Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern says she is re-committing to a "relentlessly positive election campaign" in 2020 that will see the Party voluntarily sign up to Facebook’s new advertising transparency rules and have its major election policy costings independently verified.
“New Zealanders deserve a positive election. I don’t want New Zealand to fall into the trap of the negative fake news style campaigns that have taken place overseas in recent years,” she said.
“I will deliver a positive, factual and robust campaign.
“That isn’t to say we won’t contest others’ views or challenge false claims when they are made. Elections are a contest of ideas for the future. But we’ll do that in a way that fits with the New Zealand style of campaigning and values."
Facebook has introduced authorisation and transparency measures to make elections overseas fairer and Ardern says the Labour Party will voluntarily adopt these measures here.
“It means voters can see who is behind paid advertising online, how much they are spending and who they are targeting. The measures help avoid anonymous fake news style ads.
“If an ad appears in your Facebook feed you should know who it’s from and why you were targeted.
“By being transparent about who is behind ads there is likely to be a flow-on effect of parties ensuring they are accurate too.
“These rules are compulsory in the US, UK, Canada and the EU amongst others, but not here. We think it’s the right thing to do to voluntarily adopt them anyway and set a clean tone for the election.
“Labour is proud of our track record of delivering $13 billion worth of surpluses, prudently balancing the books and keeping debt low. Voters deserve to know that our new policies will continue to deliver a strong economy in a second term.
“We will guarantee that the costings of all our major new policy announcements released during the election campaign will be independently verified so voters can be sure of what they are voting for.
“The Government will continue work on establishing an independent policy costing unit for the 2023 election.
“Having policy costings independently verified improves the quality of information voters have about policies and ensures better policy. It’s a good thing and we are happy to show leadership on this.
“The Government has made good progress in our first term. There is a strong economy and we’re starting to turn around the long-term issues ignored for too long. I’m proud that our positive message for the election will be to keep doing it,” she said.
29 Comments
The following could have come straight from Donald Trump's playbook
“That isn’t to say we won’t contest others’ views or challenge false claims when they are made. Elections are a contest of ideas for the future. But we’ll do that in a way that fits with the New Zealand style of campaigning and values."
Sorry cannot help.
Campaigning style? DJ'ing to the Kingsland / Grey Lynn set and finishing with a 'Let's do this'?
'NZ style of values'? Well I've always liked the cricket team's values of never giving up and trying something different, but not sure what these shared values are. Has the govt written them down?
'If an ad appears in your Facebook feed you should know who it’s from and why you were targeted'
'Why you were targeted' ...... I shall watch with great interest Labour explaining to the average punter the complex way in which its data mining and algorithm processes work to determine who receives which of its electioneering messages.
All governments here seem to manage relatively competently without locking up or 'disappearing' those that disagree with them, have other ideas, think for themselves, have different beliefs, have legal training, artistic drives, get together to talk, etc. It's not the CCP's way of doing things, I agree, but you'll get used to it. You might even come to appreciate it.
Labour would struggle to win in a dirty fight, and knowing this, they are taking the 'clean' side.
National will then need to either
1) Come play clean ball, which isn't their current natural style or
2) Not play clean ball, giving Labour the opportunity to create soundbites like 'we aren't going to stoop to that level' to use repeatedly, much like National have used soundbites on them
They aren't doing a great job, but I think this is a great political move. Keen to hear why/if anyone thinks this is a poor political move.
Also in general, anything to push the political dial away from the negative actions we've seen (cronied bloggers feeding media, paid false advertising, deliberately incorrect soundbites) is great for NZ and Global politics. Now lets see if they are genuine, and if they leverage it.
Labour would have lvery little to nothing to go on on a dirty fight, National has a heap of Labour failures.
Here's a great idea Labour... actually deliver on your projects instead of spending large amount of bucks for little return. You are there to do a job, so get ot done! Measure the results, no excuse for failure, throw the non' delivers under the bus and get someone that can do the job. That is hope the real world works!
