So when she writes this morning about David Shearer's lack of cut-through with the business community, you can be sure that she is not just presenting an opinion held by her and no-one else; she begins:
David Shearer should be personally disappointed that many of the nation's top chief executives do not believe he has yet demonstrated the right stuff to credibly challenge the Key Government.
There is a yawning gap that Labour could fill if it could get some concerted focus on contemporary issues such as housing, the Christchurch earthquake rebuild and youth unemployment, distance itself from the Greens and present itself as the lead player in a potential government in waiting.
But right now its own leader is too often over-shadowed by the aggressive and media savvy Greens co-leaders Russel Norman and Metiria Turei. And chief executives - who want to be confident that if there is a change of government at the 2014 election that an established party will be in the box seat - have concerns.
It's no surprise that the business community has strong concerns about the involvement of the Greens in any future government, especially in an economic portfolio. The New Zealand economy is in recovery, but it is still relatively fragile. The Greens' brand of economic medicine could kill that recovery stone dead.
But back to David Shearer. 95% of the 118 CEO's surveyed didn't feel that he was performing as Labour leader. And as Ms O'Sullivan reports, he's actually gone backwards:
In the Herald's Mood of the Boardroom CEOs' Survey last year, Shearer was still on his trainer wheels as Labour's leader.
Some 90 per cent of chief executives said then he hadn't made a dent in John Key's leadership.
And that was fair enough. They - like other New Zealanders - had expectations he would need time to settle into the role. Particularly as the neophyte leader had not even been blooded sufficiently within the parliamentary bearpit before his colleagues elected him to take Phil Goff's place.
This year, even more CEOs surveyed by the Herald said Shearer's performance had still not been credible enough to challenge the National Government.
It is important that the leader of a major political party like Labour can engender confidence among the bosses of New Zealand's larger companies that he (or she) is up to the challenge of taking on the Government on issues that matter.
For one thing it leads to better policy. Two former Cabinet ministers (now businessmen) have reflected to me since the 2013 survey came out on Thursday, how important it is for the government of the day to be challenged by a competent Opposition which can pull them up on issues that matter and suggest modifications to important legislation.
It also makes the government of the day work just that much harder.
Fran O'Sullivan is dead right here; the role of an effective Opposition in our democracy cannot be overstated. But at the moment, the Greens and even NZ First are doing a more effective job than Labour,which is supposedly the biggest Opposition party, with MP's with a wealth of experience both in government and opposition.
But Labour in 2013 is lacking in direction and leadership, and that is being borne out in the polls, all of which now have Labour and David Shearer on a downward trend. There is still considerable debate over whether Labour learned anything from its defeat in 2008 and its worst result in 60 years in 2011, or whether the party believes that the voters will eventually see that their rejection of Labour was just a mistake.
Then after addressing areas where Labour could be focusing, and questioning the haste with which Phil Goff was thrown on the scrapheap Fran O'Sullivan reaches her close. And with it comes the almost inevitable question-mark over the security of David Shearer's tenure of the Labour Party leadership:
What makes it even harder for Shearer is that New Zealand is now in much better shape. Companies are making more money and more of them now plan to hire more staff. The country is finally much more confident and resilient.
But there are also some issues where Key's Government has been slow and offer options for Labour to drive some wedges in National's popularity. Auckland housing pressures are one; the Canterbury rebuild needs to step up the pace on the major projects front; youth unemployment initiatives are another.
The big challenge for Shearer will be stopping National from covering off such issues first (that's if he can hold on to his job).
We've heard from numerous sources on both sides of the political divide that the week commencing Monday 5th August might be a difficult one for David Shearer. Others are suggesting that nothing will happen before the Labour Party conference in November.
Whichever, David Shearer must articulate his and Labour's vision for New Zealand to business leaders if he expects to have their support should he ever become Prime Minister.
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