Research released last week that 600 000 New Zealanders require help from Food Banks each and every month highlights how enormous the cost of living crisis has crushed parts of our society while the property speculators sing and dance.
National’s policy takes from the poor and gives to rich landlords alongside punishing new sanctions against beneficiaries while ACT wants to target drug addicts and the disabled on welfare.
Māori are over represented in many of the worst social statistics and they will face the blunt trauma of these policies hardest.
We already have an underlying poverty, tax cuts for landlords and disconnecting welfare payments from continuous upgrades only serves to punish the poor, not help them.
How the Māori Party, Labour and Greens respond to this attack on the poorest and most vulnerable will set the tone for their new role in the Opposition.
With the Specials to yet be counted, it looks like National and ACT will require NZ First to form a Government, which could result in even more reactionary policy like designating all Gangs domestic terror groups which would spark a level of paramilitary policing most would be deeply ashamed of.
One would hope past all the yelling of the election that ACT/National and NZ First would step back from the abusive policy, but that is all the policy they have and the level of vitriol generated in this election has left angry reactionary voters demanding results.
Our poorest and weakest were used as a punching bag this election and they will suffer the injury as well as the insult after this election result.
First published on Waatea News.
Greens and Te Pāti Māori will need to lead the Parliamentary opposition this term while Labour decides whether to finally ditch Rogernomics or disappear up its own backside for good. NZ Labour might consider giving ordinary members a say and a vote on this rather than HQ officials and the Caucus.
Apart from that, people (the lower 50%) are going to have to keep doing what they have been doing–looking after themselves and capacity building in communities–gardens, Patiki Kai, childcare, shared transport etc. Māori have been doing a good job of this up to and including the peak COVID years. Lots are getting into tiny houses and co-ownership deals to get a home underway and get out of mouldy, overpriced rental dumps.
The irony of the Natzos campaign against the poor and working poor will be further reducing purchasing power of those groups, which–doh–will directly impact thousands of small business operators who need customers!
A lot of SME and owner operators side with the filthy tories out of misguided aspiration–they identify with the parasite class even though they have little chance of ever joining the 1%ers or even their 9% enablers.
So, it is fightback time and more workers need to rediscover what “industrial action” means and start sticking it to the man in a disruptive but strategic way. Social media and public campaigns can be run without necessarily having to “pull the pin” and engage in strike action. Some stoppages will definitely be needed though to give Baldrick and Twerker a bit of a slap.
Industrial Action —> Increased Automation
Capitalists are on a loser here if they push automation to the max–presumably the parasite class still need customers for their products…as do small businesses, owner operators and SMEs.
A basic income for all citizens is supported by the Greens and many others because it preserves some level of disposable income and dignity regardless of employment status, and don’t forget–a hell of a lot of work is unpaid already–caring, domestic duties, internships, ‘always on the clock’ jobs, on call, the precariat generally.
Ideally unnecessary manual and intellectual labour could be done away with so people could live their lives in an interesting and fruitful way, advancing science and society rather than paying off thumping great bank mortgages–but the reality is that until an anti capitalist movement is flourishing, fightback is what the working class has.
Yes a ditch of Ole Rogernomics would be a good start. Hopefully the old Rogernomes are dying out in the party anyway. But this loss may be the impetus see the error of there ways hope so.
Offer Winston the position of P.M, of a coalition of all the other parties. It’s NOT like Winston might loose credibility for his future in NZ politics.
NACT won’t be able to compete with that.
Think outside the box. Use intelligent negotiation skills. Think clever like TraitorKey did keeping ACT alive by ‘manipulating’ the Epsom electorate.
Or do as the ‘left leaning’ in NZ seemingly MUCH prefer to do, do nothing and winge a lot.
Too many dumb NZers voted for so called change and we all know the change is not going to be good for the poor, Maori, PI and our poor Pakeha whanau.
The poor and Maori did not vote for Labour due to broken promises and lack of real action to help and probably voted Green or TPM.Small business owners did not vote Labour as they saw a breakdown of law and order putting them and their staff at risk of assault and the cost of extra protection.
National /Act /NZF were voted in with the promise to help and fix these problems
,The first step was to admit there were problems and they will be judged in 3 years as to their success of fixing them.
They certainly will Trevor. It will be interesting to see how their budgets balance.
Perhaps I can be of assistance Trev without you having to wait 3 years…a good predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour–and boy do the Natzos have some form…
• union busting Employment Contracts Act 1991 demolished the decades old National Award System which set a wage floor for workers across the country in most industries and professions, FPAs are set to put that right but Baldrick and Seymour want to repeal
• Mother of all Budgets 1991 MOAB, market rents for state housing, run down of health and education to drive people to private sector, Ruth Richardson’s stab at copying Thatcher and Pinochet, she came very close to mimicking her heroes, and consigned vulnerable NZers to a miserable life for 3 decades
• Creating an artificial power market of generation and supply and handing it to the parasite class. Hydro was literally built and paid for by tax paying working class people.
I need not go on really, but put it this way do you seriously think Bennie bashing, union busting, and shovelling the wealth upstairs, is going to deliver anything for most New Zealanders? Petrol prices are not going down, property prices are going up, immigration is going up–with no plans for corresponding infrastructure increases. And Mr Reti even had the temerity to signal the fully funded new Whangārei hospital build will be on hold if he is Health Minister in a future Govt.! Even a few Northland tories who know the deadly reality of the current crumbing Whangārei Hospital might not agree with Reti’s cowardice.
All that power Labour was given in 2020 and all it wanted to do was make the rich richer and pose for Vogue… total betrayal.
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