My Labour Party Caucus and Rankings

Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, December 1st, 2015 - 61 comments
Categories: uncategorized - Tags:

I’ve just finished reading all the comments on the reshuffle thread. It gave me an idea.

Post here YOUR rankings of the top 20 Labour Party  MPs, the role you would give them and WHY.

So that is 3 criteria for posting

 

  1. Rank the top 20 of current Labour Party MPs; and
  2. The Role you give them; and
  3. On what basis (WHY) you give them that ranking and role.

 

Easy enough right? You DO NOT get to have people who are not current MPs. I know for my part it is easy to fall into the trap of being critic rather than creator, and I recognise the danger of that here.

http://campaign.labour.org.nz/news

This post will be moderated and is intended for people to have a chance to put forward their alternatives and to back it up.

61 comments on “My Labour Party Caucus and Rankings ”

  1. Cybeny 1

    Front Bench:

    1. Grant Robertson – Leader – Personally, I feel that he is better at speaking on a wider range of issues, and I feel he would be better at managing the various factions at caucus.
    2. Andrew Little – Deputy Leader/Finance – Has a firm understanding of what is needed to make a strong economy, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. But trips up on other issues.
    3. Jacinda Arden – Social Development – I feel she needs another crack at this, after she was over-promoted by Shearer, and put out of her depth.
    4. Phil Tywford – Housing/Auckland Issues – Has been a strong performer (Asian sounding name debacle aside), and shows that housing is Labour’s top priority.
    5. Chris Hipkins – Education/Shadow Leader of the House – I highly rate his work in Education, and he puts Parata to shame each week in the house.
    6.Annette King – Health – Needs to be on the front bench, as she is currently Labour’s best health spokesperson, but needs to take on an apprentice to take over after the election.
    7. Kelvin Davis – Maori Development/Corrections/Police – Been a strong performer on the Christmas island debacle, and deserves the promotion given to him
    8. Megan Woods – Environment (Inc Climate Change/Conservation) – Has been quite able to take the government to task, and has pulled above her weight as a first-termer.

    Rest of Shadow Cabinet:
    9. David Cunliffe – Economic Development – As many commentators have pointed out, a criminal waste of talent in the backbenches.
    10. Sue Moroney – ACC – Has been one of Labours best performers with her continued efforts on PPL.
    11. David Parker – Shadow Attorney General – I hate this pick, but unfortunately Labour have no one else to take this role. Similar to King, needs an apprentice badly.
    12. Louisa Wall – Foreign Affairs – Desperately needs more to do. Would probably be more respected than Shearer
    13. Damien O’Connor – Primary Industries – It’s glorious to watch him destroy National’s farming credibility.
    14. Carmel Sepuloni – Transport – Like Arden, promoted to Social Development too early. Needs more experience before going to the front bench
    15. Kris Fafooi – Broadcasting – Hasn’t really been given much to do. Not hard to be better than Curran though.
    16. Iain Lee’s Galloway – Workplace Relations and Safety – Underperformer, needs to shape up or be replaced soon. Had a nice easy hit with Nationals Health and Safety laws but failed to land the hit.
    17. Suia William Sio – Pacific Island Affairs – Who else can go here really?
    18. Rino Tirikatane – Assoc Shadow Attorney General – Should replace Parker after the election.
    19. Jenny Salesa – Assoc Health – Should replace King after the election.
    20. Poto Williams – Canterbury Issues/Local Government – New and untested, and deserves a shot over the deadwood.

    • tracey 1.1

      Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

      Poto Williams – Yes she is new and untested but Opposition is the best place to start. She is also 53 years old so has experience on the planet.

