Not all the Labour-led coalition’s transformational policies are yet in place, and some, like housing availability, have failed.
The climate is in crisis, thousands of species are on the verge of extinction, fossil fuels, for so long responsible for man’s march into the future, are now threatening the very existence of mankind. We hear as I write this article that government’s lack of support for affordable and state housing can be tracked back to Rogernomics in the 1980s. Succeeding National Governments have not reversed the trend.
We need to head into the future on the right side of history.
It is a huge copout by National to call for a ‘ back to the old ways’. Continuing to drill for oil, digging up coal, ignoring climate change (Bridges did not mention climate change once in his opening election salvo) are a dereliction of duty.
Suggestions of tax cuts is another hint that National is on the wrong side of history. In 2008, shortly after being elected Prime Minister, John Key announced a ‘fiscally neutral’ tax change. It cut taxes for the rich and increased GST for all.
It may have been fiscally neutral for the government books, but it added to our already horrendous inequality. Inequality which has got steadily worse under right-wing governments in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand, especially since the mid-1980s.
The last National Government left New Zealand with an incredible mess of deferred maintenance – hospital buildings full of mould, schools forced to teach kids in cupboards, infrastructure totally inadequate, particularly for an export nation like New Zealand.
The current Labour Government has taken up the challenge, but needs more time. Traditionally, New Zealanders give governments a second or even third term before they chuck them out. Much of the preparatory work Labour had to do has taken time. Opposition parties don’t have the access to officials that the government does.
I think the difference between centre left and centre right has been shown to be massive, and that’s why I’m calling this election the New Zealand’s voter’s opportunity to be on the right side of history.
When grandchildren ask their grandparents in 50 years time, “why didn’t you take more notice of climate change, why didn’t you get rid of fossil fuels and coal, why did you let kakapo, kokako and kiwi die out, why did so many New Zealanders die of third-world diseases like measles and rheumatic fever, and why didn’t you make all New Zealanders more equal?” what will you say?
First grandparent: “I was on the right side of history, and we did our best, but just when we were poised to make more impact we lost government to a reactionary right-wing outfit only interested in preserving the status quo for the 1% and corporate power.”
Second grandparent: “Sorry, I realised too late that I was on the wrong side of history, and didn’t realise that our excessive consumerism and rampant greed would land us in so much trouble.”
New Zealanders don’t want post-apocalyptic apologies, we need action now, and we don’t need a party which says, “We are the National Party and our values haven’t changed.”
It just reinforces the old anti-National saying, “National has the divine right to govern. Justice and equity are extras and available to those who deserve it.”
Everyone deserves a roof over their head, adequate clothes and food. We are one of the world’s richest countries, so why can’t we have a bit more humanity for the old, the young and the disadvantaged and spread our wealth more evenly?
Are we going to get to the stage where we just euthanase those who don’t contribute enough? Or give everyone marijuana to keep them happily sedated?
Instead of tax cuts, we need some tax increases at the highest income and wealth levels.
We once led the world as a welfare state, looking out for our old, our young and our underprivileged.
Let’s do that again, and let’s expand the wellbeing budget idea.
Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas, former judge of the Appeal Court of New Zealand, has said, “New Zealand will never again be a fair and just society until we rid ourselves of the last vestiges of neo-liberalism.”
That market-free, hands-off government philosophy has been roundly condemned, but is difficult to shake off.
I know most New Zealanders do believe in fairness and justice for all, so I’m pretty confident that although the polls say the September race is looking close, New Zealanders will give Ardern, Labour and the Greens another term.
It’s not only Greta Thunberg who is on the case. Every 16-year-old will hold their parents and grandparents to account and will be very angry if they inherit a trashed planet. So please be on the right side of history. (John Elliott)