Terry Sarten: Public turn their backs on political deceit

Our Prime Minister John Key keeps saying: "Housing is not in crisis" despite the rapidly escalating level of social and economic fallout. It seems the only response is not calling it what it actually is in the vague hope it will disappear.

There seems to be a complete lack of acknowledgement of the consequences - families living in cars; those providing essential services moving away; and the tension between those driving the market to unsustainable heights while those below struggle to make ends meet will eventually turn nasty.

Auckland is destroying itself with greed and short-term planning while the National Party watches from the sidelines with one eye on how to shift the blame when it all goes boom ... and busts.

Take a look at the Register of Pecuniary & Other Specified Interests of Members of Parliament: Summary of annual returns as at June 31, 2016. A significant number of MPs of all parties, including ministers, have properties in Auckland - perhaps causing the average punter to wonder whether self-interest is influencing the response to sky-rocketing house prices.

The relevance of this is real as the media parades a growing international line-up of politicians who have resigned when their statements have turned out to be untrue and to have been motivated by ambition and self-interest.

The falling domino effect of politicians resigning in Britain has all centred around an unwillingness to own the statements they have made and avoiding the consequences of their words by distancing themselves as it became clear there was no plan for the actual process or repercussions of withdrawing from the European Union.

David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Michael Gove, and the entire opposition and governing party are busy shifting blame around as fast as they can.

The leadership and lies of politicians have been dragged further into focus by the now released Chilcot Report which highlights the way Tony Blair (British prime minister at the time) "misled" the UK into an invasion of Iraq in which thousands died.

The United States is having a conscience and constitutional crisis as the potential Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump treats truth and facts like a toddler throwing toys from a cot, with no effective challenge to this behaviour.

His declarations of intent - a wall to keep out Mexicans/ banning Muslims from entering the US - lack any substance. There is no plan for how this will be achieved or thought given to the repercussions.

In Australia, the election last week has left a political vacuum. Both major parties have felt the rejection of voters who have had enough of the political gamesmanship that ignores the real concerns of citizens.

One important example was an independent poll that showed people of diverse political persuasions were in favour of ending the offshore detention of asylum seekers and allowing those in the off-shore camps to be brought to the mainland or the Australian government taking up the New Zealand offer to provide a home for them.

This has been completely ignored by both major parties, clearly demonstrating that Australian politicians are not listening to the people they are supposed to represent.

All these behaviours are creating a growing movement of people in democracies, including New Zealand, who are turning their backs on fact-free politics and demanding accountability. It is sending a clear signal that politics must change or people will continue to turn their backs on political engagement as a form of protest. They could rise up and riot.

An overpriced house/nation is too easily divided.

**Terry Sarten is a writer, musician and social worker - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz