We did this.
October 19, 2017 5:21 AM   Subscribe

After almost a month of coalition negotiations, 37 year old Jacinda Ardern will be New Zealand’s second-youngest Prime Minister ever.

New Zealand held it’s general election on September 23. The results of which had the incumbent centre-right Government of Bill English with the most votes of any single party with 44.4% (56 seats out of 120) Jacinda Ardern's Labour party (46 seats) combined with the Green Party (8 seats) could not reach the magic number of 61. Enter the “king/queen maker” Winston Peters of the centrist New Zealand First Party (9 seats). As he had done in 1996, Peters played off the two major parties in simultaneous negotiations to draw out as many concessions as he could. After originally suggesting he would have an answer for the country by 12 October, which came and went, he subsequently promised a result by Thursday.

Shortly after 7pm, Winston Peters announced [Youtube] that there would be a centre-left coalition government. Neither Jacinda Ardern nor Bill English had any idea of which way Peters would go and Ardern found out she would be Prime Minister at the same time as everyone else - when Peters announced it on live television.

“It is an absolute honour and privilege to be in the position to form a government for all New Zealanders." - Ardern’s first speech [Youtube] as Prime Minister-elect.

New Zealand First will be in formal coalition with Labour with the Green Party in a confidence and supply agreement with Labour. If you notice some circumspection in Jacinda Ardern’s speech above, it is because the confidence and supply agreement with the Greens needed to be ratified in conference under Green Party rules. This ratification occurred shortly after 11pm.

Outgoing PM Bill English concedes. [Youtube] At this stage, he has not yet signalled that he will resign but that discussions among the National Party caucus will occur in the coming weeks.

Selected reactions on Twitter:
posted by Start with Dessert (43 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Tu Meke!
posted by fairmettle at 5:25 AM on October 19, 2017 [2 favorites]


Really interested to see some NZ Mefite comments on this because on the face of it, NZ First seem more rightwing than the incumbent National Party, so choosing to ally with Labour & the Greens is surprising.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:00 AM on October 19, 2017


From the Wikipedia article on NZ First:

"Ideology:
Nationalism
Populism
Protectionism
Social conservatism"

I hope this is some grave misrepresentation - it certainly doesn't sound like the basis for a productive left/centre-left coalition...
posted by Dysk at 6:13 AM on October 19, 2017


Blimey. I didn't see that coming. Have to say, I was very heartened and impressed by Ardern's performance in taking questions from the media after her speech. A good deal of, "you'll have read our policy on that before the election, and we'll be sticking with that."

And yeah, Winston. It was rather hilarious watching the Guardian essentially live-blogging his movements around Wellington this morning. (UPDATE: Peters enters Vietnamese cafe for lunch; may have had the pho. Still no word on a decision.) Like a lot of people, I guess, I feel deeply ambivalent about Winston, but he has done good things in the past. My Dad is always jokingly talking about using his "Winston Card" (aka the SuperGold Card for pensioners), but it allows him free off-peak bus travel (among other things), which is hardly nothing. My granddad was also a huge Winston fan, and one of the last things he did before he passed away in 2011 was proudly cast a vote for NZ First, so there's that too.

I also hope that Labour will be able to fulfill their promise to expand Radio NZ into a full-spectrum public broadcaster, TV included. Having that in place will hopefully reduce somewhat the right-wing echo chamber effect in the NZ broadcast environment, produced by a plethora of openly right-wing, privately owned newspapers and radio stations and the supine commercial broadcaster, TVNZ.

But, yeah. The emphases in all the speeches today—including Winston's—were salutary: child poverty; marginalized people; the importance of regional development and infrastructure, and above all, the environment. I can't help thinking how far off any agenda those things would have been if we'd just heard National under English being granted a fourth term.
posted by Sonny Jim at 6:16 AM on October 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


I don't know much about it but ConservativeHome is horrified that "the last effective centre-right government in the Anglosphere has fallen" so I assume it's a good thing. They're also muttering darkly about the horror of how "In 1996, New Zealanders chose the German parliamentary model to end Westminster first-past-the-post".
posted by TheophileEscargot at 6:44 AM on October 19, 2017


I don't know much about it but ConservativeHome is horrified that "the last effective centre-right government in the Anglosphere has fallen" so I assume it's a good thing.

