Audrey on an ugly 2020

Audrey Young writes:

Monday’s 1News Colmar Brunton poll reinforced how close it is, with National in a governable position and New Zealand First out of the picture altogether.

It should have jolted members of the Government out of its sense belief that every new Government is entitled to a second term and that theirs will be no different.

The last three TV polls have all shown it is incredibly close whether or not the Government gets a 2nd term.

Ardern’s claim that the poll has a built-in bias against Labour is not supported by the facts.

And as was pointed out on Kiwiblog, its last pre-election poll in 2014 gave Labour 25.2 per cent and it got 25.1 per cent of the vote; in 2011 its last pre-election poll was 28 per cent for Labour and it received 27.5 per cent of the vote; and in 2008 its last poll recorded 35 per cent for Labour and it received 34 per cent.

Pleased to see media pick up on this. The claim by the PM couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The ugliest row this week was over political donations – legislation passed under urgency which does nothing to enhance transparency or to prevent parties concealing the source of it donors in a trust, capped off Winston Peters’ attack on a former president of his party.

The process was a disgrace to the very democracy it purports to protect in election 2020.

They rammed an electoral amendment bill through Parliament in 25 hours without allowing any consultation. Shame on them.