can have been no surprise to labour, after all it involves Shane Jones and David Cunliffe but also other Labour names including their fundraisers, you have to wonder why David Shearer has been caught flat-footed and stumble mouthed over the whole issue.

It just shows how politically out of touch Labour’s leadership has been for some time.

Bryce Edwards though sums up Shearer’s dilemma he created for himself:

Quickly accumulating unwanted baggage is a reality for most travellers. On his journey towards the Beehive’s 9th floor David Shearer, the “non-politician” elected with no political baggage, is quickly getting weighed down.

Shearer’s office, along with Government politicians, are no doubt poring over the Labour Leader’s previous statements about political corruption in light of the daily revelations about Shane Jones’ involvement with William Yan (aka Bill Liu), currently on trial in Auckland. Revelations in court yesterday show the link goes further than just Jones, as Shane Phillips (also known as Shane Te Pou), a professional Labour Party fundraiser, had close links with Mr Yan, taking Yan on a trip to Hawke’s Bay which included a visit with then Labour Internal Affairs minister Rick Barker. His brother also worked in Shane Jones’ office.

David Shearer unwisely tied his leadership to a now meaningless statement about avoiding “gotcha” politics. No sooner had he uttered those fateful words, he was jumping in boots and all playing “gotcha” politics like a pro. That lack of political nous and leadership displayed right there will see David Shearer forever marginlised and mumble-mouthed when it comes to ethics. But if you are going to call others to account then you must also hold your own to account.

David Shearer has painted himself into a corner and bizarrely he chose the paint and the brush. He must live with that and start to show some of the reputed leadership skills he was supposed to bring to the job.

If he fails in this most basic of tasks, then he is dog tucker and labour crisi of leadership will continue.

As speculation swirls about the ‘unfortunate experiment’ with David Shearer as Labour Leader I did a quick search through my archives to compare Leadership rumbling during the Goff years with what’s happening now.

There are distinct similarities:

Start a whispering campaign on the blogs – check.

Blame poor poll ratings on the fact that people aren’t paying attention – check.

Promise to reconnect with voters by getting out more – check.

Assure the media there are no factions in the party – check.

Blame your political opponents for the leadership speculation – check.

Arrange a stage managed show of support – expect that on Tuesday.

Here’s a video retrospective of Goff’s leadership woes:

Interestingly – you’ll note at the end of this montage there’s a prediction from an anonymous MP that Grant Robertson is positioning himself to come to the rescue if Shearer fails.

That MPs forecast is now looking very accurate.

Transtasman has the following to say about Labour:

The Labour caucus must be a peaceful place to be these days for those who don’t seem to be doing much. A handful of MPs are showing some spirit, among them Jacinda Ardern, Sue Moroney, David Cunliffe, David Parker, Chris Hipkins, Phil Goff and Clare Curran. There’s hardly a peep from Nanaia Mahuta since she was given the education portfolio in a peace-making move after the leadership contest, Shane Jones is an invisible man, Parekura Horomia has lapsed into silence, Phil Twyford wakes up sometimes, Maryan Street is taking her health portfolio seriously but isn’t making much of an impact, not much would be heard from Andrew Little if Judith Collins wasn’t suing him for defamation and Rajen Prasad maintains a profile which isn’t on the radar. Deputy leader Grant Robertson, a very sharp operator, has to leave most of what he would like to say to David Shearer. When Robertson is front man because Shearer isn’t around he’s way better at putting Labour’s case and it’s being noticed. Shearer is at the dangerous point where, if he doesn’t start to shape up, rumours are going to start he’s going to ship out.

Yikes!

Charles Chauvel whinged about the proposed paedo register being unnecessary, that the current system works just fine.

This is of course the same system that allowed Te Rito Henry Miki, the sex offender/teacher to operate with impunity for years.

And who was responsible for that regime….why it was Phil Goff:

“I do not lightly promote legislation which in part may conflict with Bill of Rights requirements. However in this instance the risk posed by such offenders is real, and the vulnerability of our children and the need to protect them must be our paramount consideration.

“I make no apologies for insisting that protection of children takes priority over those convicted sex offenders who the court believes are likely to re-offend.”

Of course we now know that Goff’s law was hopelessly inadequate.

