September means spring cleaning time surely?

John Key.
John Key.
Helen Clark.
Helen Clark.
Looking at the state of New Zealand, it’s time for a political clean-out, writes  Christopher Horan.

I remember when the Government helped young people to move up in the world. When all mothers got the Family Benefit, which could be turned into a deposit (capitalised) on a house with an affordable State Advances mortgage. I also remember when inexpensive night school classes for school certificate and university entrance was encouraged. And when affordable university evening extension courses could lead to professional qualifications.

Labour and National governments abandoned the leg-up philosophy along with collective responsibility. Union protection was replaced with individual contracts and, conveniently, a low-wage economy. State assets were sold to those who could afford shares. Shareholders who could not afford to buy what they thought they already owned were dispossessed. Growing inequality was inevitable.  

With dark humour worthy of an episode of Blackadder, GST was introduced impartially. The rich and poor would pay the same rate of GST on food and other necessities.    

Before he became prime minister, John Key made a speech about streets where helplessness had become ingrained.

"Where people believe they are locked out of everyday NZ, locked into a way of life for which the exit signs and road maps have long since been discarded. Places where the rungs on the ladder of opportunity have been broken."

Yet after three terms in office the rungs of the ladder were still broken, as they had been when Helen Clark finished her nine years.     

In the strange belief that a hand-out was no different from a leg-up, charity achieved the status of social policy. A network of charitable organisation began doling out food and clothing. At first beneficiaries were shamed by this development but passing years made charity the norm. So much so that the establishment of a charity hospital raised barely a ripple of embarrassment. When schools took on the role of breakfast and uniform providers the population’s conditioned response was apathy. This was the new New Zealand.    

As food banks grew in number so did the number of million-dollar CEOs and million-dollar houses, ensuring that more and more young people were excluded from home ownership.   

Intensive dairying proliferated without plans or controls. Intensive tourism followed with similar results, a degraded environment. Business was encouraged to ignore societal considerations. Meanwhile, the age of hyperbolic business-speak soared over the embarrassment of having to ask the Chinese to build simple railway carriages and roads which we used to build ourselves.  

As the cash-strapped public health service struggles to cope with the alarming growth of processed food-related diseases, diabetes among them, processed food manufacturers remain untouchable. Meanwhile, private healthcare businesses flourish. While this was not planned,  neither can it be attributed to coincidence. Intervention in business, regardless of public harm, is seen by Labour/National as a step too far for governments bent on deregulation.  

Internationally too, we are in decline. Admiration for our independent nuclear stand had long faded when New Zealand’s term at the United Nations gave us another opportunity to be upstanding. Until, that is, a desperate foreign minister backtracked, grovelling to Israel, and yet, remaining silent in response to Australia’s contempt, leaving us looking spineless.    

Inevitably, democracy has also suffered. The public’s preference for a four-year electoral term is ignored, as is preference for a 4% party threshold and removal of "coat-tailing". Two-party political convenience rules, which is why MMP has yet to reach maturity.    

Clearly, this outline of the National/Labour legacy ignores the achievements of both parties. Obviously both can claim achievements. But their good deeds are as nothing compared to their deficiencies. Both can be indicted for complacency, a sense of entitlement, the pursuit of political power in preference to principles, lack of fresh ideas, lack of vision, failure of leadership and suffocating mediocracy.   

The challenges ahead include climate change, fixing the housing  crisis, food-related illnesses that are undermining public health resources, and technological progress rendering a frightening number of jobs obsolete. We need vigour not staleness, an infusion of intellectual vitality, a vision that makes New Zealanders proud of more than sporting prowess.  

Sadly, all political parties appear to be in the grip of mediocracy so the options for voters are limited. Nevertheless, I’m hoping young people turn out in droves in September, cleaning out both National and Labour. A coalition of minor parties would be cathartic.

- Christopher Horan is a Lake Hawea writer and retired social worker.

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