The 2023 Real Left Election Manifesto
The danger of woke middle class identity politics replacing class left analysis is that the politics devolve into a micro aggression deplatforming campaign that alienates rather than builds solidarity against free market capitalism.
The true demarcation of power in a. democratic capitalist state is the 1% richest + their 9% enablers Vs the 90% rest of us.
Identity Politics simply cements into place a caste system of intersectionism alongside a terminal tribal affiliation to your skin colour, gender or identity.
There needs to be far more common ground and shared values.
We need to remove the yoke of taxation from the 90% and reset it to the 10% richest.
The minefield of social justice and it’s never ending pure temple deplatforming of everything that triggers it will only drive people further from the Left in an intense economic downturn because you can’t eat virtue signalling aesthetics.
- $608 million in housing equity was made by landlords
- 9.6% increase in rent for tenants
- 18.4% of children live in households earning less than half the median income after housing costs
- $5.5 billion in profit made by ANZ, BNZ, ASB and Westpac
and the Top 1% own 25% of wealth while the Bottom 50% owns 2% of wealth
If you think the worst inflation in 30 years is bad now, wait until the impact of the Ukrainian war and broken supply chains in China hit.
New Taxes & Tax cuts
Financial Transaction Tax – Bring in a flat rate on every electronic transaction, capture the speculators and the wealthy to fund vast new services and lower the GST to 10%.
Journalism Tax – On Google and Facebook to force media to get paid for the journalism both those companies destroy.
Sugar Tax – Hit big sugar and use the money for free dental.
GST Off fresh fruit and vegetables – poor people need price relief now!
First $10 000 is tax free – the only tax cut that really helps the poorest!
Methane Tax – tax the farmers for the methane they generate.
Legal cannabis market – The taxation and judicial costs amount to half a billion extra in revenue, you could fund every drug programme in NZ and still have money left over!
New universal provision of services:
Short term the Government has to be focused on deflationary spending, mid term economically we need radical climate change adaptation, long term they need to start navigating a post growth economy.
The best way to push those values is via the Public Service Culture and processes.
For essential state service workers like teachers, like police, like Drs, like nurses, like ambulance and Firefighter services, we can match the rising inflation in wages, but the focus needs to be on expanding capacity, expanding State responsibility and expanding quality of work experience.
It is insane that our Ambulance Service is privatised, and the State should nationalise it immediately. As first responders, their obligations and responsibilities will only climb as society continues to rock from the shockwaves of Covid.
Professional Firefighters must be expanded to acknowledge the danger we are under from climate change and fire seasons.
Rather than compete with inflationary wage rises, focus on better conditions. 11 weeks paid holiday each year, 4 day weeks plus housing projects where subsidised rentals are available for houses.
We also need to start bonding Teachers, Drs and nurses with free education in exchange for bonded work around NZ.
We shouldn’t be looking to slash public servants, we need more!
ACT want to amputate 5 Ministry’s while Luxon is promising to slash 14 000 jobs!
That is ideological vandalism, that’s not an actual plan!
Covid showed us the need for a strong State with capacity to step in and with the climate crisis here, we will continue to need a strong State with capacity!
The Right’s never ending march to amputate and slice down the State is so that the people don’t get used to a well functioning public service and so will politically agree to starve it of funds via tax cuts.
Global free market capitalism is dead, hyper regionalism is here. We need a bigger State with actual capacity rather than the threadbare barely regulated joke that it currently is.
We shouldn’t agree to cutting public services, we should fund their capacity and infrastructure rebuild while making the working conditions for those there a better quality!
Where should we get that money? Windfall taxes on the corporations and banks!
We need better conditions for those workers and the values of working 4 day weeks, extra holidays and housing solutions are aimed at making better working conditions as opposed to never ending inflationary wage pressures.
We need a sustainable bureaucracy rather than 7 figure technocrats who see their own fiefdoms and glass palaces as the measure of public policy achievements.
The last chance for Left progressive policy is a list of bottom line first 100 day laws in the 2023 election to force Labour into being more Bernie Sanders than cautious Grant and Jacinda.
