Four weeks of small-beer politics about the price of airline tickets and school uniform logos. Honestly, is that what the contest for control of our central government has come down to? How many logos you're allowed to have on your school uniform?
Now, that's not to say it's not a decent policy. It's a perfectly fine idea to roll out. But it's not going to change the direction of this country, is it?
And this country needs a change of direction. Voters know it.
Based on what I'm hearing from the political parties, voters know, accept and have already made peace with the fact that we are broke as a country. They know something massive has to happen to fix our situation. But that's not what's being discussed four weeks out from an election.
We're discussing school uniforms and we're discussing the Greens' plan to regulate AI, when there is very little chance that a nation of five million people will have any discernible impact on a technology being compared to the Industrial Revolution.
I can count on one hand the number of policy announcements that have been genuinely interesting, viable and capable of changing this country's fortunes: National's plan to make KiwiSaver compulsory, ACT's plan to make KiwiSaver tax-free and, if you want to include the more bonkers ideas, TOP's land tax and the Greens' wealth tax.
At least they're bold. At least they address national wealth, however mad some of them might be.
Everything else is tiny stuff. Everything else is not going to help us build the wealth we need to retain talent and pay for the healthcare that every one of us will need one day.
Are we really going to spend four weeks ignoring the country's debt, ignoring the fiscal deficit and discussing hidden transaction fees on your ticket purchase to see Lily Allen?
Is that what we're going to do?
Surely the parties don't have four weeks' worth of these tiny policy announcements to carry us all the way through to election day.
Please, dear God.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and radio broadcaster who hosts Newstalk ZB's weekday Drive-Time Show – where this article was sourced.
8 comments:
It is concerning that the Maori problem has been removed from the debate. I will vote exclusively on the Maori problem; I want all of it gone. I don't care about the economy; I will eat grass. But I will not tolerate being a second-class citizen in the country my ancestors built.
I agree, Heather, having attended a candidates' meeting last night at which empathy and aspiration drove big spending promises from the Left without any regard to our current fiscal situation or where the money was coming from.
Some hard facts. Our cumulative rate of inflation over the last 10 years has been 46%. Against the pound, US dollar, Euro and the Chinese currency, our dollar has devalued by well over 20% and against the Aussie dollar by 16%. Our domestic economy has been more or less stagnant. We have stagflation but nobody wants to talk about it.
We continue to borrow and if the ACC books are included in the government deficit we won't see the government books balance into well into the 2030s. And our export boom won't solve the structural deficit problem.
All the political parties should be addressing how we are going to stop digging ourselves into a deeper hole and start getting out of it. But with the exception of Seymour, nobody has the stomach to tell voters the bad news - we cannot go on as we are now. If we do, we're heading for an IMF rescue package and that medicine will be very unpleasant.
Concerning for sure. Luxon and National are deliberately not raising it. It is the biggest social issue this country is facing, yet no one is addressing it. No discussion - nothing. A mute silence. No politician has the courage to thoroughly talk about it and instead they want to bury it amongst their diversionary electioneering froth on other more minor stuff. Where has great leadership gone? Why are we allowing this to happen?
To 'anon'@ 8.13 am... I am in my 70's...I too will eat grass...if that's what it takes ....Winston Churchill "....we will never surrender ! " :-)
Very amusing post Heather. I agree with your statement "voters ... accept and have already made peace with the fact that we are broke as a country". By that I mean, they are content with that state of affairs. It's typical left wing thinking - they don't want to be as rich as the successful people, they just want the successful people to be as poor as they are. Where I disagree with you is where you say "And this country needs a change of direction. Voters know it." You give altogether too much credit to the average citizen. They don't read Breaking Views. They are sleepwalking into economic stagnation, and that is why all they can talk about is the cost of school logos and hidden transaction fees on airline tickets.
Quite right. No parties will mention the things that would really impact NZ. They are assumed. The discussion then becomes how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
Anon, 8:18. I agree completely !! you have got it summed up. !!
Anon at 8.18 is so correct! It is like they are all afraid of being called the R word..
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.