The biggest question I get asked privately when I’m out and about socialising is ‘why is Jacinda not (insert a myriad of questions here)”.
I think that most voters don’t understand how NZ politics work and they don’t understand how Jacinda is failing when Labour have an MMP majority.
They are legitimate questions and are valid ones, how can a Party with an unprecedented MMP majority still seem to do sweet fuck all on the big issues confronting us as a society, economy and culture.
It starts at the 2017 election.
In an act of desperation and true leadership, Andrew Little handed Jacinda the leadership months out from the 2017 election which was strategically designed to eliminate the Māori Party and United Future and on election night the specials and overseas vote weren’t counted leaving a deflated Jacinda to tell the country we hand’t won when in fact the specials and overseas vote were always going to go our way and I believed Winston was going to go with us.
The strategy of knocking out National support parties won us the 2017 election but because no one in the Labour leadership expected to win, there was no 100 day legislative agenda to ram through the moment you get into Parliament and if you don’t do that, the Wellington Bureaucracy will kill off any of your reform agenda for their own interests.
This is what most NZers don’t understand about NZ politics, winning power is VERY different from managing power. If you don’t arrive on day one with with a clear legislative agenda and enough mana to intimidate the Wellington Bureaucracy, you get nothing done.
Representative Democracy in NZ is a masquerade so that you will participate and give it legitimacy, the truth is that the Wellington Bureaucracy runs the country and their middle class neoliberal pandering decides policy implementation, not the feckless and easily manipulated Ministers.
Labour didn’t expect to win 2017 and they didn’t expect to win an MMP majority in 2020, so they’ve had no real 100 day legislative agenda to ram through and as such have been stymied ever step by the Wellington Bureaucracy.
Jacinda may be kind and she may really want transformative change, but if you don’t come to Wellington with a clear plan as to how to force the Bureaucracy to implement your manifesto, then transformative change becomes a virtue signal of aspiration rather than actual policy.
The Greens must avoid this by clearly telling voters now what they will force Labour to pass in the first 100 days of a Labour/Green Government so that the Wellington Bureaucracy can be thwarted. Unfortunately the Greens are socially connected at the hip to the Wellington Bureaucracy and are highly unlikely to bite the hand they feed with.
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If the Greens made public “what they will force Labour to pass in the first 100 days of a Labour/Green Government” it will guarantee a National ACT government.
So please, carry on!
Labour and Jacinda had reason to think they had lost in 2017. Numerically they had. It was Winston that chose who would be the government and to go with the smaller block surprised many and offended some.
But Jacinda had a lot more than 100 days to get it sorted and the first term earned her all the support she could have hoped for. The case you make for the unpreparedness of the first term in no way applies to the second.
And the second tern got well under way only consolidating her position as we utilised out natural isolation to live in freedom from a virus that was destroying the lives of most of the world , ( or rather the methods employed to control it were destroying them).
It all turned to shit when the vaccines became available, the isolation was compromised because the vaccine was supposed to replace the need for isolation and it did not.
So we have had the pandemic, the lockdowns and the side effects of the vaccine all rolled into one year.
But it has been the misinformation and outright lies about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine that has ruined Jacinda’s standing; and the refusal to discuss any of it with people who know the science and have serious concerns, and the victims of the experimental injections not being listened to.
D J S
All the people I know are vaccinated in fact I would not want an unvaxed friend. I have yet to see them attract any magnets grow two heads or ahave any other problem. I do see unvaccinated people in hospital taking up beds that could have gone to people with other medical problems..
I hope Jacinda’s weak Labour Party loses but it would be because of the way they are operating not because of their vaccine campaign which is the one and only highlight
Hear hear. Glad you’re not stopped from expressing such views like a few of us are
Don’t feel you’re being singled out Kevin. Most of mine on this topic are blocked too.
D J S
“……………..the vaccine was supposed to replace the need for isolation………….”
I must have missed something. Was it? Is that what the expert researcher and Influencer-in-Chief Sue Grey told us?
There are historical factors to consider with NZ Labour too.
–Always a cross class party, class collaborationist in classic terms. Sometimes partnership with capital suited working class needs as per original state housing and “old age” pensions, but mostly it is a one way transfer of wealth to the employing class, as COVID subsidies illustrated.
–The “Parliamentary Wing” lords it over ordinary members, and the rules enforce this, such as the time period (proximity to a General Election) Jacinda skilfully used to avoid another leadership contest in 2017.
–Mass membership of the NZ Labour Party (and other Parliamentary parties) and LECs has declined during the period since Rogernomics began and what left forces there were in the party were routed or left to form New Labour and The Alliance.
–The Labour Caucus is overwhelmingly right wing also as the Cannabis Referendum, the heel dragging on Fair Pay Agreements and implementing the WEAG report showed.
