More Labour voters deserting
Another leftie friend told me last night that she now thought she might hold her nose and vote National. Now a month ago she was absolutely adamant she would vote Labour, but the sticking up for Winston is just a step too far for her.
Simon Collins in the NZ Herald has also been out interviewing a mammoth 600 people on their thoughts, and finds many Labour people deserting:
Shane Wairau is ready to take the plunge into a new era without a Labour Government.
At 34, the former Labour voter is now married with a 1-year-old son and working as business manager for a tourist bungy jump operation in Queenstown.
After years of loyalty, he’s disillusioned.
And
Even lifetime party supporters like 60-year-old tour driver “Hoppy” Hopwood, interviewed at Cape Reinga, are straying from the faith …
“I usually support Labour, but I’ll probably go with National. With a bit of luck we’ll get rid of the Prime Minister.”
I say don’t leave things to luck!
… two Invercargill retailers in their 50s who give their names as Caroline and Heather feel abandoned by their party. …
“My father is 90. He’s been a Labour man all his life. He is lost. He doesn’t know who to give his vote to.”
Heather, whose only child has also gone to Australia, says: “I’ve been a Labour person all my life and I’m absolutely lost. It really hurts me and I almost feel like not voting – and I used to go out and canvass for Labour.”
Both life time Labour voters.
The mood for change sweeps from low-income suburbs such as Manukau’s Clendon, where 18-year-old hairdressing student Ashley Kumeroa is voting National because she resents paying taxes for people who are “fit enough to work but decide to stay home”, to comfortable Half Moon Bay, where 31-year-old mother-of-two Janet Corbett is switching from Labour to National.
I wonder if she read about Mr Mohan ysterday who has been unemployed for five years and voting Labour for their generous welfare policies?
“Everything’s going up. No one’s getting any wage increases,” says Onehunga mechanic Graeme Wedding, 54, who is voting National for the first time since the Muldoon era in the 1970s.
“I always thought Labour was supposed to look after the working people, but they’re not. I think they could have given us some relief on our fuel instead of taking a percentage of the increase.”
Or some bigger tax cuts!
September 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am
At the VDS, they have practically given up, and are now basically labelling anyone who does not agree with them.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:34 am
This is hardly surprising, that Collins guy is a trooper though! 600?!
I was under the impression wages had been going ok?
Tricksy statistics?
September 27th, 2008 at 9:59 am
It’s an overall figure Stephen. So some increases are above and some below. In the recent past building & construction have done well, and public sector wages and salaries also. So roughly half the work force has got less than that number.
It’s also a nominal figure. Take into account inflation and you’ll find that most of that increase is gone. This is especially the case if your hosuehold is over-exposed to petrol or food increases. And are in the workforce-half that didn’t get that increase.
Also, those wage increases mean less WFF payments, potentially a higher tax rate, and loss of other welfare benefits that might have accrued.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:04 am
The sad decline of Labour.Oh what sweet joy.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Labour have employed ideological sticking plasters, piecemeal over the years, but now, the wounds are starting to seep.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:12 am
What is important here is NOT that people are voting for National, they are voting AGAINST a person.
Once again the New Zealand election will be decided by ordinary people who usually do not give much attention to poltics who are voting against a personality.
John Key should take no comfort from this whatsoever.
Politicains need to be afraid of the people who employ them and who will decide to off them the when they start believing their own spin machines.
A little humility goesa long way.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:19 am
If there are any intelligent labour voters out there, they’ve probably figured the only way to save this party is a term or two in the wilderness and a good old stalinist purge of pretty much everybody associated with the current regime.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I live in Ross Robertson’s electorate, I have never met him, never had any contact whatsoever, no flyers, nada. I have never had any reason to contact him either, until now. I have drafted the follwoing letter and will be sending it to him, and I encourage all others who live in a labour electorate to do the same with their MP.
Dear Mr Robertson.
Like most New Zealander’s I have been following the antics of Winston Peters. I can understand his reluctance to admit his errors, and I can understand his tactics in trying to remian in Parliament.
What I, and apparantly many other New Zealander’s, cannot understand is Helen Clark’s reluctance to either publicly admint he is at fault, or to publily punish him for this. He has been found in contempt by his peers, despite the politicising of the reuslt by Labour, but nothing is being seen to be done.
My main point in this letter is to question the morality and ethics of the leadership of the New Zealand Labour Party. I recall Helen campaigning in 1999 on cleaning up goverment, and operating on transperancy and honesty. I doubt very much that anyone in Labour can honestly say that is how they are operating now. I cannot comprehend how the current campiagn can be based on trust.
