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NZLP REVIEW 2014/5

RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTIONS as at 21.05.15
PART 1 General Election 2014
Conclusion and recommendation
1A Campaign organisation
The late start under a changed leadership team left too little time to allow Labour to
prepare and implement an effective campaign. In general, Labours campaign
preparation was inadequate.
The new leadership team should make an immediate start on developing and
implementing a coordinated strategic plan for contesting the 2017 election. A small and
properly constituted Campaign Committee should be established at least a year out from
the election and should be charged with preparing and implementing a campaign
strategy which achieves buy-in from everyone, from the leader down.

1B Candidate selection
Candidate selection on the whole worked well and produced some excellent candidates.
Late candidate selection hampered some 2014 electorate campaigns.
There should be a strategy developed for early selections and electorates with limited
potential to generate a significant candidate pool. Attention should be paid to the
transparency and fairness of the process for drawing up the list and to the structure of the
list.

1C Leadership training
The Party made considerable efforts to provide training for candidates, campaign
managers and volunteers, but those efforts were hindered by the lack of both human and
financial resources.
The expertise to deliver training for candidates, campaign managers and volunteers is
available and needs to be deployed over the three-year time scale, with sufficient
resources so as to make a real difference for the 2017 campaign.

Response to the
recommendation

Action required for

implementation

Implementation action
taken to date

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1D Fundraising
The campaign was undoubtedly hindered by a shortage of financial resources. The
finance available was less than in earlier campaigns, though only a little less by
comparison with 2011. Labour must do better in this respect in 2017.
Labour must build greater confidence in its ability to win and to form a successful
government, and - in addition to building its database of online donors - it must use highlevel business and other contacts, supported by a strengthened group of professional
fundraisers on the staff team, in approaching the corporate sector and other potential
sources of funding for donations.

1E Leadership
Perceptions of tension around the leadership and disunity within caucus seriously
undermined Labours credibility with voters and frustrated any attempt to present a
Party that was ready for government.
It is imperative that Labour acts - and is seen to act as a disciplined and coherent team
that is ready for government if it is to win the trust of voters in 2017.
As a key element of this process, the senior leadership team within Caucus should be
given greater prominence and responsibility throughout the three years.

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1F Policy and messaging
Labour did not present a coherent and convincing image of itself or its policies. There was
a general lack of message discipline, and the policies put forward at the election were
often complex, difficult to understand and easily misrepresented by our opponents.
Great care should be taken in deciding when and which policies should be put before the
public, and the language that should be used to explain them. Complex policies should be
launched early so that a sustained effort is made to explain them properly and to rebut
criticism. Policies launched during the campaign should be easily understood and
guaranteed to make an immediate appeal to significant groups of voters. Within a threeyear strategy covering the whole organisation, timelines and processes for policy
development and announcement should be clearly set and adhered to.

1G Messaging
A coherent and consistent communications plan with clear accountabilities should form
part of the three-year strategy; it should be adhered to and applied by all parts of the
Party. The Leader should merge the Parliamentary Media and Communications units and
ensure the Media & Communications Director is given the authority to lead and manage
the execution of this strategy. The Party, Caucus and all its spokespeople need to work
harder on maintaining message discipline and in developing mutually beneficial
relationships with media outlets and individual journalists at all levels.

1H Government formation
Labour was undoubtedly harmed by the prospect that a Labour-led government would
depend on the support of a range of other parties. The voters lacked confidence as to
what that might mean, which eroded trust in a potential Labour-led Government.
Labour must make a concerted effort to establish a constructive - but clear-eyed and
honest - relationship with aligned parties in the new parliament. The issue should not,
however, preclude Labour from contesting for every vote and being clear that maximising
the Labour vote is the primary objective.

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1I Targetting and Direct Voter Contact
The huge effort made by activists and volunteers in so many electorates means that it is
more important than ever that those efforts should be properly directed for maximum
return.
Modern communications, including social media, should be properly resourced, analysis
must be undertaken of the implications of the increase in advance voting (including for
methods of campaigning and targeting), and Labour should continue to develop its
growing expertise in the modern techniques of targeting.

1J Party Vote
The Labour campaign suffered from the failure to persuade Labour voters of the
importance of the Party Vote.
The Party must ensure that at every level its organising focus and public messaging for
the 2017 campaign is directed at lifting the Party Vote.

1K Mori seats
The Mori seats provided one of the few bright spots for Labour in the 2014 election. It is
incumbent on the Party to learn the lessons of that relative success and apply them, in
respect of both the Mori and general electorates, to the 2017 campaign and to
recognise the responsibility that it now bears as the primary voice of Mori in New
Zealand politics.
The response should be a higher profile for Mori members and activists in the Party as a
whole and a more attentive ear to both Mori interests and advice. Labour should also
consider measures to persuade a higher proportion of eligible Mori voters to register and
to vote.

