Photo by John Miller
Jacinda’s speech on Sunday was one of the most significant speeches in my political life and dare I say it, the life of this country.
2200 people crammed into 3 venues with almost a thousand more turned away tells me that Jacinda and Labour have struck a deep chord in the imagination of our nation.
With Jacinda as our Leader and Kelvin as our Deputy, Labour is in a position to redefine politics in this country from benefiting the few to benefiting the all.
These were the 5 moments that made this speech so powerful.
1: “We lived in the small grey-brick house in front of the police station. When you’re a child, you remember the little things. The nice lady at the dairy who you bought lolly mixes from. How you couldn’t walk round town without jandals because of the broken glass. The kids who didn’t have shoes, even in winter when the puddles would ice over. And the number of people who had lost their job, and their hope.
It was the 1980s and I was living in a place that remains etched in my memory even today.
But I was young. This was not the place or moment I was politicised. It was the moment I empathised.”
Having a Leader whose first response to poverty is to empathise rather than condemn or justify or to blame will change this country in a way we can all be deeply proud of.
2: “Under Labour, we will change the Public Finance Act so that every budget, you don’t just hear about surpluses and deficits, you will hear about how many kids we have lifted out of poverty.”
To go beyond the numbers and the budgets to actually judge ourselves on how we as a Government are helping lift children out of poverty is possibly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard any politician say.
3: “Since 1999 we have been campaigning to make education more accessible, and we’re still doing it today.
That is why Labour is committed to revolutionising education.
We have already pledged to make the first three years of post secondary education free. Whether you are an apprentice, going to polytech, or taking on a degree. Whether you are coming straight from school, or need to retrain – Labour will invest in your future.
We will change our schools from being a place of assessment to a place of creativity.
We will reopen our night schools so that people of any age and any background can keep learning.
With a Labour Government, education won’t just be a leveller again, it will be what sets our country apart.”
It is through education that we are able to up skill ourselves and understand the world around us. By making education availability a corner stone of our policy we help our people become the full citizens they can be.
4: “Yesterday I asked a room full of young people if they did, and every single hand in that room was lifted into the air. Every single one.
New Zealand’s youth suicide rate is the highest in the OECD. While there is a lot of talk about targets, I know I will never ever be satisfied so long as there is even one life lost.
It is time we focused on love and hope rather than grief and loss. And we need to start with young people.
That’s why we will put a nurse in every single public high school across the country. And we will make sure that every single child in Canterbury and Kaikoura will also have the support they need, when they need it.
It’s a $50 million investment, and it’s amongst the most important investments we will make. But our children, and our young people, also need us to look to their future.”
Suicide has become a blight amongst Maori, we can not turn a blind eye to the pain and suffering so many NZers wreck upon themselves any longer and to have a Leader articulate that hurt with the dignity that Jacinda managed was a terribly proud moment for me.
5: “Leading a country that gives our next generation hope and opportunity means there is another issue we can’t look past. Housing.
Housing affects everything. There is nothing more basic than having a roof over your head. That is why a warm, dry, decent home is a right.
I was door knocking in Hastings a few years back, and remember some doors where I couldn’t see inside for the dampness pouring down them. Even in my home electorate. I’ve seen kids who sleep stacked underneath bunk beds because there is just no room.
That is our housing situation at its worst. But this is not a reality we have to accept.
I do not accept that young people, our teachers and our nurses should give up on owning a home. Not when we can do just three things that will make all the difference.
Under Labour, we will remove speculators’ unfair tax advantages.
We’ll stop foreign buyers who have no interest in New Zealand buying existing homes.
And we’ll just get on and build more houses.
And for those who genuinely choose to rent, you deserve to know that your home is warm and dry. You deserve to have greater security. And under Labour, you will.”
Housing, mental health and well being, free education, poverty and a Leader who will lead with compassion rather than rigid ideology.
Jacinda is the hope we have all waited for.
It is time you enrolled, got off the fence and lent a hand to help build the new vision of New Zealand that we have all waited so long to deliver.
The election is in September – make sure you’re enrolled to vote.
Yes Willie we all felt that magic so clearly.
Helen Clark did this to me & my family as we returned home to NZ after 11 yrs away in Canada, and after we saw the carnage National had left Napier in.
Helen gave my family such immense hope and confidence that Labour would do better.
Jacinda did this again and right there in the front row like magic again was Helen Clark my heroine.
Truly a magic moment Willie. #letsdothis
Housing, mental health and well being, free education, poverty and a Leader who will lead with compassion rather than rigid ideology.
Jacinda is the hope we have all waited for.
Obama was all hope and change too. He sounded like Moses , come to lead us to the promised land
Please please please, let it be for real this time
You know what ?
I’d far rather have a leader and a party that makes a few mistakes along the way but in general is thinking of the people of the country rather than just fiscal bookkeeping.
I want a govt of compassion, I want a govt that is not in continual denial of the human condition. I want a govt that admits this and seeks to bring fairness, comfort and equity to so many who are now suffering after 9 years of neo liberal austerity.
In short , – I want a govt who will give the people a break and bring back confidence and security in the future for even the less well off and their family’s in our country.
I want our old time pre 1984 country back.
Well said, thats a great coment
Yes we can do better.
I can not understand how we allow our government
to oversee increasing poverty
[ and today English and Joyce are beaming over the availability of funding]
Climate Change is real and Jacinda made it clear that her leadership would
certainly make it the issue for our time.
I have a question for those that are concerned that a “water tax” is unfair because we only pay for the services that bring the water to our taps…the water is free.
Is the water polluted that you get for free and the water you get for free, do you sell it for profit?
Im not concerned about a tax on water, why should National’s mates get it for free to sell it? Why should farmers? when the rest of us pay through the nose for it. If the water that comes out of a tap is metered, you pay for the water alright. People check your water bills, watercare for example that was set up to rip everyone off when John key set up his supercity charges you not just for the infrastructure but for the volume of water as well. So John key and the National party slash govt are bloody LIARS.
Sadly Louis National still have numpties in MSM…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11909016
Notice Fran mentions nothing of Nationals abject failures over 9 years just her adulation of bullshit Bill.
Great article Willie, very moving, there’s a change coming and I for one cant wait for it to happen.
I’ve taken this from a previous post, I’m sure they won’t mind…
”
Anyone genuinely interested in reviewing what was accomplished in 9 years of the current National-led government should review the Wikipedia entry “Fifth National Government of New Zealand” (Google that phrase). Here you will find everything delivered by this government in its three terms. The dominant theme is “abolished”, “rescinded”, “suspended”, “sold” with limited examples of new things being created.
By contrast read the equivalent entry for “Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand” to review what was accomplished in nine years of Clarke/Cullen government. It is a totally different scene. Dominant terms are “created”, “established”, “restored”. Under Labour many major new institutions of national significance were created – KiwiBank and KiwiSaver to cite two.
After reading these I suspect that you will be drawn to conclude, as I did, that Labour is the party of building and strengthening support structures; National is the party of knocking down and weakening support structures.
Little surprise then that this election campaign has seen Labour adopt a “relentlessly positive” position whilst National is intent on knocking that down.
It’s your choice!!”
Thanks for that Bert that is an excellent straight to the point assessment and I enjoyed reading that. Please post that frequently during this election campaign, if there is anyone out there that is still unsure, they would quickly grasp the realities and the differences between a Labour led govt and a National govt with your post.
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