Kerre Woodham: It's getting harder to decide who to vote for

A friend of mine said to me the other day, “do you have the cliff notes of Labour's policies going into the election? I haven't heard much from Chris Hipkins.” I said, “well, you haven't heard much from Chris Hipkins because he doesn't need to say much.” The best tactic for Labour right now, and they've they copped onto that very early, was to stay shtum and let National and its coalition partners do their very best to lose the election. Christopher Luxon's suck it up cupcake to business owners in Rotorua and then the subsequent apology was yet another case of him having to explain himself. “I didn't mean it like that, you know what I'm saying.” He's done it so many times before. He did it with the bottom feeders comment, he did it with the sorted comment. He doesn't mean it, but it comes across badly, it's mischaracterised, it's misrepresented, he has to explain himself, and when you're explaining, you're losing. 

He doesn't trust journalists because he feels he's misrepresented, mischaracterised, misspoke every time he opens his mouth, but then that makes it very difficult to get the message across that National is the best party to lead the country. Why should Hipkins open his mouth? He'll only cop flak every time he does. Far better to stay shtum. He doesn't need to say anything. And it's Luxon's inability to connect with the public. One on one, he's absolutely fine as anyone who has met him can attest. As an orator, yeah, not so much. It's costing National. I mean, look at Jacinda Ardern. She was able to sell us a whole bunch of nothing in 2017, and then during Covid was able to sell us a whole bunch of draconian, and then increasingly odd, nonsensical rules that people, a lot of people just swallowed. And that was because she had the ability to communicate and connect. 

It's a shame that personalities play such a big part in politics, but that's the reality. Always has been. If you go back to the fourth Labour Government, David Lange was selected, elected, voted in as a leader because he could sell incredibly divisive and game changing and society changing policies to the electorate. You had a group of people who were working very hard on completely transforming New Zealand, and he was sold to the New Zealand public as “you can trust me, nothing can go wrong while I'm in charge”, and people believed it. They would never have got away with introducing as many of the radical policies that they introduced without having a brilliant communicator at the helm. 

When I read Sir Ian Taylor's opinion piece in Stuff this morning, I thought, yeah, I could have written this myself, but I didn't, and I probably wouldn't have written it as well. But I am so exactly like Sir Ian Taylor, apart from the brilliant creative and millionaire bit – I'm just nodding along as I'm reading it. Like Sir Ian, for most of my life, I have been a centre left voter. Like Sir Ian, I too turned off them in Covid when their ability to deliver on the most basic of the policies became abundantly clear and that there were a bunch of numpties trying to put legislation in place. Like Sir Ian, I found National MPs were willing to listen and they were coming up with good sound policy they'd been working on in Opposition. I liked many of their would-be ministers and I really hoped that by voting centre right, we'd find a clear path through the mess that had been left behind. 

But then along came ACT and New Zealand First, and as Sir Ian says, and I quote, “I was left with the uncomfortable realisation that my vote had helped create a coalition increasingly shaped by minority party ideologies that ran directly against many of the things I believed in.” Amen, Sir Ian, that's exactly how I feel. I'm okay with with centre right, but with those divisive policies from ACT and now —now that it's election year— from New Zealand First, they don't sit well with me. And that's why people are looking at TOP and that's why Sir Ian says he's listening. I know their policies are ill thought out and poorly costed, but so are New Zealand First's. And if I'm going to have a difficult minor party in a coalition or sitting on the benches, I'd rather have young people there than a bunch of old men who represent self-interest and dog whistle politics. 

How on earth can you have Winston Peters doing a brilliant job as Foreign Affairs Minister and then he turns into a foaming racist in election year? If he was racist to his core, you'd be like, okay, well, he's a rac, but he's not. He's just appealing to racists because he knows that's where he'll get his votes. He knows that there will be a lot of people who vote for New Zealand First because they don't like others. I mean, probably as far as I'm concerned, reason will prevail. I'm doing the whichparty.nz almost weekly, which helps you sort out who to vote for. I'm looking

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Mornings podcast from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
He'd be a friend of mine said to me the
other day, do you have the cliff notes of Labour's
policies going into the election. I haven't heard much from
Chris Hopkins, I said, we haven't heard much from Chris
Hipkins because he doesn't need to say much. The best
tactic for Labor right now, and they copped onto that

