SAME OLD RUBBISH FROM GOFF

While the uncritical Labour supporter will say otherwise, nothing new came out of the Labour Party conference other than a clear confirmation that Goff's Labour has no intention of abandoning neoliberalism. Indeed Goff is taking his sorry party further to the right and Labour apologists like Chris Trotter and The Standard have fallen in behind.

Goff has made a few noises about a capital gains tax and price gouging by power companies (how come Labour never did anything about it when it was in power then, Phil?) these are little more than add-ons to Labour's neoliberal framework.

Goff, who thinks there is no alternative to the 'free market', offered the conference more neoliberal tripe and the conference said 'thankyou'. Judging by what Chris Trotter has said, it looks like he went back for a second helping.

While the mainstream media has concentrated on Goff's supposed admission of Labour's 'mistakes' and his commitment to 'listen' to the concerns of the electorate, Goff's conference speech was a statement of orthodoxy and continuity. Nothing new here - just more of the same old rubbish. You can change the labels but its still the same old neoliberal rubbish.

Rather than abandoning neoliberalism Goff chose to blame Labour's social liberalism - eg the anti-smacking bill and light bulbs - as the cause of Labour's downfall. As I said in a previous post this is simply buying into right wing propaganda about 'Nanny State'.

Goff hasn't - and won't - apologise for Labour's economic policies.

Did he apologise for Labour not raising benefit levels? No. Did he apologise for Labour allowing the sharks of the finance sector to fleece thousands of ordinary New Zealanders of billions of dollars? No.

The track record of the Clark government is one of consistent economic attacks on the living standards of working people to the point that we now have one of the highest rates of inequality, and highest levels of outright poverty, in the OECD.

I don't hear Goff apologising for any of this - and he was backed by the appalling Andrew Little as the man to lead Labour into the future!

Who the hell cares that Phil Goff's sorry about mucking about with light bulbs?

This Labour Party cannot be supported by anyone who considers themselves to be left wing, never mind socialist. Anyone who claims such political credentials while continuing to support this party is a fraud.

We now are watching the spectacle of a party whose response to the deep unpopularity of everything associated with Labour and neoliberalism is to move further to the right.

A new era for Labour? No, just a new error. With a dwindling membership - and even smaller 'active' membership - this is party on life support.

At the last election large numbers of Labour voters stayed home because they felt they had no-one to vote for - they still don't.