A friend (a kiwi living in Aus - like so many other kiwis) asked me on Saturday:
"How's the election going - the kiwi one I mean."
As I have a bit of a lazy streak, here is the answer I wrote on Sunday, cut and pasted (saves me writing it again)
"Sorry didn't see your question till just now. Guess you've heard the outcome, but here is my synopsis anyway: NZ has voted for "change" so we now have a National gov. They didn't get my vote, a little right for my liking, but Key seems like a fairly earnest, reasonable and intelligent guy so hopefully he will prove himself to be a worthy leader and not take us too far to the right. What has ticked me off is that they have formed government with the ACT party - a rather right, red necked, narrow-minded, thoroughly stupid party whose main platform was "Zero-tolerance for crime". Also they don't seem to believe in global warming. Their other main election platform was "our country can't afford to support Kyoto*". Gave me a sense of foreboding when I heard that Key was forming his gov with them, esp as the Greens had indicated they would aim to work with whoever formed gov. One good thing - Winston Peters is out!! He lost his seat and his party NZ First did not reach the 5% threshold."
"PS - MMP is an interesting system. Does it adequately balance out the other kiwi political quirk of only having one house? Maybe. Also, apparently Key is "willing to talk" to the Maori party too, so maybe the ACT party will get shafted - that would certainly elevate Key and his party in my opinion."
So how has John Key taken to his new position since then? I have been proven naive (again) by daring to hope that he might draw in the Maori party and leave ACT with their ridiculous policies high and dry (hmmm, which is quite opposite to what many of our descendants will be if all world leaders take ACT's approach to global warming).
So now we will wait and see just how centre John Key's "centre right" government is going to be. Not very centre if ACT gets there way and unfortunately I don't think that the emmisions trading scheme is going to be a deal breaker between ACT and national. Interesting that a party that shouts long and hard for reduced government spending wants to spend million more dollars incarcerating people and keeping them there for life.
I received an email from a friend yesterday (different friend, proving I have more than one) who asked me, undoubtedly with tongue in cheek:
"Well, now that NZ has moved to the right, and Australia has got rid of the Liberal Party, is it time to move back home?"
Hmm.
* That should have read "emissions trading scheme" but you get the picture)
4 comments:
The kyoto protocol issue is interesting, although it does seem like a good thing, I get the impression from a lecture I went to and also from my friend who is studying related papers that it's far too little far too late, and that it's actually pointless.
This has me in two minds, it seems so wrong to sit back and do nothing, but if the protocol itself can't do anything (I realise I have no evidence to back this up) then what do we do?
I think your take on the whole election is quite rounded though, it's good to see that you're open minded to Key. Not that I'm a key supporter but so many people seem to have a black and white approach as if one party is "right" and another is "wrong" and that nothing good can come out of the party they didn't vote for.
It's going to be interesting to see how it all pans out
Thanks for the support - nice to hear you think I have a rounded take on the matter :)
Like you don't know as much as I would like to yet about the Kyoto protocol. However I wouldn't be surprised at all if it is too little too late. But at least it is a start.
What changes would we really need to make to protect our planet, preserve the natural environment and stop/reverse global warming? I am sure it will take a lot more than any changes I have made so far but I plan to do better.
Re: responses to global warming, I think it's likely that Kyoto is "too little", but I don't think it is "too late" to do more.
We need to change our behaviour as individuals, but we also need to encourage our politicians to make significant policy changes to bring about a more sustainable future. Some of the possible future scenarios are so terrible that it can be hard to avoid despair, but surely we should do all we can to avoid or forestall or mitigate the consequences of climate change.
I totally agree Brett.
It has been helpful for me to start focusing on changes that I can make right now. As opposed to feeling overwhelmed/despairing/helpless by focusing on the big picture too much. I am not yet doing all I can by any means but I intend to keep challenging myself to do better in this area.
I think that you and Mel have been a great example of doing all you can. For instance you started to focus on public transport/walking/etc rather than relying on the convenience of your car long before I started to think seriously about how my reliance on my car was impacting the environment.
I wonder if our best hope comes from a groundswell of individuals continuing to make small personal changes step-by-step, supporting and encouraging each other, and thereby moving us all in the right direction.
Post a Comment