Paula Bennett: It’s time for action over vision

Things are going to get messy in politics next year, says Paula Bennett. Photo / NZME /

OPINION

When you are on the way down in politics things get messy really quickly. We now see a common trend in the polls with Labour support consistently declining and them being unable to form a Government based on recent numbers.

The Labour Party will currently be in a state of denial. They will tell themselves that the numbers aren’t correct. They will be going to functions in their electorates where people tell them how fabulous they are. I was once told that it is the demise of many a politician who only listens to the couple of hundred people around them and have their own thoughts reflected back to them.

Ministers will be out and about. As they turn up to events in our towns and cities, people will be hopeful that the chequebook is out so they will be treated disproportionally nicely. And generally people are too polite to tell you to your face that you have lost their support.

It’s easy to avoid doing an interview with Mike Hosking and write him off as being negative. Ignore that he has the biggest radio audience in the country. The protesters that are frequently turning up are also written off as just an angry bunch and not reflective of the wider community. But anger is brewing right across the country and in all demographics.

Their denial will soon turn to fear as Members of Parliament who won their seats or got in on the list last election due to Labour’s success (and National not offering a viable alternative) realise that they won’t be in Parliament at the next election.

An MP gets very selfish very quickly when they realise their job is at risk. They go it alone. They try and stand for something and say something that is off-message and contradictory of their leader if they think it might get them support in their electorates.

Leaders get grumpy and look like it. Attacks start on the personalities of their opposition. They don’t always do it themselves but have a band of nasty people who don’t have to worry about the truth and just constantly undermine. A classic tactic is to continuously say that the Opposition leader is looking to stand down. Say it often enough without any credibility or evidence and hope that it instils doubt.

They have to instil fear into the electorate. In their panic they will do stupid things (like try and entrench legislation) and since they don’t have a plan they will just push out the next average idea in the hope that it resonates.

They should stand on their record and their vision for the future but Labour has a record of failure and we are over “vision”, we want action. Look out for a hell of an election year. Things are going to get messy.

Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director-customer engagement.