NZ POLITICS DAILY: National's disappointing, boring list

The National Party list for the 2011 general election is disappointing and boring.

But parties don’t put their lists together for the benefit of political commentators to have something interesting to discuss, and in general the list is probably a good reflection of National’s winning formula of blandness.

I’ve already made my analysis of this on TVNZ. Most analysis of the list has looked at it through the ‘identity politics’ prism to illustrate once again how ‘white and male’ National is – even Whaleoil is complaining about the ‘blokefest’ – and it certainly does seem that National has a problem attracting or encouraging females in particular, and less so with ethnic minority candidates. The Standard puts together the most comprehensive identity politics measure of the party lists. Does this all matter? Cactus Kate thinks not, and she’s probably correct in terms of most voters not thinking in terms of candidate identity, and some may even be put off by ‘tokenistic’ behaviour. What would be more interesting, would be to measure the actual politics of the candidates, as has been done in the past by political scientists. But interestingly, probably the best analysis of National’s list came from John Hartevelt, writing about the list before it was even announced – see: No rankling expected over new list.

As a further example of National’s prowess in politics, note the relatively successful ride that Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has had with his backdown on giving full compensation to red zoned houses in Christchurch – see: Brownlee backtracks on compo for renovations. What was in fact a significant political backdown has been successfully sold by National as just a mistaken human error in the first place by the Brownlee, hence the Government is apologizing for their change of mind not to honour their promise, but instead for making the ‘mistaken’ promise in the first place – a case of brilliant political spin, and one in which Brownlee is bizarrely receiving some plaudits.

We need more satire in New Zealand politics, so it’s very pleasing to see Denis Welch once again deliver by combining our love for Happy Feet’ with our indifference to Phil Goff – see: Happy Phil. On top of that, Dave Armstrong successfully labels Phil Goff as ‘the Ned Flanders of New Zealand politics’ in his lighthearted advice to the Greens – see: How the Greens can stop people laughing at them. A more serious and useful analysis is also provided by Tracy Watkins’ Greens look more cuddly to Nats.

Election spending rules continue to confound some of the parties that wrote and passed the rules, and so TVNZ’s Jessica Mutch has helpfully written a blog post, Election spending rules explained. It won’t be enough, however, to work out whether the fact that Multi-millionaire businessman now backs National is going to lead to breaches of the Electoral Act. Judy Callingham thinks so – see: Bored with your Monaco millions? Why not buy an election?, but her tongue seems to be firmly planted in her cheek (I think…).

Similarly, it might just be a storm in a teacup, but Prof Margaret Mutu’s arguments about the dangers of white immigration (White immigrants row) should cause further concern about the ethnic politics of the Mana Party, which she’s been cheerleading. The fact that Mutu, a Mana supporter wants white immigration further restricted to New Zealand is not as bizarre as it might sound. Maori nationalists have long called for restrictions on immigration, and even Tariana Turia has mused about the ill political effects of it before. In fact it common in the 1970s and 80s for Maori nationalists to oppose immigration from the pacific, too. It will be interesting to see if the leading leftists in the Mana Party now condemn Mutu’s reactionary stance.

Bryce Edwards, NZPD Editor (bryce.edwards@otago.ac.nz)

Today’s content:

National Party list

Claire Trevett (NZH): National's list has message for winners - and losers

Claire Trevett (NZH): National's party list revealed

Kate Chapman (Stuff): National announce party list

David Farrar (Kiwiblog): National’s 2011 Party List

Whaleoil: National’s list ranking, Ctd — Blokefest

Whaleoil: National’s List Ranking, Ctd — An unruly caucus

RNZ: National announces party list

Newstalk ZB/ONE News: Key tight-lipped over MP's fall in National's list

Kate Chapman: Henare hot over drop down list