The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has magnanimously announced the election will be delayed until 17th October.
She has chosen for a date that will strengthen participation and safety over her own Party’s interests.
She has once again shown her class and leadership.
The funniest thing about the election date pushback is the argument that for the election to be fair, Opposition Parties require more air time, when in reality, the more voters see of Judith as Leader of National, the more they recoil in horror & the lower National drops in the polls!
What many miss in this election date delay issue, is that Judith has shown absolutely no restraints to her malice & if she fails on September 19th (which I am certain of) she will tell her angry followers the election was rigged and in this conspiracy fuelled reality of the immediate now, Judith bringing down the entire superstructure of trust in the legitimacy of the Government in the middle of a pandemic could have enormously negative ramifications that we can’t calculate.
TDB and Te Ao with Moana on Maori TV were the first to note the danger NZPP posed, and I’m telling you now, people are freaked out enough from the pandemic and distrustful of mainstream media to take up Judith’s crocodile tears for a rigged election and do crazy shit.
It’s not Labour’s victory that we inoculate by giving Opposition Parties more time on the campaign trail, but the legitimacy of the actual result and authority of Government.
A big part of why Democracy works is because the Opposition gracefully accepts the result and congratulates the winning side by publicly acknowledging the victory and defeat, that is the convention but with National openly espousing conspiracy theories combined with the ruthlessness of Collins as a leader, if Jacinda doesn’t give the extension, it’s banned ammunition that Judith wouldn’t hesitate in using.
Let me be crystal clear, we on the Left have NOTHING to fear from a delayed election- we can thrash these right wing clowns any day of the week! National’s policies are a sad joke and ACT are held hostage by far right gun fetishists, Labour’s vision is a thousand times more compelling than the hate stew of an ACT-National Government.
But this isn’t about winning, this is about winning in a way that stops a politician as wilfully bitter as Judith poisoning the entire superstructure of Democracy.
Move the election, allow us to heal & learn from this outbreak & eliminate Judith’s ability to claim the election was rigged & win not only the majority but the legitimacy of Jacinda’s second term.
Kill them with kindness.
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Collins whining about election dates is purely theatre, a loser party who believe buying time enhances their chances. But with her it’s whack a mole. If it’s not this date, it’s another, if it’s not this issue, it’s another.
As for Winston joining the fray, it’s not half obvious that politicians are manipulating polling day for their own self serving needs and this has to stop. Fuck them!
The public must vote sooner than later.
Martyn; this was a wise measured choice by Jacinda 1000%
As the election was coming to fast, certainly more than many felt comfortable with.
Best we get the current Covid 19 ‘outbreak’ from last week sorted and ‘ring fenced and stomped on’ – before we go into election mode.
Now Government needs to head the advice this Kiwi Scientist Professor Tony Blakely gives to them freely. Test properly at all borders using two separate types of testing;
read/watch this;
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a/clips/melbourne-based-epidemiologist-says-his-city-should-have-adopted-new-zealand-s-strategy-of-going-harder-and-faster-into-lockdown
Q + A with Jack Tame – Melbourne-based epidemiologist says his city should have adopted New Zealand’s strategy of going harder and faster into lockdown.
Sunday 16 Aug
G Professor Tony Blakely says Melbourne should have immediately gone into a NZ-style level 3 lockdown to combat its second wave
Jack Tame interviewed Professor Tony Blakely a scientist at Melbourne University about how best could NZ fight the new outbreak of Covid 19 this last week, and during the interview, Professor Blakely stated clearly that all who are in contact with our borders, including the Ports must be tested fully for present infections with the PCR (swab test) and if the infection was over two weeks ago, he recommends testing with the serology antibody test for finding any past infections after two weeks.
Dr Blakely reminded Jack Tame that the PCR (Swab test) was not “perfect” and 20% failed to be accurate, showing false negative results after two weeks out from infection. This was Dr Blakely’s reason for recommending the serology antibody test as well was to have complete accurate results.
Ministry of Health clearly should be doing this now or we risk the case that we do not have adequate data to understand ‘how and why’ the latest community Covid cluster has emerged this week, so they are concentrating at the cold store site where containers are transported by trucks, CEAC assume all drivers are tested, – If not we must now test all our freight transport drivers and incorporate this with the current ‘swab test’- and “the antibody test (also called a serology test.) which confirm all who develop immunity to Covid 19 for true accurate test results.
To true Martyn
I agree that the longer Collins has her face in the lime light the more votes National will loose.
She is unlikeable, and nothing will change that.
Winston, throwing his weight around will do nothing for him or his party either.
“magnanimously announced”. She was forced into this by Winston. Stop kidding yourself.
That’s difficult to assess without a proper name or profile picture.
Agree Mickey
Damage control!
An outcome I predicted on The Daily Blog;https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/08/15/guest-blog-ross-meurant-power-seduces/
As Wallace Rolwing once said:
In politics its not the enemy you need worry about: you can see them.
Its your friends: they come form behind
Nah Mickey; Jacinda met all the Political parties and business according to the media and decided to compromise, so it was a combination of pressure not just one.
Winston has the right to speak out, – do you object in his party having a voice?
Yep well, generally people hate it when Winnie is right (and on a left-right pendulum, he’s trending further right).
I’ll never vote for him (based on having worked with a Winnie bro a while back, and a few other things) – but he has been proven correct on a few things.
I’ll miss him – especially because he probably deserves a better legacy than the one he’s due. But that’s down to one of his unfortunate mistakes – i.e. hitching his wagon an BFF status to ………. drum roll ……….. Shane from the Merry Mafia.
The delay is a happy compromise I guess, but let’s not lose sight of the reasons why other parties pushed for it. If you think it was for noble reasons (aside from some wet and woke Greens – who I’ll be party voting for), I’ve got a bridge to sell you, plus an imitation kauri table top, and probably a few other treats and trinkets Billy TK Jnr and Co couldn’t raise enough funds for.
