Advice for Labour from Jeremy Greenbrook-Held

Jeremy G-H is that rare beast – a Labourite with independent thought. He was one of the very few to condemn Taito Phillip Field, while his leadership was defending him.

He blogs some advice for Labour today:

Labour: English’s homes saga not over

Um, yes, it is. Well, at least in the eyes of voters beyond the beltway.

I earlier posted that Bill English should go. I personally still believe he should be removed, but any legal grounds for him to be removed have now been extinguished by the auditor general’s report. In the eyes of your Joe Bloggs voter, English has paid back the money and the auditor general has vindicated him – this matter is closed. Labour need to face the facts that it has lost this one and move on.

Labour do seem obsessed with beltway issues. Red Alert is full of them. When is the last time you heard Phil Goff talking about jobs, the economy, improving the health system, better educational outcomes?

Jeremy even blogs some better issues for Labour to focus on, that their beltway obesssions:

• Why are motorcyclists being singled out for a massive ACC levy increase?
• Why is John Key’s own school being closed down?
• Why are responsible drivers being criminalised for using cellphones while driving?
• Why are ordinary New Zealand taxpayers going to have to subsidise big business polluters under the Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme?

Labour are a bit like a dog off the leash. They just chase every car that drives past, catching none of them. Instead they need to focus on just two or three issues and push pretty uch nothing but those issues for weeks and months.

The public only hear a message after months of repetition. It’s not glamarous, but it is effective.