The Labour Party has been forced to release its internal review of its disastrous election campaign after a copy was leaked to 3 News today.
The 2014 election was a total disaster for Labour.
This review was into what went wrong and reveals Labour is totally broke.
The review also warns that if Labour does not find some cash quickly "it will continue experience electoral failure and place the status of the party as a political institution of influence at risk".
It says Labour's campaign was "undoubtedly hindered by a lack of financial resources".
Labour was outspent in the election by National which used $2.6 million and even the Green Party which threw $1.29 million in their campaign.
Labour spent $1.27 million – half of what National did.
The review found plenty of other problems, too.
Among them, it says the party's campaign preparation was "inadequate", "tension around the leadership and disunity within caucus seriously undermined Labour's credibility" and there was also a "general lack of message discipline".
The review, by 76-year-old former British labour MP, has taken over 8 months to find "the policies put forward at the election were often complex, difficult to understand".
And as for proposed solutions?
Well, "Labour must commit to a vision of a united New Zealand, founded on the Treaty of Waitangi".
And Labour will set up some more committees - an executive and a campaign committee.
"What is now important is that we support our new leader we get behind Andrew and we go forward to win the election in 2017, Former Labour leader David Cunliffe, who lead the party through the last election, says.
3 News
source: newshub archive
