Audrey Young: A party eager to manage dissent

Labour's list-ranking exercise illustrates its readiness for an election - and possibly earlier than Helen Clark's previously stated preference of September.

Party president Mike Williams is certainly willing to keep the prospect alive.

"You wouldn't have to dig too deep to find a reason and that's the truth of the matter," he said at a press conference yesterday announcing the list ranking.

And taking little care in the choice of his words, he said of the Labour-led minority Government: "It could fall at any time."

Labour's well-polished public relations techniques were deployed in the announcement.

The list was published moments before Helen Clark's post-Cabinet press conference in Wellington, giving reporters virtually no time to absorb it before quizzing her.

So no attention was drawn to the fact that George Hawkins withdrew from the list out of pique at his No 25 ranking - the lowest ranking for any member of the Executive.

No one was able to ask Helen Clark why, when National treated Mr Hawkins badly, it was accused of picking on him because of his stroke-impairment, but when Labour treated him badly, it is the democracy of the list committee at work.

There was little chance of revolt at Mr Hawkins' treatment, as occurred last year when the axe was hanging over his Cabinet position.

MPs are geared towards their own campaigns at this stage - and losing list ranking when you already have a safe seat is hardly a federal case.

The most lethal issue in the list ranking was the placement of Maori MPs whose positions are tenuous because they supported the Foreshore and Seabed Bill.

But that problem was sorted out well before the list committee deliberated at the weekend.

Shane Jones is ahead of some MPs, but not ahead of any Maori constituency MPs.

Even with a known percentage of support, it is impossible to know how many MPs a party will have (it depends on how many votes from discounted parties are cast) or what proportion of its seats will be list or constituency (of the 52 MPs elected under the Labour ticket last election, 45 were in constituencies and seven from the list).

But it is safe to say that on current polling and yesterday's ranking, all of Labour's MPs would be returned, even the lacklustre ones.

It was typically undaring, a low-risk list for a party focused on being returned for a third term.

Labour sacrificed the possibility of rejuvenating its benches with fresh candidates for the safety of silence from potentially slighted candidates.

As Mr Williams put it so neatly yesterday: "Disunity is a killer of political parties."

Opposition parties are providing the copy these days on dissent - and that makes Labour more election-ready than most.