The Opposition benches of Parliament will be the scene of the most important and interesting political repositioning and re-alignments this year. The embattled Labour Party is at the centre of this flux, and it has the biggest job to do. Today's Dominion Post editorial (Shearer needs more than a catchy slogan) identifies the party's problem when it states that the new leader's existing vision 'is so platitudinous as to be almost meaningless'. The editorial goes on to say that 'Shearer is yet to give any meaningful indication of what he stands for, what his aspirations for New Zealand are and what he would do differently from Prime Minister John Key to achieve them. Mr Shearer is in danger of wasting the honeymoon traditionally enjoyed by new party leaders'.
In the Otago Daily Times, Colin James describes Labour's problems as being its increasing disconnect from voters he identifies as the 'beleaguered middle': 'Labour has over the past 40 years become the party of the margins: the very-low-paid, Polynesian commoners, the disabled, gays, feminists'. Meanwhile, James says that the party's activist base lies within the middle class. He recommends 'a deep rethink of policy and organisation' - see: Labour's task: out of the margins, into the middle.
But it's Labour's relationship with other opposition parties that is most interesting at the moment - see Claire Trevett's Shearer looks for potential allies in unlikely places. Trevett says that 'David Shearer has begun wooing potential coalition partners - including dinner with NZ First leader Winston Peters and calling an end to the Cold Shoulder War with Mana leader Hone Harawira'. It's the Greens that Labour may need to work hardest on, especially in light of that party's more aggressive and confident showing in recent months.
The Greens' new approach is the subject of John Armstrong's column today - see: Greens need to get in the Opposition swim, or sink. Armstrong says the Greens are aware that in order to stay afloat and prosper, 'they must be much better at basic Opposition politics. That means being more hard-edged, taking advantage of new Labour leader David Shearer's relative inexperience, and keeping a high media profile.' On issues such as foreign investment and state asset sales the party is in a better position than Labour to capitalise on voter discontent with National. This all means, Armstrong says, that Labour needs 'to grasp that the political landscape had changed'. He points out that Metiria Turei's 'provocative, yet important, scene-setting speech' contained some 'posturing' but an important message: 'Labour could no longer afford to adopt a "take it or leave it" attitude towards the Greens'.
This fraught Labour-Green relationship is also dealt with intelligently in Tim Watkin's blog post, Greens growth: The political maths of the centre-left, in which he argues that the two parties 'need to figure out a new way of growing the centre-left bloc without tearing each other to pieces'. Labour insider Robert Winter also blogs on this topic - see: Enter the Greens?: goading Labour? (http://bit.ly/z9arqx).