NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

John Tamihere: Warriors of left and right have surrended to the self-centred

By John Tamihere
NZ Herald·
8 May, 2019 05:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Mr Popular: Michael Joseph Savage attends a ball in 1938. Photo / file.

Mr Popular: Michael Joseph Savage attends a ball in 1938. Photo / file.

Opinion

COMMENT:

Is the left-right political debate still relevant?

In my opinion, the left-right political debate fell over in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It was helped in no end by the election of Margaret Thatcher, elected the Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1979, and of Ronald Regan, who became the 40th President of the United States in 1981.

Both of these power house economies determined through their leadership that they would switch to a programme now known as neo liberal economics. The market would rule and we moved from a society based on a cooperative model - from a "we" model to an individualistic model – an "I" model.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In New Zealand we had our own version with Roger Douglas championing change through a Labour Government led by David Lange. Only a Labour-led government could have got away with the level of change applied to New Zealand during this period, including the destruction of the union movement.

The left-right debate had its creation in 1789 during the French Revolution which led to the downfall of the French monarchy. To the right of the president sat his followers who were very well connected, wealthy and royalists. To the left sat those who championed change - revolutionists.

Scroll forward to the 1920s and 30s in New Zealand where a raging economic debate was taking place around the world. This was structured around capital versus labour, bosses versus workers, upper class versus lower class. The left-right debate from that day has taken a view that from the left side of politics you believe in taxing the rich and others more. You believe that the state provision of the major requirements of any society – health, welfare, justice, education and housing - is assured.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On the right hand side of that debate, there was a desire for greater individual responsibility and an acknowledgement that richer people should not be penalised solely because they were able to work wealth up. There was nothing wrong with gaining a good education and building up your wealth and you shouldn't be penalised for it - the "we" versus the "I" model.

These are the political debates, by and large, that helped shape the New Zealand of today.

Discover more

Opinion

John Tamihere: Why Lime's rollout is tough to swallow

06 Mar 04:00 PM
Opinion

John Tamihere: Moments that defined our nationhood

27 Mar 04:00 PM
Opinion

John Tamihere: We owe it to our fallen to protect true national day

23 Apr 05:00 PM
Economy

John Tamihere: Kudos to a Budget that invested in humanity

05 Jun 05:00 PM

It was in 1935 that the first Labour-led Government applied significant change to society. The father of the welfare state, Michael Joseph Savage, brought about lasting and significant change and was able to do this with a socialist programme because the country had just survived the great depression and prior to that the blood-letting of World War 1.

The appetite for change was significant. Savage answered that call. Regretfully, with his untimely demise in 1940, innovation around the welfare state stopped.

Scroll forward 40 years, past World War 2, the Korean and Vietnam Wars and the new philosophy called neo-liberal economics took off around the globe.

It preached that there should be a world with no boundaries, a world of globalisation and of free movement. There is no doubt that in the last 20 years of the last century, we have seen in human terms, the fastest increase in the standard of living for the most human beings in our human history.

As with all change, we then start to identify unintended consequences or perverse results of that change. Huge inequality, a less caring and connected community and a mean spiritedness has emerged.

We are now in the era where no one knows just where robotics and the digital revolution will land us. So rapid has been the advancement of the digital age, that we have our children importing 1, 5, 10 or hundreds of people into their bedrooms without our knowledge. Twenty years ago parents could manage who came through their doors, and why.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

News is now obtained in bite size formats on social media sites. And at a time when we think we are far more literate, engaged and connected, nothing could be further from the truth.

So the old tribal debate of left and right is no longer a worthy narrative to pursue. It's now about what appeals to the crowd - and the crowd is more fickle. It's now about technology, climate change, culture and sexual orientation.

To suggest any Labour or National party after the David Lange and Jim Bolger regimes are true left or right parties is a nonsense. They are centrist parties at best. The Clark and John Key regimes changed the sheets but the bed remained the same.

David Lange and Roger Douglas in 1987 before they fell out. Photo/ file.
David Lange and Roger Douglas in 1987 before they fell out. Photo/ file.

Labour's narrative does not meet its substance. National's narrative does not meet its substance.

For example, once Helen Clark wrested control of the government from Jenny Shipley in 1999, at no time did she or her deputy Michael Cullen unwind the major settings put in place by Roger Douglas, that were entrenched by Ruth Richardson. The same goes for John Key.

Jacinda Ardern's rhetoric and narrative of a caring nation based on hope is commendable. Words are cheap and we await the substance and not the form.

Ardern has significant political capital. Her instinctive humanity and compassion as a new mother morphed into sincerity over the leadership of our nation following the massacre at the mosque.

The budget to be delivered at the end of this month is a defining moment for the Ardern regime. It can be a legacy moment or it can just be a changing of the sheets.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from New Zealand

New ZealandUpdated

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 06:06 PM
New Zealand

'Life and death': Northland road safety plea as toll hits eight

11 May 05:00 PM
New Zealand

'It’s been a long time coming': Artist couple open studio in Far North

11 May 05:00 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 06:06 PM

Ministers announced the changes in Rotorua on Sunday, alongside Mayor Tania Tapsell.

'Life and death': Northland road safety plea as toll hits eight

'Life and death': Northland road safety plea as toll hits eight

11 May 05:00 PM
'It’s been a long time coming': Artist couple open studio in Far North

'It’s been a long time coming': Artist couple open studio in Far North

11 May 05:00 PM
Morning quiz: Who officiates sumo matches?

Morning quiz: Who officiates sumo matches?

11 May 05:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP