Challenging the National Party narrative

One element of the National Party’s success, is the story they tell about New Zealand.
On Planet Key, there is no poverty, there’s high employment, law and order is improving, crime rates are down. Teachers are happy and satisfied in their work. Charter schools are a great investment. Children are all well fed unless their parents are drug addled beneficiaries who should be punished. The private sector can deliver everything better than the state can. Unfettered international trade is good for New Zealand. We’re doing fine economically because we export plenty of milk and timber. Extended paid parental leave is unnecessary and unaffordable. National are doing really well at protecting the environment. They love Maui’s dolphins. Better workers’ rights and pay rates will lose us jobs. We didn’t need to own those power companies – Mum and Dad investors bought them. The Christchurch rebuild is doing well under Gerry Brownlee. Judith Collins isn’t dodgy. Neither was John Banks.
To the discerning observer the National Party storyline runs like a Tui ad. So why does it convince so many New Zealanders? Partly it’s because most people want to be reassured that everything’s ok. In the comfort of their homes after a day’s work they don’t want to know about destruction of the planet or about social injustices. They don’t want to pay more tax so the ‘beneficiary down the road’ ‘can sit at home all day’. They want a simple life, easy answers and to rest assured that the Government is steady and stable and will keep out of their lives. The National party delivers with its simplistic take on issues, John Key’s personal ‘comfort’ with anything slightly suspicious (nothing to see here, move right along) and their denial of poverty or looming economic problems.
The National narrative also convinces both party loyalists and the average voter because of the way it’s delivered. John Key has had some pretty good coaching somewhere along the line with his adopted super-relaxed approach to all affairs of the state. Whether he’s dining with Prince William, leading a media conference, giving a speech or talking to a school group, he’s a study in casualness. Hands in pockets, moderate in tone, he’s everyman, not the Prime Minister. With the ‘rags to riches’ “I grew up in a state home” story, his image is carefully constructed so the man on the street is going to identify with, and vote for him. He’s not an intellectual, he’s your mate, just a lot richer than you are, and if he can do it, then you can too, and no government should stand in the way of your pursuit of that wealth.
Another reason the National Party narrative is so compelling is that the whole party repeat it. It’s as if you say something often enough, it will come to be true. At the same time, the party has a strong countervailing narrative against other political parties – mistruths are repeated about Labour’s track record in office, the debt they (didn’t) incur, the supposed extremism of the Greens, the overstated threat to stability if they both get to Govern.
But saying something often enough doesn’t make it true. Poverty and inequality are growing, personal debt is a major issue. Our economy and our environment are fragile. The challenge for all of us this election is to expose the myths, challenge the narrative, and sell our own vision of what New Zealand could achieve with a change in Government. We need it.