In a frank interview, Labour's deputy leader Annette King admits to Dene Mackenzie the party must do much work to reconnect with disenchanted voters before the next election.
Labour Party deputy leader Annette King is not fazed by the way the party is being judged in opinion polls but her dismissal of the polls comes with refreshing honesty.
MPs usually trot out cliches about opinion polls, no matter which generation they are from.
The usual excuses include: "The only poll that matters is on election day", and "Our polling suggests we are in a better position than indicated by such and such a poll"; through to "I don't comment on polls", made famous by former prime minister Helen Clark.
Not so for Mrs King, who was in Dunedin yesterday.
"We never expected to be high in opinion polls now. That would be expecting New Zealanders to say, within a year of voting us out, that they had changed their minds.
"People are going to give this Government a fair go. We expected that.
"Our job is to highlight the areas where the Government is failing and unfair, while at the same time take time to develop our policies for the 2011 election."
Labour would go into the election telling voters that its principles and philosophy had not changed but it had developed new policies.
Leader Phil Goff had been talking about possible changes to monetary policy and Mrs King had been working on social development policies by bringing in both party members and people outside the party to work on policy detail.
But who would be leading Labour in 2011?
With Mr Goff rating at 5% in the latest TV One Colmar Brunton poll, he is now down another 4% from September.
Prime Minister John Key was even more popular - up 4% to 54% in support.
Poll support for National was 53%, down 1% and Labour was on 31%, down 2%.
Mrs King said she could not see anyone else in the caucus putting their hands up to lead Labour into the next election and she expected Mr Goff and herself to be the Labour leaders to 2011 and beyond.
She firmly put to rest the rumour that she was considering a tilt at the Wellington mayoralty next year.
"Absolute hogwash, and people in Wellington know that. I am enjoying what I am doing and I have a lot to offer. There is a mix of experience, enthusiasm and youth in our caucus."
However, Mrs King did admit that Mr Goff had taken on a hard job.
Miss Clark had been prime minister for nine years but she had been the Labour Party leader since 1993 before resigning late last year.
Everyone had been in the shadow of the Clark leadership.
Mr Goff was creating his own leadership style and personality.
He was also working hard with Labour's core constituency.
Labour lost a lot of blue collar and male votes at the last election and it was determined to get those votes back.
Reconnecting with voters in opposition made for frank discussions, something government ministers could miss out on as people curried favour.
As deputy leader, Mrs King regularly met the 14 new members of caucus, whose ages ranged from the mid-20s to early 60s, to ask them about their aspirations and ambitions.
She was confident Labour had the talent available to bounce back in both the opinion polls and the election.
Labour has shown in the past it can get out into the community and reconnect with disenchanted supporters.
Mrs King showed yesterday she is willing to be part of that campaign.
Dene Mackenzie is political editor of the Otago Daily Times.