Here’s what a Labour/Green/Maori Party Government should be committed to passing in the first 100 days of the 2023 election…
1: Feed every kid in NZ a free nutritious and healthy breakfast and lunch at every school using local product and school gardens with parents paid to come in and help. The slow incrementalism touted by favourite public sector for dragger apologist Max Rashbrooke isn’t good enough because the lower middle classes are feeling the same pinch thanks to mortgage rises and universal school lunches and breakfasts would help them as well.
2: 50 000 State Homes for life built using the best environmental and social architecture standards using the public works act to seize land and immediately start building satellite towns using upgraded public transport hubs plus Renter Rights – (rent freezes, end accomodation payments, long term tenancy arrangements)
3: Free public transport plus vast infrastructure upgrade for climate crisis.
4: 30% stake holder in a new Government backed supermarket operation run to provide lower food prices for kiwism better prices for supplies and better conditions for workers.
5: GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and essentials like tampons, toilet paper, condoms, oral health plus a sugar tax.
6: Free Dental services for everyone through public health.
7: Taxation focused on corporations and banks like financial transaction tax, a sugar tax and first $10 000 tax free.
8: Offer nurses, teachers and Drs free education and living allowances in return for bonded time in our health and eduction systems.
9: Properly funded public broadcasting with TVNZ advert free and merged with RNZ alongside properly funded journalism through NZ on Air with more money for the Arts and Science. If you can’t have good public journalism, the right wing media will destroy these other 9 advances.
…Kiwis have to see a progressive Government ACTUALLY doing shit in the first 100 days or they won’t believe any change is coming and when you consider the economic maelstrom we are entering, the most vulnerable amongst us will be screaming for real change.
If we on the Left don’t offer voters real solutions to their material problems and instead prefer to micro aggression police the latest middle class virtue signals of hate speech, cancelling Comedians and screaming everyone is racist, we are fucked politically in 2023.
We need more real economic solutions on the Left and far less pronoun policing.
We need to be kinder to individuals and crueller to Corporations.
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“We also need to start bonding Teachers, Drs and nurses with free education in exchange for bonded work around NZ.”
That’s lazy writing, we need to RETURN to that, it was a system that worked brilliantly back in the day, just like the country service provisions in teaching. Now instead of country service we could use a mandatory low decile rating to jump a pay bar.
“ACT want to amputate 5 Ministry’s while Luxon is promising to slash 14 000 jobs!”
We have a Ministry of Womens Affairs and other nonsense Ministries, with the salaries to match, but we have lost the Post office Savings Bank which did do something useful for ordinary people. I know which I prefer.
Cheers
James
100% James. Couldnt care less about losing five ministries. It will likely make no difference. The Ministry of Women is now the Minsitry of anyone who identifies as a women. As far as I am aware they are not even keeping any data about the impact of gender self id on women. So they can go. Sayonara.
In the words of the singing Von Trapp family, So Long, Fairwell, Auf Weidersehn Good bye
Personally, I don’t like the sound of ‘bonding’ people to work. Sounds too much like slavery.
How about if someone wants to be a nurse, doctor, etc; lend the the full cost amount of that study qualification, call it a ‘student loan’.
Slightly lower than market interest would be kind.
For me, it would be acceptable to stop people leaving the country who had outstanding debts eg student loans, fines, etc.
A qualified doctor or nurse would logically then work in the industry for some years to pay off that loan.
If someone wanted the education they could also have the option to pay the full cost, and leave NZ anytime they wanted… At no tax spent education cost to the South Auckland factory worker / taxpaying working person.
Better with more individual freedom?
Sort of agree. It’s not as one can stop someone going overseas.
But on top of interest free TD for all those working here, do not require any TD repayment for health workers.
I would love the sugar tax to fund free dental. WIN-WIN situation.
Would that include a tax on the sugar in orange juice and onions too? Because they’re both loaded with sugar. 😉
Another area is primary care costs. My 16 year old had a telephone interview with a Nurse for 5 mins for conjunctivitis. We paid $70 fee + $15 medication. 2 weeks later it came back, so we have just paid another $40 for the nurse to get the Dr to get antibiotics. Probably another $15 at the pharmacy as well.
