IT WAS SUCH a comforting dream. The idea that Jacinda Ardern had somehow inspired a new and vigorously hybrid political faith contained so much hope. That NZ First, a wholesome manifestation of New Zealand’s best conservative traditions, could reliably anchor a Labour-Green government determined to reanimate the reformist traditions of “King Dick” Seddon and Mickey Savage. As if, by some special historical dispensation, Jacinda and the rest of us – the “democratic public” of New Zealand – could enjoy the best of both worlds.
And then I woke up.
NZ First, as presented to the electorate by its redoubtable leader, Winston Peters, is, indeed, the embodiment of the best of this country’s conservative traditions. We are encouraged to believe that it will always be fiercely protective of New Zealand’s British inheritance: Representative Democracy and the Rule of Law. Equally, however, NZ First declares its unwavering allegiance to the achievements of New Zealanders themselves: the creation of a robust capitalist economy and, out of the wreckage of the Great Depression, a just and caring society.
If only.
Behind Peters’ masterfully patriotic sales-pitch, it would seem that there has always existed a hidden but unbreakable connection to a very different New Zealand. This New Zealand, the one in which NZ First conducts its practical political business, is the New Zealand of the quid pro quo. A nation of mutual back-scratchers. A country whose heraldic device depicts a golden coin encompassed by two open palms. A deeply corrupt New Zealand, which endures only because New Zealanders have trained themselves not to recognise corruption – even when it’s staring them in the face. (Which is, of course, why we’re known as the least corrupt nation on earth – because, so great is our discipline, that we report less corruption than any other nation on earth!)
That he has been able to operate so successfully and for so long in this other New Zealand strongly suggests that Peters is a politician without illusions. Over a parliamentary career spanning more than 40 years, he has come to see more clearly than most of his colleagues how the country really works. He understands that New Zealand capitalism has never been strong enough to function effectively without massive state support. That this dependence inevitably gave rise to a political culture of unabashed favour-seeking, cronyism and special pleading. That rampant corruption flourished in New Zealand because the country’s trade unions were willing to look the other way in return for state protection, and because its news media understood, without having to be told, what could be reported, and what could not. (Peters’ furious outbursts against the news media have generally been triggered by the latter’s refusal to stick to the agreed script in relation to himself and his party.)
Peters’ defection from National and his subsequent creation of NZ First was prompted by the massive disruption of “old” New Zealand’s deeply ingrained (if unacknowledged) culture of corruption by the neoliberal economic and social reforms of the 1980s and 90s. Peters was enraged by what he correctly perceived to be the cynical denunciation and deliberate destruction of the protected national economy by the local shills for global, free-market capitalism. He hated the way these “Quislings” sold their country off to the highest foreign bidder. His exposure of Neoliberalism’s new rules of engagement via the “Winebox Scandal” was motivated primarily by his determination to demonstrate the deeply compromised character of the new regime and its defenders – and they have never forgiven him for it.
The fatal flaw in Peters’ thinking – and therefore in the political conduct of NZ First – is that he has always sought to rescue his country’s fortunes by restoring the status quo ante. This meant re-creating a state-supported economy made up of importunate capitalist clients ready to offer Cabinet Ministers (and/or their parties) whatever it took to secure – and keep – their indispensable political patronage.
Peters and his colleagues perfected the art of appearing to be the foes of neoliberal capitalism while keeping hidden from the electorate their determination to restore the crony capitalism of the pre-Rogernomics era. His intention was always to attract the support of sufficient National Party and Labour Party politicians to secure his own, and his party’s, re-entry to the places where the deals – and the prices of the deals – were struck. He was convinced that New Zealand’s neoliberal revolution, like all revolutions, would ultimately prove unable to resist the tendency of fundamental economic and political realities to reassert themselves.
The fundamental fact remains: New Zealand capitalism cannot prosper without the active support of New Zealand’s politicians. Peters and NZ First have always been determined to prosper from that fact.
But, if NZ First sought to prosper from the re-establishment of crony capitalism, Labour and the Greens could hardly do so – not without fatally compromising their “transformative” ambitions. No matter how imminent a three-part rendition of the Hallelujah Song might appear, Jacinda’s broad new political faith has always been more apparent than real. The longer the present coalition government endures, the more opportunities for clientelism to become entrenched will present themselves. NZ First has never made a conspicuous display of resisting the temptation to exact a price for making things happen, or not happen. And with every stalled initiative and thwarted policy commitment, the Labour leader’s broad political faith takes on more and more of the appearance of a tawdry religious huckster’s travelling road-show.
