Francesca Rudkin: Willow-Jean Prime was arrogant to ignore Erica Stanford

When it comes to politics, a pet peeve of mine is opposition members of Parliament who seemingly do little for 3 or 6 or 9 years and then come into power and seem baffled as to what they intend to do with the portfolio they are now in charge of.  

And this applies to all parties - anyone in opposition. Heading into an election, I find myself wondering what on earth some politicians have done with their 3 plus previous years in opposition.  

I appreciate that when you’re in opposition, you have significantly less resources that when in Government,  and don’t have great access to the Budget detail or ministry they’ll inherit when in power. But we’re not paying opposition MP’s just to perform occasionally in the House and in the front of the media. We’re paying them to fully understand their area of responsibility and have the expertise to challenge the Government’s ideas and bills so they can advocate effectively for the best outcome for all New Zealanders.  

A special callout here for list MPs - who don’t have the added responsibility and duties of representing an electorate.  

If you are the spokesperson for a fast moving portfolio such as education, then being seen to be across the Government’s plans is even more important.  

Willow-Jean Prime’s seeming lack of interest as Labour’s education spokesperson in a generational change proposed by the Government for secondary education this week irks. I’m sure she’s not the first MP to ignore correspondence or decline a meeting, but her refusal to work with Education Minister Erica Stanford on changes to NCEA irks because it looks lazy. It looks arrogant. Most annoyingly, it looks like Labour isn’t interested in working with the Government on serious issues that many New Zealanders would prefer adopted a bipartisan approach.  

I get that it sucks when your competitor is in Government, develops an initiative and reaches out for bi-partisan consensus. It’s on their terms and benefits them. But we’re scrapping the current national standards program for senior education and implementing a new one with a short time period for consultation. Isn’t that something worth coming together on? Isn’t it something worth swallowing some pride for? 

The excuse was that Willow-Jean Prime prioritised engaging with the sector over speaking to the minister. Yes, engagement with the sector is important, but you’d presume prime was already well. Being more informed by the Minister surely would only make those engagement conversations more insightful.  

Erica Stanford is moving at pace - she’s been moving at pace since she took on the education portfolio. Stanford is an example of a Minister using her time in opposition wisely.  

There isn’t a lot of time for consultation - Willow-Jean Prime is right on that one. But she’s had since March to get her head around the Government’s direction and would be much better prepared if she had accepted Stanford’s offer to continue working cross party on this. As an opposition list MP with a commitment to one select committee, there’s no excuse. She should be able to keep up.   

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
When it comes to politics, a pep heave of mine
is opposition members of Parliament who seemingly do little for
three or six or nine years and then come into
parents and baffled as to what they intend to do
with the portfolio they're now in charge of. And this
applies to all parties. Anyone in opposition heading into an election,
I find myself wondering what earth some politicians have done

(00:35):
with their three plus previous years in opposition. Look, I
appreciate when you're in opposition you have significantly less resources
than when in government. You don't have great access to
the budget detail or ministry. They'll inherit when in power.
But we're not paying opposition MPs just to perform occasionally
in the House and in front of the media. We're
paying them to fully understand their area of responsibility, have

(00:59):
the expertise to challenge the government's ideas and bills so
they can advocate effectively for the best outcome for all
News Islanders. A special call out here for listening peace
who don't have the added responsibility and duties of representing
an electorate. If you are the spokesperson for a fast
moving portfolio such as education, they're being seen to be

(01:21):
across the government's plans is even more important. Willow jen
Prime's seeming lack of interest as Labour's education spokesperson in
a generational change proposed by the government for secondary education
this week ierks. Well, look, I'm sure she's not the
first MP to ignore correspondence or decline a meeting, but
her refusal to work with Education Minister Erica Stanford on

(01:44):
changes to NCAA erks because it looks lazy, It looks arrogant.
Most annoyingly, it looks like Labour isn't interested in working
with the government on serious issues that many New Zealanders
would prefer adopted a bipartisan approach. Look, I get it
sucks when your competitor is a government develots an initiative

(02:05):
and reaches out for a bipartisan consensus. It's on their
terms and it benefits them. But we're scrapping the current
National Standards program for seenior education implementing a new one
with a short time period for consultation. Isn't that something
worth coming together on isn't that something worth swallowing some
pride for The excuse was that will I jen Prime

(02:27):
prioritized engaging with the sector over speaking to the minister. Yes,
engagement with the specter is important, but you'd presume Prime,
excuse me, Prime was already well on her way to
doing that. Being more informed by the minister surely would
only make those engagement conversations more insightful. Erica Stanford, she

(02:47):
is moving a pace. She's been moving a pace since
she took on the education portfolio. Stanford is an example
of a minister using her time wisely in opposition. There
isn't a lot of time for consultation. Will I Jen
Prime is right on that one, but she's had since
March to get her head around the government's direction and
would be much better prepared. She had accepted Stanford's offer

(03:09):
to continue working cross party on this as an opposition
list MP with a commitment to one select committee, there's
no excuse she should be able to keep up.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks at B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.