NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Politics

Opinion: Will crisis leadership get Labour over the line?

By Craig Cooper
Hawkes Bay Today·
29 May, 2020 06:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

What would life be like without NZ First occasionally taking centre stage?

What would life be like without NZ First occasionally taking centre stage?

Opinion

112 days until an election that, until this week, hid in the shadow of a pandemic bubble.

Bear in mind it was only roughly 75 days ago that we began to realise Covid-19 might be worth taking seriously. March 16 and the viral tsunami was on the horizon.

A week later, and we were locked, and down.

112 days will blow by like a dry orchard leaf on a winter southerly.

In Hawke's Bay on Friday, in the red corner, was Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern flanked by her incumbent and aspiring politicians, cloistered together for photo opportunities.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

READ MORE:
• Election 2020: The dates you need to know
• Heather du Plessis-Allan: Winston Peters might want it but the election can't be delayed
• Covid 19 coronavirus: Winston Peters is pushing for election to be delayed due to Covid-19
• US president Donald Trump will lose election by landslide, new model predicts

Down the road in Central Hawke's Bay, Lawrence Yule - recently promoted up the party list by the leader he backed in the coup vote, was hosting National MPs at the Chook and Filly Pub in Maraekakaho to hear from struggling Hawke's Bay farmers.

Disgruntled drought-weary farmers and Opposition National MPs? Peas in a pod.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
That, Simon, is not the smell of success. Not leadership success, at least.
That, Simon, is not the smell of success. Not leadership success, at least.

There was no photographer lurking for Yule and co - that's what happens when media organisations choose where they send their resources. You follow the leader.

Ardern chose Napier from which to announced a significant recovery package for the arts.

Discover more

New Zealand

How Napier care home stopped a killer

29 May 12:49 AM
New Zealand

The revival of Te Haroto: Summit Kiosk reopens on Napier-Taupo highway

01 Jun 04:25 AM

Post Covid-19 economic recovery will become an election issue, there is no avoiding it.

Critics have already had the obligatory crack, opining that Labour hit the Covid-19 nail on the head with a sledgehammer. Australia took a less destructive economic approach, why didn't we, they said.

There are two problems with that argument, which led to it petering out.

a) These days, your average dyed in the Romney wool post-war Kiwi has a gastric reflux reaction to any suggestion we should be following the Aussies.

b) We'll never know if Labour shut the country/economy down too quickly because, while we can compare the approaches of various countries, there is no New Zealand baseline to compare it to - we just don't know.

A Labour cluster, in Napier this week.
A Labour cluster, in Napier this week.

The other question many voters are contemplating is whether they re-elect Ardern and co based on a term dominated by good leadership that wasn't necessarily political.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Christchurch. White Island. Covid 19. Ardern has excelled in crisis leadership.

And while there is an argument that everything a politician says is political, Ardern's excellence has not necessarily been demonstrated through her party's policies, per se.

Ardern probably deserves some extra credit for coping with the loose co-leadership cannons fired by Winston Peters and Shane Jones.

Peters has been largely absent from the forefront of the Covid-19 crisis. He is smart enough to realise there are horses for courses, and Covid-19 was a race he didn't need to commentate on.

Peters is also an old-school, combative MP. Covid-19 was not his bag.

Speaking of gigs, the Provincial Growth Fund kite still has some dollars in it.

And the riches that have flowed forth in the past three years will be examined in the coming months - what has the PGF achieved?

Politicians are generally challenged to put their money where their mouths are.

When you have a mouth as big as Shane Jones and a bag of PGF cash as large as his, there is potential for a magnificent cluster-bomb of bombast, rhetoric and unfulfilled promises.

But Jones the Banker has mostly delivered. What was created with the money - jobs, regional economic wealth - is what voters will want to know next.

Leadership is a challenge for the National Party right now too.

Amateur political pundits on the periphery of "those in the know" are wondering why anyone would want the poisoned chalice of Opposition Leader going into an election in just 112 days.

National Party leader Todd Muller (pronounced 'fullah') is high vis now but will that still be the case post election?
National Party leader Todd Muller (pronounced 'fullah') is high vis now but will that still be the case post election?

Wouldn't it make sense to let the incumbent fall on his sword, potentially, and then give yourself a three-year run into the next election?

Todd Muller backed himself, and got across the internal party line. But the odds on Christopher Luxon leading National by the 2023 election might be worth a lazy fiver.

That's a punt Winston Peters might even be eyeing.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Politics

Politics
|Updated

Revealed: ‘Major milestone’ for education system announced by Government 

Politics
|Updated

Watch: PM sets Tāmaki Makaurau byelection date for September 6

New Zealand

NZ Herald Live: Christopher Luxon holds post-Cabinet press conference

Watch

Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Politics

Revealed: ‘Major milestone’ for education system announced by Government 
Politics
|Updated

Revealed: ‘Major milestone’ for education system announced by Government 

'Labour dismantled regionally-led vocational education – and we are restoring it.'

14 Jul 04:00 AM
Watch: PM sets Tāmaki Makaurau byelection date for September 6
Politics
|Updated

Watch: PM sets Tāmaki Makaurau byelection date for September 6

14 Jul 03:58 AM
NZ Herald Live: Christopher Luxon holds post-Cabinet press conference
New Zealand

NZ Herald Live: Christopher Luxon holds post-Cabinet press conference

Watch
14 Jul 01:33 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP