Labour fails to rejuvenate

I have not seen the final list, but as I understand it the only confirmed Labour retirements at the next election are Pete Hodgson and Lynne Pillay. The old warhorses of George Hawkins and Ross Robertson are standing again.

Horomia, Mallard, Hawkins, Dyson are all standing again.

In their top 16, only one person was not a Minister in the Clark led Government. A total of 21 former Ministers are standing for office again, and will no doubt form the great bulk of the Cabinet if they win.

National has yet to start (yet alone complete) candidate selections, but it will be advisable for John Key to send out signals to some of his Caucus about their futures, so they can make decisions with dignity about whether or not to retire at the next election.

What he does not want to do, is to fail to rejuvenate his Caucus, like Phil Goff has done. Goff should have communicated to more of Labour’s former Ministers that even if they win, they will not be in the running for Ministerial jobs. That way they would be more likely to retire, and allow new blood to come through.

Both parties always need to rejuvenate. It is not something you do at some elections – it is something you need to do every election – even if it means more experienced MPs giving way to new MPs.

Goff’s already tough job to win the next election, has become much harder with so many of his colleagues refusing to retire.