Election 2023 Insights
Rachel Mackay (Kaitātari Kaupapa Here Matua | Senior Policy Analyst) asks how voters are supposed to make an informed choice if parties don’t release full manifestos before polls open and proposes a simple solution for the next election.
The polls opened yesterday, and it was only two days ago that the Labour party released its full manifesto. This could be seen as late homework, especially when you consider overseas voting started last week, but we are yet to receive one whatsoever from most of the political parties, including National. For the last month we have been hearing about new and recycled policies from prospective leaders from across the political spectrum, but never accompanied by a full manifesto. There is one notable exception – the Green Party.
The Greens released their entire, comprehensive, fully costed manifesto of policy on the 9th of July. This means that for a full 60 business days before anyone in the country could cast a ballot, we have known exactly where they stand. In debate and forum, they have been able to speak confidently and assuredly to what their party believes is the best course of action for the country, with the numbers to back themselves up.
The Greens have drawn their line in the sand. Their manifesto stands, holes and all, ready for observation, critique, and discussion. The other parties have various policy on their website, but with no comprehensive document that you can read from top to bottom, and with no guarantee that this is all that will be released before you vote. In fact, when we asked for a full policy list, ACT told us all of their policy was available on their website, only for them to release another policy within a week. Te Pāti Māori have a comprehensive set of policy on their website, mostly uploaded in early August, but new policy was being added until only two weeks ago.
When every day there are more announcements, does it feel like they have a plan at all? Often these announcements feel like they are in response to the policies of another party or phrased in clickbait language to draw eyes and clicks to the page, and so we must ask what the purpose of these policies is. Are the policies of your party the unmoving bedrock from which you grow the support for your campaign, carved from the principles of your party and prepared carefully and thoughtfully to be defended and discussed, or are they the fluttering tickertape of your campaign parade, ready to rain down upon voters whenever you need them to pay attention to you again?
A manifesto tells us who you are, what you believe in, what and who you prioritise in a society, and how you intend to make those priorities into actionable plans. It is the platform from which the support for you should grow, by discussion and explanation of their merits and defence of their shortcomings. With three years between elections, parties have more than enough time to prepare policy for distribution. Let the foundation of the campaigns they lead be in their policy plans, not soundbites and vague promises.
It takes political bravery to put all your shiny baubles in the same basket, especially if they sit alongside things that might not be so popular. Drip feeding policies one at a time to the media keeps the mirror-ball of tax reductions, benefit increases, and popularist policy statements spinning and sparkling, while less favourable policy can sit out this dance by just being posted quietly on the party website without any fanfare. Governing a nation is hard, and we should demand bravery from our leaders – first in ideas and then in action.
What is the alternative?
NZCCSS proposes the introduction of “Manifesto Day,” a date set in advance of the general election whereby all parties who wish to be eligible for election must have provided their full, finalised manifesto to the public. The Greens have set the standard with 60 business days before the polls open, but even 6 weeks before election day would be sufficient. The last month or so before an election is surely not the best time for creating well-thought out, costed and responsible policy. One night is not enough for people to read your full manifesto and be able to make good comparative choices.
If we create an expectation of transparency and political consistency, the whole context of political campaigning will change. Releasing extra “gotcha” policy will be reframed as careless and reactionary. Comprehensive plans will be able to be compared on what they contain and what they omit with evidence, not based on the titbits from announcements and debates. Instead of political dancing and obfuscation when asked a question, politicians could actually give yes/no answers based on their party’s document. We could expect appropriate cost modelling to have been completed to understand how things will be paid for.
We could expect all our political parties to be ready to answer to the public on which issues they would be focused on solving and how they intend to address them.
We could expect more.