(00:31):
very early was to stay storm and let National and
its coalition partners do their very best to lose the election.
Christopher Likeson's suck it up cupcake to business owners and
Rotaua and then the subsequent apology was yet another case
of him having to explain himself. I didn't mean it

(00:52):
like that, you know what I'm saying. He's done it
so many times before. He did it with the bottom
feeders comment, he did it with the sorted comment. He
doesn't mean it, but it comes across badly. It's misc characterize,
it's misrepresented. He has to explain himself, and when you're explaining,
you're losing. He doesn't trust journalists because he feels he's misrepresented, mischaracterized,

(01:18):
misspoke every time. He opens his mouth, but then that
makes it very difficult to get the message across that
National is the best party to lead the country. Why
should Hipkins open his mouth, He'll only cop flak every time.
He does far better to station. He doesn't need to
say anything. And it's lusn'se inability to connect with the

(01:44):
public one on one. He's absolutely fine, as anyone who
has met him can attest as an orator. Yet not
so much it's costing National. I mean, look at Cindora durn.
She was able to sell us a whole bunch of
nothing in twenty seventeen, and then during COVID was able

(02:04):
to sell us a whole bunch of draconing and then
increasingly odd, nonsensical rules that people a lot of people
just swallowed. And that was because she had the ability
to communicate and connect. It's a shame that personalities plays

(02:28):
such a big part in politics, but that's the reality
always has been. If you go back to the Fourth
Labor Government, David Longi was selected, elected, voted in as
a leader because he could sell incredibly devisive and game

(02:49):
changing and society changing policies to the electorate. You had
a group of people who were working very hard on
completely transforming New Zealand, and he was sold to the
New Zealand public as you can trust me, you know

(03:13):
nothing can go wrong while I'm in charge, and people
believed it. They would never have got away with introducing
as much of the radical policies that they introduced without
having a brilliant communicator at the helm. When I read
Sirrian Taylor's opinion piece and stuff this morning, I mean,

(03:34):
I thought, yeah, I could have written this myself, but
I didn't, and I probably wouldn't have written it as well.
But I am so exactly like Sirian Taylor, apart from
the brilliant, creative and millionaire bit. I'm just nodding along
as I'm reading it like sir Ian. For most of

(03:56):
my life I have been a center left voter like
sir Ian. I too turned off them in COVID when
their ability to deliver on the most base sick of
the policies became abundantly clear, and that there were a
bunch of numpties trying to put legislation in place like
Surre and I found National MPs were willing to listen

(04:18):
and they were coming up with good sound policy. They'd
been working on in opposition. I liked many of there
would be ministers, and I really hoped that by voting
center right, we'd find a clear path through the mess
that had been left behind. But then along came ACT

(04:38):
in New Zealand first, and as Sue Ian says and
I quote, I was left with the uncomfortable realization that
my vote had helped create a coalition increasingly shaped by
minority party ideologies that ran directly against many of the
things I believed in. Amen sir Ian, though, that's exactly

(04:59):
how I feel. I'm okay with center right, but with
those advisor of policies from ACT and now now that
it's election here from New Zealand first, they don't sit
well with me. And that's why people are looking at

(05:19):
top and that's why c And says he's listening. I
know their policies are ill fought out and poorly costed,
but so in New Zealand first, and if I'm going
to have a difficult minor party and a coalition or
sitting on the benches, I'd rather have young people there
that a bunch of old men who represents self interest
in dog whistle politics, like how on earth can you

(05:43):
have Winston Peters doing a brilliant job as Foreign Affairs Minister,
and then he turns into a foaming racist an election year.
It's because he's hope, like is there. If he was
racist to his core, you'd be like, Okay, well, yeah
he's a but he's not. He's just appealing to racists
because he knows that's where he'll get his votes. He

(06:06):
knows he knows that there will be a lot of
people who vote for New Zealand first because they don't
like others. I mean, probably, as far as I'm concerned,
reason will prevail. I'm doing the Which Party dot NZ
almost weekly, which helps he sort out who to vote for.

(06:28):
I'm looking at the ministers in the coalition government and
comparing them to their counterparts on the left, and the
vast majority of government ministers are head and shoulders above
the alternative and my mind. But I do not think
I have ever felt less inspired, less hopeful about an

(06:49):
election ever.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
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