NZ Labour did not have a 100 day plan because they are essentially a neo Blairist electoral machine. I will never forget their behaviour in allocating extra resources to the West Auckland end of Te Tai Tokerau to keep Hone out and scuttle Internet Mana’s chances.
But they are still by far the lesser evil when the dirty, filthy Natzos are considered! Lets build the Green and Māori vote in 2023 and 2026 to keep the tory sheep shaggers out and finally retire Roger’n’Ruth’s toxic legacy with the new gen becoming politically active.
Okay TM you usually make sense and I think I will swallow my bile – ewhh – and vote the way you suggest. Sometimes you just have to suck it up while you work towards better times and ways but that should include everyone who wants to vote having to do a couple of workshops (not wokeshops) at least so they have a grasp of what can be achieved under our present system.
I think that people should elect some of the alumni from the workshops who can tick all the boxes required, as well as having some specialty – not from generic mass production – and they will make the decisions and the politicians see they are carried out or else they are out. Expensive travelling shows for votes will be over, instead there will be countrywide workshops over afternoon tea and biscuits and exciting political discussion and learnng. No magic tricks but the hard grind shouldn’t be too hard, there would be some fun afterwards. Those who don’t vote can put in queries as you do to Councils when you have a question or see something that needs fixing.
And lastly there needs to be a declaration of what NZ is about and how it is broadly going to follow those ideas through. What do we believe in, what is good and should be aimed for, and seen to be achieved and reported to the people. No emotional statements, no chest thumping, just a guarantee of meeting requirements and quality from representatives, or else move on after a proper hearing finds fact in the complaint. That would be more like the business that the Douglasites apparently want us to be,. St Augustine had some relevant thing to say.. Basically it can mean that if you want something to be good, and make a proper plan and work to make it come true and watch you are doing it right, then you will be rewarded with the good outcome you envisaged. I think the point is though that you need to work for it.
“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.” -Saint Augustine of Hippo.
50+ St Augustine Quotes From The Philosopher And Theologian Of Hippo
https://kidadl.com › quotes › st-augustine-quotes-from-the..
Fair points warbler. My philosophy is classic marxist materialism, but my aged mother gives me grief because I will not adopt Stoicism, you could be a good stoic!
I don’t think these weak excuses wash with voter’s.
Labour was Her Majesty’s Opposition. They’ve been around parliament a long time, you know? For 9 years they ran policy workshops, got a very good lay of the land as far as bureaucracy went and money to research it and had more than enough experience to know exactly how things work down there.
Yes they were polling abysmally under Andrew Little but they sold a vision to voter’s to choose from leading up to that election that was clearly bullshit. Light rail to Mt Roskill by 2021? A complete lie, they had no idea whatsover how that was going to be achieved! They had no idea what any of their policies could deliver. They got found out as did us sucker’s who voted for them.
In 2020 they had no such excuse.
By 2022 they still have no idea, nearly 5 years in. It seems to me taking a whim to a ministry, as they have been doing, masquerading as policy and getting Wellington bureaucrats to work out the practical details is an idiotic way of running a government but God forbid Jacinda et al don’t seem to learn.
Reality was their policy was nothing more than ill thought out empty words from a bunch of talentless politicians who were more happy lounging around in opposition!
Yes, a sad waste of people’s hopes, of social opportunity, and of the working person’s tax contribution.
How can a Party with an unprecedented MMP majority still seem to do sweet fuck all on the big issues?
Because they were afraid of civil war. Because they know that the powerful with their access to media would control a narrative which would see the vast number of ignorant people harnessed into a metaphorical army.
In some places the mere mention of He Puapua sees paroxysms. Not knowing what it is, (the report itself) actually is, doesn’t come into it. He Puapua simply is that Maori are taking over New Zealand, the Government is giving it to them and it’s being done secretly.
Three Waters the same. It is simply our wonderful local water infrastructure that we paid for with our hard earned rates being given away.
And of course the handling of Covid. It may have meant votes in 2020 but now that’s just history. A history easily forgotten, made meaningless by time.
Freedom is a big issue. The lunatic fringe has pushed that message so much that many in the Joe and Joanne Bloggs camp believe we are more trammelled than most others in the world, we are living lives restricted. That is the way of leftist, communist dictators. Like Ardern.
A party with an unprecedented MMP majority can’t sort housing, poverty and gangs? Why? If it’s because they are incapable of making discernible steps I guess it’s time to leave it to someone else. Under National/Act there’ll be a dramatic improvements? Only in cloud cuckoo land.
Then again look at some of the attitudes that have been exposed through the covid thing. See the backgrounder about Sue Grey today and say we aren’t in
How can a Party with an unprecedented MMP majority still seem to do sweet fuck all on the big issues?
Because they were afraid of civil war. Because they know that the powerful with their access to media would control a narrative which would see the vast number of ignorant people harnessed into a metaphorical army.
