The first week of the official election campaign has produced a moment of overweening ambition from National and the spectacle of the ACT Party staring fixedly at the rear vision mirror.
It has also seen variations on a theme of “I like EVs” and “I like EVs too” and “Yes but I liked them first”.
National's moment of ambition came when its campaign manager Chris Bishop warned that this election campaign could have the worst level of personal attacks in history.
Bishop has a problem here because history shows the competition for personal attacks is intense. Not only could David Lange smell the uranium on Jerry Falwell's breath, but he declared “the National Party couldn't run a bath”.
He also said that his father, who was a doctor, delivered Lange's fellow caucus member Michael Bassett and “it became plain later that he must have dropped him.”
And Winston Peters couldn't be in the debating chamber because “he was detained by a full length mirror.”
Rob Muldoon described his Labour opponent Bill Rowling as a “shiver looking for a spine to run up” while Muldoon “could go down the Mt Eden sewer and come up cleaner than when he went in”, according to Mike Moore.
And that rich vein of abuse is evident even without trawling through the 170 years of political history since Fox and Stafford, who were both notoriously combative. So Bishop can perhaps be admired for his gutsy ambition, but not for his sense of realism, in suggesting that this election might break new ground.
As for the ACT Party's dabble in retrospective thinking, this began with its appropriation of Nelson Mandela, claiming he would have supported the ACT Party. This view was later shot down by Mandela's grandson.
The party leader, David Seymour, then went on to suggest that if the Green Party's love of state control of the economy was correct, then the Soviets would have won the Cold War.
Seymour finally ended up discussing Kate Sheppard and her likely attitude to ACT, and he was forced to concede defeat.
“I absolutely agree (with her views on human rights) but because of her attitudes to booze prohibition, she would probably have voted Green.
“We are probably safe from her grandchildren, but you never know.”
In other developments this week. Labour pledged a 300-person increase in the police force, saying this would bring the ratio of police to one per every 470 New Zealanders.
The party also unveiled its plans to improve economic growth, though it mainly cited objectives rather than mechanisms, such as growing exports and having high paying jobs. Then, there was free dental care to people under 30.
National got down to details with its tourism plan, even specifying a new Great Walk and E bike charging stations on cycleways.
It also pledged to lift the age for working holiday makers, raising the prospect that English lovelies staffing our cafes while on a gap year will be joined by 30-somethings who haven't settled down yet.
National also pledged 10,000 EV chargers, only to be shot down by Labour and the Greens as a reluctant convert to the EV cause, and trying to help and to hinder EVs at the same time.
The Greens meanwhile pledged free dental care for all and reiterated their pledge to fund it with a “fair tax system.” The Greens also promised to end the social housing waitlist in five years.
New Zealand First inched over the 5% threshold according to one poll, despite an appeal to a relatively small demographic: women who feel threatened by trans people in bathrooms when they are not lumbered with unisex toilets already. But populist measures like freezing MP's salaries and declaring gangs to be terrorist entities might have helped.
New Zealand First is also revealing a hard-nosed attitude to economic development which is diametrically opposed to the Greens. And it has declared war on woke.
There have been other, lesser, events, such as a banana being thown at the National leader Christopher Luxon.
It missed, but if it had hit, it might have given new meaning to the term, “slipping on a banana skin”, given the Moeraki boulder-like smoothness of Luxon's bald pate.
81 Comments
I love following politics but i'm bored of this campaign already and its only just started. Such small thinking from all parties. I have so little faith that they actually know how to deliver anything via the departments. Ideas are nothing without implementation. I can't wait until it's over. We need a change to get out of the current rut that the Country is in. I'm just hoping it's not a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Small thinking and then claiming you are incredibly different from the other man in a suit because of some minor detail difference in your policies, is what blue and red team do every election. For the past 20 years its been small thinking from all of them and why would they change? They have both won multiple elections on small thinking, so it works for them.
"Luxon worked for Unilever from 1993 to 2011, being based in Wellington (1993–1995), Sydney (1995–2000), London (2000–2003), Chicago (2003–2008) and Toronto (2008–2011).[16] He rose to be the President and chief executive officer of its Canadian operations.[20]"
I myself worked for Unilever for 26 years; it's as "real world" as you can get.
