Audrey Young: Goff signals new era, but future unclear

Phil Goff walked out of the hall in Rotorua after his first speech to a Labour Party conference as leader, and into the embrace of former deputy leader Michael Cullen.

It was an important show of support, as Goff had been implicitly criticising the leadership of the last Government.

But Goff's speech was finely tuned and it avoided pointing the finger in any particular direction.

It sought to spread blame collectively for not listening enough to New Zealanders about their priorities, and not properly addressing "sideshows" such as the Winston Peters' funding saga, and the Electoral Finance Act.

"On occasion we got it wrong and I am sorry for that," Goff said with carefully chosen words.

The public can accept it as an apology - if it even cares.

The party can accept it as a plaintive regret that they misjudged what the public wanted.

Goff has not used the word apology, which has connotations of repudiation that the party faithful would not accept about their beloved former government.

Nonetheless, Goff has stopped sounding as though he has swallowed the manual of what you are meant to say when you are defeated.

He is starting to sound as though he is genuinely sorry and is open to change.

Importantly, Goff's message to Labour delegates was that they will need to change their own thinking and assumptions, too.

Elements of change were evident at the conference in speakers and ideas.

Federated Farmers chairman Lachlan McKenzie was a guest presenter, in a first for a Labour conference.

Goff and deputy leader Annette King brought over Monsignor David Cappo from South Australia's Social Inclusion Board, established by the Labor Government. They met him in Australia early this year.

Among the successful initiatives he talked about in getting school dropouts engaged in education or training were community-run programmes where the funding follows the student, not the institution, a familiar concept to Act.

His philosophy seemed to be "whatever works", a concept akin to John Key's approach to juvenile crime.

Key honed his political skills by watching Helen Clark. Goff may be learning a few lessons himself from Key.

Goff's speech avoided any strong attack on Key - he is too popular for him to do that yet.

He was more muted in suggesting National was sitting on "the sidelines" and getting its "priorities" (not policies) wrong.

On the face of it, Goff's speech went down well. But such is the stage-managed nature of party conferences these days that all leaders are virtually assured of standing ovations on entry and exit no matter what they say.

By this time next year, Goff's new agenda will be known and he will be talking about policies, not priorities.

Before attempts to convince the public, Goff's challenge will be to manage that promised change across the party.