      “worked for the Ministry of Education, BirthRight, Healthcare NZ and disability agencies.[1] She moved from Auckland to Christchurch’s suburb of New Brighton in January 2013 to take up a position as regional manager of the St John of God Hauora Trust…

      She has served as a member of the Community Child Protection Review Panel, was involved in the Waitakere Community Law Service and Community Waitakere, and was part of the Living Wage Campaign and the LIFEWISE Big Sleepout” wikipedia

      This a woman who has been working for the vulnerable amongst us for a long time. I would have put her much higher up and given her Associate Health so she could get the necessary political education from Annette King and maybe rolled Christchurch under Economic Development with Cunliffe. As someone who has been working for NFP/NGO’s she will already understand political nuances from one side.

      • Cybeny 1.1.1

        Fair enough.

        To be completely honest, I’m not hugely familiar with the new intake of Labour MPs so I don’t really know what roles they would be best suited for, nor their abilities, so I took a cautious approach to them.

        However, your suggestion seems very reasonable, and I think we can agree it’s a shame that she has been left out of the actual Shadow Cabinet altogether.

        • tracey 1.1.1.1

          I wasn’t criticising your choices, I just was putting in a plug for Poto. 😀

          Yesterday’s opining by everyone has made me go and look for furthe rinformation about many of them. My sense is some people are being very hard on people who are in Opposition, some for their whole career. There is only so much you can do. If you read the LP press releases you start to see what the media doesn’t report.

        • Atiawa 1.1.1.2

          Thanks Grant. However you had your opportunity to win the party leadership last year and were pipped at the post. Perhaps 2023 will be your time.
          Such folly.

          (Tracey: were the 3 criteria for posting on this thread too complex?)

          • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.1.2.1

            I hope this string of negative remarks about Robertson from various commenters is driven by something other than personal speculation. If anyone has evidence of his alleged perfidy I’d love to see it.

            How many actual real-life corpses have to accumulate before you notice the enemy?

            • weka 1.1.1.2.1.1

              “If anyone has evidence of his alleged perfidy I’d love to see it.”

              Me too. Or at least if people could say that their comment is based on evidence or speculation. For instance if CV comments, I can hazard a guess as to where he might be getting actual information from (and then mixing it with his own perspectives). But with the pseudonymous and unknown commenters there is no way to know what the opinions are based on. I’m not suggesting that people give detail about their real life identities, but I do think it’s reasonable for people to say something about why they believe what they do. Otherwise there’s a big rumour mill going on ts that has no way of being judged as real or not, and that’s counter productive to what most of us are wanting to see happen.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.1.2.2

            I hope these allegations (and I note you aren’t the only one making them) about Robertson are driven by something more substantial than personal speculation. I’d love to see some evidence of his alleged perfidy, ‘cos, y’know, while you lot attack one another the National Party is accumulating a pile of real-life corpses.

            Priorities much?

          • Atiawa 1.1.1.2.3

            Juggle all you wish, but considering the torturous party leadership changes endured by the voting public and party membership, any list and reasons for that list I produced would begin with Andrew Little at # 1.
            Anything less would be imo an exercise in folly and dare I say it STUPIDITY.

            • Tracey 1.1.1.2.3.1

              And yet here you are commenting… when you could have ignored it or followed the criteria.

              • Atiawa

                I’ve read your post twice before deleting it. There is an Open Mike thread where you can write pretty much anything you like (read our policy first though). As I said in the this thread there are always critics etc. This was a chance for people to put up or shut up (in this thread at least).

                If you are not qualfied to make a list, then don’t make one. Those who did make lists had to give reasons. I have allowed some challenge but you seem to want to use this thread to push a particular viewpoint about Andrew Little versus Grant Robertson. Re-read the Post. This is nOT the place, unless you want to rank your top 20, give them a portfolio and reasons for those rankings/portfolios.

      • Karen 1.1.2

        +1 Tracey
        I was also disappointed by Poto’s backbench position (amongst other).

        Good challenge BTW. I will attempt something later today.

    • Colonial Viper 1.2

      Rino Tirikatane is NOT a David Parker replacement. I’m not a huge fan of Parker due to his orthodox/globalisation leanings but he is capable at what he does.