As much as anything I suspect it's just a dig at the current Australian government "led" by his old boss's rival.

Best comment I've seen: More like New Zealand Eventually.
posted by hawthorne at 6:50 AM on October 19, 2017


NZ First seem more rightwing than the incumbent National Party, so choosing to ally with Labour & the Greens is surprising.

I hope this is some grave misrepresentation - it certainly doesn't sound like the basis for a productive left/centre-left coalition.
It's hard to describe Winston Peters and NZ First (known colloquially as Winston First) to people who haven't grown up with him around. He doesn't easily translate into other cultural or political vernaculars. Of Ngāti Wai descent, he was a protegé of the former National Party prime minister, Robert Muldoon. Muldoon was an awful man in many ways, but he did describe himself (accurately) as being on the extreme left of the National Party, and his economic policies were essentially a form of mixed-market Keynesianism. Peters is the same. Described by former National Party PM Jenny Shipley as 85% brilliant and 15% something else, Peters was initially the Minister for Māori Affairs in the Bolger-led National government that took office in 1990. Alienated by National's reinvention as an openly right-neoliberal party (as opposed to simply a conservative one) he split off to form his own party. Thereafter, he specialized in publicity-seeking and exposés, such as the all teacup, no storm Winebox Inquiry, which alleged serious fraud and tax evasion by a number of New Zealand companies using tax havens in the Pacific Islands.

The thing was, though, that many of the causes that Winston advanced (in his self-serving way) actually had something behind them, and he has been a genuine champion of pensioners' rights, which is why so many are devoted to him. His term serving in coalition with National between 1996 and 1999 was thoroughly chaotic, but his arrangement with Labour from 2005 to 2008, during which he served as Foreign Minister and Minister for Racing (yes; NZ has a Minister for Racing), was more stable. Also: notice the issue that led to him being sacked from the National cabinet in 1998. He was opposed to the privatization of Wellington Airport.

And then there's the Māori context, which is why it's inaccurate to simply place NZ First in the general-purpose "white nationalist, right-wing populism" basket alongside, say, UKIP or AfD. Peters is Māori; so have a number of senior members of NZ First been (see most recently the re-entry into politics of Shane Jones in NZ First colours). He's anti-immigration, sure; but you have to understand that some of this (and a good deal of the support for this) comes from an indigenous perspective. His supporters are "less likely to have attended university, more likely to have been born in New Zealand, more likely to be Māori and have lower household incomes, on average," than other New Zealanders. In many ways, Winston's supporters are demographically indistinguishable from older Labour voters.

So, it's complicated. He's not Nigel Farage.
posted by Sonny Jim at 6:55 AM on October 19, 2017 [29 favorites]


I can't pretend to know anything about NZ politics, and especially not about the ramifications of a coalition like this, but on the face of it -- a woman and someone young makes for a very refreshing and positive change. Good luck Ardern, and good luck New Zealand!
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:04 AM on October 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


Thanks for the explanation, Sonny Jim. Sounds like Dansk Folkeparti without the Islamophobia, and with the addition of the complicated relationship to nationalism that comes of the Maori angle. But that's probably me misunderstanding somewhat again.

Still, it's more promising than the wiki summary suggests, anyway.
posted by Dysk at 7:08 AM on October 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


Trying to explain Winston Peters to an outsider is impossible. Nominally he is the leader of a party, but NZFirst obviously exists just to get Winston into government, something it has been spectacularly successful at. Peters has the superhuman knack of capturing the imagination of a certain segment of the population and speaking to their concerns. Whether he actually personally believes his own policies or is just an opportunist is open for debate.

I remember one amusing news report from 1996 were he gave two speeches in a single day in different cities, one an attack on immigration, the other a passionate defense of it. The guy certainly knows his audience.

He does sometimes seem a little "not racists but #1 with racists" but I do not believe he deliberately courts such people. He certainly doesn't attract the skin head demographic.

