Labour’s lineup provides hope for the future

My weekly Dispatch from St Johnnysburg is up at NBR, and I look in more depth at Labour’s lineup in the economic portfolios. Some extracts:

Labour’s lineup with regard to economic policies is showing some promise. No they are not going to be reformers in the Douglas/Caygill mode (but neither is National), but Phil Goff is assembling a team that has business experience and may not treat reform as a dirty word.

Policy in the 5th Labour Government was driven by four university lecturers – Helen Clark, Michael Cullen, Heather Simpson and Steve Maharey. They had no serious agenda to increase productivity – their job was working out how to spend the money.

This is different to other Labour Governments around the world. In Australia Labor PM Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan have both attended the Consilium conference put on by the Centre for Independent Studies. In NZ, Michael Cullen would simply attack their report on the basis that one of their researchers once worked for Bill English.

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