      • tracey 1.2.1

        Can you list your top 20 as per the above criteria. Genuinely interested to see the list, their roles and your reasons.

      • Cybeny 1.2.2

        Who would you set up to replace David Parker then?

        I’ve got to admit I struggled with that one.

  2. Shona 2

    Grant Robertson would lead Labour to an even greater defeat than Cunliffe. I see the haven’t got a clue why Labour keeps losing section of TS readership still haven’t been to the provinces lately. The NZ news media would run rings around Robertson and nail him flat in a nano second. You see they actually know how kiwis think, unlike the wittering Wellington careerists. Robertson is a poor speaker . He spends a lot of time when speaking saying a lot without conveying ANY meaning. He has the finance portfolio . The economy is in a shambles. Yet we hear NOTHING from him. Because he has nothing to say.He doesn’t have a handle on Finance . He is the wrong person for the job.

    • tracey 2.1

      Can you list your top 20 as per the above criteria. Genuinely interested to see the list, their roles and your reasons.

  3. Wainwright 3

    Fair to say there’s not huge depth on the bench. Ranking the top 22 so idiots like Cosgrove don’t throw their toys is idiocy. Most portfolios are so minor only the policy wonks care who has them.

    For the ones that matter –

    1. LITTLE – LEADER he’s the best option Labour has.
    2. SEPULONI – deputy and social devp. Needs to be a woman to keep the feminists happy, needs to be an Aucklander.
    3. CUNLIFFE – FINANCE because he knows wht he’s doing
    4. ARDERN – HEALTH like I said not a lot of depth on the bench but shes got profile
    5. LEES-GALLOWY – LABOUR despite what Cybeny says he’s worked damn hard and had good success especially compared to the rest of the idiots
    6. MAHUTA – MAORI DEVP you’ve got to keep her up there, Labour doesn’t get anywhere without maori support
    7. ROBERTSON – education – he’s not a bad guy but he sucks at finance
    8. DAVIS – corrections and police. They go together and he’s a natural.
    9. WALL – JUSTICE she deserves a huge boost as a proven campaigner
    10. KING – TRANSPORT AND HOUSING – I reckon these two are part and parcel of the same issue. Can’t address housing in Auckland without addressing transport in Auckland. Call it ‘urban development’ or something wonky.
    11. TWYFORD – AUCKLAND ISSUES to work with King
    12. WOODS – CANTERBURY because she’s the best Chch MP and ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE because like a lot of people said they need to go together.

    You have to keep some of the Thorndon bubble crowd and you can’t shaft all the ABCers but at least it’d make a change. Give the n00bs minor portfoolios and free rein to get some profile. And stick Goff, Mallard, Cosgrove, Nash, Sheaerer and Dyson on a raft in the middle of the Tasman. Then win.

    • Colonial Viper 3.1

      Mahuta led a Maori caucus election strategy last year which was the most successful part of Labour’s dismal election results. That her performance got her bumped down the rankings sends a bad message.

    • Aaron 3.2

      Maybe we could have a second posting for people’s votes on who gets put on the raft and pushed out to sea? That we can the finger pointy stuff out of our system too 🙂

      • tracey 3.2.1

        Every second post here addresses who people think shouldn’t be there, including yesterday’s.

        This post, ,as I thought I had made pretty clear, is about people prepared to list their top 20 current Labour party MPs, in order of preference, assign them a role and state your justifications for havig them in that roll.

        • Aaron 3.2.1.1

          Don’t get me wrong I think this article is an excellent idea and I keep coming back to se of anything new has been added. I don’t consider myself well enouigh informed to contribute my own list but am finding the lists by others to be fascinating.

          I was just amused at the thought of a “put them on a raft and push them out to sea” list for those who are truly a liability.

          • tracey 3.2.1.1.1

            Seriously, why don’t you type up a guest post and submit it around this? Let’s see if it floats 😉

      • seeker 3.2.2

        I agree with the passenger list on Wainwright’s raft and quite liked his ordered top 12 and reasons.

