More opening addresses

Written By: - Date published: 5:41 pm, October 29th, 2011 - 42 comments
Categories: act, election 2011, mana, maori party, nz first, tv, united future - Tags:

Opening addresses from the remaining parties screen on TV1 starting at 7:30pm. Should be good fun for political junkies, make sure you tune in…

Quick impressions:

ACT’s editing was bad but not nearly as bad as the Maori Party’s, which looked like it was done on a home computer. They were both abysmal and suggest that neither party has the money to employ an ad company.

Winne was not on top form. Although his message was solid he didn’t get his rhetorical strength to the fore.

Dunne was actually probably the best with his usual moderation message and decent production values.

– Eddie

42 comments on “More opening addresses ”

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  1. mickysavage 1
    29 October 2011 at 7:34 pm

    Wow Don Brash wants us to stand proud as kiwis.  And I have seen two women so far, outstanding …

  2. kriswgtn 2
    29 October 2011 at 7:36 pm

    hhaha and some other folk who aint **white** hahhahaha ACT!
    fuk theyre horrible the lot of them

    • Anne 2.1
      29 October 2011 at 8:43 pm

      Given it’s probable imminent demise…something about ACT that is not generally known:

      In 1995 when ACT first became a registered political party, the then hierarchy (Douglas and Quigley) set up a Maori Unit run by a small group of Maoris most of whom hailed from the East Coast of the North Island. They came up with some good pamphlets out-lining policy planks not unsimilar to those currently espoused by the Maori Party. This unit lasted until shortly before the 1996 election, when it suddenly disappeared without trace and the staff was never seen or heard of again. I assume the big business tycoons who were the power behind the ACT throne (Alan Gibbs in particular) decided that the presence of the Maori Unit was anathema to their ultra right wing and (generally) racist political doctrine.

  3. mickysavage 3
    29 October 2011 at 7:47 pm

    Oh no it is the hair suite.  Will petey be there?

  4. millsy 4
    29 October 2011 at 7:54 pm

    ACT’s crocodile tears about people ‘struggling to make ends meet’ made me cringe, given that their economic policies will make it hard for A LOT of people to make ends meet.

    • thejackal 4.1
      29 October 2011 at 8:03 pm

      What was that bit about the young Act guy having more friends at his party in Australia or something? Completely undecipherable.

      • Eddie 4.1.1
        29 October 2011 at 8:30 pm

        yeah, I didn’t understand either. I was left thinking – ‘he could afford to have a birthday party in two countries?’

        • Pete George 4.1.1.1
          29 October 2011 at 8:33 pm

          I guessed it was supposed to be a nod to ‘net savvy.

        • QoT 4.1.1.2
          29 October 2011 at 9:00 pm

          I eventually clicked that it was a brain-drain “all my uni friends moved to Aussie” comment … but then given ACT are all about capitalist self-interest it’s almost an own goal for one of their candidates to admit he wasn’t smart enough to follow the money, surely?

      • KJT 4.1.2
        29 October 2011 at 8:54 pm

        Young ACT guy. Isn’t that an oxymoron.

        Could have been a vampire, and actually older than Brash.

      • Mac1 4.1.3
        30 October 2011 at 10:07 am

        Was he the “champion debater?”

  5. Carol 5
    29 October 2011 at 7:56 pm

    Well, so far, National/Key’s campaign opener is still the VERY worst one…. although Colin Craig is challenging for worst!

    • thejackal 5.1
      29 October 2011 at 8:17 pm

      I thought the Maori party one was pretty bad as well. No more abandoned or abused children… I wonder how they plan to achieve that while gutting the welfare system? The edits were schizophrenic. The rapper was cool but not in a political broadcast.

      The freak award goes to Colin Craig from the Conservative party. I told him he was a douchebag but he didn’t listen.

      Best to worst:

      1. Labour
      2. Alliance
      3. United Future*
      4. Greens
      5. ALCP
      6. NZ First
      7. ACT
      8. Maori party
      9. Libertarianz
      10. Conservative
      11. National

      * Not an endorsement of their policies… it was just a better political address.

      [lprent: fixed the word – you reversed it ]

      • ianmac 5.1.1
        29 October 2011 at 8:22 pm

        Agreed +1

      • millhouse 5.1.2
        29 October 2011 at 10:08 pm

        1. Labour

        The Labour ad was superb and used every moment well to deliver a powerful meld of policy and principals

        2. United Future

        Whilst I disagree with the message I thought it was an effective and clear advert. The animation clearly emphasized the message. Having Dunne narrate the ad was a cleaver way of featuring him whilst simultaneously deemphasizing him. A clever ploy from the man/party.

        3. Alliance

        A fantastically simple and clear ad. The use of Campbell as a front man was an intelligent duel use of time and medium (turning a generalized election advert into a targeted electorate advert)

        4. NZ First

        I thought it was efficient and clear. The use of youth was clever as was Peters’ use of a less bombastic style.