Jacinda’s white vestments may look impressive on the cover of the international edition of Time magazine, but every day Labour’s relationship with Winston Peters and NZ First continues, her ability to go on wearing them back home in New Zealand – without exciting derision – diminishes.
It is time for the Prime Minister to wake up.
Chris Trotter,
Yet another piece from you about Peters and Ardern.
You do realize there is another Party in desperately need of attention instead of the usual free pass?
Well I’m a Jacindafan too @Jacindafan. It doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with her on every step she takes and worship the ground she walks on.
I also fully appreciate she’s got a hell of a lot of unpicking to to, and Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s also possible she’s had a lot of dead wood to drag along with her, as well as a few living in their comfy little bubbles that don’t fully appreciate how bad things are for a lot of people.
As I posted earlier this morning elsewhere on this site:
“It’s seriously becoming harder to know who to vote for!
– Breadcrumbs for beneficiaries
– No real commitment to fixing Public Service broadcasting (we apparently need a bloody PWC report ffs!)
– Tinkering over immigration and worker exploitation – even to the extent that the simplest things aren’t being done in the interim
– No commitment to fixing our public service which has gone seriously astray
– corporate welfare over public welfare
After a lifetime, as things stand I just can’t do Labour anymore until I see some signs of real transformation BEFORE the next election. But … what’s the alternative?”
There is another alternative I ‘spose. Get a script for a medicinal cure-all – a generic even and put
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_-q9xeOgG4 on loop.
And if I did that, I won’t be wondering by year’s end how it came to pass that Labour lost the election.
Well I would prefer lefties be brutally honest and savage of there criticisms and assessments of the left rather than rat behaviour by swing voting National or ACT.
I’ll abstain before I ever vote gNat or ACT – which right about now is a probability – along with a ticket to somewhere at the base of the Himalayas.
(Just so long as I can watch from afar – which I have done in the recent past)
Funny as fuck that I hear Winnie and Parker are now off on a grovelling jaunt, whilst all the while not doing anything substantive about the very people they’ve been ripping off – well apparently not until December 2020 – Like cheese – good things take time apparently)
Lol. It’s like daylight savings hit different this year in a bad way.
Nah trot- tar prefers to bash Jacinda and Winstone isn’t he a national supporter
Chris – I’m interested in your views on *why* Ardern found herself in this position. Did she let it happen, or was she powerless to stop it?
She is clearly one of those rare political beings like Key and Clark who can inspire a lot of faith from New Zealanders. She has a lot of talent in some areas, but seems to be at a loss here with Winston/NZF. Was she simply out-foxed, or is she acting in a mistaken sense of ‘good faith’?
Sadly I think it is too late now. Nine months to the election and the die is cast. Labour have neither delivered or transformed. NZ First have delivered for their voters and blocked Labour from delivering. The Left are a shambles and the Right are without scruples or moral compass are learning from the despicable but successful tactics used overseas and are going to offer their voters a real ‘choice’. God I hope I’m wrong.
You hope, but, sorry, you are correct.
Show me a party that’s Socialist, genuinely on the left (not neo liberal) and I’ll happily vote for them. That said in my eyes as an old school lefty and many others I might add, that particular breed of creature is extinct in NZ. There are still Socialist nations out there but we sold out back in the 80’s and since then things have gone from bad to worse. Doesn’t matter who is in aligned with who, its all the same.
Hi,
Could you name those socialist countries please? I’m not sure which they are.
Iceland would be my top pick but there are others. That said are you really asking a question here?
Some big donations or so called ‘loans’ from the NZ First Foundation, as recorded and declared:
https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/political-parties-in-new-zealand/party-loans-exceeding-30000/
But the racing industry is alive, has been rescued. Happy ones at the TAB.
Chris,
I commend your – perspicacity.
I concur with your comment:
“A deeply corrupt New Zealand, which endures only because New Zealanders have trained themselves not to recognise corruption – even when it’s staring them in the face.”
As Plato said: We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
AND
Addendum: Pardon my partial plagiary of Roger Miller:
“Politics swings like a pendulum do.”
Then you’d probably concur with the idea that the only difference between corruption in the “3rd World” (pardon me, but how else to define it), is that corruption in the ‘lil ‘ole colony of NuZull that punches above its weight is covert rather than overt.
I reckon overt corruption is slightly more honest.
I’d even go as far as to say I wouldn’t mind flicking a lowly NZTA ‘official’ a tenner or a half doz beersies to process my application for resuming a passenger endorsement on a driver’s licence (in this space, going forward). Cheap at the price eh?