Everyone likes to dramatise Maori Health but we all know it is in large part nothing to do with innate health and everything to do with poverty. Even on community services cards they must be paying close to 1/2 that amount which if they are a family, they cant begin to afford. Then living in cold sometimes damp environments.
Can labour get down to brass tacks? Screw the Arts and Transgender toilets, equal pay and Maori redress. Does anyone remember the joke that is “Full and final settlement’? Lets end the grievance industry and victimology narrative and get on with building more housing and more facilities for heath and quality education and deliver it to all NZers. Primary healthcare should be free for all households earning less than $100K (including dental) and then a sliding scale of payment after that.
Most Maori dont want Iwi settlements, if asked they’d rather have a decent house and a steady job and food on the table as do all NZers. Labour had a once in a lifetime opportunity to turn NZ back into the ‘Happy Isles of Oceania’ but they chose the divisive misery of identity politics instead. I didnt think things could get worse after the Nats but this is so very much worse.
Fantail. Yes. All in all, this government is pretty devious. I went to a GP for the first time in a couple of years and was directed to go to a chemist and buy a product which “ is no longer available on prescription.”
At the Chemist Warehouse, prescriptions are free anyway, regardless of whether one has a Community Services Card or not, which is clearly helpful for patients- oops -clients- oops- customers- with ongoing or chronic conditions. But when a medication, previously available on prescription, is removed from the list of prescribed medications, and ergo it has to be purchased, then patients are having to pay out, regardless of whether they can afford to or not.
There’s been anecdotal evidence from pharmacists about patients not uplifting prescription meds because they simply can’t afford the cost of doing do.
The Chemist Warehouse has alleviated that to some extent, so government response is undercutting the Chemist Warehouse by removing meds from the prescribed list, and forcing patients to pay money for them.
It’s very devious and totally crazy when it’s in all parties’ interests to keep people healthy, but the New Zealand health system ain’t interested, it sees patients as yet another revenue generator for a ruthless sociopathic government.
Here here Snow White. 100%
Very much worse.
And with a 30% increase in public service employees wage bill too?
Tremain has tripped up FTTT but he’s 80% gold at least and this one speaks so clearly for now.
The pollies want us to think it’s all a circus, sit back and enjoy the show and the tumbling clowns and forget about the reality for those who who can’t get in to The Big Top.
GST off fruit and veges has been New Zealand First policy turned down by Labour during negotiations in 2017 to form the NZ First – Labour coalition.
Labour / Greens are full of crap. Good riddance.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300767728/machetewielding-robber-chops-off-dairy-workers-fingers-in-vicious-attack
A Castle Law & a Stand Your Ground Law.
TAX
1. The Greens 1% wealth tax on those with asset equity over $1M
2. The American concept of progressive income tax for companies as we do for individuals (so high profit companies pay more tax – the Oz banks etc
3. A FTT (if seen as more efficient than incorporation of the financial services sector into GST)
4. 1-3 enabling reduced income tax and or WFF/AS changes.
5. A land tax for contributions to an infrastructure fund (for housing/PT/water etc)
6. The first year after any increase in AS involves a rent freeze
Housing
7. buy up homes (or lease) to increase the number of state houses charging income related rent to 100,000 and get people out of motels.
8. the upgrade/renovate or replace phase to get stock up to modern standard include a focus on disability and aged friendly accommodation renovation and inter-generational family (such as granny flats/small builds on the section) arrangements.
9. take advantage of the building downturn to reboot Kiwibuild – and allow existing flat/apartment owners to buy in when starting a family, aging singles seeking co-ownership companionship/mutual support, and boomers downsizing (see 7).
PT
10. Free offpeak to CSC holders and students. Half fare otherwise.
Dental.
11. Expand CS card service from hospital treatment (emergency check and tooth removal) to annual dental visits.
12. Expand hospital treatment to low income workers.