What the Leaders Say - Part Three

Reading Between the Lines - part 3 

Grant Robertson, Nanaia Mahuta, Andrew Little and David Parker

In recent weeks the Labour Party Leadership Candidates have sent emails to all party members, asking for their support in the leadership race. David Parker, Andrew Little, Nanaia Mahuta and Grant Robertson outlined their views on issues facing Labour and how they would address these issues if they were elected leader.

In order to make an informed decision I have looked at the information included in their emails and grouped it into five headings:

• Why are they standing for leader
• What does the Labour Party mean to them
• What experience do they have
• What are the issues facing the Labour Party 
• How would they address the issues facing the Labour Party

This is the third post in a series of blogs presenting the information.

Here is what they had to say on what experience they have had and why they are qualified to lead the Labour Party.

What experience do they have?

Nanaia Mahuta

I entered Parliament as a List MP in 1996 and have spent most of my adult life in politics. I have held ministerial portfolios and served on a raft of Select committees. As an MP I have successfully won my electorate five times, including in the aftermath of the foreshore and seabed issue which caused huge electoral damage to Labour. This period required transparent and accountable leadership to my electorate and the Party in a way that preserved the integrity of the changes I affected using the process available to me.

Grant Robertson

To do all of this we need a new generation of leadership. After six years in Parliament I believe I have the experience to do this job, and the energy and fresh ideas to inspire. We have the talent in our team to take it to the government, and to re-build our movement. Together we can make a difference to the lives of New Zealanders

David Parker

My experience as a senior Minister and in law, accounting and business gives me the conviction, real life experience and steel in my backbone to do the job.

Andrew Little 

I can do this. I have done this before. When I became the leader of the EPMU, one of New Zealand's largest and most powerful unions, it was a house divided. I led the project to bring it together, to modernise it, to bring through new talent. I built a union which took our member's issues out to the public, to the media, and won the argument again and again. We covered a lot of ground and during that time I dealt with organisations from small business to New Zealand's biggest corporates on many different issues.The one unifying thing, across all of these issues, was fairness. We got fair outcomes for our members and for New Zealand workers across the board because we worked together.

Reading between the lines

What strikes me when I read through the candidates' experience is how strong the Party is and how that experience is not reflected in the election results. All of the candidates have the experience to lead the Labour Party, however we can only choose one.

On paper, Andrew Little presents the best argument of all the candidates. He combines the right mix of emotive language and practical details in an articulate manner.  

Grant Robertson says the right things and has an effective slogan to hang it on. However, on paper his message doesn't resonate in the same way.  In person, Grant delivers his message articulately, passionately and with an inspiration that is not necessarily captured on paper.    

I like what Nanaia has to say but her message doesn't have the same impact for me as either Andrew or Grant. 

Although David's argument is to the point, he doesn't inspire me to follow him as a leader.

My next blog post will examine what the candidates feel are the issues facing the Labour Party.

#informeddecision