Different styles but basically the same
WE CERTAINLY live in interesting times.
This election is shaping up to be a cracker, not least from an entertainment point of view. If for no other reason, that’s a good argument for keeping MMP.
I was surprised at how well David Cunliffe did in the first televised debate, but one of the most interesting things about the two parties isn’t their points of difference, it’s their similarities. I can’t help feeling Kiwis aren’t being given a significant choice.
There’s no doubt National could and has been further to the right than it is now, and Labour further to the left. They have both moved so far towards the centre as to become indistinguishable on many important matters of policy. Both support free trade agreements, stimulus spending, balanced books and any number of other policies.
Mostly the differences are in style, character and nuance rather than in substance. Mostly, that is except for a few big things, such as Labour’s support for a capital gains tax and compulsory KiwiSaver.
Because these are Labour policies they have been painted as loony, but in fact they are entirely mainstream. New Zealand is unusual in not having them already.
But MMP horse trading, of course, comes into play here. It is when the major parties try to patch together a coalition that the real differences emerge.
Last time on the right, ACT brought us charter schools, the end of compulsory student unionism and a somewhat blunt attack on the Resource Management Act. The last Labour government made a similar host of concessions to the Greens and others.
I can’t help feeling Kiwis aren’t being given a significant choice.
Meanwhile, in the background we have the Dirty Politics leaks, of which we have more in the paper today. They, as we are now seeing, are about more than just politics, but business as well. And still to come is the promised Dotcom bombshell, whatever that may be, just before the election.
Business reaction to elections is interesting. At least according to surveys of business confidence, elections seem to cause conniptions. I find it hard to understand why that is.
The fact is business conditions were generally good under Labour as they have been under National. There was the GFC, of course, which took a toll, especially on those invested in the finance company sector, but New Zealand weathered that storm, showing unusual signs of resilience. Long may that last. In the meantime, I’d like to say farewell to business section editor Fiona Rotherham who is off to pastures new. I did this job a year and more ago but this time I’m only standing in part-time until a new face appears above. So don’t get used to it, right?