Ryan Bridge: Confidence is key in politics

It was always going to be a risky strategy but it's backfiring quite badly for Labour.

The two-year policy drought is over.

Then heavens have open. 

And a flood, or more like a few rain drops, of policy.

It's gone haywire not just because Hipkins forgot his Health spokesperson was actually announcing a policy yesterday. 

But because of the contents of that policy.

In a nutshell it’s about letting some independent group of experts decide on health funding.

And as I mentioned yesterday, a trend is now emerging. 

Labour doesn’t trust itself to make wise choices. Or rather, it knows the electorate doesn’t trust it make wise choices with their hard-earned money.

That’s why they’ve outsourced decision making to other people.

They did it with the Future Fund and now they've done it on health.

In some ways it’s smart. They're trying to suggest National will sell off assets and de-fund doctors so there needs to be an independent group making decisions. 

But mostly it’s dumb because if there’s one thing kiwis don’t like backing, it’s a loser.

And this strategy feels like a loser because it lacks confidence. It's the message its sending.

It doesn’t say here’s where I’ll put your money and here’s how and here’s why.

It says, “I’m not too confident that you’re confident in me so I’ll give your money to someone else to decide”.

It feels a bit weak. It’s not a plan or a policy; it’s an admission of guilt. Of failure. 

If the goal was in fact to box National into a corner during the election campaign, that also creates problems.

Are these the best policies to grow NZ Inc and get the best outcomes, or are these just politically expedient policies designed to start fights on a campaign?

All of this, of course, comes ahead of their capital gains tax announcement, which is apparently weeks away.

What’s next? They’ll let a group of accountants decide who should pay what tax on what assets?

Confidence is key in politics. You’ve got to know what you want and you’ve to go for it.

Chippy’s so far left his mojo at the door and it’s showing.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It was always going to be a risky strategy, but
it seems to be backfiring kind of badly for Labour.
At the moment, the two year policy drought is now
over over, it's been broken. The heavens have opened and
a flood, or more like a couple of rain drops
of policy have come through. The reason it's gone about
Haywhy is not just because Hipkins forgot that his health
spokesperson was actually announcing a policy yesterday, but because of

(00:23):
the contents of the policy. At a nutshell, it's about
letting some independent group of experts decide on health funding
for GPS, and as I mentioned yesterday, a trend is
now emerging. Labour doesn't trust itself to make wise choices,
or rather it knows the electorate doesn't trust it to
make wise choices with their hard earned money. That's why
they are outsourcing decisions about funding to other people. They

(00:48):
did it with the Future Fund and now they're doing
it with health. In some ways it's smart. They're trying
to suggest that National will sell off the assets, they'll
defund the doctors, so there needs to be an independent
group making these decisions. But mostly it's done because there's
one thing keyws don't like backing, and that's a loser.
And this strategy feels like a loser because it lacks confidence.

(01:10):
It's the message it's sending. It doesn't say here's where
I'll put your money, here's how, here's why. It says
I'm not too confident that you're confident in me, so
I'll give your money to someone else to decide. Feels
a bit weak. It's not a plan or a policy.
It's almost an admission of guilt of failure in the
previous government. If the goal was to box national into

(01:33):
a corner during an election campaign, that also creates problems.
Are these the best policies to grow New Zealand and
can get the best outcomes, or are they just politically
expedient policies designed to start fights on a campaign trail.
All of this, of course, comes ahead of a capital
gains tax announcement. We're expecting that apparently in a couple
of weeks time. What's next They'll let a group of

(01:54):
accountants decide who should pay tax on what income. Confidence
is key in politics, and you've got to know what
you want and you've got to go for it. Chippy
so far, looks like he's left his mojo at the door.
For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
to News Talk Set B from five am weekdays, or

(02:15):
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.