I think he might actually fit in quite well with Labour if they manage to find the right spot to stroke his ego and keep him out of the way. Making Peters foreign minister and minister for racing was a masterstroke for the previous Labour government - it kept him busy and allowed him to wine and dine his way around the world while the real work of government went on.
posted by AndrewStephens at 8:08 AM on October 19, 2017 [4 favorites]


About to leave for work, but just saw the policy agreement between Labour and Greens. As a Green voter I am pretty damn happy.
posted by Pink Frost at 11:30 AM on October 19, 2017 [2 favorites]


OK quick summary of my last post, though it doesn't seem to be fully public yet:
Greens got agreement on carbon zero by 2050 and on improving water quality. Also on enhancing Working for Families, "overhauling" the welfare system and ensuring access to entitlements, removing excessive sanctions. So that's basically the three key areas Greens campaigned on. (Not that Labour was opposed to the first two, of course).

Increase in Conservation budget, free counselling for U-25s and improved access to mental health services (yes!), "access to education for children with special needs", targeting the gender pay gap in the public service, increased funding for drug services and treating addiction as a health issue, "reduction in students living in hardship", reviewing the family re-unification scheme for refugees (both Labour and Greens want to double the number of quota places for refugees; NZF not so sure but might agree to an increase); and hold a referendum on legalising cannabis.
posted by Pink Frost at 12:52 PM on October 19, 2017 [3 favorites]


I'm not an outsider and I still don't understand Winston Peters!
posted by piyushnz at 12:52 PM on October 19, 2017


Excellent news.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:47 PM on October 19, 2017


The other noteworthy thing about Winston Peters is that every sentence from his mouth when talking to the media is along the lines of "that depends what the definition of 'is' is" with the corollaries that "I never gave/agreed to/saw that previous definition of 'is' that you appear to be using" and "it's typical of you media types to propagate such clearly wrong definitions."

Circumlocutory barely begins to describe him. I can only imagine he became a politician because he annoyed too many judges in his previous law career.
posted by Sparx at 4:24 PM on October 19, 2017 [2 favorites]


Obligatory House of Cards welcome for the new PM.
posted by phigmov at 9:26 PM on October 19, 2017


Yep, that was surprising. Did not see that coming at all. I don't even know how it's meant to work. I guess the two parties spend a lot of time bonding over how much they hate immigrants and carefully not talking about anything else?
posted by lollusc at 10:53 PM on October 19, 2017


And now we're getting a reeferendum ....
posted by mbo at 11:45 PM on October 19, 2017


I hope this is some grave misrepresentation - it certainly doesn't sound like the basis for a productive left/centre-left coalition...

It's not a misrepresentation at all, it neatly summarizes exactly what Winston Peters is. He's anti-immigrant, nationalist, populist and protectionist. He's New Zealand's Trump (mirrored by Ardern herself), and him being Māori doesn't change that any more than Duterte being a Filipino stops him being the Phillipines' Trump.

The reason he's such a comfortable fit with Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party is that the Labour Party itself has been trying to court voters using anti-immigrant (specifically anti-Chinese) rhetoric, which has seen some defections.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 2:26 AM on October 20, 2017


His speech is actually a very fine bit of rhetoric. Look for the things he is claiming, denying and supporting.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:45 AM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


Ah yes. Winston.

He's the one that supporters proudly proclaim will 'Keep the bastards honest." He's cultivated over many years the role of official shit-stirrer - so much so that he has often been the only effective opposition while Labour struggled to gain traction in the media and cycled through one ineffective leader after another.

I would be very interested to see Peters' proportion of the six o'clock news report compared to previous elections. It seemed like he was upstaged first by Metiria Turei and then by Jacindamania, which sucked up all of the oxygen out of the election coverage.

I figured that National's leaking of Peters superannuation mis-payment would come back to bite them. Was this a strategic blunder by National? Surely they didn't think that in the MMP era they could govern on their own. Surely they didn't think they could continue to rely on a shrinking roster of coalition partners. Was it the failure to foresee the exclusion of United Future and the Māori Party? Or was it just overconfidence due to the poor polling of Labour pre-Ardern?
posted by Start with Dessert at 3:37 AM on October 20, 2017 [3 favorites]


Newshub is reporting that it has been leaked the ministerial roles in the new government that will go to the Green Party:
Climate change and associate finance are both expected to go to Greens leader James Shaw.

