Category: Politics

There are many issues of crucial importance to voters in election campaigns - particularly whether parties have the capability to manage the economy effectively. However, there is one matter that doesn’t rank highly in the polls, but is of such deep concern that it goes to the heart of who we are as New Zealanders - the issue of racial privilege and the Maori seats.

One of the most disturbing comments made by any politician in the election campaign so far was the comment by John Key when he said that, though abolition of separate Maori electorates is National Party policy, he had no plan to abolish them because such a move would provoke “hikois from hell”.

This election campaign has been effectively stolen from voters. Left wing activist Nicky Hager clearly planned to dominate the campaign period with the publication of his book of hacked emails. He has done this before. He knew releasing private emails would overshadow the campaign and give him unprecedented publicity.

Dirty politics from the Left during the current New Zealand general election campaign obscures policy at a time when the issue of wealth or poverty and how to get there should be critical.

Through this Tuhoe settlement, the government is sanctioning separatism. But when it results in the bullying of Police and the disrespecting of the rule of law, is this really the future we want for New Zealand – a nation of ‘no-go’ zones, where the rule of law can no longer be guaranteed?

The current National-led government has been by far the most generous with treaty settlements, having paid out $1.22-billion over six years, and is pushing for as many signed agreements as possible before the September 20 election.

There is no doubt that the concept of citizens’ democracy is a powerful one. It is, after all, attributed with building Switzerland into a successful and prosperous nation. But the question that advocates should be asking right now is whether the policy of binding referenda is feasible within New Zealand’s constitutional framework?

The trouble with referendums is they inevitably must focus on single or particular issues, or specific aspects of issues, and don’t, and can’t, in their “yes or no” message, weigh the issues adequately in the wider context of society’s broad present welfare, or likely future needs.

Official data shows that the biggest foreign investor in New Zealand land during the five years from 2009 to 2013 was the US, followed by Canada, Israel, the UK, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Monaco, with China in tenth place.

The polls all say that Team Key (the new name of the National Party) will win in a canter, with a bit of help from coalitional support riders. But then polls are often wrong and it's as well to remind ourselves that Team NZ were 8 to 1 up at the same stage.