Why Labour are failing and why the Greens are winning – no one rewards political cowardice – fight dammit Labour!
Lot of talk of Labour Party death spirals and forgone conclusions right now from Left wing commentators who are far smarter than I.
Labour are failing because after 6 years in power (3 of them with an unprecedented MMP majority) they haven’t been transformational, and they haven’t been transformational because of political hesitancy and refusal to have a plan on how to ram through transformative change past the Professional Managerial Class Corporate Consultants and the Self-serving Public Service Mandarins.
Of course there was a once in a century pandemic where we lost over 3000 lives, but compared to similar sized countries, we had a third of that casualty rate so Labour should be saluted for putting lives first.
But the post Covid build back needed something more than just the usual under regulated crony capitalism rigged casino it once was.
Many across Society sacrificed for Covid, but that sacrifice was unequally shared because society is unequal.
Labour’s rush to get back to normal misunderstood that normal was over.
We need a State with far more capacity and the wealthy who make obscene profits must be taxed in new way to ensure the public infrastructure and this new capacity can be funded.
Labour refused to ask that question because they were frightened of the answer.
Refusing the Wealth Tax was the real blunder and it has ensure the Greens will do better than their last election results as Labour Left walk over to the Greens in disgust.
No one rewards political cowardice and Labour are seeing that right now!
All the Greens have to do is be slightly less spineless than Labour and they’ll get 10%.
I’m not saying it hasn’t been worthwhile, working people have seen $80 a week better off with all the extra funds labour have incrementally pushed for, and the Minimum wage has been driven up, and we got Fair Pay Agreements, and we have seen coal imports decrease and we have seen some progress on emissions and we have had incremental benefits here and there, but this is not the time for incrementalism, it is the time for solutions.
Right now in NZ we have 25 000 people on the social housing wait list, we spend $1million per day Kettling beneficiaries into unsafe motels, barely 50% of our students were regularly attending class in term 1, Home ownership is at its lowest rate in 70 years, there are 200 000 children in poverty, 55% of Kiwis are struggling financially, we are facing the worst food inflation for 30 years, there’s 100 000 homeless and the planet is melting before our eyes!
The problems we face demand answers better than taking GST off a banana!
The last week suddenly showed ACT a lot weaker than we had seen them. The flakey extremism on display by ACTs candidate selection is also a reminder that ACT is attracting this kind of ugliness.
On top of that NZ First has a candidate who thinks there are nano robots inn the vaccine.
The Napier Poll showed 23% are undecided.
I believe New Zealanders are more rational and are better people than ACT and National strategists do.
When the books get opened next month and the exposure to China’s dramatic slow down are made public, the stock market will sink and people’s Kiwi Savers will get hit alongside higher interest rates. A sense of economic crisis will be upon us and Labour will say, “We guided you through the last crisis and looked after everyone, do you honestly think Luxon and David Seymour will look after you or their rich mates?”
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What is going on inside the factions of the Parliamentary Labour Party? Which faction(s) would have the numbers to call for a leadership spill, and which factions would support David Parker as leader?
Martyn, I suspect you’re under the lilusion that the Labour Party is capable of doing transformational change. They can’t, sadly it’s not in their DNA. It’s cowardice when you’re afraid of doing what you know is right. That’s not what’s happening here.
Stating the bleeding obvious but the more woke Labour voters are going to the Greens, or say they are.
I don’t think the Greens are going to poll so well, they are part of the problem and their Road to Zero anti car policy in play is causing grief for Labour.
The second issue is Labour have basically no political capital left, in Auckland even less and worst of all have a record that screams zero credibility. They can promise anything from a universal income of $1000 per week bribe for every man woman and child, subsidised dental plans to just ensuring the highways are actually maintained and no one will believe them.
Bigger worry for Labour is will they learn from this iteration or is the brand finished? Part of their problems is running two caucuses from within, the demands of one became a major conflict of interest for the other as Chippy found. He wanted to change course to avoid the iceberg but the rudder refused to respond!
The damage to Labour Inc from this 6 year tenure is huge! But Chippy should not take it personally! His previous boss is another story!
… because Labour is in a death spiral and the result is a foregone conclusion. All that remains is for the soon to be unemployed MPs to work on their exit strategies and fight over the parachutes because Labour’s plane is going down in flames. There’s no one else to blame (certainly not Putin), they did this, time to pay for their failures.
So true. We cannot have an Act/ National govt. Labour deserves to get it’s ass kicked, fuck ‘Chippy’ and his dumb ‘ Captain Call’, hope he understands what an error that was, now. However to prevent Act getting in govt. I am voting Labour. Which is a very big rat to swallow as they stand now
Rewarding them is not in their or the countries best interest.
None of the current contenders will work with the Greens so not sure how that translates to winning.
The Greens perform best when in opposition, given Labour performance over the last 6 years, the Greens will be shining bright for many years to come.
Labour have been extremely transformational:they have transformed the public service in to a bloated incompetent mess, education and health in free fall after ideological meddling, crime is rampant especially gun crime since their new laws, the entire country riven by the theft of ratepayer assets and imposition of co governance.
Repeat scandals of government money buying media time and editorial lines.
So very transformational, but of the kind that creates a poor banana republic.
And National will just impose US style healthcare that we have to pay thru the nose for.
People already are paying for private health care because the state model is broken.
People are dying on waiting lists.
The poor suffer meanwhile.
Thanks Labour.
No Jack, New Zealanders have the best healthcare in the world. No fees whatsoever for precriptions or hospital visits.
You are just resentful that rich white people arent getting their cancers treated by luxury designer drugs or getting their hip replacements.
