Editorial: Every government needs a Joyce - New Zealand Herald

Steven Joyce.

Opinion

Every Government needs a trouble-shooter, a senior minister who can be sent into dysfunctional state operations with the authority and organising skills to sort them out. Sir Minister Michael Cullen performed that role in Helen Clark's Government, Sir William Birch in the Bolger Government and Sir Geoffrey Palmer in Lange's. In Sir John Key's, the trouble-shooter was Steven Joyce.

As he follows Key and Bill English into retirement from politics, Joyce can look back with pride for his part in an exceptionally successful government.

He was not just its trouble-shooter, with the portfolios of economic development, transport and tertiary education at different times, he was the overseer of projects vitally important to the economy, notably the re-wiring of the telecommunications network with fibre-optic cable. He created the "super ministry" of business, innovation and employment and steered much of the state's research and development assistance to technology ventures.

Having been Associate Finance Minister to English, he moved as smoothly into the full finance role as English moved into the prime minister's suite, with hardly a dip in National's public ratings. Had National been returned to office, it is quite likely English would have stepped down at some stage in this term of Parliament and Joyce would have probably have become Prime Minister.

But instead National is in opposition facing a young popular female Prime Minister and National has chosen a younger leader. Simon Bridges made it evident at the outset of his bid for the leadership that Joyce would be a casualty of his plans to refresh the line-up and announcing his retirement on Tuesday, Joyce agreed it was time for a new team.

He also offered to assist National "in any way I can from outside Parliament". That is an offer the party will find hard to refuse. Joyce has led its election campaign organisation since 2005. That was the year it came back from its worst result at the previous election to finish just 2 percentage points behind Labour.

Three years later National defeated Labour by a 10-point margin and won the next two elections by higher margins. Last year it beat Labour by more than seven points.

Joyce ran calm, well focused campaigns. Only the "teagate" recording in the 2011 election seriously distracted a campaign. Learning from that mistake, the party leader and its campaign organiser held their focus through the "Dirty Politics" election of 2014 and the advent of Jacinda Ardern last year.

National has lost office because it lost supporting parties and failed to find favour with Winston Peters. Joyce takes some of the blame for that, though it is hard to see what more National could have done for support partners beyond helping two of them retain an electorate. And in retrospect it is obvious no National leader or strategist could have reconciled Peters after his superannuation overpayments were revealed.

Joyce returns to business having made a powerful contribution to the country's economic stability and investment. We need more people of his calibre in public life.