Tag Archives: New Zealand Politics

An open letter to the politically apathetic Facebook generation #votenz

Posted on by Brad Heap

To all who will listen,

Voting: simple and easy, even from overseas.

Next Saturday, each eligible New Zealander will be given the opportunity to vote for who they wish to represent them in government for the next three years.

Unfortunately a large number of young people won’t use this opportunity and as a result their opinion won’t be expressed.

The sad reality is that many people will happily answer online polls, express frustration via status updates and in general complain (often quite rightly) about how crap it is to be young won’t leave the house to pop down to their local school or community hall to vote and make a difference where they actually can.

However, this is the true reality: there is more power in casting a vote than three years of online polls, status updates, and complaining combined.

In New Zealand, under the MMP voting system, every vote is equal, and every vote matters.

But, when you don’t vote you are giving up that equality, you are letting someone else decide, and they will surely decide what is best for themselves, not for you.

For young people this election is particularly relevant for two key reasons: minimum wage/employment and education.

Currently the minimum wage in New Zealand is $12.75/hour and in Australia it is $15.51 AUD/hour which converted to NZ dollars is $20.52/hour – almost double.

If National is re-elected to government their policy is to set a youth minimum wage of 80% of the full minimum wage. That would lower the NZ minimum wage to $10.20/hour – less than half that of Australia’s. In other words young people get screwed.

National have also spent the last three years in government making it harder and more expensive to access education. Entry to university and polytechs are now capped, fees have continued to rise, and it is much harder to get student loans and if National get re-elected expect this to get worse.

Put simply, youth unemployment is over 17%, there are few jobs, people who currently have jobs can expect to be paid less for the same work, and upskilling is a tough gig. Young people are being screwed.

However, most other parties have policy to set the minimum wage to $15/hour and increase access to education.

But while young people continue to moan on Facebook, and fail to vote, they will continue to be screwed by a government that doesn’t care about them.

Next Saturday is an opportunity to change that and elect a government that does represent you.

About a third of people under the age of 25 are not enrolled to vote. If this is you then please enrol you must do so before Friday 25th November. You can enrol here: http://www.elections.org.nz/app/enrol/

Most importantly make sure you go out and vote on Saturday.

Chur,
Passionate young kiwi, living in Australia, wishing to call NZ home again someday.

Political flip-flop, back down, and massive coup for the Greens with a caveat

Posted on by Brad Heap

This morning’s announcement that the National Government will not mine any land in Schedule 4 conservation land is a massive win for the Greens, Greenpeace, and environmentalists in NZ. The end result is even better than a simple back down because the government will now “automatically designate all Schedule 4-equivalent lands, such as national parks and marine reserves, as having equally untouchable status, effectively creating a massive expansion of highly protected conservation lands.”

Deputy Prime Minister, Gerry Brownlee, is arguing that in response to 37,552 submissions on the proposal the back down is listening to the people, however, I think it is more than likely they are listening to the polls. The timing of this announcement makes you wonder if the government is trying to smokescreen and divert attention away from the controversy that is surrounding their announcement of changes to the Employment Relations Act.

Interestingly enough at the end of the announcement, Brownlee, makes the assertion that in areas of non-conservation “New Zealanders have given the minerals sector a clear mandate to go and explore that land, and where appropriate, within the constraints of the resource consent process, utilise its mineral resources for everyone’s benefit”. This is complete rubbish, poll after poll has shown that the vast majority of New Zealanders do not want mining, it is a dirty and old technology and is not the solution to moving the country forward. The future is in education and the information section not in destroying the natural environment for a quick buck.