The Greens will also have conservation, women and land information portfolios, and associate roles in environment, transport and health.

They will fill a newly created undersecretary role, focused on sexual and domestic violence.
Due to Peters' residual anti-hippie intransigence, all those roles will be outside Cabinet. But if the leak is legit, then the Greens have negotiated well and will have portfolios where they can make a real difference to policy. Associate Transport is especially intriguing, considering that the Greens are pushing for a lot of rail infrastructure building with timetables for completion well ahead of Labour's equivalent policies. But I am wondering where their ability to fulfill their promise to make social welfare provision "less punitive" will come from, seeing as they apparently haven't been given roles relating to MSD.
posted by Sonny Jim at 6:42 AM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


and him being Māori doesn't change that

Nah, I'm pretty sure that being of a people who were immigrant-ed on without their consent to the point of losing nearly all their home does change the context of them being unenthusiastic about further immigration that would even further weaken their political position. As opposed the people who invited themselves in and then want to close the door behind them.
posted by tavella at 8:27 AM on October 20, 2017


Interesting comments Sonny Jim, and I'd be really happy with that result.

Shaw (perhaps strangely) gets credit from some right-wing commentators (I forget who, but I'm thinking Rob Hosking in the NBR) as a finance spokesman, so he could be a good shout there. Looking at the Green site, it looks as though Eugenie Sage would take a couple of those spots, and Julie-Anne Genter the others. Regarding the social welfare, let's hope Labour pushes it through (I mean, not like the Greens can do much without Cabinet support, even if they do hold the portfolios).

tavella: you're assuming that Peters speaks for Māori. NZF got around 10% of the vote in each Māori electorate, so I would argue that he doesn't. He's certainly been far more vocal in his criticism of immigration than any other Māori politician I can think of.
posted by Pink Frost at 2:37 PM on October 20, 2017


Start with Dessert: Was this a strategic blunder by National? Surely they didn't think that in the MMP era they could govern on their own.

The more I think about this election, the more I think that Labour ran it absolutely brilliantly and National the opposite.

* Labour ditch Little and bring in Ardern. Ardern immediately names Kelvin Davies as deputy, which both reaches out to NZ First and makes Labour more attractive to the "bloke" demographic (us middle-class liberals might love Robertson, but the broad Labour movement needs your Davieses, your Joneses).
* Meanwhile Labour regain the soft Green voters who didn't like Little. Ardern puts the boot into Turei, signalling that she's tough. Labour's first statements are all things that the Greens were campaigning hard on (climate change, water, rail to Auckland airport...).
* This is tough on the Greens, but it gets Labour closer to National, and makes it look more like a creditable government (if the Greens had kept above 10% at the expense of Labour, surely NZF would have gone with National)
* So at this point, I'm personally quite annoyed at Labour, because it looks like the Greens are going to be locked out again, there to prop up Lab/NZF with nothing in return. After Peters speaks on election night I post a pic of Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football, because that's what it felt like. But then we get the actual agreement - Greens in Ministerial roles! Action on all our priority areas! I am genuinely really happy. NZF are presumably happy. Ardern's got 50%+ happy and onside.

Contrast National:
*They can see that Dunne is going to be out and that the Maori Party likely won't win any seats. They know that ACT will only win Epsom. They know they can't get 50% alone.
*But they spend the whole campaign going negative on the other parties - the 'runners' ad repeating the 'Eminesque' ad from last time: "NZF and Greens would be a recipe for chaos, a coalition won't work, we need one team".
* And then they're surprised that the Greens and NZF don't want to work with them...

(One thought is that maybe National thought that either the Greens or NZF would fall below 5%, meaning seats reassigned and National having maybe 60 or 61 - but that seems somewhat risky).
posted by Pink Frost at 2:48 PM on October 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


I didn't say that he was? I said "of a people", not speaking for the people. I'm sure that there is a wide variety of views among Maori. However, I happen to think that members of a colonized people can have valid objections to their colonizers (and with Maori being reduced to only 15 percent of the population, it is indeed said colonizers who will be making the decisions) inviting more colonizers in.
posted by tavella at 2:51 PM on October 20, 2017


Update on the exciting world of Green portfolios:
Shaw, Sage, Gentner and Logie (presumably Jan Logie will be the under-secretary and the others will be Ministers).

