September 16, 2009 9:00am by David Farrar

The Press on Labour

After spending years waiting in the wings, Phil Goff finally had the chance last weekend to deliver his first leader’s speech to a Labour Party annual conference.

Yet instead of headlines dealing with Goff’s vision of the way forward for Labour, news media coverage focused squarely on his apologies for the errors of the past and the fact that his party had not listened to the electorate. It was a curious strategy for a new leader anxious to put his stamp on Labour’s top job and it is by no means clear that it will be positive for his party.

It may not be immediately positive, but it is a necessary step along the road back. Of course the apologies were Clayton’s apologies, about as sincere as the actual Clayton in the news, as they were apologies about the perception.

Goff’s apology was issued for a surprisingly large number of issues, including the Winston Peters funding saga, the Electoral Finance Act, smacking, light bulbs, shower heads and high electricity prices. These were, according to him, the sort of sideshows which had cost Labour last year’s election.

But Goff is only partly correct. The issues which he highlighted certainly did disenchant many people, and National will no doubt be delighted that Goff helpfully reminded voters of the unpopular policies. But National also prevailed last year because it offered a fresher alternative and because voters determined that it, rather than Labour, would be the better economic steward in difficult times.

Yep.

And Goff’s comments also begged the question of how vigorously he, as a very senior minister before the last election, attempted to moderate his party’s contentious policies. The conference speech also confirmed the impression that the jury is still out on Goff’s leadership. Although Goff was regarded as an able foreign affairs, then trade, minister with a safe pair of hands, his judgment has let him down several times since he replaced Helen Clark as leader.

In July, for example, he was forced to backtrack after initially and unwisely saying that anyone laid off during the recession should get the unemployment benefit, no matter how wealthy their partner was.

Welfare for everyone!

But what must be queried is whether Goff himself represents the fresh face of renewal, as his arrival at the conference riding a Triumph motorcycle cannot disguise the fact that he first entered Parliament 28 years ago.

And that is probably his biggest challenge – convincing voters to replace a fresh new Prime Minister with someone who entered Parliament when Muldoon was Prime Minister.