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1L Voter enrolment/turnout
The missing million not enrolled or enrolled and not voting - are an affront to our
democracy, and a missed opportunity for Labour. A campaign to enrol voters
(irrespective of their voting intentions) would be good for our democracy and positive for
Labour, and could provide a useful focus for Party members and volunteers in the years
before election campaigning itself gets under way.
Action should arise from a review of the voter targeting and other work undertaken
during the election to engage the missing million. Integrated with this, high quality
research must be undertaken on patterns of non-voting and the best way to target those
people. Labours input to the Parliamentary select committee review of the General
Election and Labours Justice spokesperson should focus on why 1 million people didnt
vote, and what could be done to address that.

PART 2 Policy and Positioning

(Note: Part 2 does not provide explicit recommendations. What follows is an abstract of the key directions of the Reviews argument. Consideration of these directions
suggests that, first, they might be passed on to Policy Council, to be included in policy development, and, second, be provided to the Media and Communications Unit, for
inclusion in branding and messaging developments.

Key point

Response

Action required

Implementation

2A Labour must take on board and respond to a rapidly changing and complex
environment, involving the rise of free market policies, a consequent rise in inequality
and poverty, changing demographics, change in the labour market and in social
challenges

2B Labour has still to define positively and confidently convincing, alternative macroeconomic policies, which also respond to wider social and environmental issues,
despite emerging international challenges to neo-liberal orthodoxy

2C Labour needs to develop micro-economic policies in line with a renewed macroeconomic focus, including a fair taxation policy

2D Labour should promote the important role to be played by government in a modern

economy

2E Labour should be seen as pro-business, particularly in relation to the small business

sector, as opposed to big business

2F Labour must emphasise its values (fairness, social cohesion, freedom of choice and

Comment [TB1]: Maybe with an

enhanced focus on small ad medium
business enterprises.

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action) as it differentiates its values from those of its opponents, as values earn trust
from voters

2G Labour must commit to a vision of a united New Zealand, founded on the Treaty of
Waitangi

2H Labours future campaigns must pose against its opponents a fresh and coherent
vision for New Zealand, which requires the re-shaping of traditional concerns and
values

PART 3 Party Governance and Organisation

Conclusion and recommendation

3A Party legal status
There is an urgent need to clarify the Partys legal status, required not only for
ethical reasons of increasing transparency, but also to enable the Party to more
effectively use resources available to it, in particular funding. It could also clarify
the responsibilities and accountabilities of entities and individuals within the
organisation. Labour needs to be proactive and agree a legal model that is
realistic about the competitive nature of politics but also increases the
effectiveness of the Party organisation.

NZCouncil or NZC
officers esponse to
the
recommendation

Action required for

implementation

Implementation action
taken to date

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3B Clarified organisational structure at a national level
The Partys organisational structure should reflect the dual role of the Party the
maintenance of a viable disciplined political organisation and the need to develop
a sustainable effective campaigning capacity to win elections. It requires clarity as
to where the authority lies for what function.
An Executive should be established with, first, the role and function of developing
and overseeing the implementation of the campaign strategy to win the next
election and, secondly, providing for a platform for the joint exercise of the
functions of the Parliamentary Leader, the President, the Caucus and the Party.
The Executive should also develop the Strategic Selection Criteria to ensure
candidates are selected on merit consistent with the Partys commitment to
ensuring diversity in its Parliamentary representatives. The Executive would report
to the NZ Council, which would retain the overall governance role. The
membership of the Executive should comprise the President, two senior Vice
Presidents, General Secretary, and three Party members elected directly by the
membership immediately after the election, for a 3 year term. These members
must have between them skills at campaigning, funding and organisation. The
Executive should also include, ex-officio, the Parliamentary Leader and Deputy
Leader to attend in person. Members of the Executive should also be members of
the NZ Council. The Executive should meet monthly or more frequently if
required. The Executive is a committee of the NZ Council.
The NZ Council should remain the governing body between annual conferences. It
should meet four times a year. Its membership should remain substantially the
same, with the inclusion of Executive members not already on the NZ Council. As
this is the central governing body it is important that it is fully representative as is
the intention at the moment. Consideration may be given to the inclusion of an
ethnic representative as the other significant sector groups are represented.
A Campaign Committee should also be appointed by the NZ Council. The
membership of this Committee should reflect the professional skills required to
conduct a campaign. It should also include the Party and Parliamentary Party
leadership or their representatives. The Campaign Committee must establish a
liaison with the Hubs that have the primary responsibility for the Party Vote
campaign.
Sector groups need to be reviewed in terms of the current role and function. It is
understood that this review is underway. While the sectors were originally a
means to ensure the Party was inclusive of the interests in the wider community
and thus attractive to voters from those sectors, it is open to question whether
the sector groups in their current form still fulfil this function. Obviously the Party

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needs to be representative to appeal to the community at large but the Party
needs to be assured it has the most effective structure to achieve this.
Te Kaunihera Mori, the Mori section of the Party, should also undertake a
review initiated by Mori members and Party representatives to ensure that the
most effective organisational structure is in place. The First Review Report
acknowledges the Mori electorates as the only real campaign success of the 2014
election. Much can be learnt from this experience, in particular how to conduct a
campaign that related to the real life experience of Mori constituents.

