A Return to Kindness?
New Zealanders are a pretty fair minded bunch. By and large we like to give people a go.
Ian Foster, for example, had a terrible record as a head rugby coach. Like not even good, and did we let that bother us? Yeah, but also Nah. Because we went ahead and made him the All Blacks coach and he did ok really. Nearly won the World Cup. But he was gone in the end, regardless of the results.
Kiwis are a bit like that too. We give someone a go, for a while, and then we say that’s enough - give someone else a go.
Just look at politics.
Since 1975 we’ve given our political parties either two terms or three terms. Then we chuck them out and give the other lot a go.
That’s a fair while ago. It was the year of Dame Whina Cooper’s great march. Taika Waititi, Danyon Loader, and Jonah Lomu were all born. Margaret Thatcher became the first leader of a British political party.
The Aussies got colour TV. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft. The Vietnam war ended. PNG gained its independence from Australia as did East Timor from Indonesia, and Muhammad Ali defeated Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manilla.
Then at the end of the year Muldoon defeated Rowling, and ever since we’ve had two or three term governments. It makes you wonder if we even need all this political malarkey. If the great kiwi public are just going to decide that the parties should take turns.
Exactly how long they last seems to depend on how long the leader can maintain popularity.
After nine years of Muldoon people across the country were relieved to see him go, and he nearly pulled the country down around him, such was his reluctance to leave.
Lange had less than two terms before he decided to have a cup of tea, and a bit of a lie down. Bolger, seven years before Shipley stabbed him in the back. Clark managed the full nine, then the country said it was time for a change.
Key could see the writing on the wall after eight and he hightailed it out of there, rather than suffering a defeat, or worse still having to negotiate with Winston.
Jacinda had just the five years. I still feel a bit sick writing that and thinking about it. Then the country said - no more kindness, we want to go back to winners and losers. Some of us, who are doing quite well already, want to win a bit more and if others have to lose - well that just makes it all the sweeter.
That mentality I’m describing might sound facetious, but it’s the only explanation I have for those who voted for this government. I want more and I’m quite happy if others get less to make it happen. That’s just a different way of saying - cut this government spending and give me a tax cut.
For fifty years we’ve given a government at least two terms. Leaders arrive full of promises and enthusiasm and then shuffle off some years later when the kiwi public tires of them and decides to try something new.
There was something in Jacinda Ardern, in her positivity, her belief in the goodness of people that really made some angry. They became furious to an extent that it’s hard to make sense of.
Like really? You hated her for trying to keep people safe, for spreading a message of acceptance, of “they are us”?
It’s mental but it’s the only thing that makes sense. If you look at the way that Labour managed that period, without the job losses and the deaths we saw overseas. It’s hard to comprehend what the issue was, why people became so angry.
Although it’s fair to say that having targeted messaging constantly yelling at them that everything was wrong and it was all the government’s fault probably didn’t help.
So all of this is a bit depressing, when we consider the government we have. The prospect of another five, or even eight years, under these guys. But I’m not so sure that history will repeat itself when it comes to Luxon. I suspect we might see something new and we can all help that happen.
Luxon hasn’t come in on a wave of popularity. He scraped together a three way coalition of conservative nationalists and liberal libertarians, united only in their common dislike of the things Jacinda promoted - equality, acceptance, and kindness.
Willing to dine with the devil to become Prime Minister, Luxon’s coalition is a ticking time bomb. The more I think about Winston the less convinced I am that he is willingly going to hand over the deputy role to his most hated rival. But it’s not just his coalition partners that pose a risk to Luxon’s popularity.
Every day it seems. Yeah I’ve got that Groundhog Day feeling too. There is a worse announcement as the new government ministers try to outdo each other to show who is the least like Jacinda.
Whether it’s Brooke van Velden favouring business profits over worker’s lives. Or saying we don’t need to increase funding to maintain critical services.
That was another “seriously?” moment yesterday. Surely Fire and Emergency is pretty “frontline” in terms of maintaining services? Or are firecrews just supposed to rock up to random houses with no “back office” people telling them where to go?
It made me wonder - once this government has hammered every profession who do they think will still be left to vote for them?
Or is it just a smash and grab? Have they decided to go hell for leather now they’ve gotten power, without worrying too much about re-election. Nicola’s tax cuts will take care of that.
Matt Doocey, Penny Simmonds, Louise Upston they’ve all managed to look heartless, out of touch, and not at all in control of their portfolios. That arrogance and/or incompetence is supposed to emerge two or three terms into a government - not six months.
A leader loses popularity in this country not through a single calamity, but by a thousand cuts. Well, there certainly have been a lot of cuts so far, but they’ve all been self inflicted. There was another one yesterday that really caught my eye.