Hugs not working here.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/22/people-are-fearful-new-ze…
Out of control they are.
the trap of the negative fake news style campaign
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/31/new-zealands-year-of-styl…
Last week Beehive insiders told leading political journalists that the “Year of Delivery” promise was actually a spin-line produced on the fly by the PM’s top spin doctor to get his boss out of a tight situation when she needed something memorable to say at the start of 2019. The explanation from the Beehive was to convey that it’s not actually fair to hold the PM to account for a catchphrase that was never intended to be taken so seriously.
Relentlessly positive words will not put a roof over peoples head, food on their plate or meaningful hope in their hearts. It's actions that they should be judged by, and there are precious few. Peoples other option is however even worse. They delivered the 9 years in which this mess was largely created and showed no meaningful intention to address the issues.
In this last year for the term, Labour can either carry on squandering the good will, faith and hopes that a lot of people invested in them, or really bite the bullet and put in place measures that will really deliver meaningful change. E.G.
1 Slash immigration to next to nothing. It is unconscionable that they allow any immigration while so many are homeless and hard working average New Zealanders have no hope of ever being able to buy a home.
2 Eliminate all fees and permit costs related to home building and recover these costs over time from the future owners and those lucky enough to already own a home. Presently local bodies can and are charging what they like without any meaningful checks and balances.
3 Remove a lot of the red tape that prevents keen young first home builders from saving money by finishing a lot of stuff themselves. Between the authorities, banks and building companies there is practically nothing that they can do themselves or completion cost that they can defer. Arguably an unpainted house without floor coverings and a sealed drive is a whole lot better that many of the hovels that people are forced to rent.
4 Set up a hard hitting and wide ranging investigation into uncompetitive practices in the building construction and material supply industries. Offer immunity and encouragement to those who come forward with evidence.
5 Heavily tax all land zoned residential that have no homes on it.
6 Require councils to zone sufficient land as residential so that there is always one years worth of building sections available to purchase and immediately build on.
7 Reinstitute Kiwi build with and contract at least 30-40 % of the builds to the worlds most efficient mass builders and material suppliers
8 Allow some sort of capitalisation of low income subsidies and benefits to be considered when buying new first time homes (Kiwi build)
I could go on and on ...
If they did this would there be any doubt that they were honest and sincere?
Will they do anything like this? Probably not.
What choice does the poor NZ voter have next election. Labour is practically indistinguishable from National. In many ways they have suffered the same fate as Labour in the UK prior to Corban (not that he did them any good) and the Democrats in the US. The common factor that they all have is that once they are in power they abandon the promises on which their voters gave them their mandate and slavishly bow to the will of the right wing establishment.
Right now there is no party that credibly occupies the political space serving the interests of the hard working lower and middle income families. We have National firmly on the right, Labour pretty much beside them, NZ First manoeuvring itself quite adeptly further right of National (don't be surprised if they form a coalition after the next election) and the Greens who despite James Shaw's credible efforts cant seem to move away from just slightly right of the Communist party. The Act Party; well its hard to know what they stand for - something sort of right wing and libertarian. Act seem to have lost the direction of their it's founders as I would have thought that there is huge scope in NZ to attack the forces that are strangling free and competitive markets - fuel, housing, food etc.
Maybe it is time to dust off Jim Anderton's New Labour party. Who knows given the examples we are witnessing of the tail wagging the dog, a coalition between National and New Labour might make sense. Not much else does. (There's an idea for you Simon; you wanted a new coalition partner. There is a very large constituency being totally ignored )
Twoddle ! Feels like it was written by the Labour party.
They inherited a healthy surplus and been busy giving it away on silly things - Free tertiary fees, Kiwibuild flop, Shane Jones slush fund, expanding the public service etc etc
Hopefully this anti-business niave lot are a one term Government !
They're still talking about the surplus as if it were a good thing. They were ripping money out of the economy when credit momentum was negative. Where are the research tax breaks. Where's the student loan debt forgiveness for high GPA students in relevant fields. Instead we've got 2 billion per year tobacco tax which is creating poverty, and driving a huge black market while incentivising a tobacco production industry. Oh well, at least they're better than the opposition, and I'm sure it's going to be a dirty election.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.