Ryan Bridge: Confidence is key in politics

It was always going to be a risky strategy but it's backfiring quite badly for Labour. The two-year policy drought is over. Then heavens have open.  And a flood, or more like a few rain drops, of policy. It's gone haywire not just because Hipkins forgot his Health spokesperson was actually announcing a policy yesterday.  But because of the contents of that policy. In a nutshell it’s about letting some independent group of experts decide on health funding. And as I mentioned yesterday, a trend is now emerging.  Labour doesn’t trust itself to make wise choices. Or rather, it knows the electorate doesn’t trust it make wise choices with their hard-earned money. That’s why they’ve outsourced decision making to other people. They did it with the Future Fund and now they've done it on health. In some ways it’s smart. They're trying to suggest National will sell off assets and de-fund doctors so there needs to be an independent group making decisions.  But mostly it’s dumb because if there’s one thing kiwis don’t like backing, it’s a loser. And this strategy feels like a loser because it lacks confidence. It's the message its sending. It doesn’t say here’s where I’ll put your money and here’s how and here’s why. It says, “I’m not too confident that you’re confident in me so I’ll give your money to someone else to decide”. It feels a bit weak. It’s not a plan or a policy; it’s an admission of guilt. Of failure.  If the goal was in fact to box National into a corner during the election campaign, that also creates problems. Are these the best policies to grow NZ Inc and get the best outcomes, or are these just politically expedient policies designed to start fights on a campaign? All of this, of course, comes ahead of their capital gains tax announcement, which is apparently weeks away. What’s next? They’ll let a group of accountants decide who should pay what tax on what assets? Confidence is key in politics. You’ve got to know what you want and you’ve to go for it. Chippy’s so far left his mojo at the door and it’s showing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.