Rugby analogies - gotta love em

Well what a difference a week makes... or should I say a conference makes. Has anyone else noticed what a shambles the tories have made of their conferences for two years running?

And its the shambolic conference that has offered up the perfect opportunity to attack. Its like that moment in early in the second half of the Bledisloe test the other night when Ma'a Nonu scored. Like the Nats election year conference, the Auckland test should have been a triumph for Australia - and with a Wallaby try before the break it looked like they were getting into their work again.

But from a Wallaby lineout Richie McCaw put pressure on halfback, Luke Burgess, with a huge tackle causing him to spill the ball forward - now instead of chest pumping and enjoying that play - the All Blacks scooped up the ball, spread it wide and a few scrappy phases later - Nonu scored in the corner. Knock-on's only ever matter if the opposition capitalise on them. Basically what I'm saying is that now is the time to strike against the Nats - while they're on the back foot and in disarray (plus I wanted to bring that game up again).

Which is a perfect opportunity for me to jot down the thoughts I've had on what Labour needs to do - as I promised in my much criticised pointing out of the obvious last week (too negative/defeatist/polls are unscientific (hmm begs the question - why does Labour so heavily rely on internal polling and focus groups??) etc etc). But anyway I think its too late now for strategies, billboards and TV ads - Labour needs fresh policy initiatives to take things up a notch.

I think there are two main reasons why Labour has been behind in the polls since early 2007 - people are tired of Clark and Cullen (especially the perceived arrogance of Cullen and his unwillingness to let people have tax cuts) and secondly the cost of living has shot up with dairy and petrol prices especially hurting people.

There is no question in my mind that the reshuffle was a missed opportunity - Cullen should have moved down the rankings and focussed on Attorney General and Treaty Negotiations - possibly even Justice and Goff should have been deputy and finance. But Labour now can't and won't do anything about the leadership team pairing, however, they can tackle the cost of living.

Cut and cap the excise tax on petrol to a set amount. As I understand it - the government currently takes a percentage of the cost of petrol in tax to pay for transport projects. In theory you would say -its fine, just leave it alone. But that policy was set when petrol cost 80 cents a litre and when you consider that not even a year ago petrol was around 50-60 cents cheaper - the government is taking in stacks of additional revenue as the price has gone up. So why not lower the dollar level of the tax level at a certain point - say where it was in dollar figures at Budget time in 2007? This would be a bold move and would piss the Greens off - but it would immediately reduce the pain workers are feeling in their hip pockets and further it would actually demonstrate that the government was aware people are hurting and is prepared to do something about it - which is all they're really asking for.

The Education Revolution. There needs to be some sort of bold future focussed policy to counter the Nats 'ambitious' (ie daft) FTTH policy and I think Education is a great front to attack on as the Nats will be weak with their private school/voucher agenda. I've said on here before that its through education and training, by upskilling the workforce that New Zealand's productivity and wages will improve. To be blunt having a low-skilled workforce is holding the country back and our education system frankly needs a kick up the arse to ensure we stop producing so many unskilled workers. The focus really needs to be on results and building up our skill base in the areas where we need workers - IT, accountancy, medical and legal. Personally I think we could even be so bold as to halve or even wipe student loans of those who study in those areas and then work in New Zealand for five years? Why not if it works? (On second thought they probably shouldn't steal Rudd's slogan though - even though it is better than Schools Plus - which sounded like a stationery retailer). A vision of a skilled workforce with high wages also needs to be painted - point out that its not because of broadband that Singapore and Hong Kong kick ass - its because of their high skill levels.

Knock waiting lists on the head by guaranteeing oldies won't wait longer than 6 months. Nothing hacks people off more than having loved ones sit on waiting lists - or worse die while on a waiting list. So Labour should step up and draw a line in the sand and guarantee that if you're over 60 you will have your surgery done within six months - or your treatment will be done by a private provider. As Tony Blair once said - the Labour value is getting people treated quickly and funded by the state - this achieves that.

I really do think its that simple for Labour now - these sorts of policies would provide the punch - or Nonu-esque try if you will - to allow it to actually front foot the solid container load of policy it has - KiwiRail, KiwiSaver, tax cuts, yadda yadda yadda.

Do I think Labour would do any of these things? Lol don't be silly - as we now know, even John Howard rejected the idea of reducing petrol tax. But I do hope there are some decent Aces (or set pieces - to keep the rugby thing going) tucked away.