Oh, and a point not yet mentioned, I think: Golriz Ghahraman became NZ's first MP to come from a refugee background, making it in on the Green list. #doublethequota.
posted by Pink Frost at 3:10 PM on October 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


I am happy about this definitely lesser of two evils outcome. There is much to dislike in the Labour right and I'm like wtf, how can Damien O'Connor and Stuart Nash be in cabinet, they repel me. But compared to the present lot, hell yes I'll take it.

On a personal level, I've spent many hours of my life and a lot of money running around doing things for Labour, for about 9 years, and it's nice to get a result (actually I got a result in local govt several years back but ya know, winning some community board seats isn't the same).

Pretty concerned about immigration pandering and xenophobia. I don't doubt that if the new government doesn't pander to our worst instincts, the National opposition won't scruple to do so.

It's interesting to think that Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch now have Labour or Labour-ish mayors and solid Left blocs in council. I feel we often ignore how local govt affects daily life, and in recent years National has been winding back the powers of local govt in NZ. I hope that in even three years of left dominance at central and local govt together, we'll lay foundations in transport and housing that will make a huge difference to everyone's quality of life and to climate change.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:01 PM on October 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


Local and central govt working together.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:06 PM on October 20, 2017


Media-wise, The Spinoff has been hitting it out of the park recently with their articles.

Ex-National Party MP Wayne Mapp: Today, whatever your politics, there’s good reason to be excited about Jacinda

Leonie Hayden, Michele A’Court, Alex Casey & Madeleine Chapman: What does Jacinda mean for women in New Zealand?
posted by Start with Dessert at 12:47 AM on October 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Calling Winston "New Zealand's Trump"[1] and the twaddle about Immigration in the WSJ shows a deep misunderstanding of the reasons for the unease about immigration that has affected this election.

The Trump crowd and the Brexit vote are both driven by fear. The situation in NZ is very different.

The National govt have used immigration to drive up their numbers so they can spout about 'Economic Growth', while utterly failing to deal with the pressures on infrastructure consequent to an increasing population. Housing is critically short, health spending hasn't kept up with the population, and the consequent pressure on house prices and rents have meant people in employment are struggling to make ends meet. This has been made worse by the perception that property prices are being driven up by foreign speculators with no intention to reside here.

The urge to slow down immigration is due to the need to catch up with the lack of infrastructure investment the new govt has inherited from National, and allow time for affordable housing to be built. It is not being driven by the kind of anti-immigrant xenophobia prevalent in the U.S. and the U.K.

[1] He is one of the longest serving politicians in the country, hardly an outsider.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 9:54 PM on October 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


The coalition and confidence and supply agreements were published today.

The Labour/New Zealand First coalition agreement foregrounds regional and economic development. Some of the main takeaways:

Infrastructure
  • A $1b per annum Regional Development (Provincial Growth) Fund, including:
  • Significant investment in regional rail.
  • Planting 100 million trees per year in a Billion Trees Planting Programme.
  • Commissioning a feasibility study on the options for moving the Ports of Auckland, including giving Northport serious consideration.
[...]
  • A commitment to relocate government functions into the regions.
  • Re-establish the New Zealand Forestry Service, to be located in regional New Zealand.
Economy
  • Review and reform of the Reserve Bank Act.
  • Reform government procurement rules to give New Zealand companies greater access.
  • Review the official measures for unemployment to ensure they accurately reflect the workforce of the 21st Century.
  • Progressively increase the Minimum Wage to $20 per hour by 2020, with the final increase to take effect in April 2021.
  • Increase penalties for corporate fraud and tax evasion.
  • Investigate growing KiwiBank’s capital base and capabilities ...
  • Strengthen the Overseas Investment Act and undertake a comprehensive register of foreign-owned land and housing.
Research & Development
  • Work to increase Research & Development spending to 2% of GDP over ten years.
Health
  • Re-establish the Mental Health Commission.
  • Annual Free Health Check for Seniors including an eye check as part of the SuperGold Card.
  • Teen Health Checks for all Year 9 students.
  • Free doctors’ visits for all under 14s.
  • Progressively increase the age for free breast screening to 74.
Immigration
  • Ensure work visas issued reflect genuine skills shortages and cut down on low quality international education courses.
  • Take serious action on migrant exploitation, particularly of international students.
This being NZ First, there's a lot of other, slightly left-field stuff in here, including the promise to:
  • Work towards a Free Trade Agreement with the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union and initiate Closer Commonwealth Economic Relations.
and
  • Build a museum to commemorate the Māori Battalion at Waitangi.
  • Hold a full-scale review into retail power pricing.
  • Restart the Ministry of Education's Te Kohangitaha programme to boost Māori educational achievement, which the Nats scrapped in 2013.
Lots more in the agreement. The full text can be downloaded here [pdf].
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:54 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


