Smiling, waving clowns

 








Bryce Edwards at Liberation calls it 'policy over personality'. Thomas at Keeping Stock says, 'Policy. Not Celebrity.' Both describe the different approaches being taken by National and Labour during the campaign; the Goff-free Labour billboards and the Key-drenched hoardings of National, the fliers, the television advertising. It's a very interesting contrast between the two lumbering oafs of parties, which contrasts again with the elegant style of the Greens :-)
Here, Edwards explores the ramifications of the policy focus Labour has taken and its potential to aid New Zealanders in making a good choice and how it might improve New Zealand politics which is fast becoming as shallow as the cover of Womans' Weekly.


"Regardless of Labour’s motivations for putting a greater emphasis on policy in its electioneering, it’s a positive step forward (albeit only a tiny one) in the need for robust and meaningful election debate. For decades now, New Zealand political parties have moved from stressing comprehensive programmes to emphasising the importance of leadership – with parties promoting the technical and managerial qualifications of their candidates and leaders. This form of electioneering also made for politics based around individual political personalities – and even celebrity endorsements. In this new schema of party politics, elections revolve more than ever before around a choice between politicians rather than between policies or programmes. This trend hit a peak at the 2008 election campaign which was both highly professionalised and bland. More than ever before, the New Zealand parties relied on professional campaign tactics and strategy, with the result that the campaign became meaningless for many voters, and because there was little to excite or enthuse the public, voter turnout was one of the lowest in over a hundred years. So let’s hope there’s a continued shift away from the meaningless electioneering, with a much greater scrutiny put on the actual policy pronouncements (and lack of them) from the parties. But we’ve still got a long way to go before we get to a point where substance outweighs style in the campaign."