Francesca Rudkin: Let's hope for a classier week of campaigning this time

So the first week of campaigning is underway, and I’m already exhausted by the scale of scheduled events, appearances and the very bright pink ACT bus I encountered on Friday. And I’m mostly just watching it unfold from the comfort of my computer.  

How good is it to see the politicians on the road, selling their wares and finally giving us their vision for New Zealand through their policy announcements? Until earlier this year, the opposition's job was to tell us what they thought the Government was doing wrong- now they need to be more interesting and present their ideas. We finally get to judge whether they’re any better - even doable -and if we think they’ll improve New Zealand over the next three years.  

Week one has given us plenty of policy to unpack and queries to raise. 

We heard plenty of robust discussions on dental care, law and order, gangs, education and red tape cutting reviews- this is where the value of an election lies and where our focus needs to be. 

Where it doesn’t need to be is on attack ads and the amount of misinformation banded about this week.  

Attack ads, exaggerated statements and loose interpretations of the truth are not uncommon in politics. Everyone does it, always have, always will. Some would go as far as to say it’s part of the job description.  

But what I think shocked many polite New Zealanders this week was the blatant nature of the CTU advertisement attacking Luxon in the NZ Herald. I didn’t think the photo was that bad, and ironically National will be delighted at the outrage directed at those who placed the ad. It also conveniently draws attention from National’s own attack ads, which you’ll find online.  

On its' own, the ad may not have looked so bad for Labour - it would have been easy to blame the CTU for getting the tone wrong. But when the Prime Minister this week also had to correct comments he made about free public transport, and other Labour MPs such as Andrew Little, Willie Jackson, and Duncan Webb were called on false statements they made about National and ACT policies which don’t exists, you could feel the desperation building.  

Elections are a battle. After the misinformation and polling experienced by Labour they need to acknowledge they lost the battle for the week, but just like the All Blacks- there’s still a war to be won. For both teams one of the keys to victory will be improving their discipline, which let them down this week.  

Trust is hard to come by for politicians, and they should think twice before throwing it away. Desperation may be seeping it - but the only thing worse than feeling desperate is showing voters you’re desperate.  

Let’s hope for a classier week of campaigning this week. 

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