Labour archive at Grant Robertson

Archive for the 'Labour' Category

The Deputy Leadership

December 6th, 2011

For me this leadership contest is about putting together the team that can win the 2014 election. It is only through winning that election that we can put in place the programme that will see the Labour values of fairness, equality and opportunity for all become a reality.

In my time as a member of the Labour Party I have done everything from being a branch member to being an MP. I have always tried to act in what I believe to be the best interests of the Party and the people we work so hard to represent. It is in that spirit that I am putting my name forward as Deputy Leader in this contest.

While we face significant challenges as we acknowledge our defeat at this election, this is also an opportunity to rebuild our party, both inside and out, and to be an active participant in our communities. I believe that our approach needs to be equal parts organisation and inspiration.

In terms of organisation I welcome the announced review of the Party. Our core values endure, I believe we have a strong policy platform, but we must look afresh at all aspects of our organisation. Some specific issues we need to address are the recruitment and nurturing of talent, particularly women, in the party and the process for selecting candidates both in constituencies and on the list.

From this base, we move from organisation to inspiration. We must listen and connect or re-connect with a wide range of New Zealanders. We need to hit the road and hear from New Zealanders about their hopes, dreams and show them that Labour is on their side.

Our campaign must begin immediately. The first steps are to enrol, engage and inspire the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who did not vote at this election.

In politics I believe there are two fundamental emotions, hope and fear. There is much to be fearful of in the agenda of a visionless government that will see off our future and see the gap between rich and poor grow.

Where I believe Labour must do better is in inspiring New Zealanders. We must give them hope. Hope that we have the people and the plan that will support them in achieving their dreams, and look after them when they fail. Hope that we will make sure they get a fair go and that we will celebrate their success.

I believe I have the experience and political nous to make sure that our message is heard. I know that I can hold my own and best any of the National frontbench in Parliament and on the hustings. I believe I can connect and empathise with the wider NZ public. I can help unite the Caucus around our vision of a New Zealand as a country where everyone, no matter who they are is given the chance to achieve their potential and play their part in our success as a nation.

Posted in Leadership and Labour. | Comments

Ten Policies You Might Have Missed

November 17th, 2011

Labour has released the major planks of our plan to get the economy working for New Zealanders; taking the tough decisions for the long term, keeping assets, addressing the spiralling cost of living, and giving kids the best start in life.

But there has also been a lot of other policy, big and small, released that shows the hard work done by spokespeople across our portfolios to address the issues in specific sectors. I know there is a lot happening, so here are ten policies that have already come out that you might not have heard a lot about, but address issues that are of significance to many New Zealanders. There are of course loads of other policies, and inclusion in this list is no indication of relative importance, just to give you a flavour. You can check out all the policies, here.

1. Labour will provide an additional 5,000 fees-free training places for 16 and 17 year olds over 3 years, including 1,000 that have a M?ori mentoring element and 1000 with a Pasifika mentoring element. (YOUTH AFFAIRS)

2. Labour will work with the ITO sector to develop a Creative Industries Apprenticeship, as part of the Modern Apprenticeships Scheme. (ARTS, CULTURE and HERITAGE)

3. Labour will amend the Holidays Act to 2008 settings to protect the rights of workers to time off for rest and recreation and ensure that all NZ workers have access to 11 days off on pay for recognised public holidays, including Anzac and Waitangi Day. (WORK AND WAGES)

4. Labour will invest $75 million over four years in “e-learning? for low-decile schools, with priority going to schools with year 7 -13 students and the capability to deliver an effective programme . This includes Government funding for students to have individual use of a
mobile device. (EDUCATION)

5.Labour will immediately restore $13 million cut from ACE funding to improve access to adult and community education. (TERTIARY EDUCATION)

6. Labour will create a world sanctuary area in the EEZ around the Kermadec Islands by way of giving this area marine reserve status.(CONSERVATION)

