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Labour's new MPs and their speeches

Labour's four new MPs gave their inaugural speeches to Parliament on Tuesday night.

David Clark, Andrew Little, Rino Tirikatene and Megan Woods gave powerful and evocative speeches. Each has their own style and their own areas of background and focus: Andrew in the law and the unions; Megan as an historian; David in policy work and Rino as a descendent of famed public men and women and a track record of his own in Māori business.

Those perspectives infused what they said.

What interested me was the common thread through their comments: the idea and ideal of equality.

Each recognised our common humanity, and the moral equality of people, as being the foundation of how we ought to organise society.

They also expressed that very old Labour value: progress. The belief that by working together we can make our society a better place than it is today.

I'm proud of all of them, proud of the values that join us together in Labour's cause.

The videos are over at http://blog.labour.org.nz posted by Clare Curran on Tuesday evening.

Have a watch.

Telco and broadband people - help me with my thesis

I'm in the finishing stages of an MA thesis in politics. The case study is of broadband policy in New Zealand from 2000 to 2011.

Can you help me out with your view on a question?

The case study documents the rising tide of state involvement in (tele)communications - in regulatory and in investment decisions. The details are not the purpose of my ask so don't worry about that too much.

Here's the question: why was this rising tide consistently rising regardless of the political colour of the government of the day?

Ideological, interest group, voter bloc or distribution don't especially well explain...

What does is a universalist liberal view that the installation of high speed broadband is an economic imperative, an infrastructure states must guarantee access to.

What do you think? Comments fine or email me.

On the day that we win

When Labour wins the general election in 2014, and David Shearer is sworn in as Prime Minister, what will be the public mood? How will people feel about a new government with a big mandate to profoundly change New Zealand?

People will be sick of the failure of austerity politics, and they will be focused like Labour on policies that will spark more jobs, higher wages and faster growth.

People will be worried about the growing queues in the health system, exploding class sizes in schools, and Auckland's transport infrastructure being in crisis. They'll have decided the cuts have gone too far.

People will be incensed at the unfairness of tax and asset sales policies that leave most Kiwis behind but leave some pocketing heaps, not because they hate success but because they want *everyone* to have the chance to get ahead.

Voters will have cottoned onto the fact that this country won't match Aussie wages without stronger industrial relations laws that give people more power at work.

The broad swathe of that majority will be convinced that New Zealand can build a common future, tackling our social & economic challenges while truly respecting the environment. And it won't be frightened by the differences between us kiwis: it'll be celebrating that diversity in a shared vision of community and of New Zealand as the smartest, greenest, richest and fairest little country in the world.

They will have the frame of mind that sees them concerned about these things because the Labour Party, working with parliamentary allies and a wide range of communities, will be ruthless over the next few years in making these the issues that define what New Zealand can be.

Political junkies will marvel at the party's refusal to be defined by Steven Joyce and National's agenda, by its sparkling message discipline, its savvy communications strategy, and the ruthless discipline it deployed in making those things real.

They - and the public - will marvel at how, in a few short years, Labour went from a defensive and internal focus to a big, vigorous, open, welcoming organisation on which they could confidently project their ideas for the future, their hopes and dreams for themselves, their families, their communities and the nation.

Getting there is going to be fun. I hope you're up for it. Parts of it are going to be a bumpy ride, but the prize is worth the fight.