Labour’s low expectations give Greens and TOP oxygen
It was a very interesting interview with Kieran McAnulty on The Bradbury Group this week, where he categorically ruled out any new revenue streams to pay for the welfare state and infrastructure that NZ requires.
This is a tactic by Labour to create a tiny target and not spook the middle.
The danger for Labour is that they end up looking as incremental as they did post covid with their GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.
This refusal to look at new revenue streams to fund hospitals, education, the welfare state and our infrastructure is a boon for TOP and the Greens to use that room to propose better policy than Labour is prepared to offer.
The reality is the economy is going to continue to hurt and voters will want policy that has a meaningful and material difference in their lives.
If Labour are not prepared to do that, the Greens, TOP and te Pati Māori must pick up the political slack!
Can anyone please tell me why my comments are accepted but are not appearing??? What on earth is happening. Martyn, please…….. fix this or at least tell me what I need to fix. I have already had IT people try!
Labour is playing a tight hand re the upcoming election. Why in the hell would they bare all and risk it being either copied or ridiculed? The moneyed powers out there are viscious, unprincipled and lack any sense of human decency. Give the Left a chance to get their policies aligned and when they are ready they will let us know. Better than the current knee-jerking CoC which is making such huge blunders, most of which will be difficult to unpick!
Labour in Government will need to determine the benchmarked construction cost for infrastructure; allow an additional 10% for planning, design and project management. Then hold the Principal’s team to account as soon as budget estimates start to bulge. Ideally they need advice independent of those Principals and to provide solutions to avoid blow outs.
The revolving door between these same Principals and their favourite corporate consultant planners, designers and project managers will probably need to be severely restricted, and any perceived conflict of interest investigated by truly independent investigators. In doing so they will be able to do more than they think with the budgets available.