National can’t abolish what doesn’t exist US divisions, NZ consensus
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern claimed National ‘‘wants to rid’’ New Zealand of a firearms register her party has introduced.
But there is no firearms register for National to abolish, yet.
The claim came amid an exchange in the second leaders debate, hosted by Newshub. National leader Judith Collins said she could make ACT leader David Seymour the deputy prime minister.
ACT has opposed the Labour-led Government’s firearms reformsince 2019, when military-style semi-automatics were banned under sweeping legislation in the aftermath of the
March 15 terror attack.
A second tranche of gun law reforms included a firearms register, a contentious measure which will require gun licence holders to provide the serial numbers of their firearms for a central database.
Ardern suggested a National-act government would unwind the reforms. Collins said her party had not supported the second tranche of legislation.
‘‘We’ve just introduced a gun register, and obviously now the National Party wants to rid New Zealand of it,’’ Ardern said.
The register has not yet been built, however. Ardern’s Government in June passed the Arms Legislation Bill which would create the register, but the timeframe given for building it is three years. Gun owners will have five years to register all their firearms.
The Government also promised to create a new independent firearms agency to administer gun licensing. It appears this agency would need to be set up before the register, and there has been no indication of when this might happen. The police, who continue tomanage firearmlicensing, do not yet require gun owners to register their firearms.
Despite the misleading claim, the leaders debate did clarify the stance of both parties. Labour would progress a gun register; National would not.
– Stuff is tackling the key issues of the election campaign in The Whole Truth, a fact-checking project.
Political editor
The leader debates in the US and here in New Zealand this week were a study in contrasts.
New Zealand’s debate was mostly polite, mostly argued around an agreed set of facts – although very different versions of what those facts mean – and revealed that the leaders agreed on quite a lot.
The Trump-biden debate revealed something entirely different.
The ever-present and fashionable predictions about America’s decline are tiresome: it’s an incredible country that has proven time and again a capacity to reinvent itself.
That said, the debate between a narcissistic Trump who cannot accept he doesn’t have the biggest everything, and a crusty, gibbering Biden, would not have filled anyone with much confidence.
Whereas the Newshub debate showed that the New Zealand political centre is actually pretty big and there are a lot of things (most in fact) that are essentially agreed but with difference emphases, the US is something else entirely.
In the Newshub rapid-fire round both Judith Collins and Jacinda Ardern seemed to agree on almost everything.
Trump’s elevation speaks to the cultural cleft in the United States: that effectively between those who live in affluent, coastal and large democratic cities that offer significant opportunities and globally connect places, and those who do not.
The fact that large numbers of evangelicals and social conservatives vote for Trump – a man whom many must surely find personally odious – because he will appoint the right judges shows just how deep the values chasm has become on basic issues that don’t much register in
New Zealand.
And that’s without mentioning the rude, abrasive and untruthful style of Trump.
None of this is to say that he hasn’t done some good things as president – preCovid he undoubtedly had. But he is also clearly a narcissistic bore who lies through his teeth and is prepared to behave in any way necessary to get what he wants.
The US debates are now about getting people motivated to vote, not changing minds, if they ever did achieve that.
The Press Leaders Debate, which is being held on Tuesday night at the James Hay Theatre in Christchurch and livestreamed on Stuff, will be the first time that Collins and Ardern will face off in front of an audience. In contrast to the
US debate, it will most likely be respectful while also being robust.
The risk at any big debate is not that one leader has a really good single moment, but the fear of having an awful one. That’s because debates don’t tend to change voters’ mind, but firm up preferences or leanings.
At town hall-style events such as The Press Leaders Debate, you can get a more immediate barometer of the public’s mood, simply by what they laugh, scoff or jeer at: or what they applaud.
We give our politicians a hard time, but mostly, they are pretty good. The Trump Biden debate was a good reminder that what most Kiwis agree on is far greater than what they disagree on.
Labour is promising to axe the Resource Management Act (RMA), a near 30-year-old planning lawoften blamed for burdensome regulation that pushes up the cost of building. ‘‘Overly restrictive planning rules are one of the causes of high house prices,’’ Labour leader Jacinda Ardern said yesterday. ‘‘Labour will continue to improve the availability of land for housing through better integrated planning and investment in urban development, infrastructure and transport, and set standards for quality urban design.’’ Environment spokesman David Parker said Labour would deliver on reformof the RMA. ‘‘The current system is too costly, takes too long, and has not adequately protected the environment.’’ The median council fee for a nonnotified consent in 2018/19was $2128, while for a notified consent it was $18,414. In its first term, the Government commissioned a reviewof the RMA, which recommended repealing the lawand replacing it with other legislation. Labour has always been clear it would be carrying the core recommendations of that report to the election.
In contrast to the US debate, it will most likely be respectful while also being robust.