Still Number One: Five years after his election as New Zealand's 38th Prime Minister, John Key is still New Zealanders’ first choice as leader and his party consistently polls ten clear points ahead of its nearest rival. This would be a remarkable feat under the old first-past-the-post electoral system, it is nothing short of astonishing under a system of proportional representation. Love him or loathe him, John Key remains the indisputable master of New Zealand's political domain.
IT
IS FITTING that my New Zealander of the Year should be a politician. Not only
is politics this columnist’s bread and butter but, like ‘em or loathe ‘em, politicians
are the people who affect us most directly. They write the rules of our daily
lives. They hold the ring in which we struggle to make a living. In the
twenty-first century just about everything we encounter, except the weather, is
the product of social organisation. And wherever you find social organisation,
there also you will find politics - and politicians.
My
first thought for New Zealander/Politician of the Year was the new Leader of
the Opposition, David Cunliffe.
Mr
Cunliffe had, after all, begun the year as a disgraced and despised (at least
by a majority of his caucus colleagues) back-bencher, and is ending it as his
party’s leader. That sort of come-back is, if not unprecedented, then, at
least, highly unusual. A great many talented politicians simply would not have
bothered to stick around after being treated as shabbily as Labour’s caucus
treated Mr Cunliffe.
Charles
Chauvel, for example, walked away from his political career after being told by
the supporters of Mr Cunliffe’s predecessor that his steadfast support for the
Member for New Lynn would cost him a seat at any Cabinet Table presided over by
David Shearer.
In
Mr Chauvel’s case, Labour’s (and New Zealand’s) loss was the United Nation’s
gain. There can be little doubt that Mr Cunliffe’s highly marketable skills
would have been snapped-up just as quickly had he, too, decided that the game
of politics was no longer worth the candle.
The
morale of his supporters certainly flagged following the outrageous treatment
meted out to him following the 2012 Labour Party Conference at Ellerslie. Not
since the darkest days of Rogernomics in the late-1980s had Labour Party
members witnessed such a venomous display of factional back-biting. But the
member for New Lynn’s faith in his political destiny never wavered. Throughout
it all, Mr Cunliffe conducted himself like one who has seen already the faces
of Dame Fortune’s cards - and knows he cannot lose.
Runner-Up: David Cunliffe staged a remarkable comeback in 2013, but in his first 100 days as Labour leader failed to capture the electorate's imagination as completely as John Key did between December 2006 and February 2007 .
And
so it proved. Quite out of the blue Mr Shearer folded his cards, gathered-up
what was left of his stake, and left the table. From that point on Mr
Cunliffe’s victory was assured. Only the most rank skulduggery could have
robbed him of the victor’s crown - and when it came to digging skulls his
opponents simply did not know where to sink their spades.
But,
winning the leadership of the Labour Party is a long way from winning the
confidence of the country. To do that one must not only have a story to tell
the country, it must also be a story the country is wanting to hear.
Now,
you might object that Mr Cunliffe has barely been 100 days at the helm of the
Labour Party, and that a great many more days than that are required to open
the ears of the electors. My answer to that objection would, however, be a
blunt as it is bleak: 100 days was all the time Mr Cunliffe had.
One
year out from an election most voters have already made up their minds. To have
any chance at all of changing those minds a new leader has to hit the ground
running with a message he knows the electorate is longing to hear.
And
that brings me to the man who, I believe, must once again step forward to claim
the title of New Zealander of the Year.
John
Key became Leader of the Opposition in November 2006, and by 6 February 2007 he
had the country’s full attention. His visit to McGehan Close, a poor street in
Labour’s Auckland heartland, marked him out as a National Party politician of a
very different sort - a man quite unlike his flinty-faced predecessor, Dr Don
Brash. His invitation to take one of the street’s residents - a young girl
named Aroha - to the 2007 Waitangi Day celebrations (an invitation she eagerly
accepted) only added extra icing to the cake.
Seven
years on, Mr Key remains New Zealanders’ overwhelming choice as “Preferred
Prime Minister”, and his party continues to poll in the high 40s. This would be
a remarkable feat under the old first-past-the-post electoral system, it is
nothing short of astonishing under a system of proportional representation.
Nothing
that has happened in 2013: not the GCSB controversy; not the partial
privatisation of state assets; not Kim Dotcom; and certainly not David
Cunliffe; have been able to make even a sizeable dent in Mr Key’s apparently
impregnable political armour.
For holding
our attention - and our affection - for yet another year, I cannot forebear
from naming John Key, New Zealander of the Year.
This essay was originally
published in The
Press of Tuesday, 31
December 2013.
