Vote Positive

The video above is the opening party broadcast for the New Zealand Labour Party. It was by far the best of all the party broadcasts, and showed why Labour urges people to Vote Positive, Party Vote Labour.

Registered political parties are entitled to a party political broadcast at the beginning and end of the campaign, paid for by the taxpayer. There’s some discretion as to how much time/money parties get, but the big two—National and Labour—get the most time, and the Greens get the next biggest amount.

National’s broadcast, which was up first, was all about John Key: NO other National MP was shown. In fact, the only other one that was ever even mentioned was Bill English, who led National to its worst-ever defeat, but he was mentioned once, for only a couple seconds. One commentator I saw said that National’s ad was so boring that he took to counting the cars behind Key in order to stay awake. But, take my word for this: Hours later, and National’s broadcast still isn’t available online. Oops.

The Greens also had a strong opening broadcast, highlighting policy. However, it promoted mostly the two co-leaders, when they have a strong caucus with some very strong MPs. We didn’t see any of them.

The Labour broadcast, on the other hand, featured several senior Labour MPs, not just our party leader, and it highlighted Labour Party policies—all of which are released, even as we wait for National to release policy. Voters want policy and a commitment to put people first, not a personality cult.

Labour won this broadcast sweepstakes, with the Greens a close second. National? Well, maybe they might want to listen to ordinary New Zealanders for a change.

For me, nothing has changed: Party Vote Labour #ForABetterNZ