Election 2020: Jack Tame – How Judith Collins Changed Her Strategy

COMMENTARY:

More New Zealanders watched the leaders debate on Tuesday night than are likely to see or hear any other contest in this year’s election. I don’t think any of the candidates have performed very well. But two things stood out for me:

There was no thought of blue sky. The debate perfectly exposed Labor and National’s complete lack of courageous politics when it comes to tackling some of our biggest issues. I have complained a lot about it before, but none of our main parties is willing to do anything that might be considered unpopular but necessary. Housing, retirement, climate change … neither Labor nor National is prepared to do more than play on the margins.

The second thing I noticed in the debate was that Judith Collins seemed to change her campaign strategy in real time. Whether it’s her soft-spoken TV ad or her media appearances in the past month, National has been trying to push a kinder side of Judith Collins. They know they can’t be nicer than Jacinda Ardern, but they figured some soft Labor voters might be tempted to go back to supporting National if Collins could soften some of those sharp angles.

I think Judith Collins scrapped that strategy around 7.36pm on Tuesday night. Throughout that debate, she constantly recovered her sarcasm. She had Muldoon’s smile on, and was engrossed in post-debate interviews.

And if we had any doubts about whether he had changed tactics, there were none on Wednesday. After Jacinda Ardern said she wasn’t drawn to blood sports contests, Collins responded in a classic, condescending style.

“Poor.”

Successful politicians and successful broadcasters share several qualities. Authenticity is the main one of them. People ask me what Toni Street is like. Simple, I say: it is as amazing, funny and charming as it is on the radio and on television.

Both the voters and the public have a stupid knack for detecting when someone is trying to be someone they are not.

The reason many voters over the years have thought Judith Collins should become a national leader is not that she is really kind and gentle. They liked the image of the shredder. They liked that she was a scraper and a mixer. They could see how effective she was in undermining some of the top government ministers and attacking Labor.

That image and those qualities are not for everyone. It seems highly unlikely that Judith Collins will be Prime Minister this year at this stage. But you’ve clearly decided that your best chance on Election Day three weeks from now is to stick with your fabric and not try to pretend to be someone you aren’t.

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