GUEST BLOG: Willie Jackson – Jacinda’s speech was one of the most significant speeches in my political life

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.

#HoakeTātou #letsdothis