In some places the mere mention of He Puapua sees paroxysms. Not knowing what it is, (the report itself) actually is, doesn’t come into it. He Puapua simply is that Maori are taking over New Zealand, the Government is giving it to them and it’s being done secretly.
Three Waters the same. It is simply our wonderful local water infrastructure that we paid for with our hard earned rates being given away.
And of course the handling of Covid. It may have meant votes in 2020 but now that’s just history. A history easily forgotten, made meaningless by time.
Freedom is a big issue. The lunatic fringe has pushed that message so much that many in the Joe and Joanne Bloggs camp believe we are more trammelled than most others in the world, we are living lives restricted. That is the way of leftist, communist dictators. Like Ardern.
A party with an unprecedented MMP majority can’t sort housing, poverty and gangs? Why? If it’s because they are incapable of making discernible steps I guess it’s time to leave it to someone else. Under National/Act there’ll be a dramatic improvements? Only in cloud cuckoo land.
Then again look at some of the attitudes that have been exposed through the covid thing. See the backgrounder about Sue Grey today and say we aren’t in cloud cuckoo land.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/128296235/just-asking-questions-how-lawyer-sue-grey-became-the-hero-of-new-zealands-conspiracy-underbelly
“Three Waters the same. It is simply our wonderful local water infrastructure that we paid for with our hard earned rates being given away.”
No one has made a case that that is not the case. Mostly kept secret. Local consultation cancelled. Local democracy cancelled in favour of 4 conglomerates and maori corporates so that water can be effectively privatised for foreign infrastructure companies by the next National government. The entities will be loaded up with debt and we will all have to pay the capital cost of our water infrastrucure again. The kiwi generations who preceded us and built it all will be rolling in their graves.
“Three Waters the same. It is simply our wonderful local water infrastructure that we paid for with our hard earned rates being given away.”
No one has made a case that that is not the case. Mostly kept secret. Local consultation cancelled. Local democracy cancelled in favour of four unelected conglomerates and maori corporates so that water can be effectively privatised for foreign infrastructure companies by the next National government. The entities will be loaded up with debt and we will all have to pay the capital cost of our water infrastructure again. The kiwi generations who preceded us and built it all will be rolling in their graves.
“Representative Democracy in NZ is a masquerade so that you will participate and give it legitimacy…”
And therein lies the problem of the last 30 years.
You may as well all give up now…
Counter view – there’s no one in labour that has any real life experience of running large organisations or businesses.
There’s a lot of teachers, unionists and assorted oddballs but no one who knows how to get shit done. It’s that simple.
Of course the bureaucracy runs rings around these muppets. The labour ministers won’t be comfortable holding others to account and demanding action. Case in point, removal of just about all measurements in health – the left mindset is that these are punitive or upsetting to those getting measured. Over in the real world, what gets measured gets done.
It’s pathetic to excuse them for not having a plan, they should have had one regardless of whether they thought they’d win or not. What’s worse though is that they’re clearly recruiting people into the party on the basis of loyalty and adherence to their belief set rather than people who can actually deliver.
Except the bureaucracy is enacting Labour’s Maori and co-governance agenda. What is that about?
So twice Labour could not come up with a 100 Day Plan!
The housing crisis of such a proportion that the MSM media while attacking Labour in their first term, actually convinced National voters the crisis is so great that even they would have welcomed big State intervention to solve it.
Ordinary working kiwis can see the poverty around them and when benefits get raised by only twenty bucks (3 loaves of bread) they know its not going to alleviate any child poverty. A $50 increase would have been meaningful and acceptable to the majority of kiwis.
Both of these could have easily been sold as a Labour Government actually doing stuff about real problems and would have been supported/accepted in an MMP majority environment. There are likely some other things Labour has actually done well (other than covid response) but hasn’t been sold to the public. Ideally, we would hear a drip drip drip of news of actual achievements each week. Meanwhile, they look they’re trying to organise something in a brewery but don’t know what. So disappointing.
Plus there are still 93,000 kiwi workers suffering the poverty, evil and indignity of not having a job.
???
posts ???
The true situation is that in general kiwis are greedy and untrustworthy, only interested in whats in it for them – its human nature of course. The NATZACT parties personify that behaviour and tax relief for the rich and inviting the property speculators buck in are examples that the right are salivating over now. NATZO also have no time for Maori, unemployed, homeless, low paid, pacifica, indians, and others described as “bottom feeders” by Luxon because there’s no votes in it. They’ll be playing the race card and Willis will be making up more crazy anti public service statistics.
Labour/Greens and maybe Maori Party/Mana (if they dont go with the Tories again) are the Coalition of the future. Its a long way till the election and time for more of the nasty NATZO’s dirty politics trash and dick texters to be exposed
pass the anti-depressants.
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