The danger of Labour believing they can just win the next election without any actual policy is a real one.
This is the party of the global modern left wing decline defined by incremental change on neoliberal economic structures alongside the immediate and shallow adoption of whatever identity politics dogma is trending.
Labour will enter the next election boldly proclaiming, “The Labour Party of Aotearoa, slightly less cruel than National”, and fuck me if they won’t win.
Labour on a bad day is a thousand times more preferable than National on a good day and any strategy that sees National out of power is a good one, but the challenges of our times demand more than “We are slightly less cruel than National”, it demands genuine solutions to deeply entrenched problems.
take the current CGT and Wealth Tax debate inside Labour.
The TRUTH is that they need both taxes.
The TRUTH is that would be bold.
The TRUTH is that a CGT that excludes the family home, will generate extra revenue for the Government to spend BUT that won’t be realised for 3 years, that means Labour implement it, take all the shit for 3 years and have no extra funding to lesson that criticism.
The TRUTH is a wealth tax gives every Kiwi their first $20000 tax free and puts immediate money into the pockets of the poorest and the middle classes all funded from the richest kiwis. It takes the tax yoke off workers and puts it on the mega wealthy.
The reality is Labour just doesn’t have the courage for that and will instead wimp out and put in a CGT that will generate enormous political attacks with very little to show for it.
So.
How do we deal with Labour’s incrementalism?
The MMP Cascade Strategy.
It requires the Greens and the Māori Party to use the leverage they will have at the next election with Labour to negotiate the real change that Labour is too frightened to attempt.
It means the Greens demanding their wealth tax if Labour won’t and it calls on the Māori Party to demand their tax policy with higher corporate taxes and higher taxes on the rich.
If the Greens and Māori Party can use their leverage to demand real changes from Labour, we will have solutions, if however the Greens and Māori Party decide to use that leverage for Identity Politics wins, then the voters will turn their back on the Left for another generation.
We can still force Labour to do what’s right, but it will require the Greens and Māori Party acting in good faith for the true challenges NZ faces, instead of wanting Puberty Blockers to be mandatory at kindergarten or declaring Rawiri’s sneakers as a cultural treasure to be housed in Te Papa.
If Labour doesn’t have the courage, we must hope on Greens and Māori Party leveraging their political advantage in a. way that benefits everyone, not just their pet projects.
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Jaconda found it easy to be nice but too difficult to make the hard calls wether it was policy or calling out her poor performing ministers .
The 6 years Labour had in power will go down as an opportunity lost to prove the policies of the left can work to the benefit of all.
This country was an attractive enough country for many to want to emigrate to, BECAUSE it was built on egalitarian and common good principles. Most infrastructure and institutions were established ‘for the benefit of all’.
We may have slipped occasionally but overall, we have proved that the policies of the left definitely work for all, when not starved of funds and not interfered with by right wing zealots with hidden agendas.
However, I agree Jacinda’s Labour govt. missed a huge opportunity. Sometimes heads need to be banged together.
It’s happening now of course, but they are the wrong heads.
The Greens and TPM also need to bang some heads together to make themselves electable.
We’ve had enough of theatrics.
The votes of minorities will not get them over the line.
Martyn – Spot on, again…Unless Labour begins to look and act like a Government in waiting, Labour will not become Government any time soon.
I agree with Martyn both the Greens and the pati Maori need to hold a gun to labours head in 2026 or before.
The gun had to be held to Labour’s head to get the Pharmac review and then REFUSED to include the funding model in the review.
The funding model absolutely needs a review.
lets see what pefu 2026 shows little miss no boats is really nuking the economy we really could be looking at 1984 all over again i would be cautious about makeing any promises
Labour were worse than useless at implementing the findings of the Welfare Experts Action Group inquiry.
They were useless they didn’t implement a single one of the 42 recommendations.
The Dhb review they threw in the rubbish bin and then ditched the lot for the current bullshit model that is being torn apart by these corrupt lot in power making it 10 times worse .
If they want to win Chippy needs to go asap. Useless and a loser at the last election- thats what people will remember. We are in an era of identity politics and Kieran fits the bill in this regard – definitely not Chippy!!
There is a solution that doesn’t include Labour. The short explanation is this: Imagine you had a choice to vote between NZF, and The Greens. Which would you chose? Which policies are closest to your views. Not exacting, but on balance, closest. For this exercise you can’t opt out. Which one? Look them up, they’re all online. Which party would you choose? Doesn’t matter what you personally think about your local candidate. You have to vote for them and the policy regardless. No local candidate? Just vote for the party. Which party? You choose.
Now commit to that choice and implement it at the next election. It’s that easy. The long explanation takes up about three pages of text. No more whinging about Atlas or anyone else secretly gaming the system, because you just openly gamed it back.