        Maybe more from me later if I feel well enough to do a larger think.

        Great,creative, useful and becoming idea for a post Tracey, thankyou.

      • Michael 3.2.3

        What about the lot of them? A reboot option seems necessary.

  4. Colonial Viper 4

    1) Cunliffe. He’s the highest voltage leadership material in that caucus. No one else comes close. However he needs a completely new staff team in and around the Leaders Office. The Thorndon Bubble strategists need banishing.

    2) Louisa Wall. Provides no holds barred principled backbone to the party and applies discipline accordingly.

    3) Grant Robertson. Grant is a better political operator than either Cunliffe or Wall, but despite the aspirations he has had since university days, he isn’t Leader material. His political skills and foresight will be critical in navigating the difficult course that Cunliffe and Wall need to take the country though.

    4) Annette King. Capable and experienced with solid leadership qualities.

    5) David Parker. Capable and experienced. Need an experienced lawyer in the top 10. Stuck on orthodox monetary and economic policy but no one is perfect.

    6) Chris Hipkins. Capable and experienced; strong potential but has to be careful not to buy into his own PR.

    7) Carmel Sepuloni. Capable and experienced. Successfully campaigned for an electorate seat.

    8) David Clark. Capable but still finding his feet. Pro-TPP and typically orthodox in his economic/monetary outlook…but that’s the Labour Party of today.

    9) David Shearer. Capable, experienced; a pro US/western alliance globalist – but that’s not all bad.

    10) Jacinda Ardern. Has definite potential to be developed. People say she is good in the media but against Nikki Kaye she keeps losing.

    • seeker 4.1

      PS to my previous. Think Hipkins doing well in education, maybe Grant should have Social Development which could be informed by his new learning and experience on finance to combat child poverty and go with his ‘future of work ideas’ and perhaps he could share such a huge, vital, portfolio with Carmel.

    • seeker 4.2

      PS to my previous on agreeing with Wainwright’s list and agreeing with his raft passenger list……I think Hipkins is doing well in education (I’m sure Parata loathes him) maybe Grant should have Social Development which could be informed by his new learning and experience on finance to combat child poverty and go with his ‘future of work ideas’ and perhaps he could share such a huge, vital, portfolio with Carmel.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 4.3

      I can’t help but observe that these are the same people you have been denouncing as unprincipled neo-liberal running dogs. Hyperbole maintenance budget taking its toll?

      Tracey – I wish you had helped but observe cos it is not require din this thread. By all means bookmark it for reference in another discussion but CV has met the criteria for posting on thuis thread.)

    • Tracey 4.4

      The deomgraphics of auckland central have changed alot in the last 30 years CV. You cant get in a house for less than a million bucks otherwise it is an apartment for you and your family. So I dont hold it against Ardern that she struggles to win this very blue seat. That she got so close is worthy of notew

      • Colonial Viper 4.4.1

        if you observe, almost every seat in the country has turned blue or is in the process of doing so. But at the same time, outright poverty in the nation is increasing.

        An interesting paradox to resolve.

  5. Stuart Munro 5

    Cunliffe – leader – the others are weak on the intersection of social justice & economics
    Little – deputy – solid and represents healthy union values
    King – health (but should train a deputy)
    Twyford – immigration, housing, & OIO (knows when to say no)
    Parker O’Connor Tirikatene – to develop a regional reform package (including regulation) to produce finished products, sustainable living practices, services, and employment.
    Parker would probably be a good fit with state services.
    Adern maybe Robertson maybe Hipkins – to develop an urban reform package toward similar ends.

    They have energy this is an opportunity to establish their value.

    Nanaia Mahuta & Poto Williams – know what they’re doing and where they should be.

