If enough leading lights of the left could find their way to getting off their arses and adding their voice maybe the faux shockwaves of manufactured outrage about to erupt when Labour-NZ First-Green gov gets announced won’t spook the country so much.
If there is a disappointment with the Labour and Green vote on election night, let’s put that blame where it deserves to go, the right wing corporate mainstream media.
Just a short message to everyone who supported Labour, nga mihi ki a koutou! We’re still a real chance to become Government, so the next two weeks will be crucial!
Many are saying that NZ does not understand MMP yet, and that is true, but we also do not understand the difference between parliament and the executive (Government) either.
MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about who “won” the 2017 General Election. Sharp differences have emerged between those who have judged the outcome as a clear National victory, and those who insist that Labour, with the assistance of the Greens and NZ First, has every right to anticipate forming a new government.
I’ve communicated briefly with Jacinda, I’ve spoken to some of the leading members of Labour’s negotiating team and I can assure you all, any suggestion Labour are just going to roll over and allow NZ First to go to National without a fight is utterly wrong.
Saturday was election day in New Zealand, and while the final configuration of parliament is still being negotiated, as has become normal under the proportional representation system, it’s petty clear that New Zealand has voted for a continuation of a neo-liberal approach to governance.
One thing the Greens and NZ First won’t want to repeat is the Alliance experience in coalition with Labour from 1999 to 2002. With Ministers inside the Cabinet, committed to Cabinet solidarity, they had difficulty differentiating from Labour. This frustrated the party’s support base.
WHAT IF, three weeks from today, National decides that an acceptable deal with NZ First just isn’t on “the cards that count”?
Jacinda can offer Winston legacy, Bill can offer him baubles. What Winston chooses will become his political epitaph.