'THE NATION'
DAVID SHEARER
Interviewed by SEAN PLUNKET


Sean David Shearer is in the Auckland studio with us now. That speech to the Tertiary Conference, when did you write it?

David Shearer – Mt Albert Labour MP
On the plane going down to the conference, I'd thought about it the night before but I wrote it actually on the plane.

Sean So is your candidacy some sort of road to Damascus moment, or had you considered it before the election – before election night?

David Not really, I mean I'd thought about obviously prospects for the future, but what I did was, as I was going down I was coming off the back of a really bad defeat, and I thought what we really needed to do was to change. I said that on the night of the election actually, that we did really need to change, and I wanted to make that really clear when I….

Sean So no aspirations, no thought of throwing your hat in the ring before election night, before last Saturday night?

David Not formally no, I mean at some point I thought yeah somewhere down the line there might be a chance but that was not programmed.

Sean Had you discussed it with anyone else or sought advice?

David No, no. I'd spoken to Phil Goff in the caucus meeting and said I decided that morning that I was going to throw my hat into the ring.

Sean Are you surprised at the support that you are now perceived to be the front runner?

David Yeah perceived is the right word. Yes, looks it's been really encouraging of course. I thought that I would have a difficult – in a difficult way to persuade my colleagues to look at me as a new fresh person, and it's been really good that I think many of them have actually understood that Labour does need to change.

Sean Did Phil Goff support you when you spoke to him the idea that you should take over from him?

David I spoke to him on the caucus meeting and said Phil I need to tell you that when I stand up to speak in caucus I'm going to throw my hat in the ring, and I just want you to know, but I didn’t speak to him before that.

Sean And what response did you get from him?

David He said oh fair enough, because there were two Davids in the ring at that stage, and so we ended up having, at the end of our caucus meeting, three David's standing up and talking about where things should go.

Sean Well it's now a two horse race, and you're up against a man who knows policy backwards. Do you know the policy backwards? Are you happy with the policies, or are you gonna do what David Cunliffe suggests and maybe have a look at them and fine tune them, things like the GST?

David Look I think we looked at it, the New Zealand economy in particular and said we really need to make some big reforms here and make some big changes, and we therefore made some very bold decisions in our policy, and I was comfortable with those. But when you look at our defeat I think it was more than policy, there was a whole bunch of different things that were going on there, and I think one of the big things was actually voters just didn’t see us as being kind of different from the past, that we didn’t – and I think that what we need to do now is really actually just to go out there, talk to people, find out what they want, have a real listen and say what did work and what didn’t. We're only one week away from the defeat and so I think it's too early to go back and say this policy worked, and that policy didn’t.

Sean So policy is not as important as reconnection as far as you're concerned?

David I think so, and the policy then is obviously part of that, but it's not necessarily the sole thing.

Sean Okay, so you want to change the party, does that mean that inevitably you're going to have to sacrifice some of the people you're currently asking to vote for you to be the leader.

David Look when I've gone to speak to people to say would you support me, I have made it very clear that I cannot in any way guarantee them any position. I mean I've been very emphatic about that.

Sean So what's in it for them?

David What's in it for them is a Labour Party that’s rejuvenated, refreshed and moves on, and I just don’t think it's right that I can somehow make deals on the side as we go forward.

Sean Alright do you believe that you would be able to work with David Cunliffe if he bested you in this competition? Would you be happy to work with David Cunliffe?

David Oh I think so, look we all agree on the same thing. I mean David and I are side by side, our two electorates, I mean we have quite a lot to do with each other. Yeah we have dinner together or whatever. This is a contest between people but at the end of the day we will come back together and we will be united.

Sean Okay what would you say to vacillating caucus members right now?

David Oh look I think they need to look at where they think the Labour Party needs to go and they need to think very clearly whether it needs to be refreshed and I think there's a strong call from outside, when you look at the public interest in this actually, which has been very very interesting, the public interest in the Labour Party leadership tussle, that there is a sort of a groundswell for change in the Labour Party, and that I represent the new face, the fresh face for Labour.

Sean David Shearer, thank you very much indeed.

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