Election A Choice Between Two Futures: Labour’s Edmonds

Giles
Dexter
Political reporter

The Labour Party says
this year’s election will define the country for years to
come, as the party gears up for the campaign
ahead.

Labour is holding its two-day annual conference
– called a congress in election years – in
Wellington.

While a recent poll puts Labour ahead
of National and the left bloc ahead of the coalition,
polling was not mentioned at all on Saturday
morning.

Instead, the focus was on rallying the
membership, preparing them for the campaign and telling them
what was “at stake” at the election.

With four and a
half months to go until polling day, deputy leader Carmel
Sepuloni and finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said this
year’s election would “define the country for years to
come”.

Edmonds, who was battling through sickness,
told members the election would be a choice between two
futures.

“A country that cuts or a country that grows.
A country that sells what it owns or a country that backs
what it could become. A country that watches its young
people leave or a country worth staying in and worth coming
home to.”

Wellington’s inclement weather proved a
slight spanner in the works for the gathering. Flight
cancellations and road closures meant around 150 people were
not able to make the event, instead having to watch
online.

Party president Jill Day told those who did
manage to make it that simply getting to the conference
deserved a round of applause.

Sepuloni, meanwhile,
riffed that “the only thing that can be broken faster than
this National government’s election promises is my
umbrella”.

‘What is your why?’

In her welcome
speech, Day said members were asked ahead of the conference
“what is your why?”

She had received lots of different
responses from members, she said, and what had emerged was a
collective “why”.

“Our why is the belief that we rise
or fall together. Our why is the belief that a child’s
future should not be determined by the circumstances of
their birth,” she said.

“Our why is the belief that
hard work should be rewarded, and our why is the belief that
Aotearoa New Zealand is strongest when we look after one
another.”

Labour Party president Jill Day addresses
the conference.

Day told members the election would
not be won on who had the best values but on how those
values were talked about in communities and when knocking on
doors.

“Let us campaign with courage, let us campaign
with kindness, let us campaign with hope, and let us
campaign to win. We must win.”

‘I’ll make the numbers
add up’ – Edmonds

While Day’s speech was heavy on
Labour and its values, Sepuloni spent a fair chunk of hers
talking about the government.

“The government are
taking us down a track where the country we have always
known and loved is becoming unrecognisable. This is what is
at stake at this year’s election. New Zealanders deserve
better.”

The cost of living was the No. 1 issue being
raised with Labour when candidates were out and about, with
many people feeling left behind, she said.

She also
challenged the government on its overhaul of pay
equity.

“I’ve got four words for National and they are
‘Not on our watch’.”

Labour Party deputy leader Carmel
Sepuloni.

But Sepuloni gave no indication of how the
party planned to pay for the reinstatement of the former
regime.

Treasury has costed the savings from changing
the pay equity legislation at $12.8 billion over four years,
although leader Chris Hipkins has frequently rejected such a
price tag.

Edmonds also did not speak of any specific
costings for policies.

At National’s conference last
week, finance minister Nicola Willis accused Labour of a
“hidden bill” and of
“unfunded promises.”

But Edmonds insisted she
would make everything add up.

“We will manage the
books carefully. Every dollar will be treated for what it
is: your money, hard earned,” she said.

“I’ll make the
numbers add up, I assure you of that. Not just on a
spreadsheet but in every home around this
country.”

Edmonds accused the government of trying to
cut its way to growth.

“When you cut a job, you cut a
wage. You cut a wage, you cut a grocery shop. When you cut a
grocery shop, you cut the corner dairy, the local bakery,
the cafe down the road.”

Chris Hipkins did not address
members on Saturday, and speeches by Labour campaign chair
Kieran McAnulty and Māori campaign chair Willie Jackson
were closed to media.

The party did not announce any
new policy on Saturday either, although Hipkins is set to
make an announcement during his speech on Sunday
afternoon.

Labour’s polling is relatively stable in
the early to mid-30s.

The party did suffer a
five-point slump in this week’s 1 News Verian poll, dropping
to
32 percent.

However, in that poll Labour was still
ahead of National, and the left bloc would have the numbers
to form a
government.

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