7. Labour will therefore direct Solid Energy not to proceed with its liquid fuels lignite mining proposal.(ENVIRONMENT)

8.We will continue to participate in Trans-Pacific Partnership talks but reiterate our commitment to retaining Pharmac in particular as a bottom line item which must not be traded away. We feel similarly strongly about intellectual property provisions. (TRADE)

9. Labour will increase all one-officer Police stations to at least two officer stations. (SAFER SOCIETY)

(and for Clare) 10. Labour will bring the TV broadcasting industry together to establish a consensus for new Technical Delivery Requirements and a unified national standard for (volume on TV Ads) all broadcasters that reflects international best practice. (BROADCASTING)

Posted in Election, Policies, Own Our Future and Labour. | 1 Comment

Urgency- some real information

April 12th, 2011

This seems timely as we head into urgency again. Late last year, after the filming of a Backbencher episode in which I had bemoaned what I considered to be the excessive use of urgency by the National led government I was approached by blogger and National Party doyen David Farrar. He, correctly, said it would be good to get some hard information about the use of urgency over recent years so we could make some informed judgements on the issue.

As everyone will know I don’t agree with David about much, but I do know that he has respect for the Parliamentary process. He indicated that overuse of urgency by any party was something that concerned him. Over the next while we discussed what questions we could ask, and the end result was a request from me to the Parliamentary Library. Their full answer can be found here.

David and I are both writing a post on this. It was to be a joint post, but we, of course have some different perspectives. We do have some similar conclusions, but more of that later. David’s post can be found here.

So, the key points

• One statistic stands out for me. While urgency has been used to a greater or lesser degree by all governments, the by-passing of the Select Committee process has exploded under this government. In just over two years 17 bills have been passed without referral to a select committee, compared with five or fewer in the full three years of the three previous Parliaments. Now, there will be reasons to justify this from time to time. For example, in 2010 a bill to ensure Police who had made their oath to become officers under an incorrect procedure were still regarded as sworn officers did not go to a Select Committee. That was the right decision for the integrity of the Police. But where it is, say the bill to introduce National Standards for primary schools, that should go to a select committee. Select Committees are an essential part of ensuring democratic participation in our law-making, and to making sure the law works as well as it possibly can. They should not be by-passed at the rate they have been over the last couple of years.

• Overall for the three Parliaments under the last Labour government the total percentage of time used for urgency was 13% (99-02) 21% (02-05) 10% (05-08). National have not completed their three years but are sitting at 31% after just over two years. Although they have another year to go, I think we can say on balance that National has used urgency more overall particularly because the percentage of time in urgency has remained high (see below)

• Government’s use of urgency tends to peak in the first (or part thereof) and third years of a Parliament. For instance for Labour the percentage of time in urgency in the first year after the 2002 election was 35% and 23% after 2005 election. National had a massive go at that in 2008 with a whopping 83%.

• Under Labour the amount of urgency taken tended to tail off significantly in the middle years. Here National has taken a different tack with 2009 and 2010 having 26% and 22% of the House sitting hours under urgency.

So what conclusions do I draw from this data

1. By-passing the select committee process should be something that is done in only the most exceptional circumstances. It may be that a different kind of urgency motion should be required for that, with perhaps 75% of the House having to agree.

2. We should investigate whether there is a way of extending the sitting hours of the House in a way that does not compromise the integrity or quality of the legislative process. One suggestion that has been floating around is to allow for the Committee of the Whole House to sit on Wednesday and Thursday mornings when the relevant Select Committee is not sitting. I am sure there will be other suggestions

Posted in Labour, Urgency and National. | Comments

Ratana and Labour

January 25th, 2011

Yesterday was my fourth, and wettest, trip to Ratana Pa for the celebrations of Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana’s birthday (which is actually today). It was, as has been reported, a very warm reception for the Labour team, summed up by the Ratana Spokesperson’s comments

What you saw on the marae today was a strengthening of that relationship of Ratana and the Labour Party.

