1987: The Re-Election of Labour 4.0
July 21, 2022
By AHNZ
Today in history, 23/07/1987, this image (left:) Dramatising Labour 4.0 begging for more time in office to complete their policy platforms. It’s the first shot of a campaign advertisement from the National Party.
Jim Bolger’s National were campaigning on fear. Not a plan to win the election so much as to make the other mob lose. Labour broke their promises, it was pointed out. Meddled with Superannuation, backed down on defense, paid people not to work, deserted the worker, increased inflation, savaged the farming industry the “backbone of our economy for over a century,” producing an illiterate generation. Losing the war against crime on our streets. “Nobody knows what’s going on anymore.”
Labour’s tactic was be warm and positive, visible and humanised and loved. They emphasised the new Millennial Generation and the educational needs that were beyond National’s ken but that this government understood and would provide. PM David Lange said there was another side to education (than being able to read and write…): learning for life, getting on with people, thinking for yourself.
On 15 August 1987 the government was re-elected. A big part of National’s problem was internal division. While some tried to oppose Labour’s reforms many of the MPs were quite sympathetic.
It all sounds quite similar to the way things have been for Labour 6.0’s second term too.
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Note: Both parties campaigned on the high price of mortgages.Today (2020s) they campaign on the high price of rentals. Way things are going, the future elections will be fought on the high price of the cardboard we built our squatting hovels on.
Ref. PARTY POLITICAL BROADCAST. 23/07/1987 NATIONAL & LABOUR, NZ Sound and Vision
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