Looks very unlikely there will be any other result besides National/ACT majority. Without having to worry about other coalition partners, this will probably be our most right-wing government of the MMP era. A lot of the National caucus are pretty right-wing at heart (rather than Labour, where a lot of them are pretty centrist at heart). So ACT will probably get more wins out of the coalition agreement than you might expect. NACT should be able to keep the government running smoothly as it was under Key, meaning they will be odds on to win a second and probably third term.
Which means cost of living, inequality and environment/climate issues are all set to get substantially worse.
Im just reminding myself that regardless of who is at the helm, things aren't going to get better in the next 3 years. NZ has lacked decades of investment and so small that we are at the wim of Aus, Europe, China and US. National may give our country a bit of strength, but it won't be stronger people and I doubt they will be looking ahead.
Rolling back environmental policies and landlord tax will be pretty bad for all of us. I don't think strength is anything we require. Nobody is worried of an armed New Zealand.
Clarification - economic strength, (business) investment, population and tech. Soft power, not hard power, but saying that I'm in Defense studies and the asia-pacific region is having significant concerns with hard power and we have a massive EEZ. Moot point though, back to mine.
Our country needs significant financial investment - we love this country but we are soo far behind in soo many ways. Labour has tried to offset things like cost of living, housing, health but there is soo much to do.
Yep, totally agree. Business is concerned with profit for shareholders. Infinite growth. Don't worry about externalities like pollution, ecosystem collapse and gross inequality. Those are for society to deal with, or ignore. Business doesn't care.
The fact that billionaires exist, and are idolised, is incomprehensible to me.
10 years ago I would agree with you. The changes of the last 10 years (and my non-youtube education) is giving me some hope. Any business is bound by societys ethics, norms and expectations (including the law) - we just have to demand our ethics and norm are followed.
Hard disagree. The ethics is bound by how much they can get away. Banks are constantly getting fined for breaching their own rules. Big multi conglomerates run on how much they can get away with. Looking at America's deficit of a trillion. No way to pay it back. Money is worthless. Fed can print more at any point and banks can magic it out of nowhere.
We have no sat over Exxon we have no say over how most multi billion dollars operate. We can't even push back against planet killing policies.
You are naive to think the public have much power. We are given the illusion of democracy but a two party system that can change policies on a whim, with zero accountability.
No country is holding up their population. They don't care. That is the issue. The closer we get to annihilation the more they won't even pretend about the pure creed.
Hard disagree. The ethics is bound by how much they can get away.
I think we are agreeing, just differ in method and application. These companies have strength because our ethics give them strength - ill use ExxonMobil as the example. They just brought a massive competitor, but we can still use public transportation, walk, bike or EV. ICE cars are what our society is built around and the easiest, but we can say no and we can make the harder choices.
Thats disappointing as I don't think national gives a shit at all. I suspect the tax cuts with the current cost of living got national through, but it does nothing to move the country ahead.
I suspect nothing about what National offered was what did it, other than the fact they were not Labour. I fully believe that the majority of people vote without knowing what policies they are voting for.
I found that too. Any political conversation I had this cycle were basically: "Winston for the shit stir" or "Lifelong (insert party) voter". Nobody I spoke to really knew any policy.
I've been mentioning the cool Act policies in passing to people I talk with. No one knew that they want to remove all building standards, repeal the act that sets our carbon reduction targets, or allow employers to call everyone contractors to get around employee protections and so they don't have to pay annual/sick leave, etc. I'll be watching the coalition negotiations with interest.
Yup - "oh why vote for those losers" yet when I asked what they disagree with they have nothing. I feel like alot of nationals vote was "i want something different", a tax cut or lifetime members.
Gotta love that for some reason a bunch of people have voted against their best interests. Think it's time to reevaluate giving people decisions about their lives.
I disagree- they voted in their short term interest with tax cuts and blaming labour for the state of things. Our country is lacking soo much, and this was people just wanting something to take the edge off now.
Take the edge of in what way ? Pretty short sighted if a couple months helps but then national policies kick in and things get markable worse. But who knows aye
Oh, it is shortsighted. But people can't think about the future if they are struggling now and it is something we all do. 2k tax cut gives me something now, 100,000 homes in 10 years I have to wait for.
Which is probably why we are in this situation. We don't look to the future. Gotta start thinking big picture. Planets fucked. Need some drastic changes or this is humanities end.
Im curious what way you voted - I didn't vote any of the big 4 because their focus is the 3 year reelection (and act/green is effectively a lab/nat vote). Don't need to answer, just speaking out loud and happy to see others are on the same page.
You don't have to be a citizen to vote in NZ. Permanent resident (or resident visa) is enough. So long as you're entitled to live here indefinetly (and have lived here at least 12 months), you can vote.
Interesting, the "am I eligible to vote" things just say you are if you've been here 12 months and are entitled to stay indefinitely.
I guess one key question is, on a spousal visa, if you split from your spouse are you still entitled to stay here indefinitely? If not that may be why you can't vote. I couldn't find any information specifically on if you can vote on a spouse visa.
Labour - no. But pushing things in a direction can facilitate construction. I've been seeing huge number of subdivisions come in, rezoning and growth up but it takes time and the global situation has been kicking everyone's ass and there is little any NZ govt can do about it.
I disagree, a lot of people seem to think having equal rights to any other NZer is in their best interests, and I think that's a reasonable point of view.