I welcome Labour and the Greens continuing to cuddle up to paedophiles and other criminals.

ᔥ Sydney Morning Herald

Peter FitzSimons has noted something about Australian politicians. Unfortunately Peter’s claim that it is wonderfully unique to Australia, he is wrong, I have noticed the same thing here. Even Phil Goff sat in the front seat, I know because I tool a photo of him doing just that at Sky City during the election campaign.

TFF has always noted, and enjoyed, the difference between the way male Australian politicians position themselves in chauffeur-driven cars, compared with the politicians of other countries. See, our blokes always sit in the front. Somewhere in our DNA is written that only toffs sit in the back, the way Lord and Lady Muck once did. Not for them. By sitting in the front they are making a statement – even if it is an unconscious one – that they get it. They are egalitarian. They don’t fancy themselves as better in any way than the person who drives them. In more than a decade of his prime ministership, no one ever saw John Howard get out of the back seat, unless he was travelling with his wife. Kim Beazley, I might say, was such a stickler for it, that even when travelling with his wife, Susie Annus, in a Commonwealth car, he sat in the front (and now in ambassadorial cars in Washington). It would amaze me, by contrast, if any American president has ever sat in the front of the presidential limo and I suspect the same goes for British prime ministers, German chancellors and all the rest. It is a uniquely, and wonderful, Australian thing. All of which is why it was so surprising to see the newly installed premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman, turning up for the premiers’ dinner at the Lodge on Thursday night, sitting on his own in the back of the limo. The working class can kiss my arse, I’ve got the foreman’s job at last? Surely not. But it was curious.

Stuff.co.nz

Labour bollocks-ed up Defence like no other government in history. They destroyed capacity and wasted vast sums of money on bleeding edge and inappropriate technology.

Now it has been revealed that Phil Goff’s last big purchase the NH-90 helicopters are duds just like the LAVIIIs. Once again some consultant got a big fat brown envelope and the REMFs have delivered a crap, over-prices white elephant to the frontline troops.

Eight new airforce helicopters, worth more than $700 million, have a serious flaw that even when fixed will prevent use in snowy conditions.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the first military force to use the high technology NH-90s, winning criticism from Auditor-General Lyn Provost who says this country should not be buying “first of type” equipment.

Her comments came in a Defence Force report published on its website this week dealing with the military’s major projects.

The report also reveals that the P3 Orion $373-million upgrade project has hit problems again with the air force purchasing an “as is” used flight deck simulator that is not compatible with the new planes.

The NH-90s were ordered in 2006 by then Defence Minister Phil Goff to replace the air force’s Vietnam War era Iroquois helicopters.

Provost says in her report that no other airforce was using them when they were commissioned although she said 16 countries now have orders in for 500 NH-90s.

“The NH-90 was to be capable of being quickly deployed in a C130 Hercules aircraft,” she said.

But it cannot currently and Defence is “looking at other transport options”.

These include the helicopters flying themselves all the way across the Pacific if they can be refuelled, or going aboard the navy multi role ship HMNZS Canterbury – but only in certain safe sea state conditions.

The only aircraft available that can fly them anywhere are the ex-Soviet Union Antonov-124 transporter.

Other risks are present, including the NH 90 being “prone to damage” from debris drawn into the engines.

“To mitigate this risk, NHIndustries is to supply screens that can be fitted to the engines.”

Provost says once the screens are fitted, the helicopters will not be able to operate in snowy conditions.

Oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them. An old truism and one that is only partially true. Governments lose them, but they lose them when they are considered incompetent and unethical, and an oppositions job is to make them look incompetent an unethical.

David Shearer’s silly statements on gotcha politics show how naïve he is. He has hamstrung himself, removing the option of making National look unethical and incompetent. Worse, if he now engages in gotcha politics he stands accused of hypocrisy.

This naivety is really on show this week when National lost a cabinet minister. They look unethical and incompetent, and that will win Shearer a lot more votes than any policy announcement or stirring speech or rabbiting on about Finland.

The inept Phil Goff regime was not great at gotcha politics, though they did get Ministers Worth & Wong, and nearly got Heatley. They missed massive opportunities to put the heat on National when a senior party figure had domestic violence allegations covered up.

