The oldest political party in New Zealand turned 100 over the weekend. Centenary events were held around the country last week to celebrate Labour’s achievements that have shaped New Zealand’s history.
The Centenary Conference held in Wellington opened with a spectacular speech by Labour Leader, Andrew Little. He took us through Labour’s achievements that have been instrumental in shaping today's New Zealand. We celebrated Labour’s creation of the welfare state based on the philosophy that everyone has the right to a decent standard of living and to live with dignity. It was under the first Labour government that New Zealand’s social security system was established—a first in the Western world.
We celebrated the achievements of a widespread home ownership, a free health system and a free education system. We remembered the image of Michael Joseph Savage, the first Labour Prime Minister, carrying furniture into the first state house. The first Labour government focused on providing stability to those who were jobless after the Depression. Between 1935 and 1939, the government built 5,000 good quality state houses.
We celebrated KiwiBank, KiwiSaver, Working for Families and the Cullen Fund. We also celebrated workplace rights, the 40-hour week, public broadcasting, the Waitangi Tribunal, homosexual law reform, civil unions and marriage equality.
The fifth Labour government, which governed from 1999 to 2008, was the first in New Zealand to appoint a Minister for Ethnic Affairs to ensure that our communities have a voice in Parliament. It is thanks to the last Labour government’s Family Quota System that many of us are able to sponsor relatives to settle in New Zealand. Prime Minister Helen Clark’s historic apology to Chinese New Zealanders over the Chinese Poll tax is relevant to all migrant groups. If it is legal to discriminate against one community, that makes all migrant communities even more vulnerable.
Finally, it was the fifth Labour government that negotiated and signed the Free Trade Agreement with China. This led to a doubling of total goods trade between the two countries. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the growth in New Zealand’s total global exports since 2008 is largely due to the growth in our exports to China.
Driven by Finance Minister Michael Cullen’s economic policy agenda the fifth Labour government succeeded in boosting New Zealand’s economic growth against a backdrop of the growing war on terror following the September 11 attacks and a resultant worldwide threat of recession.
The fifth Labour government delivered nine Budget surpluses, saw unemployment fall to a 13-year low, increased productivity and lower income inequality. The government expenditure in hospitals, schools, the police force and housing increased. Which other government has achieved economic growth and ensured that the benefits of that success are felt by all, including those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder?
In keeping with the party’s tradition of building homes when there’s a need, Labour announced a comprehensive housing policy over the centenary weekend. The next Labour government has a comprehensive plan to tackle the housing crisis by building affordable houses and cracking down on speculators.
Moving to Auckland over a year back meant that I experienced the housing crisis firsthand, both as a renter and a first-home buyer in this city. We all know that there are too few houses, the new ones being build are unaffordable, and too many people looking for houses. Unfortunately, the government has missed the boat on housing. Until recently, the government refused to acknowledge that there was a problem. Homelessness has increased; every city and region has a waiting list for state houses and yet the government’s solution is to sell more state houses and require a $92 million dividend from Housing New Zealand. When the State sells state housing, pushes the burden of housing its people to underfunded NGOs and Trusts and requires Housing New Zealand to pay it dividends, the State is abdicating its responsibility to its people. This government only started to care when stories of people living in cars and uninsulated garages, and a toddler’s death largely due to its cold, damp living conditions—according to the Coroner—hit the media.
Labour’s announcement over the weekend includes three main elements: fast-tracking new builds, building more houses, and cracking down on speculators. Labour will establish an Affordable Housing Authority that will work with the private sector to build more homes faster. Labour will build more homes, including state houses and 50% of them will be in Auckland. We will also crack down on speculators that are largely responsible for the fact that house prices in Auckland went up by $2,500 a week each week last year. In May this year we read about a house in Papakura that was sold five times in nine years, leading to a capital gain of $870 per day!
It has been said that economics is ultimately about how choices are made. Labour chooses to grow the economy and ensure that more New Zealanders share in the benefits.
For more information about Labour’s housing policy, please check out our website.
Priyanca Radhakrishnan is elected Policy Council member and 2014 Labour list candidate