Michael Cullen infamously taunted the National Party in Parliament after Labour won in 1996..."We won, you lost....eat it". If I were a cartoonist I’d draw John Key sitting at the Prime Ministerial desk with a large economic turd on a plate, with a note from Michael Cullen, "We lost, you won...eat it".

I spent most of the election campaign in Europe, the Middle East and Mexico attending board meetings and with some think-tanks. I don’t know how anyone does any work in London, given the quality of the newspapers. Pages and pages about the economic crisis.

On my return to NZ, I was surprised that this had not figured much during the election campaign. Labour lost the opportunity to make the case that they can handle this crisis in a balanced way,　and the National Party did nothing to condition or prepare the country for this firestorm. Nor did the media seek answers. I saw the last leaders’ debate where the toughest question was, "Have you ever broken a law?" I was waiting for the ‘killer’ question, "Have you ever masturbated?"

The outgoing Labour Government has the most to answer. Key question, the economic and social goal was to lift NZ from the bottom half of the OECD, in fact we have slipped back relative to others. All this during the most sustained period of global economic expansion in human history, beating off the 1950’s and 1960’s.The last government changed few of the fundamentals, established with such pain and drama in the 1980’s, good for them, but they set a tone that has prevented mature consideration of our economic future. Their lasting success may be that they forced the National Party to read off their page. These were easy times. The last decade has not been a hard time to be in government, that’s why so many governments, up until now, have been re-elected.

The new National Government, and John Key during the election campaign and now, are not challenging the country to face the hard and iron reality of a different future. They, too, want to be liked and be cuddly and inclusive. I think they are telling the truth when they say they yearn for the Holyoake years. These were wasted years when little happened until it was too late. But, when do you fix the roof, when the sun is shining or when it’s raining? To be fair, the Cullen Fund and KiwiSaver were the best things Labour did, now the system should be made compulsory and individualised, and taxes cut accordingly, based on relative contributions. Hard to do when you haven’t asked the people’s permission during an election courtship.

Labour has made a good call making Phil Goff leader and Annette King deputy leader, Phil is focussed, disciplined and knows better than to believe the nonsense of the past 15 years. His deputy is a close personal friend and can be trusted. Not a small thing. Both have lived through the difficult days of the 1980’s, the trauma of losing their seats in Parliament, and fighting back. They are experienced adults who have suffered loyally through the recent ‘soap operas’. Both are strong family types and can represent the battlers, those people who work hard and want to do better. Now they must get control of the Party with a new President and General Secretary, who will work to get a wider Party that looks like NZ, something I failed to do. Given what will happen to the economy, and National’s limp response so far, which could mean they will have to take firm action in 18 months. That will be too late. You read it here first, Labour can be back within 36 months. A quarter of its MP’s are new, this is very helpful, and with a new focus, this can happen.

(638 words)

Mike Moore

former Prime Minister of New Zealand

former Director-General of the World Trade Centre