Luxon was busy yesterday announcing targets he’d like to achieve in maybe seven or eight years time. Presumably an early start to the 2029 campaign, with the promise that we might start seeing results in their third term.
One of those targets is having 50,000 fewer people on benefits. Including, as Luxon confirmed, those who are receiving support for health related reasons.
So that’s an interesting target.
It’s not a goal of assisting those with health limitations to find meaningful and rewarding employment. That would be a good thing to strive for, provided the health of the individual didn’t prevent them from doing the work. But that isn’t the objective, they just want to get people off of benefits.
Like much of what this government is doing, as it ramps up austerity in all but name, we only have to look to the UK, who are hopefully coming towards the end of their Tory nightmare, to see what that looks like. I really encourage you to watch this clip:
I can’t stand the thought of seeing that happen here in our country, but it’s coming.
Christopher Luxon announced it yesterday. I wonder if Brooke van Velden will be deciding who's fit for work? Or perhaps Louise Upston will be doling out the compassion?
From the opposition, Labour MP and finance spokeswoman, Barbara Edmonds said:
“My father had to go on the benefit to look after my mum when she was dying of cancer. What he needed was support from the Government, not the pressure to go back to work. These are people who have to care for people that are dying, that are sick - they need that support and that time to be able to do that.”
Edmonds added that her father’s decision helped keep her mum out of hospital.
Kiwis are a fair minded bunch. I might be wrong but I don’t think we have the same appetite for cruelty and seeing people treated harshly as seems the case in other countries.
If we’re to change history and see this government gone in a term it won’t be because of those of us on the left who might have wept watching the video above. Or those on the right who are, I assume, happy with the things the coalition is doing. It’ll come from middle NZ losing confidence in Christopher Luxon.
That’s why Nicola and Christopher are so determined to deliver their tax cuts, despite it making no economic sense and requiring such cruel cuts as we’ve seen. Nothing would damage middle NZ’s confidence like the non-delivery of those promised cuts. But other things will also harm it - and we need to do what we can to get there faster.
With our shared values, we should seek to accelerate others towards the conclusion that they will inevitably arrive at.
Most of us probably think that turfing sick people off of benefits is both cruel and unnecessary. Thinks like that, or the Smokefree legislation reversal, the public service cuts, or the attacks on Māori, won’t sit easy with some. They will make people question whether Luxon deserves another term as their leader or not.
So speak up loudly, protest in the streets, rail on Social Media. But also speak softly.
To a family member or friend, someone in your community, whoever it is. About the impacts on people of these things. We all know someone who will be hurt. Put human faces to these actions.
We’re not just numbers in a budget, we’re human beings with hopes and needs.
I know it’s hard, everyday I get emails from people telling me about the impact on them, on people they love, and of their fears of what on earth this lot will do next.
So we must chip away at Christopher Luxon and this government. Not by maligning them unfairly or spreading disinformation, but simply by keeping on talking about the impacts of their actions on the lives of our people.
The sooner middle NZ decides it’s had enough of Luxon’s prescription of austerity, the sooner we can return to being the fair minded, egalitarian nation, that many of us, no matter who we voted for, want.
On this day in 1973…
“Newly signed to EMI Records, Queen played a showcase gig for their new record label at the The Marquee London. They released their debut single 'Keep Yourself Alive' three months later on 6 July 1973.”
My favourite band. Seems like a good one for today.
I’m not sure that many people here really do care any more. More and more Kiwis seem to have that grind mentality, where they think you should be working 24/7, and shouldn’t complain if you don’t put in those hours. I don’t qualify for a disability allowance, even though there are months where I get through the day in agony, and when I get home I sometimes have to resort to crawling on the floor because I can’t stand up any more. I dread to think what people who actually qualify for it would go through if they had to work. Most comments I hear are along the lines of ‘why should we pay for them, we don’t owe them a living’. I used to work two jobs to make enough to live on. Now I can only manage one, and I have a small shortfall every week after rent and expenses are paid. A lot of people are in the same boat. A minority of people care. Most seem so busy convincing everyone that they can somehow earn a billion dollars by working hard, that they don’t stop to think that maybe no one needs to be that rich. Unfortunately society only values wealth, not health and mental wellbeing.
Thanks Nick. Aotearoa is so full of grim at the moment. This morning I enjoyed a delightful reminder of the days when kindness reigned when I saw Ashley Bloomfield. 🤩 I put my hand on my heart and told him ‘thank you’. I said he and his team are heroes. It helps to be reminded that we have some really good people in Aotearoa, worth a million + of the heartless lot currently ruining … oops typo … running the country (into the ground).