I too worked for a multinational for a few years. It's not really "real world". We had our fair share of Luxons around the world, all talked a big game with all the fancy slogans and the same "corporate buzzword bingo playlist" as every other corporate. It's just an acronym filled snorefest focusing solely on maximizing shareholder returns by screwing everyone over, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Even in supply chain you can't generally escape that sort of nonsense. Normally it's just forever changing processes driven by accountants and the risk averse. Did you not receive "Take-Five" safety checklist books?
Six-Sigma? DIFOT? CQS? SCOR? ABC Analysis was probably big in Unilever?
The funniest one was when we used SAP (did you have the joy of using that ERP system?). It worked quite well as barebones package but the running joke was SAP stood for "Send Another Payment" because every time you needed to add a basic feature or integration it would cost you a fortune.
One of my responsibilities about 5 years before I left was our local site part in their regional SAP implementation...I had huge "challenges" (arguments) in ensuring that the configuration choices were kept simple & logical enough to ensure that the factory efficiency was maintained.
Since I retired 've tried hard to forget everything I ever learned about it...
The current rut is probably due to house prices dropping as our economy is based around ever increasing house prices. So you can either vote blue to prop those house prices back up, red/green and wait for them to bottom out, or teal and hunker down. Or get a lottery ticket with NZF.
This is the true litmus test: Are they going to do anything meaningful about astronomical housing prices and the interest rates that go with it?
Some ideas:
- directly regulate the interest rates banks can charge owner occupiers, OR
- create state advances loans again via Kiwibank. E.g 3% for term of loan
- limit immigration to level that housing construction sector can handle (4000 houses/ 12000 people a year?) OR
- make employers prove their immigrant workers have somewhere to live that meets healthy home standards.
- outline how they are going to completely fund our infrastructure deficit to make sense infrastructure goes in BEFORE housing. None of this half baked give 15% GST back to Councils etc which is a drop in the bucket.
But no…. very small thinking is all we are getting.
'The party also unveiled its plans to improve economic growth'
How about pointing out that the pursuit of economic growth will add our species to the Great Extinction list, Eric?
And asking the REAL journalistic question: Which Party is able to address Degrowth - whether voluntary or involuntary?
I am not sure national counts as 'right' any more. They want 4 new taxes to pay for daycare subsidies and a mild tax cut to middle earners. And they seem to be just as keen on spending as Labour, today they have added are paying for charging stations for E bikes? I am very pro bike and e-bike but that does not seem like it should be a government priority what so ever. If it is required surely the free market can provide a user pays solution...
Very good point. They are the "we will do everything Labour does, plus a lot more (roads, jails, daycare, police, pharmac, nurses, midwives, boot camps, etc), but also give tax cuts (mainly for property investors)" party. Its all paid for by sacking a few people in public service apparently. Key ran the same policy when he was elected, then he couldn't find all the efficiency savings and had to raise GST instead. Of course they will say that is because "the government books were in worse shape than we thought possible".
Here's a question for you Jimbo. What do you do for a job? In another post you have said you have a young family. So probably reasonable to assume you are young-ish.
However you post constantly at all times of the day! So are you a paid lobbyist for Labour or the Greens? Despite your protestations you come across as very strongly socialist and constantly deride the right. For sure you have every right to your opinion but you for sure need to do a lot more fact checking!
What did they get wrong?
https://www.national.org.nz/miq-should-be-moved-outside-of-downtown-auc…
I've been forever hopeful that we might grow up as a nation and stop the American style nasty, personal political attacks. Seems not. While to be fair, it was Hipkins predecessor who started the mantra of be kind, it seems that theme has well and truly been thrown out with the bath water by Labour. Instead it's been replaced with.. tell as many porkies as you can, promise the world to constituents (even if the country can't afford it) make excuses for unions posting denigrating advertising..and the list goes on.
What happened to attack the policy not the person?
Maybe Jacinda wasn't so bad after all?
"tell as many porkies as you can" and "promise the world to constituents" can't be beat by National's tax policy can it? I am really looking forward to my familiy's $250 a week. Oh hang on it is $250 a fortnight. Oh hang on most of that is actually childcare subsidy, not a tax cut, and I don't have childcare. Oh it looks like I actually get $25 a week, thanks National, lucky I looked into it unlike 90% of NZers that just read the headline and will be very disappointed.
When has it ever been anything else but lies and bribes paid by taxpayer money. The matra of be kind, is just another lie, it was be kind as long you agree with me, otherwise set the sprinklers on the protesters, fire all the teacher that aren't vaccinated even though every student in the school wasn't. Or perhaps it was true, they where certainly kind by letting out so many prisoners.
