Column on Secret Recordings

So I had my appendix out last week, hence the lack of column. I spent a couple of days in hospital, cut off from internet and news access. One of the first things I did when I got out was to check the news and see what I’d missed.

So what had our nation’s politicians been up to in my absence?

Secret tapes, secret agendas, secret donations and secret trusts. Is there any political news at the moment that doesn’t involve some kind of cloak and dagger deception?

First we had Winston Peters and the seemingly endless list of complaints over his use of secret trust and murky “expense funds”. Then we had Bill English being caught on tape at the National Party Convention promising to sell Kiwibank, followed by Lockwood Smith making worrying reference to National’s popular policy concessions being just a way to fool the public in order to avoid “scaring the horses”. Both of these conversations were caught on tape and leaked to the media, followed by Helen Clark and Michael Cullen hailing them as proof that National has a secret agenda, and is trying to bluff its way into Government so it can sell off all the state’s assets and privatise the whole country. The Nats responded by alleging that Labour was behind the recordings, and that they may even have been doctored. According to John Key Labour is running an orchestrated smear campaign, desperately attempting to scare voters away from National.

Things have gotten nasty in parliament recently too, with Winston Peters insinuating (behind the protection of parliamentary privilege of course) that Rodney Hide is gay, Hide referring to Peters as a “tired old drunk”, Key and Clark at each others throats at every opportunity and Michael Cullen tearing Gerry Brownlee to shreds whenever he gets the chance.

It’s definitely election year alright. Some level of dirty campaigning is to be expected.

What’s disappointed me is just how dirty Labour has gotten.

Chris Trotter, leftist writer and historian wrote an excellent (though painfully biased) history of New Zealand last year called No Left Turn. The book basically told the story of New Zealand history as a struggle between the forces of greed, bigotry and hate (National) and selflessness, equality and egalitarianism (Labour). History of course isn’t anything like that, but the reason Trotter’s book worked on a story telling level (if not an objectivity level) was that the New Zealand left has a relatively clean history when it comes to campaigning. Michael Joseph Savage, Labours depression era leader, for example allowed the New Zealand people to vote directly on his ground breaking welfare policies, and fatally refused to take time out of campaigning to receive medical treatment, for fear that his people would be denied the option to make a proper choice on so important an issue. Such a bravely democratic move has become the ideal to which the New Zealand left is meant to aspire too.

At the moment they are falling far short of it, and even Trotter can’t make them look good.

Labour’s campaign, while having some very positive aspects (“getting on with the business of governing” is a very admirable campaign slogan) is becoming mired by dirty tactics and unnecessary nastiness. Be in Michael Cullen calling Key a “rich prick”, Clark calling him “diddums” or that god-awful anti-Key singalong at the party conference, Labour comes off looking bitter, resentful and cruel. Labour aligned blog The Standard is so virulent in its attacks on John Key and his “hollow” campaign that at times it borders on self parody (a recent article turned the Tony Veitch scandal into an attack on Key). The left is convinced that National is being vague on policy in an attempt to hide its right-wing plan for New Zealand. According to Labour and its supporters, as soon as Key gets into power it’s open season on state assets, beneficiaries, working for families, kiwibank, kiwisaver and any other policy that aims to help the poor.

So incensed is the left at the tactics National is using (and the success they are having with them) that it’s looking more and more like they’ve resorted to some really questionable stuff. The secret recordings made of Bill English and Lockwood smith, reportedly by Labour party activists, are a long way from the democratic and open campaigns they promised us the Electoral Finance Act would bring about. Can you imagine the ruckus the left would be kicking up if National had made secret recordings of Labour party candidate’s private conversations? It wasn’t ok when Richard Nixon did it, it’s not ok now. The English tape in particular seems to feature someone goading English into saying what he did about Kiwisaver, which raises even more ethical questions than simply making a secret recording.

The left loves to claim the moral high ground in debates. Often as in the case of the American Civil Rights movement, or our own anti-nuclear or anti-apartheid protest movements, they have a right to do so. Now however, the left has nothing to complain about except that their loosing in the polls to a guy who to put it bluntly, is really bloody good at campaigning.

The way to fight Key and National is to turn the debate to policy, to issues. In terms of their policy preferences New Zealanders have traditionally been a relatively left wing country, economically if not socially. Labour can go out and win votes on it’s track record. For example a public currently straining under the pressures of a recession will be thrilled to know that under Labour  the average hourly wage has increased 9.6 percent in the last 2 years.

In 2002 Labour ran a group of successful TV ads, with rising music playing over clips of their ministers in action, meeting foreign dignitaries, getting out in the community. The ads promised leadership, inspiration and the will to lead the nation. The tagline told voters that when New Zealand needed leadership, Labour led. The message was upbeat, positive and enthusiastic. It’s the Labour of those ads that they want the public to be seeing this time round.

If Labour can’t convince the public they have more to offer than scandal mongering and smear campaigns, the happy days of 2002 and their record breaking election victory are going to seem a very long time ago indeed.