EDO Blog

Since arriving last Friday, I and New South Welshman David Nouri have been based in Wellington; New Zealand’s capital. Wellington and Canberra have a lot in common. Apart from the icy winds and housing most of New Zealand’s government departments and public service, Wellington is a long established stronghold for the New Zealand Labour Party. Although this makes winning an outright majority in seats like Wellington Central a tall order for the Nationals, maximising the party’s share of the vote remains a key priority thanks to New Zealand’s mixed-member proportional voting system, or MMP.

Being in NZ for close to a week now, I can proudly say that I’m backing Bill (thankfully their Bill is nothing like ours). My campaign journey here started with a literal bang, on the flight into Wellington. Apparently rough landings at Wellington are normal, however this didn’t stop me from fearing for dear life, and didn’t act as an indicator for how my EDO experience would play out.

In the lead up to the election next week, all hands are on deck at the National HQ in Auckland. The Northern Region Young Nats have organised a Campaign Weekend, full of human hoardings, letterboxing, doorknocking, and other visibility exercises. Throughout the weekend I’ve been fortunate enough to meet sitting MPs, candidates, and even the PM and his wife.

Monday morning and we hit the ground at the Ferry Building in Auckland Central for ‘Human Hoarding’ – what we would call sign waving. Hoarding is a regular bookend for the campaigning day. This morning we are hoarding for Nikki Kaye, the formidable Minister for Education, and the electorate member for Auckland Central.