No Right Turn has a good critique of Guyon Espiner's latest blog post "on the road to nowhere". I have no problem with people criticising Labour (or any other party) when it is justified, relevant, and has a good analysis backing it.
But Espiner's piece basically boils down to "the opposition should stop opposing". Climate Change is one of the defining issues of our time. Labour cares about the environment, our international reputation, and had a vision of being a nation that is carbon neutral. You don't go from that to endorsing or being silent on a lackluster 10% reduction target. To do so would be far more damaging that opposing the 10% reduction. And what bothers me isn't so much Goff and Labour being criticised, but that a journalist thinks that Labour should be silent (or support) National's disastrous position.
No Right Turn writes:
More generally, at its heart politics is about disagreement (and
disagreement about ends, rather than simply means). People have
different interests, and not all of those interests can be reconciled.
Where they can't be, and there is competition over resources or a
decision to be made, politics happens. I would expect a leading
political journalist to understand and work to convey the basic facts
of what he is reporting on. Instead, by seeking to cast disagreement as
fundamentally illegitimate, he is trying to erase those facts (and that
disagreement). And that does not make our democracy strong.
Hear hear.
Wouldn't a more interesting piece have talked about how climate change is one of the defining issues of our time and one of the major points of difference between Labour and National. While Phil Goff and Labour struggle to find relevance, Climate Change and a "new green deal" could be one of the issues that Labour champions over the next 2 years. Climate Change could be the issue that helps Phil Goff build an MMP relationship with the Greens and Maori Party who both have major concerns about our environment.
And on Afghanistan, couldn't the piece have talked about the risks to Phil Goff and Labour (looks strange because Labour sent the SAS into Afghanistan 3 times), but also the opportunities (New Zealand being strongly independent in its foreign policy and how the peace sentiment is stronger than the war sentiment and how while sending the SAS troops to Afghanistan now might seem like a small issue, in 2 years time it could be a major one)? Didn't Barack Obama oppose the Iraq war at a time when 80% of the US supported it, yet that same war later became one of the key reasons why he won the Democratic primary and is now the President of the United States?
There was so much there to build an interesting piece with some strong analysis. Instead we got "Labour should stop opposing".
NB: There is something to be said for agreeing with the Government on some things (when that issue is supported by both sides, when it is in the national interest etc). And Labour has been doing that in some areas. Opposition for the sake of opposition isn't particular useful. But these two issues certainly don't belong anywhere near that category.
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