Mike's Minute: Can the Opportunity Party succeed?

Well, welcome back Opportunity. I think I have that right. 

Opportunity is the former "The Opportunities Party". Now it's just "The Opportunity Party". 

It has a new leader and a new tax policy. They have been looking for a leader for ages and they even advertised. 

None of this is a good sign. 

Their biggest problem is the market is full – there is no room for another political party. 

There was no room 10 years ago and there's even less room now. 

Now, I don't, but you could argue that as the MMP environment evolves and matures some nuance is sought by a frustrated electorate. A boutique operator if you will. 

The major parties have faded and the days of National and Labour cracking 40% are gone. 

The days of a two-party Government might well be gone as well. So as it all fragments, surely there must be room for a small operator wedging its way in between, say, National and Labour as a sort of mid-way, subtle alternative. 

The trouble is, and I argued this years ago when Gareth Morgan was running the joint, 5% is actually a lot of votes and very few, if any, crack it. 

Look at ACT's journey – for years they needed a deal in Epsom to work the system and the coattail. 

There is a reason United vanished. 

What they should have done is run Morgan in an electorate. Name recognition would have helped, and he may have got the seat, got 2%, and had a party of 2-3 MPs. Being in and staying in is easier than getting there in the first place. 

Here is their other issue: nuance is not what we do. That’s why radicals are gaining support all over the world, from Pauline Hanson in Australia to the minor players who make up Government's in the likes of Holland and Germany. 

You need to be more left, or right, than centre. 

Could we also argue that New Zealand First is centrist, given they are the only party that can legitimately claim the ability to deal with either National or Labour? 

So good on them for keeping the Opportunity dream alive. 

They're still here after a decade. They're either visionaries whose time is yet to come, or dreamers who can't read the room. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back Opportunity. I think I've got that part right.
Opportunity is the former the Opportunities Party. They've dropped the
V and the party and now it's just opportunity, a
new leader, new tax policy. They've been looking for a
leader for ages, even advertised if you remember. None of
this is a good sign, of course. Their biggest problem,
as far as I can work out, as the market
is full, there is no room for another political party

(00:22):
right here in this country. There's no room ten years ago.
There's even less room now. You could argue. I don't,
but you could that as the MMP environment evolves and matures,
some nuance is sought by a frustrated electorate, a boutique operator,
if you will, as the major parties fade, and that's
already happened, of course, the days of National and Labour
cracking forty are well gone. The days of even a
two party government might well be gone as well. So

(00:45):
as it all fragment, surely there must be room for
a small operator wedging its way in between, say National
and Labor, as a sort of midway, subtle alternative. Trouble
is and I argue this years ago when Gareth Morgan
was running the joint. Five percent is actually a lot
of votes and very few of any cracket. Look at
acts journey for years. They needed a deal in EPSOM

(01:05):
to work the system in that coattail. There's a reason
United had vanished. What they should have done is run
Morgan in an electorate. Name recognition would have helped. He
may have got the seat, got two percent had a
party of two or three MP's. Being in and staying
in is easier than getting there in the first place.
And here's the other issue. Nuance is not what we
do anymore. That's why radicals are gaining support all over

(01:27):
the world, from Hanson and Australia to the minor players
who make up governments and places like Holland and Germany.
You need to be more left or right than center.
Could we also argue, actually that New Zealand First is
centrist given they're the only party that can legitimately at
the moment anyway claim the ability to deal with either
national or Labor. So the field's taken. So good on
them for keeping the opportunity dream alive. I guess still

(01:49):
here after a decade. I guess either visionaries whose time
is yet to come or dreamers who can't read the
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