The Truth about NZs little battler myth and why free market dynamics don’t work here
The myth we tell ourselves is we are this tiny little country bravely battling above our weight when the reality is very different…
The True Size of New Zealand 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/w833XcW6Su
— Global Statistics (@Globalstats11) April 20, 2026
…the reality is we are 3 enormous, sparsely populated Islands that has always required the State to step in as the 40% foundation stone upon which everything is built!
This is why free market neoliberalism struggles in NZ, because for the full impact of the competition dynamics that lift productivity, you need to have high population density, the is something NZ doesn’t have!
We have always relied on the State to be this 40% foundational stone, what Political Right want to do is underfund public services until they collapse and then argue privatisation is the solution!
They believe that if the State steps back and the market steps in, the product is cheaper.
Sure, but cheaper damages.
Take the school lunches.
Under Labour it was $8 per lunch.
That created healthy, nutritional food that was made by locals and created thousands of local jobs.
ACT degraded that to meals costing $3.18 which is 40 cents more than meals in prison. The meals are 30% less nutritious and cost all those local jobs.
Sure, ACT saved money, but at a cost to the nutritional value and local jobs.
We don’t need more free market neoliberal experiments, we need solid State infrastructure and fully funded public services paid for by taxing the rich!
