Vance on Labour

Andrea Vance writes:

So why then, when Labour are clinging to power by their fingertips, are Kelvin Davis and Willie Jackson so determinedly trashing that brand?

Last week, Davis was forced to apologise to Karen Chhour for a personal attack. The ACT MP had proposed the repeal of a requirement for Oranga Tamariki to operate in accordance with Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Davis accused her of viewing the world through a “vanilla lens” and failing to understand te ao Māori. She has Ngāpuhi whakapapa and grew up in state care. His words cut deeply and later reduced the backbencher to tears. …

Davis’ response to Chhour carried echoes of Jackson’s recent attack on David Seymour. He called the ACT leader “a man who claimed he was Māori”. It’s a theme: Jackson has also accused Paula Bennett, Mike McRoberts and Miriama Kamo of betraying their Māori identity and highlighted Simon Bridges’ inadequate te reo. (He’s also told Dan Bidois to go back to Italy.)

A real pattern.

That Davis and Jackson were quick to temper betrays their character. But it also speaks to a wider problem within the Labour tribe – who prefer invective to rational debate.

This is the anger of the pure believer towards the apostate. It is easier to suppress criticism by dismissing or marginalising the critics as ‘bad’ people (whether that be racist, over-privileged, transphobic, etc) rather than actually addressing the issues.

Ardern’s empathy and cool-headed compassion was not a construct – that is her nature. But it’s easy to be nice when you are winning. Now that the political landscape looks significantly less favourable, some of her MPs are becoming defensive. It is the wrong kind of anger to harness if they want to remain in Government.

I suspect we will see more of it as the polls worsen for them.