The room was cool and dark as she arose, slipped on a pair of jandals and went out to the verandah. The first rays of sunshine were beginning to creep forward over the horizon, a slow moving wave of light that would soon engulf her house and these lands of the mighty east coast.
It was only November but it was already hot. She felt the sun hit her, a warmth removing any coolness there had been. Her wife brought coffee and sat on the steps leading down to the lawn. There were a lot of steps, the house had been raised nearly a decade earlier. She was glad of the steps, soon the rains would come.
“Big week” said her wife without looking at her. “Yep, big week”, she thought and glanced down at her coffee. There was a heart drawn in the foamy milk and written inside the heart, “PM”. She laughed at the poorly drawn message and smiled at her wife who was looking back at her.
Their daughter Hiwa-i-te-rangi came outside rubbing her eyes, “do I have to go to school today?”, and then frowned when they both told her she did. “It’s not fair, I want to go to Taumarunui and see you get made Prime Minister. The kids all laugh and say your mum is going to save us all. Some of them get angry and say ‘she better’”.
She nodded “so no pressure then eh Hiwa?” The young girl laughed, “nah, you’ve got this mum”.
“No pressure eh”, she thought to herself remembering a conversation that had taken place a decade earlier.
She’d been in hospital with cervical cancer and it wasn’t looking flash. The Prime Minister, her friend, had visited her offering support and all the time she needed. She told the PM she wasn’t sure she was going to make it but Jacinda had looked her in the eye and said “you have to be OK, you’re going to be the first Māori Prime Minister of New Zealand.”
It was almost ten years now since Jacinda had gone, and they had been some ugly years. That year she went, 2023, was when the storms had come and they’d been back each year since. Some years not as bad, but the last two summers had been the worst yet. Most referred to it as the rainy season now, rather than summer.
That year they’d held on in government with the narrowest of victories. There was no clear winner and so Labour and the Greens had formed a minority government with support from Te Pāti Māori. New Zealand First remained on the cross benches, unable to do a deal with either major party. It was a terrible time to be in government as the cost of living, the global economic situation, and the effects of climate change all became worse. All the while they lacked a majority to take any real action.
She’d held the role of Minister for Capital Relocation. One of the few things they managed to get a majority on was relocating parliament. Wellington was not deemed to be a viable location for the long term, and after a long decision process Taumarunui was chosen as the new location for the capital. It was at a good altitude, land was cheap, and it was pretty central in terms of the population spread if not the geography.
As well as the move itself she’d been responsible for two important features of the new capital. The first was high speed rail. You could now get to Taumarunui in under an hour from Auckland, Wellington, Gisborne, New Plymouth, most North Island centres.
The other feature was the new parliament building, a giant meeting house. So beautifully designed and built that tourists came from around the world to take a selfie in front of this marvel of a building.
Meanwhile Wellington has become a real student town with loads of cheap housing following the departure of the politicians and the civil servants to Taumarunui, which had increased in population 30 fold to 150,000 people.
But that was the highlight of that government under Christopher Hipkins. When the next election came in 2026 it had been a landslide for the new government of Prime Minister Nicola Willis and Deputy PM David Seymour.
She remembered her coffee. It had gone cold, but she drank it anyway. It seemed somehow apt thinking of that government which had lasted from 2026 until just recently when she’d won the 2032 election.
Six years of National and ACT had been devastating for the country. Funding for public services had been cut back to pre 2017 levels and frozen. The Health Service was on it’s knees, anyone that could afford it had private medical insurance.
The education sector couldn’t find enough teachers and droves had left the profession. The only major change National had made was to bring back national standards. Although as that was unpopular they’d given it the name - performance reviews. Children were now measured on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Beyond the austerity in order to pay for large tax cuts agreed in their coalition with ACT, the most notable thing about the Willis government was what they hadn’t done. Which was pretty much anything at all to address climate change.
As Prime Minister Willis spoke to the nation following the devastating storms of summer 2031/32 saying “New Zealand is meeting all it’s international commitments on climate change. We believe climate change is real and we take it seriously”, a scandal was brewing.
It was revealed that a group of consultants in the PM’s inner circle had for years been modelling the effects of climate change. Not against the cost in terms of lives, or damage to homes. But in terms of impacts to profits from the destructive weather. The recommendation of the resulting report each year was to do nothing. Instead it highlighted ways in which businesses could maximise their profits by shifting their focus to disaster recovery services.
It turned out the companies listed in the reports were all major donors to the National Party. There were massive protest marches demanding that the Prime Minister resign. Even the New Zealand Herald compared the government to ones overseas who provided incentives to companies manufacturing prosthetic limbs, while also selling land mines.
In the election just held Labour had done very well. With the Greens doubling their number of MPs together they would have a very powerful coalition.
She thought about the ceremony to come, the formal greeting at the forecourt at Taumarunui that afternoon before she, Kiritapu Lyndsay Allan would become the 43rd, and the first Māori, Prime Minister of Aotearoa.
Alongside her Chlöe Swarbrick would become Deputy Prime Minister and Shamubeel Eaqub the Minister of Finance. There would be singing and great pride. Jacinda, Grant, and Chippy would all be there watching, along with her loved ones.
She looked at her phone, 8am, “better get that girl to school eh”, before saying “nah, I’m kidding Hiwa, your bag is on the kitchen table packed and ready, the three of us are off to the train station. You don’t see one of your mums become Prime Minister every day!”
There was a text message from the outgoing Climate Recovery Minister, it sounded like the rains had come early this year.
Yay! there's hope in our future. Loved the story. Go Taumaranui! The worst part is the fact that nothing's happened to help climate change in all the years and we must experience endless storms. Let's hope common sense and an investment, emotionally and financially in our children's and grandchildren's futures happens well before then.
Wonderful story Nick and let's hope your prophecy comes to pass. The only change would be if we didn't have to have those 6 years of NACT and Kiri became PM in 2026. Would make this old man very happy.