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Something has finally emerged from the silent, yawning abyss that is the Labour Party. Unfortunately, it’s not policy - it’s their list.
Seventy-two names, 30 new candidates. Party president Jill Day and leader Chris Hipkins say the lineup reflects modern New Zealand. They’ve got candidates from business, farming, the public service, unions, and community services - Rhodes scholars, Fulbright scholars and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.
They’ve gone for a 50-50 gender split and diversity.
Remember, polling suggests Labour could win about 44 seats and Chris Hipkins is expecting at least 10 new MPs to enter Parliament at the end of this year.
One standout newcomer is police superintendent Rakesh Naidoo, ranked 13th - almost guaranteed a seat. He’s a list-only candidate, straight into position number 13. Pity he didn’t tell Mark Mitchell.
There are some major ranking shifts. Māori seat MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel jumps to ninth, while Vanushi Walters rises to eighth after returning to Parliament this term. These are high up in the rankings - and no, I haven’t heard of them either.
Names I have heard of, such as Camilla Belich and Deborah Russell, have dropped down the rankings. They may struggle to return.
And poor old MP Greg O’Connor - having had his electorate, Ōhāriu, withdrawn and redrawn from beneath him - isn’t even on the list. So this is a de facto announcement of his retirement and he’s not happy.
Now remember that Chris Hipkins promised policy after the Budget to answer our questions.
Questions like: will they reverse the public service spending cuts? Will they reverse the increase in defence spending? Will they finally unveil a meaningful capital gains tax regime?
But here we are, 11 days after the Budget and still no trace of policy.
So what on earth are we going to vote for these people on? That is anybody’s guess.
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