Never mind though eh?. If and when it all turns to shit for Jude and Jerry, and the TK’s, and other minors ……….. rest assured f-f-f-f-Fafoi will have done SFA about “broad/wide” casting, so there’ll likely be a few rent-a-voice positions in the crumbling MSM somehwere, and they shouldn’t feel too bad – we legalised prstitution a while back. Failing that, the public service is primed and ready to receive applications for experienced spin doctors and bullshit artists
100% correct Tim.
MickeyBoyle,
Your response was entirely predictable, I would have wagered a substantial sum on it. You and your ilk only had two possible responses.
1) September election date retained = Ardern is arrogant.
2) Election date delayed = Ardern is weak / caved into Winston Peters.
We’ve all seen just how woefully National and NZF are polling. Both leaders there are absolutely desperate. Chucky has waited years for her one opportunity. When National get wiped out at the polls which is a fait accompli, she will have lost her one opportunity and will meaky hand over the keys to Luxon the day after election day and then is certain to retire within days forcing yet another expensive By-election ala Jonathan Coleman.
Peters NZF party is his baby. It’s his political legacy. NZF are on target for a drubbing and the death of the NZF party. Winston is the only man who could resurrect it but in 2023 he will be 78 years of age. Both Collins and Peters are the equivalent of a turkey at this time and the September election was Christmas day. If turkeys could vote, would they vote for an early Christmas?
Whatever date the election is on, both National and NZF are on their way to the nearest landfill to the spot reserved for “toxic waste”
Lux-on lux- off oh no! he is living in the past. They (national) need to choose a new young untainted person next.
It would be naive to think that Winnie has any kind of hold on the Adern Government.. They have already signaled that they will most likely reach an accommodation with Swarbrick in Auk centtral.. Jones is failing in Northland. The only gesture The Pm will be making towards NZF is to wave bye bye..
In my not so humble opinion Martyn, the above is the finest example of your work I’ve read. Respect.
Boy oh boy has the PM boxed herself into a corner by ruling out further extensions. The issue being if nothing has changed in a month what then? How about another outbreak? Level 4 occurring – what then?
All because of some frozen chicken wings.
Frank the Blank,
It’s my understanding that Jacinda ruled out her changing the election date for two reasons.
1) After Parliament shuts up shop, she would be legally unable to change the election date even if she wanted. Only the electoral commission can change the election date from this point on.
2) One of the biggest reasons given for announcing the new election date was to give “certainty” to every person involved in the election. We all accept there will be more cases of Covid uncovered in upcoming weeks. Some of those numbers will likely raise alarms and more questions about the election. Jacinda has prudently cut that off at the pass which gives the certainty so many wanted.
Interesting how some clear logic sees this for exactly what it is….whereas vested interest, contempt for the enemy and or ignorance would see the very positive, prudent and decisive leadership Jacinda has shown once again as her “boxing herself into a corner”.
I’d argue the same exact points in the final paragraph back at you – that is politics
Aren’t the majority of wage subsidies running out in September? Can the Greens afford to run in October I thought they were had up as is?
If Winston hadn’t of threatened to call up the governor general and talked about “Labour currently enjoying nzfs confidence” I thinks the election date would have stayed. He was threatening a no confidence vote that’d install Collins for a couple months to buy himself time. I genuinely believe that’s the only reason the election was delayed. Jacinda should now fire him from cabinet not least for instability threats but for going to foreign media and spreading rumours. That’s a sackable offence. We need an upper house (NZs HOR has far too much centralized and executive power, do we really want a NAT/act coalition under someone like Judith having little checks and balances?) , a written constitution instead of relying on convention (should a party in a coalition even be able to threaten to install a new pm in the middle of a crisis at the end of a dying govt or should a party threatening to pull from a coalition govt automatically require a new election? I’d like that in law rather than parliamentary convention)
While it makes sense to delay I believe if labour werent forced by nzf with threats of a no confidence vote they would have stayed the course, it’s interesting the NZ left are celebrating a delay, The American left is busy trying to prove to the world that social distanced voting and postal voting is reliable, Jacinda one of the most popular world leaders gave Trump a gift, Trump can now say “the kiwis delayed their election because they don’t trust mail voting or social distancing voting during a pandemic, why should the USA” I also worry that this gives the tin foil hats more ammo.
Righto let’s just keep the nats put of power.
Yes a balanced compromise by Jacinda….thank goodness she listened to loyal Winston and everyone else…and not James (who shows every sign of gweenishness, imbalance and desperation…heard it all on RNZ)
Lux-on lux- off oh no! he is living in the past. They (national) need to choose a new young untainted person next.
If someone conducted a poll asking Jo Blow if he/she would like the election to be held on its intended date of Sept 19th, or be held back for a month, my instinctive opinion is that a sizable majority would say that the election date should not be altered. If so what kind of democracy is this decision?
A week is a long time in politics; six weeks is an eternity. We haven’t the least idea what the virus will be doing in that time. Having made the decision that, come what may, the date will not be changed again, Jacinda will be held responsible for the consequences. Remaining with the original date is the least dangerous option. Labour may yet pluck defeat out of the jaws of victory.
The Prime Minister has said she will make no further change to the date of the election.
With these words, the Prime Minister, has set a deadline, and more than the amount of time needed, for us to eliminate the virus for a covid free election.
This may be the most joyous election day ever.
I can’t help but wonder what Edward Snowden would think about this. If we all paid more regular visits to our local Turkish tea shops we might better understand why Armenia is such a complicated issue. But that’s just what we get when we continue to measure economic growth through GDP rather than focusing on freedom of expression and sustainability.
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