    I think we should do a list for the Gnats too:

    John Key – [r0b: deleted]
    Bill English – life imprisonment for fraud, asset theft, and gross economic negligence
    McCully – Ambassador to ISIL
    Gerry Brownlee – [r0b: deleted]
    Paula Bennett – given a desk job at Winz [r0b: deleted]
    Judith Collins – employed to sour milk for Fonterra
    Whaleoil – recycled as biodiesel

    [r0b: sorry – amusing but over the line]

  6. rhinocrates 6

    off topic

  7. Dav 7

    We’ll I don’t know them well enough to rank most.
    They shouldn’t have cunliffe so low, he’s capable.

    1 little. He needs to stay on even if they loose the election (like shearer and cunliffe should have been persisted with for a consolidation period. Instead of knee jerk changes.

    Higher ranks for: Davis, Nash, king (been around for ages but eminently capable, lands hits )

    Not certain on: Robertson (was he involved in white anting former leaders?? ), adern – still a lightweight in my book, popular in some quarters. Mahuta- agree with littles move there, but he doesn’t have much to play with ( numbers wise or fresh faces).

    Decent, somewhere in the middle: shearer, Parker.

    Need to be jettisoned: goff (well I guess mayoralty has sorted that choice) cosgrove, dyson, mallard.

  8. rhinocrates 8

    Argh, most embarrassing. WordPress is like the London buses it seems – you wait for ages and then three turn up at once. Feel free to delete redundant posts (including this one).

    • Colonial Viper 8.1

      3 times in this case means 3 times the goodness

      • tracey 8.1.1

        Actually it doesnt. The post was REALLY clear abut what this post was for. And warnings were made to the first few. IF you want to be a destroyer then take it Open Mike or a thread that doesn’t definitively call for creative input.

    • weka 8.2

      It’s not wordpress, it’s that all comments are going into moderation before being published. Good move by Tracey IMO.

  9. weka 9

    Great thread Tracey, thanks.

    • tracey 9.1

      Thanks Weka

      The idea was to, amongst other things, highlight how much people do or do not know about the Labour Caucus and from what basis they criticise (including me). It’s much easier to pick apart Little’s choices than to make an argument for an alternative. Sme peopel have admitted they don’t know enough about the “rest” to make an informed comment. Good on them. Fo rmy part I went and read more abouot a number I knew nothing about.

      I tried to move rhinocrates efforts to OPen Mike rathe rthan delete but could not make the function work. Funny as people may have found them they were not in the spirit of the post which I made explicitly clear.

      Stats are down but I am interested to look at the viewing.

      • weka 9.1.1

        That’s the problem with rhinocrates, you can’t help laughing. But good call on the moderating, I think stopping the Labour-bashing stuff was a great idea.

        I found the rest informative and thought provoking too, much better than the usual bun fight.

  10. tracey 10

    1,311 yesterday

  11. Karen 11

    This was really hard. It was easy enough to be critical of some of the decisions but much harder when you had to pick who gets what and who misses out.

    Anyway, I have made very few changes in the end. Some juggling of order and the elimination of Damien O’Connor , Stuart Nash and Clayton Cosgrove from the top 22. They have been replaced by David Cunliffe, Poto Williams and Louisa Wall. I have dropped David Cunliffe a couple of places because I don’t think he has been doing as much as he could, but I have given him Broadcasting which is a portfolio that has always been neglected by Labour. Cunliffe, of all people, knows the effect of not having well funded public broadcasting. I have also given him Energy as this is also something he can get his teeth into.
    I have given Police back to Davis and Maori Development to Mahuta. I have also pushed Nanaia up two places as it was too big a drop for her. I know a bit about māori politics and this was not a good move.
    I think Jenni Salesa would be a great advocate for social housing so have given her associate housing, and given Megan Woods Conservation as well as Climate Change. I suspect the roles have been split up to allow the Greens to take these roles on in a coalition.
    1. Andrew Little
    2. Annette King
    3. Grant Robertson
    4. Phil Twyford
    5. Jacinda Adern
    6. Chris Hipkins
    7. Kelvin Davis
    #Keep Police, and leave Maori Development with Nanaia
    8. Carmel Sepuloni
    9. David Clark
    10. Nanaia Mahuta
    # Keep Maori Development, drop conservation
    11. Megan Woods
    #Keep climate change, add conservation
    12. David Parker
    13. David Shearer
    14. Iain Lees-Galloway
    15. Su’a William Sio
    16. Sue Moroney
    17. David Cunliffe
    #Give him Broadcasting & Energy
    18. Jenny Salesa
    #Add associate Housing, give assoc. Education to Moroney
    19. Meka Whaitiri
    20. Peeni Henare
    21. Louisa Wall
    22. Poto Williams

