This week in politics: What Kiwi-Indians need to know
While winter has taken the nation in its grip this week, the heat being generated in local politics would be offering some distraction if not relief from this chilling cold weather.
The race to elections later in September this year is accelerating with all political parties competing to attract the attention of distracted voters.
Distracted voters are those who are not loyal to any particular political party, often remaining indecisive about their electoral choices till the very last minute before actual voting, and carrying their votes from party to party every election.
Many in the Kiwi-Indian community could arguably be positioned as distracted voters or fence-sitters.
The bold comment by Green Party MP Barry Coates on Thursday, July 13, that since a Labour-NZ First Government would be "unacceptable" to the Greens, therefore potentially implying that they can send the nation back to another poll just before Christmas this year was perfectly suited to attract the attention of these distracted voters.
Probably, not many people howsoever distracted would warm up to the idea of another election immediately after September, thus necessitating a quick follow up on developments around the election and possibly attaching more premiums on their vote.
For the next couple of months, political parties would remain busy in gaining the attention of those seemingly distracted voters to bolster their own fate on September 23, when the nation goes to the polls.
In this endeavour, all political parties have done their bit this week to attract the quantum of attention in order that reflects their respective situation in the latest One News Colmar Brunton poll.
New Zealand First and the Green Party are both up two points on the May poll after the Budget, to 11 per cent apiece.
National is maintaining its comfortable lead over others at 47 per cent, though not able to form the government on its own and with allies. The Labour Party is down by 3 per cent to almost reaching a historic low of 27 per cent.
Buoyed by their respective rise in the polls, NZ First and the Greens have made the most of noise this week, for a major part by brick bating with each other, probably as a part of a carefully calibrated strategy.
The week had begun with Green co-leader Metiria Turei accusing NZ First of practising a “divisive and racist” form of politics in hurling brickbats at each other at their campaign launch in Nelson.
Expectedly, Winston Peters hit back with a veiled threat through a statement saying “there will be consequences for the Green Party.”
This bickering went worse after Mr Coates’ major gaffe on Thursday stating that the Green Party would prefer a new election than any inferior deal from a possible Labour-NZ First coalition.
Apparently, Mr Coates has already received a telling off from the Green Party co-leader James Shaw signalling the party was not in the mood to reflect what a small minority of experts would argue as a demonstration of stealth in Green politics.
Despite a major backlash from all mainstream political analysts it can be argued to some extent that Barry Coates gaffe was a demonstration of stealth in Green politics, if that was meant to be the intention at all, in the first place, which will be required from them before the voters can trust their ability to govern the nation.
However, if the party chooses to backtrack from Mr Coates’ gaffe, which it seems it has already done, then it would be a signal to voters that the party is still not ready to come out of its image of being just a cosmopolitan political party that is seeking a social change through progressive ideas.
This election is a direct battle for a political change and not merely some social change.
Putting it differently, stealth and swagger is a valuable commodity, especially for the smaller political parties to be treated with 'respect' by the major political parties.
It is not for a reason that Winston Peter’s New Zealand First, commands an undivided attention across the political spectrum of the country. The leader of the party demonstrates ample amount of stealth and swagger in the day to day politics.
Nevertheless, away from this mutual charge in between the smaller parties, National and Labour – the two bigger political parties – have continued their efforts to attract the attention of distracted voters.
The National Party is basking in the glory of the government’s recent announcement of $1 billion housing fund where Hamilton, Auckland and Tauranga’s councils have been promised additional funds to build housing. Auckland Council was awarded the most money, receiving $300 million to build infrastructure for 10,500 houses.
The Labour Party has called this National’s ‘ghost houses’ stating that “this is a just a list of ghost houses from a government that has made an art form out of promising houses but never building them.”
Meanwhile, on the other hand, the Labour Party has sought to reject the government’s earlier proposed budget tax cut plan with its own Families Package.
While National’s budget tax cut plan promises a minimum $26 gain every week to 2.2 million workers from next year, Labour is taking away this cut saying, "now is not the time for tax cuts."
Instead, Labour is promising to use National’s proposed $1.5 billion funds for lower and middle-income families and people in need. A key component of this proposed family package is a promise of a $60 a week payment per baby to nearly 60,000 families for at least three years.
This ought to be enough information for the Kiwi-Indian community to mull over and digest this weekend.
While winter has taken the nation in its grip this week, the heat being generated in local politics would be offering some distraction if not relief from this chilling cold weather.
