Mike's Minute: It could be interesting times for Labour

I risk getting slightly ahead of myself, but my anticipation of the Government being returned means some very interesting times for the Labour Party. 

Obviously Hipkins would go and in that is the exposure of one of those things we see increasingly often in the workplace – a lack of talent. 

It still amazes me we can have an unemployment rate of 5.7% with allegedly this massive queue of people desperate for work, and yet gainfully employed are any number of dumpty dos who anyone with any sense of anticipation around quality would quite rightly ask "how is it they're in work?" 

I've seen it in the media over the past decade. The depth of genuine talent these days is puddle shallow and so it is with the Labour Party. 

What Labour, or any party really, needs is an obvious successor, if not two. People who are quite clearly set to go should the circumstances arise.

You see it all the time in sport. But with Labour a schism is building. 

They talk of Michael Wood, and they talk, remarkably, of Craig Renney. 

Both are hardcore unionists. Renney is an overt Pom, not that I have anything against Poms, even if they have been here a while. But if that’s their path they are in for a very long period in the wilderness. 

When Labour have done well, they're a broader church. Think Clark and Lange, think Hawke and Keating, think Blair and Brown. 

The answer is there. Sadly though, often the talent isn't, and so you end up with Gillards and Starmers and, maybe, Woods and Renneys. 

The same way Luxon gets whacked for being out of touch, Wood and Renney don’t stand a chance with working New Zealand. 

They keep saying Barbara Edmonds, but I'm sure that’s only because she is the last one standing, not because she is an obvious leader. 

The same way great players aren't always captains, this applies to the next leader of the Opposition. 

The next leader is a path to competitiveness in 2029, or a gap filler while they tear themselves apart for multiple terms.