On Waatea’s Weekend Political Panel show over the weekend, Hone Harawira lamented the lack of co-operation between Labour, Greens and Māori Party in using MMP to maximise a result to defeat this hard right Government.
Hone is right.
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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So what I’m getting from this is that there’s more than one way to skin a cat (by which I mean address whatever problem needs addressing), and informed voters are knowledgeable enough to have their own particular favorite way to skin the cat (represented by minority parties) while uninformed voters who don’t know how to skin a cat will be perfectly happy doing it the most popular way (the major party)
Thus when you have too many informed voters the system spends all it’s time squabbling over how the cat should be skinned and let’s the carcass go to rot instead of skinning it
Do I have that right?
Spot on which is why STRAGETIC VOTING is a must next election.
What is the purpose of government supposed to be? Maximizing GDP per capita? Median household income? I mean, among these criteria the Government is the best in the whole entire world, but many people would think that achieving those goals should not be the sole purpose of the government. Part of the purpose of democratic politics is reconciling differences between what people think the function of a “good” government is supposed to be.
Considering New Zealand is still capable of making high-tech stuff like Mars rover missions. At the very least, it will be no worse than now, when any Nicola Willis can freely become finance minister by just lying “good.”
Yes 100% MB. This requires strategic voting, and TPM are past masters at this. Greens would be into it as well, just Labour under Chipless won’t. Labour is still the fuckin useless party, they need a leadership change otherwise they will remain the same and ruin NZ forever.
Nah, Labour just needs to grow a set of balls and win the majority! A bit misogynistic I know but there’s no other way. But get the gals involved and make some tough calls, for the interest of the country, for the interest of the people, not just wealthy property owners and corporate overlords. So much could be better. Oh yes, we need an income. How to pay for it all? Well, we all know what the elephant in the room is. And not too many woke calls. Read the room, Labour.
Otherwise we’ll end up with yet another divided coalition, with Green listers of diverse persuasions and those in colourful garb who will hold those in power accountable for the colonial injustices of the past and present.
Easier said than done. Tangata whenua are here to stay, NZ will remain part of a crazy global system and neoliberalism as a economic ideology seems entrenched. And to be frank, look what happened the last time Labour had a majority. I know, I know, tough times and a global pandemic. But some would say they spent a good deal of the time fiddling on the roof.
What would it take this time to get the majority? And what would they need to change?
We could’ve dropped Lee Kuan Yew in his prime on an island on a moon orbiting a Gas Giant 100 lights years away from earth home to primitive tree-like plants, buglike things and six-legged salamanderoids which had only made the transition from water to land five million years ago he’d found a new prosperous city.
Lines like this are why Great Man Thinking is held in contempt.
Yes agree with Lone comet.
The other two parties TPM and the Greens need to start working now for them to leverage Labour when it comes to the election. I expect social media and the MSM will hammer the two which could sideline Labour it will be ‘if Labour gets in you get the nutty parties along with them’. But for goodness sake start showing some real spine Chipless Labour.
Yes to $20,000 with no taxes
Yes to a capital gains tax
Yes to a financial transaction tax
Yes to a wealth tax.
THEN REMOVE GST UNLESS JUST FOR LUXURY ITEMS RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE VEHICLES, BOATS AND ALL THE OTHER PLAY THINGS OF THE RICH.
Does anyone really believe that all those wealthy people are going to bugger off and take their dosh with them you mean they aren’t grateful enough to be able to live in the land of milk and honey…. Shame on them if that is the case.
Yes to all you say her Michal.
Reform ACC into a primary care agency
Wealth and CGT
Ftt tax and ditch GST
Reform benefits with a GMI or UBI
Restart Kianga Ora house building
Tax free 20,000.
There you go.
iF YOU WANT TO BE BOLD BE BOLD .
Can all the present taxes ,remove all cash from the system and then apply a transaction tax on every dollar spent .Fucken easy way to collect money aye and would cut IRD in half easy .
There is no way any one would be able to dodge the transaction tax even all those big corporations would be caught .
Second cut all corporate wellfare for any company that is not 100% owned by NZ PEOPLE .
nOW THATS BEING BOLD just introduce one simple to collect tax .
No need to fuck around with sugar taxes or CGT WHICH WOULD CREATE a new industry around working out ways of avoiding paying CGT .
hOW MANY DODGY ACCOUNATANTS WOULD BE OUT OF WORK .
haha the greens are usless and Te Party Maori never show up. Bunch of losers.
As Chris Trotter once said of the Labour Party, “They would rather keep control of the losing side, than lose control of the winning side.”
And that is what we are seeing here, Labour preferring to die in a ditch than to go with the Greens and the Maori Party on a wealth tax.
You’re right Martyn, closer ties between the Maori Party and the Green Party over this issue could pressure Labour to come on board as well. Let’s hope so.
Thank God we have a three year term. I don’t know whether the country could stand another year of the Nact NZF neoliberal wrecking ball without descending into complete moral and environmental backwardness…
TPM and Greens have the depth and policy to act strategically, and help build a movement to put pressure on Labour in a united front to get rid of CoC in 2026. The magnificent Hikoi to Wellington showed the maturity–Minister Mitchell blow arsed about “arresting those fullas if they put a foot wrong”, in the end there was no arrests–just a huge solidarity action including many non Māori, sticking it to ACT and Hobsons Choice etc.
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