Labour’s Mt Roskill by-election promise recasts Auckland and Labour relationship
Labour need to rest their minds to becoming an urban political party.
MMP will give Labour real advantage if they play to their strengths and Labour’s strengths right now is Auckland.
30% of the population lives there.
50% of Labour’s support lives there.
The majority of Union workers live there.
Labour’s new HQ led by Matt McCarton has the potential to be the vote winner for Labour.
The challenge for Labour is that they must push a hard 2 tick campaign in Auckland, because it is in Auckland where they lose their advantage by vote splitting. Labour has to drill into their urban support base that two ticks is what is needed to win and the win has to have large scale infrastructure promises alongside affordable housing for first time buyers. The Greens have had a poor showing historically in Auckland so this won’t step on toes.
Recasting Labour as an urban party and winning Auckland with a two tick campaign is Labour’s best chance to get 35%.
Agree with that.
Isn’t that why the People’s party has been specifically set up, to take votes off Labour?
But has Labour not already been the “urban party”, while the Nats, less so ACT, but now increasingly NZ First do get most votes in rural New Zealand.
The challenge is to get the disillusioned, disconnected, to some degree disinterested motivated, the non voters in Auckland and other centres. Most that bother voting in the urban centres are the professionals and the small to medium size business operators.
They have since 2008 in their majority stuck with National and Key.
It is time to start right now, to reach out, connect, hold more local meetings and activities, to get those non voters and lost voters somehow excited and involved.
Mt Roskill is no longer what it used to be, I travel through the electorate regularly, once lived there, and have known a fair few people who live or lived there.
Many migrants are not so easy to get them voting Labour or even Greens, as so many were assisted into this city by Nats, hence the increased migrant communities here over recent years.
Michael Wood has some posters and bill boards up, I see, good on him, but he will have to work hard to get a majority, it is not going to be all that easy.
Parmjeet Parmar is maybe not as professional and charismatic, but I note how English, Parata and Key are shown on posters with her, and some of them have already been in the electorate to speak to community meetings.
Labour must pull in the heavy weights, and mobilise, full steam, and Greens should in this case support Wood.
50% of labour supporters live in Auckland .
In plain English 50% of bugger all
National’s marketing machine has well and truely kicked in in Mt Roskill and its surrounds. Everywhere you look you are bombarded with Parmjeet’s face.
On the hoarding front labour is not fairing so well. Lack of money?
All I know is Labour needs to win this seat – more as a show of ‘things to come.’
For the victor it will be an important win. National seems to know this, by the thousands of billboards everywhere ( desperate times perhaps?)
Does Labour understand its importance as much…. ?
Nactional have lots of corporate sponsors so their dirty money is bankrolling the billboards.
Who can match that!!!
I will always believe that all the opposition Parties need to spend their funds on is setting up a free speech opposition Party TV/Radio Media network and bugger the billboards.
The campaign staff at Labour HQ are too busy sending emails out to their database of followers and supporters, telling them they should buy antiquated t-shirts with old Labour logos and slogans on it.
They try to raise money that way, but at times I think, they are so out of touch, and are simply not doing what needs doing.
Where are their foot soldiers in Mt Roskill, they should be handing out leaflets at shops, street corners, show placards, talk to people, and do that on top of social media campaigning.
You are right, Parmjeet Parmar’s face is almost everywhere, the Nats certainly have money on their side, and only volunteer manpower can help Labour match that. I fear with their past actions, they have disgruntled too many now.