I’d even pay more if I could find a way of stopping the pretense over it all. It’s becoming a bit tedious
Depends what effective governance is. The US federal government does very questionable things in the name of the people of The United States with very little direct accountability, but if New Zealand wasn’t comically corrupt it would not have been able to become a Fveyes Nation.
People in unions still tend to give an amazing amount of fucks over corruption so they tend to try and make the problem appear much, much worst than it actually is. Union founders created a system of greasing the palms that honestly works to some extent, the minority are capable of preventing the majority from acting too rashly instead of being steamrolled by simply lacking the 50%+1, there are regular debates on if buying another person dinner can count as corruption, etc.
Off the top of my head New Zealand is much more corrupt than the United States are because states that are openly corrupt like the Philippines (sorry), Brazil, China, Russian! India, Italy… the list of states where corruption exists openly and it can be demonstrated that the corruption actually impedes the well-being of the people in whose name they act on a massive scale and yet remains able to act at about the same level or greater than the nation-state equivalent of a functional alcoholic goes on and on and on…
And the scary thing is that in the world of governance, there are more functional alcoholics than there are sober people, and then there are plenty of governments that are not even functional.
🙂
“And the scary thing is that in the world of governance, there are more functional alcoholics than there are sober people, and then there are plenty of governments that are not even functional.”
Moons ago, I lost count of the number of times I was asked (invited with various temptations) to meet offsite in order for suppliers to gain ‘preferred supplier’ status.
Then there was always the old ‘air points’ scam where one could always put air travel on a personal credit card and then claim it back as an expense, enabling accrued points for personal use. (Usually reserved for the elite of course, rather than the worker-bees).
All a question of degree I guess, but what amuses me is seeing the elite (usually the generic managers et al) try and adopt the moral high ground as they feed at the trough whilst closely monitoring the supplies in the stationary cupboard.
More info on what was declared, per year, being party donations.
Let us reflect, have Labour always been that ‘independent’ from donors and their expectations? I think not.
Missed link:
https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/political-parties-in-new-zealand/party-donations-and-loans-by-year/
I note the Censor at work again, selecting what passes here.
Ah, the good old New Zealand way of the quid pro quo. Yes Mr Convention Centre, would you like a cob of corn with that or “15,000 more slot machines?”
Ahhh how quickly we forget,that would be honest john, way back in the mists of time!!!
Yep Honest John. hehe
This is supposedly a left wing blog site. The options on September 19th are to vote National or labour/greens. There has been progress in under the latter and we have on that side a leader who has shown outstanding leadership when the country needed it. Wages under this govt have grown, teachers and nurses have been given wage in creases they were happy to accept. More social housing has been built, their has been a cancer agency established with funding for some new cancer drugs approved (btw NZ from 2011 – 2017 had the lowest number of new drugs approved out of 20 Oecd countries). Schools and hospitals are being fixed and a new hospital in Dunedin finally underway, plus at least two new hospital units. Billons given to mental health a pilot set up for free lunch in schools. It seems the rates of children in poverty has been reduced, with more to come when the working for families kicks in. National sold off state houses, told us there wasn’t a housing crisis, kept wages low and were involved in many dirty political tricks such as documented in dirty politics, they lied about things like the dong Liu bottle of wine and donations and then there was the 11billon dollar fiscal hole.
So the choice is very clear. Wake up people on the left. There is a narrative starting that National will win the election. Fight back. Because some change is far better than what National will do and there isn’t a genuine socialist party who can win.
So true, what you’ve said, NZ has not had a one term government in almost 50 years, if that nasty NAZI National party clown Bridges gets in this year, there will be NO country in the entire world that would be able to understand WHY this has happened, I will go to my grave proudly having never ever voted National & I wouldn’t vote National even if someone held a loaded gun to my head, anyone with half a brain knows it takes longer than one term to sort out 9 long years of total fucking NEGLECT !!!!
best comment yet
100%
I sent off a good comment earlier in the day, but the censor dumped it, as it questioned the enthusiasm by TDB authors for Winston after election 2017.
No censorship required in my case, Marc!
I was one of those at TDB who bought the whole NZ First bill-of-goods.
I really did think that Winston had heard the Hallelujah Song (i.e. the call for transformative, anti-capitalist change) and was willing to help Jacinda sing it.
Silly me.
We do all err at some stage in our lives. Just move ahead with your new insight and watch out for new traps along the way.
I do think you’re right, Mr Trotter, about NZ being far, far, far more corrupt than it gives itself press for. Local councils, hospital boards, fake iwi, government departments, the list is endless really, and the few that challenge the status quo are publicly lynched, defamed, ridiculed and persecuted into oblivion. Only by standing together and demanding transparency and the end of child poverty will we survive.
Comments are closed.