In rejecting funding for Oruku Landing, nine out of 14 Whangārei councillors showed they were receptive to the public feeling.
In rejecting funding for Oruku Landing, nine out of 14 Whangārei councillors showed they were receptive to the public feeling.
There were two major political events in New Zealand last week. One was the Whangārei District Council voting to not contribute millions to the Oruku Landing development.
The other was Judith Collins being dumped as leader of the National Party.
A connection between these two events?
On the surface, seeminglyno, but I'd like to make a case for one.
Bubbling away in that great lake of New Zealand political placidness is something politicians would be wise to pay attention to.
Despite all the other factors that might have weighed against Oruku Landing, this was the one most people passionately objected to.
It was decidedly unfair to expect Whangārei residents to chip in for a private development project.
With housing affordability what it is, and the cost of living rising, it was decidedly unfair to expect Whangārei residents to chip in for a private development project.
That trickle-up economics was rejected shouldn't, however, be a surprise. Since the last years of the John Key government, a majority of New Zealanders have wanted unfairness in our society addressed.
Access to quality, universal healthcare is part of that vision of fairness. That sewage was running down the walls of Whangārei Hospital at the same times as councillors were voting only made the outcome more certain.
Where our local councillors showed themselves to be in sync with the public mood, the same couldn't be said of the National Party under the leadership of Judith Collins.
Collins didn't give off a vibe of fairness. On the contrary, her vibe was a haughty superiority and disregard for the deep divisions in our society. It wasn't just Covid that delivered a historic victory to Labour at the last election.
Even now, with Labour falling back in the polls, it was difficult to see Collins lifting National's vote high enough to form a government in 2023.
National was always going to need a new vibe at the top. It was a question of whether the smiling Luxon or the grinning Bridges would replace the smirking Collins.
It was difficult to see Judith Collins lifting National's vote high enough to form a government in 2023 Photo / NZME
Yet who's leader isn't the only problem for National. The political landscape has changed so much since they were in power.
A hands-off approach to housing is gone. High immigration without corresponding investment in social infrastructure is gone. Starving DHBs of funding, as National did, is not acceptable.
And National's go-to policy for getting votes, promises to cut taxes, may also be gone.
There's still New Zealanders who will vote for tax cuts. The high-polling Act is proof of that.
Still, it's not so certain in these new times whether tax cuts, especially those that favour the high paid, will go down well with a majority of Kiwis. It's that fairness thing again.
I'm predicting that tax will be a crucial battleground in the 2023 election.
The Greens will undoubtedly go into the next election campaigning for a wealth tax and increased taxes on high incomes.
Act will do the opposite. Labour may look to change thresholds to give tax cuts to those on lower incomes, or lift Working For Families payments.
How will National play it? Will the party campaign on tax cuts, or distance itself from the radical unfairness of Act?
Could National do the kind of reinvention that former prime minister Jim Bolger is calling for, and outflank Labour with a tax policy that targets wealth?
Higher taxes on rich individuals and corporations are coming, it's only a matter of time. There's global momentum in that direction.
Might National try to catch that wave? It seems implausible, but who knows.
Increasing taxes on the rich would be the fairest way to pay for the hospital upgrades and social housing we urgently need. And to repay the debt incurred dealing with Covid.
After decades of government policy that has favoured those with existing wealth, some payback is due.
Increasing taxes on the rich might be a policy step too far for National. But if they want to govern again, they'll need to convince enough voters that the party has something to contribute to the issue of fairness.
In 2017-18, 10 per cent of New Zealanders owned 59 per cent of the country's wealth, and half of all New Zealanders owned a measly 2 per cent.
When the figures for 2020-21 are known, expect them to be worse.
Obscene inequality is the sewage that's running down the walls of our society. Pretending it's not there is no longer an option for National.