        5. Greens

        I think the Greens were spoiled by the length of ad, their message would have been more powerful had it been better distilled.

        6. ACT

        Not a great ad between the strange opening song and the weirdness of some of the candidates statements (Banks’ on patriotism was just strange). Was successful in the sense it made ACT’s message more palatable than it should have been.

        7. Conservative / Libertarianz /ALCP

        I think these three were equal in the sense that they simply and clearly broadcast their fringe message to their fringe audience, however the were of little impact to the unconverted. As an aside, being of the sane persuasion personally I thought Colin Craig was at once scary and entertaining (in a “you actually believe that you strange horrid little man” way). He’s sure to go down well with the Investigate magazine / tinfoil hat crowd.

        10. Maori party

        I thought the ad was a total and utter mess.

        11. National

        Horrible, just horrible.

  6. sophie 6
    29 October 2011 at 7:58 pm

    crikey. That dude from the conservative Party is seriously weird.

  7. mickysavage 7
    29 October 2011 at 7:58 pm

    And dare I say it but the Alliance’s was second or third best?

  9. Rob Carr 9
    29 October 2011 at 8:38 pm

    I wasn’t able to watch them today does anyone have links to them online anywhere? I found ACTs:

    • Lanthanide 9.1
      30 October 2011 at 10:00 am

      Man, I’m watching this and it’s just strange. They’re all sitting around a table as if they’re talking to each other, but really they’re doing electioneering to the camera. Just plain weird. These people would never talk to each other using the words they’re using, because it would be a basic subtext that they’d all agree on in the first place.

      It’s like when you see on TV shows 1 character says something to another that they would seriously never say to them because they’d already know it and they’re really saying it for the audiences benefit.

      Also funny is if you pause at 3:47 you can see their high-school brainstorming idea in play. In the background on the whiteboard it says “Message Of The Day: The Economy! The Economy! The Economy!”. Or maybe they just need to be reminded every time they come into the office what they’re actually doing there?

      Link to 3:47: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAm6c2FNnCM&feature=player_detailpage#t=227s

      • Lanthanide 9.1.1
        30 October 2011 at 10:10 am

        Ran out of time to edit:

        Where was Don Nicholson? I see they only had Banks talk once. It was funny they had these shots of Kath McCabe early on looking kind of uncomfortable, but no subtitle as to who she was. Then they do this round-the-table thing of them all having their say and introducing their names, but she didn’t talk until much much later, making her look like an afterthought, that they didn’t value her opinion and that she’s a reject. Truly bizarre.

  10. thejackal 10
    29 October 2011 at 8:56 pm

    Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party has their political broadcasts up on the ALCP website… even the closing address. So much for being a bunch of useless stoners.

    The Standard was good enough to already post the Labour, Greens and National Opening addresses for your convenience.

    Here’s the Alliance one.

    Doesn’t look like there’s anything on United Future, Libertarianz, Conservative, NZ First or the Maori party websites yet.

  11. QoT 11
    29 October 2011 at 9:01 pm

    Dunne’s was the only one, I note, which involved concrete policy promises (though ALCP’s fairly singleminded policy is self-evident).

  12. Pete George 12
    29 October 2011 at 9:55 pm

    All the opening addresses can be accessed here:

    TVNZ: Election campaign opening addresses continue

  13. Rodel 13
    29 October 2011 at 10:19 pm

    ACT! They faked sincerity nearly as well as the John Key cadaver did. And the applause .for the PM. wow! was that real? The Nat’s presentation was insulting to the intelligence of even those who voted for them last time.
    Disappointed in the Green’s presentation..bit like a primary school play. Disappointed in Winston too..no verve. Maori party.. dunno..went to sleep. United future…united what? What sort of name is that? sound like ‘war on terror’ and about as meaningful as ‘brighter future’.

    Labour..absolutely brilliant! What a team! but i’m biased.

  14. ed 14
    29 October 2011 at 11:52 pm

    Jonkey is nothing more than a money making zombie (who may or may not eat babies, im sitting on the fence on that one).

  15. Pete George 15
    30 October 2011 at 9:13 am

    The United Future TV opener: http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/unitedfuture-animated-tv-advertisement/

    Very good feedback to a clear simple message.

    • Lanthanide 15.1
      30 October 2011 at 10:30 am

      You’re never going to get income splitting for taxation purposes through parliament because it amounts to a rather large tax cut, mostly aimed at the already wealthy, and John Key has ruled out more tax cuts. I guess Key could change his mind – he’s done that already.

  16. Craig 16
    31 October 2011 at 11:43 am

    The “young ACT guy” cited above is David Seymour. He’s on their party list and is an expat, currently working for a Canadian New Right/liberartarian think-tank entitled the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Some of his work can be found here:

    http://www.fcpp.org

  17. Craig 17
    31 October 2011 at 11:46 am

    I agree about the Colin Craig comments. I’m just waiting for the seriously weird fundies to start scuttling out of their coffins and populate his party list (remember, they’ve already eaten the Kiwi Party…)

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