    The three left out: Damien O’Connor , Stuart Nash and Clayton Cosgrove.

    • tracey 11.1

      Thanks Karen. I didn’t know enough about 20 Labour MPs to create a list with even adequate justification.

      My impression, and that is all it is, from the last Leadership battle is Nanaia performed very well. I know I was impressed with her when she ran in the previous one.

      • Karen 11.1.1

        The problem for Nanaia is that she has a very low profile in the house and the MSM but she has a lot of support, particularly amongst Tainui and Ngāti Whatua. It may appear to MSM and some other MPs that she is doing nothing, but that is mainly because they don’t understand the importance of mana, or that many Māori still feel a lot of resentment with Labour over the Seabed and Foreshore legislation. Nanaia stuck with Labour and has done a lot to repair relationships.

        Thanks for providing this opportunity, Tracey. It made me realise that the reshuffle wasn’t as bad as I initially thought. Very, very difficult juggling act.

  12. lurgee 12

    1. Annette King. WTF? Yes. She should have taken over from Cunliffe, or perhaps even Goff. Why? Because she’s a capable performer. Because Key’s smart arse routine would look really shoddy being deployed against a granny. Because she’d be a safe pair of hands. No-one would scheme against her, as she would know she wasn’t planning on sticking about.
    2. Andrew Little. Deputy Leader.
    3. Grant Robertson. Health. Big complex portfolio with lots of oportunity for scrapping. Will hopefully keep his attention focused on the enemy.
    4. Jacinda Arden. Education.
    5. Kelvin Davis. Corrections & Police.
    6. Chris Hipkins. Social development. Not impressed with his failure to utterly destroy Parata.
    7. Phil Tywford – Environment. He could have got foreign affairs if he hadn’t done the Asian names thing.
    8. Megan Woods. Primary industries & Christchurch rebuild.
    9. Rino Tirikatane – Maori development.
    10. David Shearer – Foreign affairs.
    11. David Cunliffe – Housing. This is going to be a big issue. See Grant Robertson, above.
    12. Sue Moroney – Workplace Relations and Safety.
    13. Iain Lees-Galloway. ACC. Mostly because he’s my local MP.
    14. Su’a William Sio – Auckland stuff.
    15. Kris Fafooi – Broadcasting.
    16. Louisa Wall. Equality.
    17. David Parker – Shadow Attorney General (nicked from cybeny’s suggestions)
    18. Damien O’Connor. Regional development.
    19. Jenny Salesa – Pacific affairs.
    20. Poto Williams – Associate Health & Associate Equality.

    Some of them are in no particular order. But it was fun bumping David “I am passionate” Parker further and further down the list.

    • lurgee 12.1

      Oooh, I forgot all about Stuart Nash. He can go in instead of David Parker, because he’s got a Law degree or summat.. Which means Parker can go right out of the top 20. Byeeeeee!

      I also seem to have neglected to nominate a finance spokesperson. I think Finance pretty much has to be 2nd or 3rd place, and I couldn’t find anyone who seemed capable of being financially competent AND justifying a high list position. So I suppose it would go to Little by default, just as cybeny had it.

      I suppose if an affable farmer from Dipton can do it not too uselessly, it can’t be that challenging a role.

    • The Fairy Godmother 12.2

      Jenny Salesa has a lot of experience in the health and education field a lot it in the Us so I think it would be better to have her as an associate in either education or health.

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