Labour’s lust for power

Fran O’Sullivan on Labour’s electoral bribes and lust for power

Let’s face it, the bevy of powerful Labour politicians that orchestrated Shearer’s leadership grab – the “anyone but Cunliffe” clique – have long held an attachment to power.

MPs such as Trevor Mallard, Phil Goff, and Annette King were also within the core group at the centre of the second-term Helen Clark Government that shamelessly dished out voter bribes to get back into power at the 2005 election.

Those bribes – expanding Working for Families and making student loans interest free – were always going to be fiscally unsustainable. Then-Finance Minister Michael Cullen knew this. But they got Clark her third term.

Goff tried to go one step further and extend WFF to beneficiaries .

Note well that Goff, Mallard and King are still there, puppetmasters pulling Shearer’s strings