Has New Zealand Stepped Back From The Brink?
November 25th, 2023I have been feeling so down about New Zealand lately that I doubted anything positive was possible within the political system here. The media did such a job on people during Covid that I thought there was no going back.
I’m not popping champagne bottles or anything, but it looks like the last election has brought about some positive changes.
I don’t agree with all of it, but, oh my, there were a few very important outcomes from National having to work with NZ First:
* Ensure, as a matter of urgency in establishment and completion, a full scale, wide ranging, independent inquiry conducted publicly with local and international experts, into how the Covid pandemic was handled in New Zealand.
* Repeal the Therapeutic Products Act 2023. (I didn’t mention this on here, but my wife and I were talking about possibly having to leave New Zealand over the Therapeutic Products Act.)
* Refocus the curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines.
* Investigate the reopening of Marsden Point Refinery. This includes establishing a Fuel Security Plan to safeguard our transport and logistics systems and emergency services from any international or domestic disruption.
* Ensure a ‘National Interest Test’ is undertaken before New Zealand accepts any agreements from the UN and its agencies that limit national decision-making and reconfirm that New Zealand’s domestic law holds primacy over any international agreements.
As part of the above, by 1 December 2023 reserve against proposed amendments to WHO health regulations to allow the incoming government to consider these against a “National Interest Test”.
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The last regime here…
Reminder – Jacinda Ardern if her Vaccine Passport system is creating two classes of people. pic.twitter.com/rNGdOoTIo4
— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2023) November 17, 2023
Most of the country went along with that, and I will never forget it.
The experience here reminded me of something a software engineer I worked with used to say during my IT days: “Tighten it until it strips, then back it off a quarter turn.”
Well, in New Zealand, they figured out how far they could go. And National went along with it.
Is this backing off a quarter turn? And for how long? I guess we’ll see.
If you gave your Party vote to NZ First…
How are you feeling now the Policy list is revealed?
Nz First coalition agreement.
No Foreign Buys Ban repeal
Keep the superannuation age at 65.
Ensure publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not… pic.twitter.com/8lEjf05HmU
— NZ and the MRNA (@HopeRising19) November 24, 2023
Well, perhaps this victory of a rational patriotic party is an indicator that not as many people “just went along with it” as seemed to be the case at the time. At least in New Zealand, you actually had a degree of choice at the ballot box, as opposed to the US where you get Those Two Parties Who Shall Not Be Named in very dodgy elections!
NZ First got 6%. It takes a minimum of 5% to be in. Thank goodness more voters didn’t throw their votes away on the no hopers, like I did. Because… Wow. If National had enough on their own, there is no way that this would this have happened.
@Kevin. Yep, that’s how I feel. Still, I think NZ First was aware a solid chunk of the votes some of the ‘no hopers’ got had bled from their base and they’ll want to get those voters back on board. If they’d found a way to unite it they could have doubled, perhaps tripled their representation.
NZ First should double and triple their efforts now, not relax them because they got voted in. They’ve breached a wall, got their foot in the door. But it’s still a long way to controlling the govt. The people should keep a close eye on what NZ First actually does now, not just what they say, and loudly let them know if they’re moving too slowly or in the wrong direction. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
At the last minute, I knew that my “no hoper” wasn’t going to make it to 5%, so I switched party vote to NZ First, simply HOPING that Winston wouldn’t blow it again, and knowing that others were doing the same as I and my partner, per the final recommendation of the votersunited.nz website.
@pookie. I went to look at the votersunited.nz website…and found a suspension notice: https://votersunited.nz/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi
@Dennis That’s interesting. Perhaps they didn’t keep up with paying their website hosting fee, now that their volunteer work is over. I recall that they were asking for donations. They were also disappointed that they were not able to convince the small freedom parties to consolidate. In the end, it was as fractured as usual, and so Voters United, in so many words, were hinting that the reasonable thing to do was vote for the minor party that was showing in the national polls that it could get 5%, and that party was NZ First.