I have been asked often what is the reason for the relationship between Ratana and Labour. The Ratana Church came about in the 1920s as people flocked to follow T.W. Ratana who became regarded as a prophet and mangai (mouthpiece) of the Holy Spirit. The Church itself became a political force as well through the 1920s and 30s, with T.W. Ratana outspoken on the subject of the Treaty of Waitangi and land confiscation.

Labour had already worked closely with Ratana in the early 1930s on policy, and the first Ratana MP (and grandfather of current Labour Te Tai Tonga candidate Rino Tirikatene) Eruera Tirikatene was aligned with the Labour Party. But the relationship was solidified in 1936 by a famous meeting between T.W. Ratana and then PM Michael Joseph Savage. It is described on NZ History On-Line in this way

At the 1936 meeting Ratana presented Savage with four symbolic gifts. Three huia feathers, representing Maori, protruded from a potato, which symbolised the land taken from Maori, leaving them unable to grow the staple crop. A pounamu hei tiki represented Maori mana, which had also been lost. A broken gold watch handed down to Ratana by his grandfather represented the broken promises of the Crown. A pin with a star and crescent moon was the symbol of the Ratana church, Tahu o te Maramatanga. It is said that these items had a profound impact on Savage to the extent that when he died in 1940 they were buried with him.

Labour’s partnership with Ratana was based on a commitment to work together to return land, restore mana and lift the success of Maori. There have of course been ups and downs in the relationship, and there are a wide range of political views held by Ratana followers now, but as I sat and listened to the speeches, and talked with the morehu (followers) yesterday it was clear those strong bonds are not forgotten. They responded particularly well to Phil’s messages yesterday about coming together to address inequality and to focus on the education and health and well being of children.

Its become the case that all major political parties now head to Ratana to pay their respects. That’s a good thing, but from a Labour point of view the annual visit is an opportunity to re-affirm a relationship that is grounded in the early days of both of our histories.

Posted in Ratana and Labour. | 0 Comments

Reflections on Mana

November 22nd, 2010

There has been a lot of comment on Clare’s post on the by-election. My thoughts for what it is worth go something like this

Congratulations to Kris. He performed very well in his first campaign. By-elections put huge pressure on individual candidates. He has shown that he can handle the pace of a campaign, he is brilliant with people and has a good grasp on the issues affecting the electorate. He will have learned from the campaign, and has a great base to grow from. For what it is worth I think he will go really well as an electorate MP and by the time of the 2011 election he will be in a really strong position locally.

I also think Hekia deserves some credit. She is an articulate person who campaigned hard. Most importantly in terms of the result she has been campaigning/working in the electorate non-stop for about four years, compared to Kris’ few months. That makes a differenece. She had a profile and that worked to her advantage. She did not win, but no doubt she feels she put in a good result, and is pretty much hoping Key will reward her with a Ministerial post.

No one should get too excited about the margin. Of course it would have been good to have been bigger. (It will get bigger too. I think Kris will capture the vast bulk of the special votes, many of which were cast by late enrollees in the southern part of the electorate.)

The true majority in this electorate will only be tested in a general election with a normal (80% plus) turnout. At 54% we know that many Labour voters were not at the polling booth, despite the very best efforts of our team. I have to say that in the campaigning I did in the seat, it was hard to get people to engage. Initially the local body elections were a distraction, then later on it just seemed there was complacency about the result and a lack of understanding of what it was all about.

By-elections are idiosyncratic events. They do not have the pervasive context of a general election. They have lives of their own, issues and people that make them hard to predict and understand. This one was no different.

There are no doubt some things from a Labour point of view that we would want to do better and different. That’s the nature of a campaign. But overall from a Labour perspective there is much to be pleased about. Another young(ish) MP, with new perspectives enters the team. We have road-tested some campaigning tools and people and learned a few good lessons. The spin from the other side is predictable. But in the end its Kris Faafoi who arrives at Parliament ready to represent the people of Mana. Well done that man.

Posted in Hekia Parata, Kris Faafoi, Mana and Labour. | 0 Comments