What I want on the election from is an option saying I don't like any of you, but if I must, I choose X. It won't have an affect on the outcome of the election but may take politicians down a peg.
Why don't you stand and vote for yourself champ.
I've been pretty open about saying I don't rate Luxon but I respect him putting his hat in the ring. Everyone else who chimes in about everyone being shit is a coward in my view.
There is nothing stopping anyone else who thinks they can do a better job to step up and do so.
The reality is most people here who complain bout other people being shit couldn't even get voted in as the leader of their street... it's this attitude that fuels mediocrity.
Only those who have incredibly thick skin, have incredibly big egos, are bored and rich, are incredibly passionate about something, have nothing to lose, or are little bit dim, end up standing.
Any sane/ordinary/competent people are put off by dickheads who constantly complain about everything but do nothing about it.
I agree 100%. NZers always complain about MPs and their salary and experience etc, and how they could do so much better, but nothing is stopping them having a go if the pay is so good and it is so easy. In fact the centre is looking very thin at the moment, I don't think many want to vote either Labour or National, you could even start your own party.
I tend to agree Agnostium, but I think the problem of getting a House of Representatives consisting of good average people spanning the range of political thought, is a bit deeper than you suggest.
Democracy takes a bit of work, joining or actively supporting a group who reflect your views is something our modern society is not good at. (Applies to all voluntary societies, footy clubs, Lions, churches, school committees etc..)
Unfortunately MMP, which might have some virtues, has certainly worked against having smallish constituencies where our local MP is known at the local community level. Our MP's seem generally to be representatives of the Wellington view than their local community. List MP's seem to be just Party fodder.
It used to be that the local party organisation tended to invite those they thought appropriate to put their name forward for candidate selection. It seems nowadays that while the process is perhaps more open, it seems to attract those who can speak at the selection process and spin a good story of why they will be a marvellous representative... a system designed it seems to attract the self-servers!
And of course the list process will never produce anyone with an atom of independent thought.
In other words getting good MP's is difficult, involves each of us, and requires more than just ticking a vote for the person with glib speech who promises the most lollies.
Don’t bother, 3 years is a very long time to keep promises.
Surely we have the internet technology now to allow decentralised decision-making on an ongoing basis? I cringe at the thought of giving anyone a 3 year long contract, let alone politicians…
I want to be able to vote on the topics that affect me most as they come up, rather than this “pick-n-mix” debacle that we’re all having right now to pick the least-worst candidate!
Latest poll today (noted that the MSM didn't publish any reporting of Mondays Roy Morgan with ACT on 18% :)
Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll: September 2023 - Taxpayers' Union
"National increases 0.1 points on last month to 35.0% while Labour drops 0.6 points to 26.5%. ACT is up 1.3 points to 14.3% while the Greens are up 0.7 points to 12.7%.
The smaller parties are NZ First on 3.9% (-1.9 points), the Māori Party on 2.9% (+0.4 points), TOP on 2.7% (+1.7 points), New Conservatives on 0.8% (+0.2 points), Vision NZ on 0.5% (-0.6 points), and Outdoors and Freedom on 0.2%. (-0.3 points)."
I have to hand it to Luxon, he has done really well to turn National around from the bunch of backstabbing buffoons that they were under Bridges and Collins. Their MPs haven't done anything particularly stupid this year while Labour MP's have done plenty. I said a while back that this election will be won by the major party that does the least stupid things, at the moment that is definitely National. Luxon really could be the next John Key, and there could be another 9 years of National.
The biggest success story of them all is Seymour. I don't like the dodgy ACT party one bit (even though I am fairly libertarian), but Seymour is very good, for a one person party to get that kind of vote is amazing.
Last election National had descended into a shambles and were punished accordingly by the electorate. Part of that punishment is said to consist of votes switching to Labour in order to keep the Greens out of a formal coalition. Three years later it is the opposite and Labour are in an even worse mess. Governments get punished worse than opposition. This likely to be the worst defeat for any government in NZ’s history.
I think Luxon is starting to do quite well , and it is Willis who may be National's weak point.They'd probably be better swapping roles.
Though maybe its better she is not put under pressure in debates.
I still think the youth vote will decide the Election If they turn out . I think more likely to get angry after the election, unfortunately..
She's a qualified journalist. Very good at being all shouty and authoritative while asking all the hard questions, but when the roles are reversed I suspect is her weak point. You don't study a journalism degree to learn how to deal with being grilled and put on the spot.
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