For those of you who were super keen to hear from the Labour Party in an election year as to what they might have in mind for policy, my question to you is: now that they have started handing out the ideas, does the size of the cock-up make you wish they hadn’t? 

Or can you believe the incompetence of past years hasn’t been addressed? 

The bus idea that isn’t $65 million, but, according to economists, possibly well over $100 million. 

The cancellation of primary testing that’s been released, seemingly through Ginny Andersen’s Substack of 115 followers. 

The doctor visits policy that pays for millionaires to go to the GP. 

And the pay equity promise that, despite the fact all would be revealed post-Budget, has still not been revealed – or anywhere close. 

You have two things in an election year: the policy itself —and we debate those as ideas around ideology and workability— and the bill for any such idea. 

The latter is of increasing importance in recent years because the previous Labour Government spent all the money – and then some. And we still have no money. 

Therefore, simply dreaming up ideas with no bills attached is no longer acceptable to most voters 

Or is it? That is my other great conundrum in this current election year. 

Can a party that might well be Government promise something with an $11 billion price tag, not explain where the money comes from, and still get away with it anyway… given the punter isn’t really that interested? 

Polling might help, but that’s another conundrum. Do I trust polling? No. The participation rate is now so ropey that people, to my mind, tell pollsters anything. 

If what Labour has produced so far—in terms of ideas, lack of dollars, and general calamity—was accurately measured, you might see a drop in support… or not. But if you trusted polls, at least you could get a good gauge. 

The upshot, though, is this: this lot under Chris Hipkins seem to have learned nothing. There is not a lot coordinated, well-honed, or slick about any of this.  

For those waiting, it would appear a disappointment – a haphazard, piecemeal sort of effort that, after all this “wait and see” they have been playing, turns out to be the same old group of sloppy thinkers and lazy operators. 

Hoping the Government would fail was their best chance. Given when they are forced to sell themselves to you, they look like a Year 8 school project – and not a particularly good one.