The closer Labour gets to TPM and the Greens, the less likely is Labour getting to a winning vote share.
Your right on Ada.There are so many white male haters in Greens and TPM that they would not work with them even if they were Labour.
too many white racists in act and nats for NZ too progress to a great country .Have you not noticed that Luxon is slowly purging Maori and Asian MPS from the current government with LEE now a back bencher sood to be joined by Ciggaretti .Next target will be Potaka who may last a bit longer because he is a fellow god botherer
GW – it looks to me like Potaka is being groomed to be the first elected Maori Prime Minister.
The only real question is will James Meager head him off?
Meager would be my choice if David Seymour does not beat them both in 2029.
Problem is if the polls are to be believed it will be a four headed monster regardless of the flavour of choice
You can can’t beat mmp
Keep the Chipster on he’s a fabulous weapon for the Right.
There is no need to have policy out now as we can see at the last election you only need to whip up hate and racisim and you are in .The current lot were elected by people on this blog because they believed the racisim and lies such as Maori were being given the water and that Jacinda was making millions and had multiple houses and farms .I have never seen evidence that she owned more than one property which was her family home in MT Roskill .I have asked for evidence re the dairy farms but so far no one has produced any .If we simply look up the list of property owned by al MPs we will not find any evidence to support those lies .
If Jacinda had owned property it would not have mattered to most it was her lack of policy achievement that mattered.
If it does not matter why are act continually feeding the lie to its rural supporters .I have a relative who trials sheep dogs and every time he comes back from a weekend trialing he raises the same lie he has been fed over the weekend .When I ask for evidence of those farms it turns out there is none and it is just another right wing lie which he would rather believe than fact check it himself .
I so agree Labour’s biggest enemy’s are the left because they think that their outlandish policy platform will win over the whole of Aotearoa. Their next biggest enemy is the right wing media where Labour can do no right look at Audrey Young’s bouquet for Reti for manning up and not making a fuss about being humiliated for a little bible bashing pip squeak. Did she think he would break down and cry and jump off something high , for god’s sake it’s pathetic. He’s a wimp and will always be a wimp and should have had a brickbat for losing the bloody portfolio in the first place for being so useless. The next biggest enemy are the rich donors who have bought this coalition, the business round table who religiously say things are looking up in their world when we all know their not especially of course when they have their mates in government . None of the right wing blogs run down their right wing mates like the left wing blogs do.This blog especially makes a big fuss of David Seymour Matthew Hooton personally i find it all so hypocritical. Let the awful people of the right get on with it and leave them to their own devices and let’s support Labour to win in the next election or sooner if winny pulls the plug or you will be stuck with this 3 headed Trump loving monsters because his friend Musk really wants to take over the world
Labour were useless at so much that amazing mandate that they wasted. They could have in the first six weeks (despite not lobbying on it) changed benefits to ensure people didn’t need to be fed lunch at schools. The difference they could have made would be so obvious in three years time.
Yes Chippy needs to go, I have no idea who would be best to take his place, I know the people I don’t want: Megan Woods, Carmel (go back to being an activist you were good on the end of a megaphone but useless since), Ginny, Priyanca. Barbara Edmonds is a worry, I heard her on Guyon for 30, when asked about taking the tax cuts off those at the top, ‘well it is very difficult to take back what has been given’.
We need to have a financial transactions tax. We are the 3rd most traded currency in the world, we would drop lower no doubt but it is complete madness not to have this. Along with some other taxes. Stop inequality in its tracks.
David Parker the best by a long shot.
Ayesha is very credible in her shadow portfolio where Simeon will be as useless as Reti was because the dye has been cast by the appointment of Lester Levy – no doubt they all have health insurance.
Kieran McAnulty FTW!!!
“The danger of Labour believing they can just win the next election without any actual policy is a real one.”
SO TRUE! But you have to realize the predicament that Hipkins is in.
Ever since Clark factionalized the Labour Party in order to control it, it has been unable to form a consistent policy platform. According to friends in the Party at a local level, any serious conversations about policy turn into an ugly argument pitting the homos against the dykes against Maori against the unionists against the feminists. A witch’s brew of toxicity.
With hindsight the biggest blunder the Labour Party ever made was getting rid of Mike Moore. Hipkins must either stamp his authority on the shadow cabinet or kick some of the worst people into touch.
Martyn..calm down…Things are looking up in my opinion….Chippy has a new girlfriend, so one can conclude the awkward problem about the birds and the bees has been sorted…Benjamin Doyle is the new face of the
Greens and their rise through the ranks has been uplifting for all…co leader by next election for sure…And Te Maori party are leading the way with outstanding scientific breakthrough knowledge with kauri dieback being stopped in its tracks by amazing wisdom from experts with the connection between trees and whales ….who would of thought.I bet western scientists would never have thought of that , and the knowledge came with a very reasonable price tag…hopefully more cultural science is on the way..things are definitely looking up for the opposition and the disastrous Nats can only get worse…..