The race to elections later in September this year is accelerating with all political parties competing to attract...
While winter has taken the nation in its grip this week, the heat being generated in local politics would be offering some distraction if not relief from this chilling cold weather.
The race to elections later in September this year is accelerating with all political parties competing to attract the attention of distracted voters.
Distracted voters are those who are not loyal to any particular political party, often remaining indecisive about their electoral choices till the very last minute before actual voting, and carrying their votes from party to party every election.
Many in the Kiwi-Indian community could arguably be positioned as distracted voters or fence-sitters.
The bold comment by Green Party MP Barry Coates on Thursday, July 13, that since a Labour-NZ First Government would be "unacceptable" to the Greens, therefore potentially implying that they can send the nation back to another poll just before Christmas this year was perfectly suited to attract the attention of these distracted voters.
Probably, not many people howsoever distracted would warm up to the idea of another election immediately after September, thus necessitating a quick follow up on developments around the election and possibly attaching more premiums on their vote.
For the next couple of months, political parties would remain busy in gaining the attention of those seemingly distracted voters to bolster their own fate on September 23, when the nation goes to the polls.
In this endeavour, all political parties have done their bit this week to attract the quantum of attention in order that reflects their respective situation in the latest One News Colmar Brunton poll.
New Zealand First and the Green Party are both up two points on the May poll after the Budget, to 11 per cent apiece.
National is maintaining its comfortable lead over others at 47 per cent, though not able to form the government on its own and with allies. The Labour Party is down by 3 per cent to almost reaching a historic low of 27 per cent.
Buoyed by their respective rise in the polls, NZ First and the Greens have made the most of noise this week, for a major part by brick bating with each other, probably as a part of a carefully calibrated strategy.
The week had begun with Green co-leader Metiria Turei accusing NZ First of practising a “divisive and racist” form of politics in hurling brickbats at each other at their campaign launch in Nelson.
Expectedly, Winston Peters hit back with a veiled threat through a statement saying “there will be consequences for the Green Party.”
This bickering went worse after Mr Coates’ major gaffe on Thursday stating that the Green Party would prefer a new election than any inferior deal from a possible Labour-NZ First coalition.
Apparently, Mr Coates has already received a telling off from the Green Party co-leader James Shaw signalling the party was not in the mood to reflect what a small minority of experts would argue as a demonstration of stealth in Green politics.
Despite a major backlash from all mainstream political analysts it can be argued to some extent that Barry Coates gaffe was a demonstration of stealth in Green politics, if that was meant to be the intention at all, in the first place, which will be required from them before the voters can trust their ability to govern the nation.
However, if the party chooses to backtrack from Mr Coates’ gaffe, which it seems it has already done, then it would be a signal to voters that the party is still not ready to come out of its image of being just a cosmopolitan political party that is seeking a social change through progressive ideas.
This election is a direct battle for a political change and not merely some social change.
Putting it differently, stealth and swagger is a valuable commodity, especially for the smaller political parties to be treated with 'respect' by the major political parties.
It is not for a reason that Winston Peter’s New Zealand First, commands an undivided attention across the political spectrum of the country. The leader of the party demonstrates ample amount of stealth and swagger in the day to day politics.
Nevertheless, away from this mutual charge in between the smaller parties, National and Labour – the two bigger political parties – have continued their efforts to attract the attention of distracted voters.
The National Party is basking in the glory of the government’s recent announcement of $1 billion housing fund where Hamilton, Auckland and Tauranga’s councils have been promised additional funds to build housing. Auckland Council was awarded the most money, receiving $300 million to build infrastructure for 10,500 houses.
The Labour Party has called this National’s ‘ghost houses’ stating that “this is a just a list of ghost houses from a government that has made an art form out of promising houses but never building them.”
Meanwhile, on the other hand, the Labour Party has sought to reject the government’s earlier proposed budget tax cut plan with its own Families Package.
While National’s budget tax cut plan promises a minimum $26 gain every week to 2.2 million workers from next year, Labour is taking away this cut saying, "now is not the time for tax cuts."
Instead, Labour is promising to use National’s proposed $1.5 billion funds for lower and middle-income families and people in need. A key component of this proposed family package is a promise of a $60 a week payment per baby to nearly 60,000 families for at least three years.
This ought to be enough information for the Kiwi-Indian community to mull over and digest this weekend.
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