Labour manning up – Renney, Payinda, Wood and Letele? Plus the under-utilised O’Connor

The announcement of Craig Renney, Dr Gary Payinda and Michael Wood are all smart moves by Labour.

(There is also speculation that David Letele might be getting lined up for a run with Labour).

Craig Renney is the NZCTU economic brain, very quick and skilled at getting under the skin of Nicola Willis who has tried banning him from Treasury briefings. He has a skill to explain how large economic policy impacts the person listening.

Dr Gary Payinda is already a public health legend who has taken the public health cuts beyond budgets to far wider arguments about values and who we are as a country. He will make an incredible advocate for public health.

Michael Wood is a decent man whose focus is always on the poor and outcast. He is a ruthless behind the scenes fighter for better conditions for the weakest amongst us. His fall from grace was a painful emotional experience, but to his credit he has  grown beyond that and deserves the second chance. He has earned it.

The candidates on their own aren’t brilliant choices, they are also strategic.

If we do a deep dive into the polling data we see the greatest split is in gender with Labour losing male voters.

About 300 000 of them.

So Labour needs to push back against the culture war backlash that drove so many young men into the arms of the reactionary right and lean into broadbased policies that make a material difference in working men and women’s lives articulated by other men.

Greg O’Connor is the most under-utilised MP they have and with his electorate vanishing, he is left hoping for a List position.

He has to be utilised somehow, he should be in line for some role beyond Politician.

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