I am asking you to question your morality and ethics – do you really think the decisions being made by the Labour leadership are the best for New Zealand? Do you really think their behaviour is apprpriate for a civlised western democracy? Can you honestly, hand on heart, say you back these decisons and, if in the position, would be making the same decisions yourself?
The Labour party has always been for the worker, the common man, but now all I see is a dictatorship determined to remian in power whatever the cost. This is not what’s best for New Zealand.
Yours
September 27th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I think the sad thing for New Zealanders is that since Labour has been in power they have seriously eroded our standard of living, both morally and financially.
Because the Finance Minister hates”rich pricks” he does not aspire to wealth for the average NZer. That’s why we cannot afford the things we used too. (that and the fact that they have wasted our money on a blown out bureacracy) Those that could have abandoned NZ in droves.
Morally the country has also been deprived of leadership and principles during their time in power. How many Labour ministers and public servants have been “found out” during this government’s time in power?
I love the fact that John Key is rich, I want that for my family too.
I want the country to be led by someone with principles, (like Austin Hemmings whose life was so tragically stolen from him)
Labour may try to paint JK as slippery and shifty, but it doesn’t ring true from a corrupt group of politicians that have done nothing more than to run New Zealand into the ground.
It’s like we used to be a shiny new car, but under Labour, no maintenance has been done, the tyres haven’t been changed and rust has set in. No-one wants to take us out for a spin anymore and we have been parked up on an overgrown section somewhere to rust out. Not even fit for parts!
We need a government that will polish us up, and spend the money to put us back on the road again. Maybe even buy us some new seat covers, give us the full valet. The Greens don’t even think we should be on the road and Labour think driving a nice car is for “rich pricks” NZ first wouldn’t drive a Jap car anyway (well not unless someone else paid for it)
National want us all to be Mercedes, Labour have made us all take the bike.
Well I say “on yer bike” Helen, Cullen, Winston, Mallard, and The Greens. You have run this country into the ground, and it is time for us to take it back and to be proud about being a New Zealander again!
September 27th, 2008 at 11:05 am
great post democracy mum – my sentiments exactly.
The current regime is repressive, nasty and depressing, we desperately need an injection of ambition, inspiration and hope in New Zealand.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I’m suprised that so many Liarbore voters talk of been lost and have problems with who to now place their vote with. Bloody hell, some of these people have been around for a bloody sight longer then I, do they go about with their eyes tightly shut. I quess their biggest problem is that their faith in nanny state has taken a serious blow and they now realise nanny state was really a wolf in drag. This is what you get when you let the state tell you how to run your life and hand over personal responsibilitys to people who only have their own interests at heart. Atleast some are awakening.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Yep, the anecdotal evidence all over the place is pointing this way…….thank heaven.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Don’t they all understand that if they vote National they still get Labour?
September 27th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
“Don’t they all understand that if they vote National they still get Labour?”
Sorta what I was thinking Gooner, when do we get the post about all the disillusioned National voters?! Though judging by the other minor right parties’ numbers, I guess there are as many stuck in the muds there as there are/were in Labour!
September 27th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
“hold her nose and vote National”
Several things. She’s obviously a swing voter, because who in their left mind would vote right wing policies in.
The second thing is she had better hold her nose for the next three years because the excrement that will be heaped on the public over the next three years will stink. Still that’s assuming that National get in.
Worse gooner, it’s like putting Arsenal Shirts on Spurs players, they’re still crap, but even worse crap.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Could you explain Paul, the rationale for the assertion that National will be much worse than Labour?
I think there are some very good reasons not to vote Labour. As a first cut, record level Current Account deficits, declining labour productivity growth, (often) the highest interest rates in the OECD and the first post-war government to achieve net deforestation. Unsurprisingly we also have record levels of emigration.
In terms of environment policies, DOC’s budget has struggled to keep up with inflation and has suffered actual cuts some years, the Marine Reserves Bill has been languishing in seelct committee for literally years. The National Biodiversity strategy launched in 1999/2000 has been revealed to be all ‘talk’, with 2-3% of the conservation estate receiving optimal pest management and about 3/4 of our [I]most[/I] endangered species still don’t have a recovery plan in place. If feeding native willdife to invasive pests is a key conservation outcome, then Labour has excelled.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN’T NOTICE.
This poll was a street poll, done face to face with 600 voter’s right throughout NZ.
Which party was the highest polling minor party outside of parliament? The party that has to date only been working very hard in ONE electorate, that electorate is Mangere (which was Labour’s crown). That party is The Family Party.
Let’s give some credit where credit is due as in this poll they have double the support of UF which is a party in Parliament with two MP’s. Poll result show Family party .8% UF .4%
Yes these are still low, but the rise of the minor parties will only now begin to appear and The Family Party is not yet even 12 months old and have been working one electorate only!
