Cunliffe's Kiwi dream

Labour leader David Cunliffe at Bluewater Hotel, Ahuriri in Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland

David Cunliffe turned up to the Herald in an old taxi van, owned by a mate who'd been driving him around for years - no DPS, no press secretary. Quite a change from John Key who had arrived for his interview a few days previously with a press secretary and five burly diplomatic protection squad members.

While the Labour leader is no man-of-the-people like his hero Michael Joseph Savage - whose portrait hung in his boyhood home - and still lacks the canny charm of Key - Cunliffe becomes impassioned when describing the old-school Labour values espoused by his Christian-socialist father.

"Every young person, no matter where they come from... deserves a fair chance. It's built on an understanding that some things help and some things don't help. Things that help are a good education system from pre-school to tertiary."

His vision for New Zealand is inclusive and centered around the everyone getting a fair go - "We... are not going to pull the ladder up after ourselves... everybody if they play by the rules can expect to get ahead, to be able to own their own home, for their kids to do well - and do better than they did. And that we have a basic sense of fairness, everybody pays their share, everybody gets a fair go and together in communities - with our neighbours, with our friends, with our sports teams - we are stronger than we are apart. I really believe that."

He tells me that furtive backroom deals will have no place under a Labour-led Government - "CEOs are saying to me - "How do you get stuff done in this town now? It seems like you have to be one of the PM's best mates... The other problem with the Government's approach is it's transactional - it's one deal at a time. And while they might be adept at putting a deal together if you just do one deal after another there's no plan, no strategy..."

Cunliffe confirms that a Labour-led Government will overturn the recent employment law changes around collective bargaining - "Those have been a big step backwards... and have really cut back unions ability to negotiate on behalf of their members. It's just not fair."

They will also introduce a 15 dollar minimum wage within 100 days of gaining power. And introduce a "living wage" of $18.40 an hour in core state services.

He agrees that managing the rights of workers and big - often multi-national - corporations will be a delicate balancing act.

"We need to be the Government for the whole country, which means we are going to have an eye to business growth as well as to the rights of workers... It's also working with the business community to create new opportunities... And having employees that are productive, reasonably well-paid and empowered to make a difference in their business, that's pretty smart HR management."

And what sort of PM will he be if things go his way this year?

"One with a real heart for the people, one who deeply cares about the well-being of all New Zealanders, one who wants to see a restoration of the Kiwi dream, one who won't put up with backroom deals for the big boys while the average family is struggling."