GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – Labour must be inclusive in the victory

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If Labour want to govern for the next two terms they would be wise to include the Greens (10 seats ) and the Maori Party ( 1 seat ) in the next government.

Why?

1.Because single party majorities are very rare in MMP politics and they may very well need these other left of centre parties to form the 2023 government.

2.Currently the right wing of parliament is fractionated but they will not stay that way.

3.The Covid pandemic is not going to be over any time soon. If there was ever a time for a policy of inclusiveness and not division on our small island nation – it is now.

Kia kaha

Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Absolutely 100 % correct.

    If they do not include the Greens and Maori party’s,… it will be then obvious they ( Labour) are merely there to protect the neo liberal status quo. Unless, ofc, we see some very, very obvious and overt attempts to dismantle neo liberalism. Until then?,… they will be watched and scrutinized , very , very closely.

  2. Is it necessary to have a formal agreement? Co-alitions take the negotiations and debate on policies behind closed doors instead of on the floor of the beehive where they are public and everyone can hear them. Labour doesn’t need to offend the greens in failing to invite them in to share the government. They can listen politely and sometimes agree to green initiatives without any formal authority being transferred.
    It doesn’t seem likely that in 3 years time the Greens will reject an opportunity to form a coalision if needed then out of pique.
    D J S

  3. We already know politicians have got zero wisdom. Hence, they refuse to tackle the factors that are going to demolish current living arrangements in the near future.

    Apart from the refusal to prepare for the unravelling of the Ponzi financial system and the refusal to prepare for declining energy availability, politicians refuse to deal with the CO2 emissions that are in the process of rendering the Earth uninhabitable for humans (and most other species).

    Most of the organisms on this planet CANNOT tolerate the effects of planetary overheating, caused by the excessively high (and rising) level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, now around 411 ppm, and on its way to the next annual peak on the ever-increasing staircase of 419-to-420 ppm. That is almost 190 ppm above the 800,000 year average [of 230 ppm] and 140 ppm above the pre-industrial level [of 280 ppm]. Many cannot tolerate the high level of carbon dioxide now contaminating the seas and oceans -particularly those that form shells of calcium carbonate, and corals, which are extremely sensitive to temperature.

    What is more, every nation on Earth dumps this life-threatening contaminant into the atmosphere as if it has a right to do so, some more than others, of course, totalling around 40 billion tonnes per annum. When we look at the per capita emissions, NZ has nothing to be proud of, since they are extraordinarily high (and I’m not talking about the methane from the agricultural sector) because of the high dependence on internal combustion engines..

    What is particularly bad is that individuals within nations behave as if they have the right to dump extraordinarily high quantities of this life-threatening gas into the atmosphere, and governments encourage this idiotic behaviour, and refuse to do anything to curtail such behaviour. Thus, we still have cars going round in circles on race tracks; helicopters taking people on joy rides; ships, aircraft and trucks shifting all sorts of totally unnecessary goods all around the world -because they can.

    Governments don’t just sit on their hands when it comes to CO2 emissions: they actively encourage the squandering of fossil fuels and the generation of humungous quantities of life-threatening emissions in their idiotic quests for GDP and growth. Hence, we are witnessing huge expenditure on infrastructure associated with road transport, and rather than be utterly ashamed of their idiotic policies, politicians actually celebrate the environmental destruction they heap upon the nation and proclaim it to be progress!

    That is why there is no hope for industrial societies, and probably no hope for non-industrial societies, which will be destroyed by the effects of contaminants released into the environment by industrial societies. This is THE BIGGEST CRIME IN ALL OF HISTORY, and unaddressed because the release of CO2 from fossil fuels is integral to the economy, and the economy is ‘worshipped’ above all else by politicians and the business sector.

    Daily CO2
    Oct. 18, 2020: 411.24 ppm

    Oct. 18, 2019: 408.9 ppm

    https://sioweb.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/wp-content/plugins/sio-bluemoon/graphs/co2_800k.png

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