Since then they have missed a simple play to make John Key look bad over information in the public domain. A company associated with a senior party figure has run into trouble with the United States over pollution in their waters, and of running slave labour ships. All this is in the public domain, and a competent opposition would start digging, start asking questions and see where it all unravels. On top of that this senior party figure maintains close personal ties with Michelle Boag.

None of these issues are dead, and a good opposition would go after them hard to make the PM look unethical. Then he can be attacked for not living up to his promises and putting his cronies ahead of his principles.

Unfortunately David Shearer doesn’t have the bottle and the rest of the Labour party are inept and will botch any effort to make such an attempt at gotcha politics.

Of course the PM isn’t a stupid person, neither are some of his advisors…this is wet and messy work and so some people are going to need to be called into the formerly smoke filled rooms and have a few come to Jesus meetings. Some of those meetings are probably occurring right now.

There is going to be more fall out from the whole Nick Smith debacle, it is just a matter of who gets busy first on who wins the spin battle.

Gotcha politics matter and it is so much fun to watch as well.

ᔥ NZ Herald

John Armstrong comments about David Shearer’s timewarp…just a step to the right:

Scanning the packed upstairs function room in Wellington’s Wellesley Hotel on Thursday morning, a newspaper photographer with long experience of the habits of politicians summed up what was going on with a pithy observation: this was not your typical Labour Party audience.

Indeed. If you were looking for symbolism surrounding David Shearer’s first really significant speech since becoming Labour’s leader, you did not have to look far.

Entry to the breakfast-time meeting brought a choice between mini-croissants stuffed with Camembert cheese and small glasses of muesli mixed with yoghurt.

In the midst of one of the most bitter industrial disputes in recent history, here was the leader of the Labour Party addressing the employer clients of a Wellington lawyer in a hotel which not that long ago was home to one of the capital’s more refined gentlemen’s clubs.

That will not go unnoticed in some quarters of the party, especially given the time Shearer took to come off the fence with regard to the protracted battle over union rights at the Ports of Auckland.

But what better way to underline the message that Phil Goff’s excursion into territory on Labour’s left is over and the party is shifting back to the centre.

The speech did not even bother to pay homage to Labour’s past – something every other Labour leader has felt constantly obliged to do.

That itself was confirmation that Shearer-led Labour is going to be a very different beast from its most recent incarnations

David Shearer’s farm sales blunder is totally inexcusable. In fact it is an unmitigated disaster.

On top of the many mistakes in his proposed bill which I have already blogged about, a bit of hunting through the archives, reveals that Labour’s “fresh” Leader with “fresh vision” is simply reheating a policy that Phil Goff announced in October 2010.

It looks very much like Shearer’s simply grabbed a Bill that was in Phil’s top draw and claimed it as his own.

What’s even more unforgivable, is that Goff got himself in all sorts of strife with the announcement, because he didn’t have hard details of how it would work, and couldn’t say whether or not it would be consistent with CER.

Having seen this policy bomb once before, it’s inexcusable that Shearer and his office would make mistakes the second time around.

David Shearer will now be wondering whether or not he needs to micro-manage his staffers in the Leaders Office because they couldn’t even do a simple find/replace on an old re-heated policy. It is either micro-management or constantly checking over your shoulder for approaching knife-men such is the ineptness of the policy. You really do wonder if it was deliberate.

What is more concerning however is the fact that he and the “team” in his office think they can get away with such re-heats without anyone noticing. it is either th

Here’s the clip where Goff was forced to admit CER would have to be renegotiated. Note he uses the same lines that Shearer is now using to describe the re-jig of policy.

It’s quite pathetic really. I thought David Shearer would be better than this.

Murray McCully isn’t a forgiving person.

All those foolish MFaT officials who are leaking furiously to a grateful Phil Goff are going to find out that he isn’t forgiving at all.

I’d say that every leak, every document that Phil Goff produces will just mean another 10 staff added to the list, and another $10 million shaved off the budget.

The thing is McCully knows that most people think that MFaT bureaucrats are fat cat, shiny pants troughers living life on the large. He will swing his axe even harder and then the leaking will stop, because the leakers will have an axe between their shoulders.