Kauri dieback and whales – can you put up the link I would love to see what you have been reading. Thanks Robs Mob.
If I was in charge of The Greens, I would leverage (sell) my votes to biggest party that wants to be in power the most. The price? Easy: here is a list of non-negotiable environmental policies and ideas that need full budgets. Not token money, but real budgets. And here is the smart bit (but where the Greens just can’t help themselves): there will no social justice policy peddled. Because that just pisses eeeeeeeveryone off – and that is exactly what the Green are doing right now- frustrating the shit out of NZ by not being a Green Party.
If Greens could have acted smart they could have offered their vote to Bill English in 2017 and not as an after thought to Labour and NZF
They were useless with a majority but if you’re relying on TMP and the Greens to give them a spine you’ll also have to face losing an election when the latter two trot out their far-left desires.
Haha, look where we under under far right policies….fucked. Nuff said
yep
The only time the Greens talk about the environment is just before an election. TPM are nuts. Labour are best to curry up favour with Winston. He’s electable and doesn’t sound like a petulant screech owl.
Flip sides of the same Crown minted Westminster system coin.
Even when they win, we lose. DON’T VOTE. You can’t lose if you don’t play.
@ BWaV.
Labour, National, ACT, NZ First, @ Maori Party? Are all the same thing. And so what does that mean? If you don’t know, then I can tell you. It means we’ve taken our eye off roger douglas’s little balls. In short, and yes, he his quite short, is that while many of you bestowed trust on a stunted pig flesh pimp, he took that trust and gave it to urban privateer money fetishists and if there’s one thing neoliberal money fetishists love it’s those who abandon their hard won right to vote. Black with a Vengeance writes; “You can’t lose if you don’t play. ” Oh yes you fucking can. Indeed, the entire awful mess we must try and function within is as a direct result of non engagement. You MUST vote, but wait, there’s more. Every voter must then tend to that vote as if it were a budding little plant. Votes are only as good as how they’re nurtured and because of that, voting must be compulsory. We must all vote. In Nu Zillind you must enrol, because your abusers must know who you are, where you are and most importantly, how much you earn where-as voting ? “Meh. What ever”. WRONG!
We must first mandate voting. Then, we must dump Natzo jimbo’s mmp. Next to not bothering to vote is the danger of the *mmp con that waters down what votes there are while the planted minions within the mmp system do as they like while we must do as we’re told. Fuck that. That’s not democracy. That, is fascism.
*Say this slowly. Mixed… Member… Proportional representation. That means that our political representation is mixed. It’s a mixture of right wing talking heads. National= luxon. ACT= seymour. NZ First= peters = three parasites sucking on the withered old public tit while leading us up the garden path. But hey! 14 multi-billionaires, 3118 multi-millionaires each with a net minimum of $50 million and four now australian owned banksters stealing $180.00 a second 24/7/365 making them the second most profitable banks in the world, second only to Canada. No wonder the orange shit stain wants to own Canada.
I refuse to endorse a 19th century colonial system of governance and judiciary no one voted to institute
and forced on an indigenous Pasifikan population who never gave up sovereignty.
But go ahead. Tick your wee box in the 3 yearly popularity contest and think your making a difference or that you’re winning because your team cobbled enough votes to form a government subservient to the British Crown.
Count me out.
BwithaV Brewsters Millions was a film you may have been watching.
The 1985 version had a lot of silly sparkle like some of your comments – good.
He had a slogan on whom to vote for ‘NONE OF THE ABOVE. ‘
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXEglx-or6k
Nope…never seen it.
There’s a lot of people saying the system is broken and failing yet we continue to prop it up as if there’s no alternative without even looking for one.
Meanwhile the world over is making
a mockery of democracy as it stands as the planet burns and governments fiddle the books for their corporate overlords.
So it’s looking like a slow march of lemmings off the cliff to the piped tune of God save the King.
Financial policy is normally the right of the most popular party. The littlies can influence Labour by solid financial policies for the people and arguing hard for them in negotiations. And then insisting on benefit increases and strong Green moves if not deferred to on that. You’re quite right, no more easy terms — let the friends of the rich Labour Party hang if they don’t recognize their old soul. They’ll have to choose whether they prefer their new friends to their old ones. Close call.
Correct The Greens and TPM have to play hardball.
Both have the only economic policies that will work in favour of the Low and Middle income population.
Anything else is just a tinker around the edges.
Has Labor a strategy? You found one? Or perhaps you think we can think up one and present it with our compliments, and if not suitable they get nothin’!
‘I got plenty o’ nuttin’ Porgy and Bess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx1YfQF0WNQ