I should add that the agreement confirms Peters as Deputy PM, and allocates the following ministerial positions to NZ First:
Foreign Affairs, Infrastructure, Regional Economic Development, Internal Affairs, Seniors, Defence, Veterans’ Affairs, Children, Forestry, State Owned Enterprises, Racing, Associate Finance, Associate Education and an Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Regional Economic Development.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:57 AM on October 24, 2017


And here's Radio New Zealand's report on the Greens' confidence and supply agreement with Labour.

Main policy takeaways:

Economy and Transport
  • Adopt and make progress towards the goal of a Net Zero Emissions Economy by 2050, with a particular focus on policy development and initiatives in transport and urban form, energy and primary industries in accordance with milestones to be set by an independent Climate Commission and with a focus on establishing Just Transitions for exposed regions and industries.
  • Introduce a Zero Carbon Act and establish an independent Climate Commission.
  • All new legislation will have a climate impact assessment analysis.
  • A comprehensive set of environmental, social and economic sustainability indicators will be developed.
  • A new cross-agency climate change board of public sector CEOs will be established.
  • Reduce congestion and carbon emissions by substantially increasing investment in safe walking and cycling, frequent and affordable passenger transport, rail, and sea freight.
  • Investigate a Green Transport Card as part of work to reduce the cost of public transport, prioritising people in low income households and people on a benefit.
  • National Land Transport Fund spending will be reprioritised to increase the investment in rail infrastructure in cities and regions, and cycling and walking.
  • Auckland’s East-West motorway link will not proceed as currently proposed.
  • Work will begin on light rail from the city to the airport in Auckland.
  • Safe cycling and walking, especially around schools, will be a transport priority.
  • Request the Climate Commission to plan the transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2035 (which includes geothermal) in a normal hydrological year.
  • Solar panels on schools will be investigated as part of this goal.
Environment
  • Provide assistance to the agricultural sector to reduce biological emissions, improve water quality, and shift to more diverse and sustainable land use including more forestry.
  • Safeguard our indigenous biodiversity by reducing the extinction risk for 3,000 threatened plant and wildlife species, significantly increasing conservation funding, increasing predator control and protecting their habitats.
  • Budget provision will be made for significantly increasing the Department of Conservation’s funding.
  • Improve water quality and prioritise achieving healthy rivers, lakes and aquifers with stronger regulatory instruments, funding for freshwater enhancement and winding down Government support for irrigation.
  • The Resource Management Act will be better enforced.
  • Safeguard the healthy functioning of marine ecosystems and promote abundant fisheries.
  • Use best endeavours and work alongside Māori to establish the Kermadec/ Rangitāhua Ocean Sanctuary and look to establish a Taranaki blue whale sanctuary.
  • Commit to minimising waste to landfill with significant reductions in all waste classes by 2020.
Under the heading Fair Society, they also promise to:
  • Overhaul the welfare system, ensure access to entitlements, remove excessive sanctions and review Working For Families so that everyone has a standard of living and income that enables them to live in dignity and participate in their communities, and lifts children and their families out of poverty.
  • Ensure that every child with special needs and learning difficulties can participate fully in school life.
  • Eliminate the gender pay gap within the core public sector with substantial progress within this Parliamentary term, and work to ensure the wider public sector and private sector is on a similar pathway.
  • Aim to end energy poverty in New Zealand and ensure that every New Zealander has a warm, dry, secure home, whether they rent or own.
  • Budget provision will be made to substantially increase the number of homes insulated.
Much more in the main text. The full agreement is here.
posted by Sonny Jim at 3:23 AM on October 24, 2017


