It's coming up to election time in NZ, so here's a rundown of where the country is at politically. May be slightly biased.
Our current government is a right wing coalition made up of National, ACT and NZ First. Their main achievements so far have been raising unemployment back up to the level it was when National was last in government, mostly by firing a large portion of the public service workforce, cutting taxes for the rich and for landlords, and making school lunches worse.
National are the largest of the parties, being centre-right. The tax cuts for the rich were their election promise last time, though they framed them as "tax cuts for everyone". I am enjoying my $20 extra a month. National are led by Chris Luxon, ex-CEO of Air NZ, because electing a businessman as leader of your country never went wrong. His deputy is Nicola Willis who is also Finance minister. Her response when asked if the government could cut petrol taxes like Australia did because the price of petrol was going through the roof was essentially "LOL no."
ACT are a right-wing libertarian party led by David Seymour, who never stops smirking and is responsible for making school lunches worse, as well as trying to set fire to the Treaty of Waitangi on a regular basis (not literally, he just tries to get laws in to undermine it). He may be Arnold Rimmer under an alias. His deputy Brooke Van Velden, the only other ACT MP anyone knows, is quitting politics at the election.
NZ First are the populist party you vote for if you hate immigrants. It's led by Winston Peters who has been in politics forever and will generally keep everyone guessing who he is going to coalition with though he's likely to stick with National. His deputy is Shane Jones, who recently said of a free trade deal with India that it would result in a "butter chicken tsunami", and who is extremely keen on mining. He may be a Captain Planet villain, it's unclear. The NZ First voting base is generally very old people, partly because Winston himself is 81.
In opposition on the left are Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori.
Labour are a centre-left party led by Chris Hipkins. They were voted out last time after the NZ media spent weeks banging on about how there was a crime wave and Labour weren't doing anything, and then abruptly stopped talking about it once National were elected. As they're the sensible ones, Labour is having trouble exciting themediavoter base.
Greens are the left-wing party you vote for if you think climate change is real (obviously the weekly destructive storms that have been hitting NZ and causing widespread damage recently are a fluke). Led by Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson. Proposed a tax system a while back that was approaching but not quite as progressive as the one Australia has, which was received with amusement by the other parties.
Te Pāti Māori are also a left-wing party with a focus on Māori-relevant policies and rights. Led by Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Has had a time of it recently with some internal conflict and allegations of bullying, but seem to be putting that behind them.
There are also some minor parties who aren't currently in parliament such as Opportunity, New Conservatives, Outdoors, and Legalize Cannabis. Opportunity is the only one of those who might be able to get a foot in the door.
If you read this far, I'm sorry, so very sorry.
Our current government is a right wing coalition made up of National, ACT and NZ First. Their main achievements so far have been raising unemployment back up to the level it was when National was last in government, mostly by firing a large portion of the public service workforce, cutting taxes for the rich and for landlords, and making school lunches worse.
National are the largest of the parties, being centre-right. The tax cuts for the rich were their election promise last time, though they framed them as "tax cuts for everyone". I am enjoying my $20 extra a month. National are led by Chris Luxon, ex-CEO of Air NZ, because electing a businessman as leader of your country never went wrong. His deputy is Nicola Willis who is also Finance minister. Her response when asked if the government could cut petrol taxes like Australia did because the price of petrol was going through the roof was essentially "LOL no."
ACT are a right-wing libertarian party led by David Seymour, who never stops smirking and is responsible for making school lunches worse, as well as trying to set fire to the Treaty of Waitangi on a regular basis (not literally, he just tries to get laws in to undermine it). He may be Arnold Rimmer under an alias. His deputy Brooke Van Velden, the only other ACT MP anyone knows, is quitting politics at the election.
NZ First are the populist party you vote for if you hate immigrants. It's led by Winston Peters who has been in politics forever and will generally keep everyone guessing who he is going to coalition with though he's likely to stick with National. His deputy is Shane Jones, who recently said of a free trade deal with India that it would result in a "butter chicken tsunami", and who is extremely keen on mining. He may be a Captain Planet villain, it's unclear. The NZ First voting base is generally very old people, partly because Winston himself is 81.
In opposition on the left are Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori.
Labour are a centre-left party led by Chris Hipkins. They were voted out last time after the NZ media spent weeks banging on about how there was a crime wave and Labour weren't doing anything, and then abruptly stopped talking about it once National were elected. As they're the sensible ones, Labour is having trouble exciting the
Greens are the left-wing party you vote for if you think climate change is real (obviously the weekly destructive storms that have been hitting NZ and causing widespread damage recently are a fluke). Led by Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson. Proposed a tax system a while back that was approaching but not quite as progressive as the one Australia has, which was received with amusement by the other parties.
Te Pāti Māori are also a left-wing party with a focus on Māori-relevant policies and rights. Led by Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Has had a time of it recently with some internal conflict and allegations of bullying, but seem to be putting that behind them.
There are also some minor parties who aren't currently in parliament such as Opportunity, New Conservatives, Outdoors, and Legalize Cannabis. Opportunity is the only one of those who might be able to get a foot in the door.
If you read this far, I'm sorry, so very sorry.
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