I’ll say it again. The Family Party is on track to produce the greatest surprise of this election!
D F why don’t you put up a shot of their new billboards as I’m sure most would agree they are very very good.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Absolutely right GJ, twice UF’s vote is a great result for The Family Party. I am up in Auckland at the moment, we had a conference in Mangere today, and I must say Jerry has been putting in the hard yards up here. Things are looking great for the party, it is very encouraging to see.
What I can’t understand is why all these voters who are sick of Labour now think they must vote National. There are far more options than just National, a massive diversity of minor parties, one of whom is bound to be far closer to their own views than National is, whatever their views are. NZ politics is no longer just Labour or National.
September 27th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
GJ I just took a look at their website and policies after reading your post. Their billboards look alright. There are just three elements. A picture, the logo, and a slogan. Easy enough to pick up when you drive by. If I lived in NZ and there wasn’t an ACT candidate in my electorate, they’d probably get my vote.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
DJP6-25: Great to hear. In my opinion if we ended up with a combination after Nov 8th of National, Act and The Family Party you would see this great Nation take off again. The three parties certainly have differences, but they would be a very good balancing factor. They are very close to all being on the same page economically, they all believe that hard work should be rewarded and Act and The Family Party particularly have great policies to sort out crime in our Nation.
National on there own haven’t got the back bone to do what needs to be done crime wise, but would go along with Act and The Family Party in the above combination. Both Act and the Family Party are not buying into the Emissions Trading scheme either. That certainly needs to go as it is unproven and unaffordable in a country like NZ.
I don’t think we would see division as they would all pull together well to get things back on the right path. (A fairly big job I might add)
September 28th, 2008 at 3:26 am
Hello again GJ. There is quite alot of overlap between ACT and the Family Party. I’m sure they would work well together in a coalition to keep National honest. The real hard work would be in getting National to do much at all.
You are right about a probable lack of division. One of the good things about being in a right wing party is that you don’t have to treat intraparty factions as the enemy. Often times, the left hate each other more than they hate us.
September 28th, 2008 at 11:13 am
GJ my direct experience with the leadership of the Family Party leads me to the conclusion that they are small minded biggots with extremist fundmentalist attitudes.
I would no more support the Family Party than I would Hammas.
The only suprise involving the Family Party this election will be their aducity in asking for my vote.
If you guys intend to shamelessly troll this site trying to leech votes of crdible parties then you will aquire my complete and undivided attention and I’ll quite hapily publish my communications with the Family Party.
Have a nice day.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Murray: Interesting comments, I guess in politics you will never be able to please all of the people all of the time.
I guess by your own comments you must have strong views, and therefore are perhaps not tolerant of any alternative to your viewpoint.
That’s fine, we still (just) live in a free country.
My original point was that they are obviously gaining a following by the results of the herald survey and have only been working in one electorate to date, so they must be touching a chord with some voters.
As for being small minded. Well looking at there board and candidates to date, I cannot agree with you.
I thought in a democracy the parties were allowed to put their policies on the table and then the voters chose whom they wanted to vote for.
Nobody is forcing you to vote for The Family Party, so relax, vote for whom you prefer and enjoy our democratic system.
September 28th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Another ‘intelligent’ post by Gooner. Perhaps then Sir, explain to me why National should even bother to consider a coalition arrangement with ACT. Clearly from your comments you could just as easily go with Labour….. and in saying that I note Rodney has, in the past, commented on that possibility.
So, is the choice now …
Labour + ACT + Winston First + Greens + Progressives (all beholden to Helen)
vs
National + UF + a support arrangement with the Maori Party
You guys can’t have it both ways but keep arguing the toss and you are giving National a great tool to increase their support at your expense.
May wiser heads prevail in ACT. The same heads that dumped Wang from your List for trying to buy his way into a favourable position.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
No GJ my position is based on the strong views expressed to me by a member of the party leadership. I had none prior to this contact.
If they don’t like the small minded bigot label then I’d sugest they review their leadership.
I don’t actually need you permission to decide who to vote for just to clear up that spot of confusion and I will not relax when a party like this clearly has a minority view based agenda.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Murray, everyone has differing views.
By “small minded bigot” I assume you mean they strongly held a view that you felt was wrong and were not willing to change to your view, probably on a moral issue as you use the term “bigot”.
It is easy to label those with differing views to your own as “small minded”, “bigots”, “deniers”, or any of the other labels that are popular. But at the end of the day, they just have a different view.
There are both liberals and conservatives in NZ. We need both represented in parliament. I fully support your right for your views to be represented and would never label you “small minded” for holding them. However, if you do want liberal representation on moral issues, I can only hope you will be at least voting for Act rather than the Green party!