I should also add that the list of Green Party ministerial positions reported earlier by Newshub is correct, but they also get the Statistics portfolio.
posted by Sonny Jim at 3:24 AM on October 24, 2017


The urge to slow down immigration is due to the need to catch up with the lack of infrastructure investment the new govt has inherited from National, and allow time for affordable housing to be built. It is not being driven by the kind of anti-immigrant xenophobia prevalent in the U.S. and the U.K.

"I'm not a xenophobe, we've just had too much immigration too quickly for the country to handle!" is the standard anti-immigration line here in Britain, too. It's completely inseparable from xenophobia if you're being very charitable, it is xenophobia if you're not.
posted by Dysk at 7:27 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm with Dysk. And I have standing, I've been a Labour activist (albeit with internal conflicts of conscience) for years. Labour's immigration stance is an appeal to racists. Politicians KNOW that there is strong animus against immigrants, they have just enough conscience to feel bad running on an overtly racist platform, so they find other reasons.

NZ First doesn't even have that conscience so they're happy to explicitly talk about the Chinese etc. Only the Greens, after their public apology a few months back, can claim good standing here.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:15 PM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


completely inseparable from xenophobia
an appeal to racists

Oh, OK. Please tell me which race I'm discriminating against by being concerned about people living in cars?
I guess we should all join National and start chanting "what housing crisis?"

Immigration was being used as an unsustainable Ponzi scheme by National. I don't give a flying fuck what race or ethnicity immigrants identify with, but we either have to slow down the numbers, or start importing more cars for people to live in.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 7:04 PM on October 24, 2017


I'd be more convinced about the good faith nature of NZ First and Labour contributions in this debate if it were not for:
- ignoring the role of returning NZers
- focus on ethnicity of migrants (esp Chinese)
- failure to go after dodgy training establishments and abuse of student visas, or address concerns of exploited migrants

I'm pretty happy that housing can't be the reason for Labour et al talking about the need for "high quality" migrants, we already have really strict criteria for permanent residency compared to say the US.

I believe that you can be genuinely concerned about net population increase through migration and the strain on national resources, I just think many others are not. I've been living in Christchurch until very recently, where housing is absolutely no longer a problem, but I hear plenty of anti-immigration sentiment which seems mostly about concern that the wrong people (ie non-whites) are visibly increasing in number.

I look at this Duncan Garner column as typifying the problem: he's not racist, he's only concerned about skills and numbers, yet he takes great care to set the scene with the problematic snake of brown people.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:38 PM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Getting back to Winston, this article from The Listener is worth a look:

This country had its own Trump-like leader in Prime Minister Rob Muldoon, and that didn’t end well. Now, Winston Peters, the last Muldoonist, has a key role in the new Government.
posted by Start with Dessert at 12:55 AM on November 9, 2017


Even by the standards of the Listener since Pamela Stirling took over as editor, that's a terrible article. Winston is like Muldoon (OK, yes, Thomas kind of has a point there) who's like Trump (except no, not really), and to finish off this list of increasingly weak-sauce equivocations, here are some Tom Scott anecdotes?

Great journalism there.
posted by Sonny Jim at 6:17 AM on November 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yeah, the first half of the article was good. Then it was - Muldoon was bad but not as bad as that Trump guy - before being padded out with anecdotes. Rushing to meet a deadline?

The basic thesis was sound though, and it could have been a good article before it lost it's nerve. Has there been an article that articulates the Muldoon-Trump-Peters nexus?
posted by Start with Dessert at 11:20 AM on November 9, 2017


Heh, it seems this whole Muldoon-Trump thing passed me by earlier in the year. So to answer my own question, there are comparisons to be made between Trump and Muldoon but they are more different than alike.

More importantly, I think there's very little utility in using New Zealand's experience with Muldoon as a predictor for the US under Trump.
posted by Start with Dessert at 1:43 AM on November 15, 2017


« Older Blackcurrant cordial with hot water   |   All in the game Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments