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Politics lecturer Bryce Edwards continues his weekly chats with New Zealand politicians each Friday at Noon. Last week, Labour Party deputy leader Annette King talked to Edwards about her political past, atheism, and the threat from the big bad National Party and their cheesy-grinned leader.


 Ah technology, once again sticking it right into good old print journalism: Last week Vote Chat took a turn into the twenty-first century, as it was moved from its traditional domain in the Archway Lecture Theatre to the awfully fancy Otago Uni Media production unit to be filmed live, live streamed, live twittered, and even watched live, by some real live people. While the purists muttered about losing the informality that was the original raison d'être of Vote Chat, the young ‘uns vigorously worked the thumb pads on their mobile devices in an endless battle to out-tweet the rest.
 
As the technology raged around them, Bryce Edwards and Annette King managed to carry on a conversation about King’s political background and future hopes. It’s hard not to like King. She’s a lot like a kindly aunt; you half expect her to bust out some baked goods for everyone to enjoy after the interview. She is, in fact, a very experienced political operative. She hails from a long line of West Coast coal miners (read; unionists), and joined the Labour Party herself following the election of ol’ Norman Kirk to the top office in 1976 (Kirk was pretty balling: he sent NZ Navy frigates to protests against nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll, and banned the South African rugby team from touring here due to their state’s apartheid policies).
 
King started out as a solo parent, and has throughout been an advocate for social justice. Interestingly, she was one of the first politicians at Vote Chat to describe herself as an atheist (most having so far associated with the Anglican or Presbyterian faiths). Politically she describes herself as a centre left liberal. And she has the voting record to prove it: she pushed hard for homosexual law reform in 1986, despite the risks to her electorate seat. She wouldn’t support legalising weed, but because it’s carcinogenic, not because of its inebriating affects. She didn’t support euthanasia reform, concerned that the elderly would be taken advantage of; she will vote (as she did originally in 2001) to keep the drinking age at twenty. It seems that she is concerned with the welfare of individuals, rather than with the protection of abstract freedoms.
 
King first entered parliament in 1984, as the MP for Horowhenua, and has been the electorate MP for Rongotai since 1996. She served a range of roles in the fifth Labour government, as Minister of Health, Police, Transport, and Justice respectively. Following Labour’s defeat in the 2008 election, King became the new deputy leader of the party. Being part of the leadership team in a party just voted out of government is a thankless task (just look at Phil Goff). You aren’t really expected to lead the party back to victory at the next election; you are expected to reflect on your party’s soul, to take the time that being in opposition provides to realign your party, and make sure that it offers a real alternative to the incumbent government. Labour has so far failed to do that. Rather than put forward a bold idea of what Labour will do if elected, they continue to hark back to what Labour has done in the past; their argument for the upcoming election seems to centre on the idea that ‘if you don’t vote us back in, all our good work will be undone by National’. Where fresh faces are required, Labour has defended the old guard.
 
King comes across as solid and relaxed, but not dynamic and not reforming. Not the kind of person that you would vote to replace an apparently competent government. She represents Labour’s attempt to return to government by relying on the old ways, and the old incumbents. King will be back in parliament after the election, but it’s doubtful she’ll be leading much of anything.