3C Clarified organisational structure at a regional and local level

The primary membership entity should be the LEC, being a body of 12-15
members of the LEC elected directly by the members or any other Party election.
The role of the LEC is primarily to organise the Partys activities at electorate level,
with those activities primarily directed at implementing an election campaign
strategy. LECs often have greater understanding of the campaigning needs of the
local electorates and this should be recognised within a campaign strategy but - as
the Party Vote is the only vote that counts in the end - the electorate strategy
must be consistent with a Party Vote strategy as developed by the Executive and
delivered through the Hub.
Branches should continue to exist where members support them but without a
vote on the LEC. They should have no direct representation on the LEC, or but may
support individual branch members for election to the LEC.
Regional Councils should be abolished and replaced by Hubs with the primary
responsibility of implementing the Party Vote campaign and strategy, organised
on the basis of natural groups and not necessarily following geographical
boundaries. The Hub structure should include an organising committee with
representatives from the LECs and Mori electorates in the Hub area. There
needs to be link between the regional hub and the Executive. This link could be
either or both Member of Parliament or Regional Representative.
Regional representatives on NZ Council should be elected by the LECs within the
region so the regions remain but the focus is on the campaign strategy. The LEC is
in effect the primary organisational entity within the Party at local level. Regional
conferences should remain for that purpose with the focus on policy discussion
and campaigning.

3D Affiliates
The affiliates have an historic role within the Labour Party which has to be
respected and preserved. Union organisations have also, however, been

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undergoing considerable organisational change. The SFWU decision to enable
union members who were not members of other political parties to vote directly
in the leadership election would seem to lead the way to greater involvement by
individual members of affiliates to participate within the Party. It is recommended
that individual affiliate members should be invited and encouraged to vote for the
LEC representatives at LEC AGMs. This would be consistent with a move to
membership based local electorate organisations.
Affiliates should retain representation on the NZ Council. There should, however,
be a working group set up to examine the most effective way for affiliates to be
integrated into a campaign strategy. Attempts to use affiliate members for
campaigning have had mixed success. Also while there is a myth the Labour Party
is funded by union affiliates, the reality is that overall they contribute
comparatively little financially to the Labour Party.

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3E Candidates
The real question appears to be how the Party identifies candidates and then
prepares and supports its candidates before, during and after the election. There
needs to be greater central coordination of candidates. They are the advocates
and the public face of the Party so much of the success of the election campaign
depends on them. One of the tasks of the Executive should be to address this
issue.
One of the most criticised aspects of the last election was the process for selection
of list candidates. The existing arrangements cannot be justified in terms of
democratic practice or effective outcomes.
First, any Party members who get the support of 10 financial members of the
Party should be able to nominate for consideration for a list position.
Second, nomination should be initially vetted by a central Vetting Committee
appointed by the NZ Council. The Vetting Committee should consist of three
experienced Party members who are not current members of the NZ Council or a
Member of Parliament. The role of the Vetting Committee is to verify that the
nominee qualifies under the rules, and to select 60 nominees for referral to the
Moderating Committee that will allocate the place on the list to the nominees. All
electorate candidates should also nominate for the list to ensure that candidates
campaign for both the electorate and the Party. It was apparent in the last
election that some electorate candidates did not campaign for the Party vote. The
Vetting Committee should be aware of and give consideration to the
Constitutional obligation for the Party list to reflect the diversity in the
community, in particular gender, race and the regions.
Third, the Moderating Committee should comprise the NZ Council plus 4
Members of the Caucus. Its task is to allocate the places on the list after
consideration to the requirement for diversity and regional representation. The
over-riding criteria, however, must be the merit of the individual and their
capacity to run a successful campaign as expressed in the Strategic Selection
Criteria developed by the Executive.

3F Fundraising
The Party also needs to develop a capital fund to put in place a professional
sustainable organisational structure that will provide the infrastructure for the
campaign.
If the Party cannot unlock the significant resources held by local entities of the
Party to use for a capital fund and/or the campaign, then it will continue to
experience electoral failure and place the status of the Party as a political
institution of influence at risk.

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