Debate on campus: the scores
I had a good time today talking to the students down at Otago University who turned up to listen to a debate organized by the Green Party.

Here's my quick summation of the speakers and local candidates who turned up:

Willie Martin (ACT).
Willie came up to me before the debate and introduced himself, seemed like a nice guy. Sadly, however, Willie's writeup on the ACT page reveals him to be completely nuts, raving on about a "Cuba" style Labour Government etc. Forget it Willie – the only thing Cuba about this Labour Government is what goes into their Lambton Quay lattes. Not that I'm any great fan of old Fidel. Presumably Willie prefers more freedom loving Latin American role models, like General Pinochet's Chile – a free market heaven. Anyone who got in the way of the free market there was put in a helicopter and dropped into the Pacific from a great height.
But despite all the tough talk on Willie's ACT party webpage about political correctness (yawn) and getting tough, Willie wimped out big time in the debate and murmured politely that education did have public good elements, and so on, lulling the audience into a polite doze. The ony point in his favour is that he is better at public speaking than the ACT candidate in Dunedin South, who is truly terrible.
RESULT: Disappointing. 3/10 for Willie. My advice: Time to walk the talk Willie. Get out there and tell those whingeing scarfies where to go, then let the market decide at the polling booth.

Phillippa Jamieson (Greens).
I have known Phillippa for some years and like her as a person. She gave a conscientious speech but started out quite middle of the road and then swung to the left when I gave my speech and it went down well with the crowd. This is the problem with the Greens I think. They are trying to position themselves to the left of Labour but don't want to be seen as too "radical" and as a result never mention the fact that their policies are going to cost (someone) a lot of money. This may be because they don't want to scare their middle class liberal voting base who may have to cough up? I don't know. I think their idea of a bonding scheme stinks as well. Generally moving in the right direction but lacking the clarity and punch of the Alliance policy.
RESULT: Good effort but needs more focus. 6/10 for Phillippa. My advice: more Red and less pale Green.

Dr Conway Powell (National)
Conway was another friendly character who came up and shook my hand, full of smiles (that was before the debate though.)
A highly qualified gentleman who picked up his PhD back in the good old days (1973). Once again, lacked all conviction, came across as a liberal one minute and conservative the next. His most interesting statement was that National's education policy was basically the same as Labour's. That's what Bill English said too. Came across as inoffensive but out of touch.
RESULT: Needs to get a bit hard and stop trying to say what people want to hear. Everyone knows National hates students so he might as well be honest and get some points for being upfront. 5/10. In his favour - he didn't blab on for hours.
My advice: Don't give up the day job - being a National candidate in Dunedin means he is on a real hiding to nothing.

Leslie Soper MP (Labour)
Leslie is the archetypal Labour MP these days. A former public sector bureaucrat turned trade union official rewarded for loyalty and helped by the machine into parliament. She made a big deal about how she was a socialist and a feminist in her maiden speech to Parliament, but today in the debate we just got to hear about a hundred minor changes the Labour Government have made to the student loan scheme, which funnily enough still keeps on getting bigger and BIGGER by the second.
So obviously socialism and feminism are off the agenda for this election campaign as Labour "plays it safe" and sticks to looking after the interests of the swinging voter.
Boring overall but she finally showed some teeth and had a go at the Alliance who could promise anything etc because they were never going to be in Parliament unlike the "realistic" Labour Party with the wonderful Dr Cullen etc etc. Then again perhaps a shred of left wing conscience was bothering her.
RESULT: 6/10. Seemed more confident than the above speakers. Gave the usual Labour Party line and ended up annoying people by telling them how good they were getting it with Aunty Helen in charge.
My advice: The Labour Government had a chance to capture the imagination of people by offering a vision. They've failed to build a constituency for change, and have sat on their laurels. Now the turkeys are coming home to roost. If you're going to be a socialist and feminist, don't defend policies that hit at the young, the poor and women - like user pays education.

Of course, being the other speaker at the debate, I couldn't give you a rundown on my own speech. But feel free to leave a comment below if you were there and have an opinion.
- posted by Victor @ 7:32 PM