Fresh faces seeking pledge card closure

Labour needs to show contrition at its conference over the election spending saga, says union leader Andrew Little, among a group of potential candidates who are expected to rejuvenate the party's ranks in the 2008 election.

Other rising activists see the conference in Rotorua this weekend as a critical marker to move on from the spending issue.

Mr Little said yesterday that working people would be "very forgiving" of Labour over the Auditor-General's findings of unlawful expenditure but the sense he got around his own members was that a "proper act of contrition" was expected.

That did not mean an apology, but he said, "There has to be an acknowledgement that a mistake was made, that a wrong judgment call was made."

People did not like the "finessing of interpretation of the rules".

If the rules were were unclear, then the spirit of the rules needed to be followed, and if the Auditor-General found that was not the case, then as referee his call had to be accepted.

Labour's $447,000 pledge card, funded through Parliament, is understood to have sparked the Auditor-General's inquiry into unlawful taxpayer-funded advertising last election. Labour has now promised to repay all of the $824,000 similarly identified in the report.

Mr Little has not yet committed to standing for Parliament but has openly stated he would like to one day - though his comments on the election spending are not likely to endear him to the present leadership.

North Shore-based Phil Twyford is among the activists who can expect to rise through the ranks next election. He said yesterday that it was time to accept public opinion on the issue, despite any perception that the process had been unfair.

"We have got to draw a line under this and move on for the good of Parliament and politics, as well as the good of the party."

He believed the close election last time and a continuing campaign against Labour in Government had led to an unprecedented level of activity at this stage in the electoral cycle.

The conference would be a critical one.

"For all of us it has been a pretty tough year and the conference is a really important moment to refocus ourselves, regather ourselves and recharge the batteries.

"The fact that the right wing has been so furious and so venomous in attacking Labour in Government, that's a very motivating force for party activists."

Stuart Nash, Labour's candidate in Epsom last election, said the conference needed to be "a conference of unity" and move on from the "small, petty" issues that New Zealanders were sick of.

He is another of the up-and-comers, but a key concern for a party that cares a lot about gender issues is whether enough talented women can be persuaded to stand for Parliament.

Trade unionist Helen Kelly is considered prime talent, but is thought to be preparing to do battle with Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont for the post of president when Ross Wilson steps down, probably next year.

Su'a William Sio, a Manukau City councillor, will be a key contender to take Phillip Field's place in Mangere.

Prime Minister Helen Clark is expected to be forward-looking in her speech to the conference today rather than exhibiting the bitterness that colleagues and party president Mike Williams still openly display about the election spending.


REVOLVING DOOR OF POLITICS

On the way in

* Andrew Little
Aged 41. Secretary of Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, Labour's largest affiliated union. Qualified lawyer. Has not stood before and not yet committed to standing at the next election. Affiliates representative on the party's ruling council.

* Phil Twyford
Aged 43. No 55 on the list last election and North Shore candidate. Secretary of Labour policy council. Former journalist, union organiser, international Oxfam organiser, and electorate secretary to Helen Clark. Now project director for New Zealand Book Month.

* Stuart Nash
Aged 39. Stood in Epsom last election against Rodney Hide and was No 60 on the list. Director of strategic development at AUT. Great grandson of former Labour Finance Minister and Prime Minister Walter Nash.

* Grant Robertson
Did not stand last time. Plucked from advisory role with Marian Hobbs to be No 2 to Heather Simpson, chief adviser to Helen Clark. Now works in Wellington for Otago University. Former president of New Zealand University Students Association. Earmarked for Hobbs' Wellington Central seat.

* Helen Kelly
A member of trade union royalty, being the daughter of the redoubtable late Pat Kelly, and a staunch unionist in her own right as general secretary of the Association of University Staff and vice-president of the CTU. Has resisted attempts to get her to stand and has sights on CTU presidency, but will be lobbied again.

MPs likely to bow out

* Dover Samuels
* Paul Swain
* Georgina Beyer
* Dianne Yates
* Marian Hobbs
* Ann Hartley
* Phillip Field