I take it that’s satire?
(:)
“Looked after”? They looked after us in the same way that a prison guard looks after an inmate. Of course, if we examine the historical record, “keeping the people safe from x” is always the formula used to justify any tyrannical regime or any draconian policy that would otherwise be impossible to impose.
All the Green’s offer is radically higher energy costs (which will trickle down into everything), and not being allowed to debate it (because “climate change denier”) when you find out you don’t like it and it isn’t even slightly helping the local climate (which it can’t because that is not how the global atmosphere works).
It’s privatisation and deregulation that leads to higher energy costs. Power would be bascially free in this country if the power companies wernt corporatised and privatised.
Sorry Mart, Labour is gonzo, no saving it now.
There is going to be a large anti woke vote this election.
Labour, National, TPM and the Greens will all be on the losing side of this.
Party time coming. myself, decades changing, to Green, with care knowin their sitting memeber!s respect their knowing of parliament rules and respect, Golriz Ghahraman, you are a sitting member of New Zealand, parliament, and your social line expletives, ask those in your party shall, let you understand. Anyway, bugger votin Green, my sons, te patie, why, are our children up too, barricades.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/496557/auckland-s-city-rail-link-review-finds-lack-of-skilled-workers-for-large-scale-infrastructure-projects
The business sector was supposed to be so wise that it would train its needed workers itself, in smart planning ‘going forward’. Hah. Naturally the profit-miners brought in cheaper workers from overseas and put them, no doubt, through a pressure-cooker course. Silly old government stumbling, bumbling along couldn’t get it right, like China with its long-term plans and ‘Great Leap Forward’. China however isn’t happy still; it was too successful. Ho hum balance is everything in human doings and dealings.
The problem is that it is so annoying when it is clear that your definite assertion is obviously a cock-up and as bad as a cream pie in the face, filled with sour cream. But there is a surprise twist for us all – if business turns quickly, pivots aside rather when the pie is in the air, it hits the simple people watching with their mouths open. Splosh!! (Add your own sound and fury effects.)
Labour might win this election by a whisker – if it apologises to the country for making an unfortunate economic error in the belief that it was the right move in these fast-changing times. It will be a new era of openness and earnestness and there will be instant action from clued up actors and comedians and script writers with new versions of The Importance of Being Earnest with Labour cast in a heroic role ready to make the country pretty great again. It would be the equivalent of expressing heartfelt sorrow to indigenous people for wrongs – something very hard to do. That is my suggestion, They are between a rock and
a hard place; in 100 years after so much rubbing there will be no rock and no place either.
National et al, will probably be setting up safaris in the desert hunting Al so they can eat him, or her.
Maybe Labour could gain some traction by taking some advice from Rob Muldoon and thinking big, with some blockbuster type policies. For example:
1 — After the virtually 50:50 poll on legalising canabis, Labour could just say that they will institute some form of regulated canabis market and decriminalisation, during in their next term. This would be a definite vote winner amongst many people, compared to the directive giving police more discetion not to prosecute, which probably has not gained any votes at all. And no specific details need to be gone into now, for Labour could say they will look at laws that are working in other counties, and the proposed new laws being considered by Australia, before deciding exactly what’s best for NZ. Many people would agree that canabis regulation will happen at some point, as it is happening overseas, so why not make it any election issue, and force Luxon to start talking about it. It would actually be fiscally positive for the govts books, and is already supported by several minor parties, including Act, so such a proposal could isolate National and drive a wedge between them and Act, with each arguing the oposite.
2 — And since the big two supermarket chains have basically doubled their markups since the 1990’s, showing that their is insufficient actual competition, which harms both consumers and suppliers, just setting up a grocery commissioner is not a vote winner by any means. You need to think bigger, and have the govt actually set up some large non profit grocery outlets at least in the main centres. Perhaps using a public private cooperative model involving large suppliers such as Fonterra or Sealord or an overseas firm. Jim Anderton did it very successfully with KiwiBank, so such an endevour can be done if there is the political will to do so, and it would definitely be a vote winner. If you are a consumer or supplier, wouldn’t you prefer to go to the outlet that has the least markup? And public private partnerships are something already beloved by National anyway.
Scott keep up the practical ideas. In a future government that is practical you may be able to replace two agencies and their legal vultures with those savings passed on to rehabilitation of lmicro business and unemployed who could do more with $1 of investment in them than the others do with $1,000.
IIRR there is an initiative in India or Bangladesh ? that lends small amounts to individuals and families trying to get a living, and do a lot of good in this micro-economy and also rarely fail to be repaid for the small loans.
Scott, few believe that “Kiwi Bank” is very successful except at having a large number of low value deposit customers! It has failed to impinge on the profit margins of the Australian banks and has failed to take significant market share of mortgage or wealth management revenue streams. (the latter operations may have been sold?) Plus return on what started as tax payer capital has been poor. As for Kiwi Bank having a banking branch in every small town that went out the window quickly just like with the competition they were going to show how it could be done. There is no advantage for most people in using Kiwi Bank ahead of one of the big Aussie banks.
BTW despite the above comments I am strongly in favour of NZ owned banks and do both personal and business banking with the TSB. Like many other Kiwis I directly hold shares in Westpac as do various Kiwi Saver and investment funds on individuals behalf thus some profits are repatriated to NZ in the form of dividends. The idea of keeping banking profits in NZ is good but Kiwi Bank has not done much in this regard!
Not to mention driving hundreds of account holders away with their misguided support for misogynist bully trans activist Lal
You are the bully who wants to hound LGBT people back into the closet. Or a prison cell.