For the past 40 years the solution from both the major political parties has been that the answer to our economic needs is neo-liberalism. This "remedy" has seeped throughout every sector of our society. An example would be that many Community agencies are referred to as 'not-for-profits". That reduces their functions to financial measures. Seldom does the quality improvement in the lives of the people they work with, and for, get measured properly by this description which is straight out of Douglas or Richardson's mouths. It therefore is totally understandable that the everyday citizen who looks on as the doctrine seeps into their local school, or Council, or the business they work for, as they slowly, but surely, they lose confidence in everyone, or institution, in our society. Then along comes simplistic politicians, like our temporary PM, advocating "goals" or "measurements" or "punishments" for their commonly identified enemies (like gangs) and people think.... thank goodness somebody talking sense.......and then they get let down again when this passing through politician is proven to be, yet another bird bath analyst and the trust scales go down again.
Our challenge as a society is to stop rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic which is useful for our 3-year driven politicians. We must insist on long-term thinking and dealing with the causes of our societal challenges and the much-needed solutions for them.
Perhaps the distrust originates not only from the misinformation apocalypse that began with the vaccine (originating as an effective form of propaganda from the Bannon Trump team in the USA) but with increasing inequality due to Neoliberalism/Trickle-down economics. With the erosion of Labour unions due to the Texas-style “right-to-work laws” enacted here, wages have stagnated while the wealth of the nation has increased radically.
Cashiers pay more in taxes than billionaires proportionately due to our unique position in the developed world of never enacting a capital or wealth tax (after jettisoning a similar land tax in 1990).
Meanwhile, NZ media avoids economic realities as they push the neoliberal agenda. I personally tracked op-eds for a month in the Herald and outlying papers of the Herald franchise. The bias was Two to one against the former Labour government, with no less than four Act Party (including Prebble) affiliates writing essays, while we only had 2 MPs from the center-left in the month of December 2022. and it continues.
We are #5 in median wealth, yet we spend 23rd in the world while we are “so poor” that people with disabilities have benefits cut, mothers go without toast due to budget free fall, and 1000 people die a year due to inadequate cancer care. Bernard Hickey states that The National/ACT/NZ First Government is considering shunting elderly patients out of hospitals and lifting thresholds for entry to try to ‘free up’ 200,000 bed-nights in a drive to save $1.4 billion.”
...and the climate:
"In scoop of the day, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is considering removing the public sector’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2025.In deep-dive of the day, Simeon Brown removed car emissions standards early to meet an industry deadline, bulldozing over advice it would worsen emissions."
From 2017 to 2023 the truth from our political leaders was devoid and those same political figures continue to this day to spout gaslighting statements of which they are not held to account for.
When the public feel that the media and polticians are not trustworthy then it is no wonder we have this situation.
If the media particularly had held the last regime to account then maybe the masses would trust them more and the politicians would have some ground to be more trusted.
Sadly the NZ MSM is no longer the Fourth Estate they are a branch of the left political ideology.
With 'identity' politics being more important than policy we have a quagmire of right political policy no longer sure of what they should or can do without offending every other loud minority that the local political journalist will make a mountain out of in an attempt to discredit and thus the cycle of distrust slides further.
We must live in different universes when you write "the truth from the political leaders" of the previous administration "was devoid" and that they "spouted gaslighting statements". I think they had far more integrity than those in this coalition government who twist the truth and/or make outright false statements which are then reported by mainstream media with no fact checking. So many of the coalition's actions are not based on research and evidence. They don't seem to care about the country as a whole, the health sytem, the environment or climate change. They think they can unilaterally change the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi without consulting the other party to the treaty. They are running our country into the ground.
We clearly do. But unlike your comedy of commentary I am of the reasoned understanding that the evidence of ones eyes and ears is far better for you than belief about what you are told.
Would you willingly blindfold yourself and eat whatever someone fed you?
No?
Then stop letting the media and politicians do it to you.
If you genuinely believe that the last Labour government had 'more integrity' you will believe anything anyone feeds you.
The very fact that you believe the government 'think they can unilaterally change the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi without consulting the other party to the treaty' actually proves how ill informed you are over that particular matter.
Yes, that exactly what I said! ......Maybe it isn't though is it?
What I said was that if the media held politicians to account then may both would benefit in the trust stakes.... I profiled the 'last lot' as an example.
Maybe you should read the content in context with the eye patch off.
If after that, you truly believe that the current version of the NZ MSN is innocent of bias toward the left you aren't taking enough notice or you are too captured and enraptured by them and their bias.
There are in fact international surveys that place New Zealand media well left of left on the political spectrum...have some google fun.
Either way, as Yoda said "do, or do not".....but anyway or either way have fun.
Ps - how exactly does one 'hear' what someone 'writes' that is a skill you should share.
😂😂😂 Sorry - can't take you seriously when you compare a govt handling a global pandemic doing their best to rely on science & reality and adapting as more was known, and the current regime who are sneaking through changes to regulations without announcing them or consulting on them & ignoring or not even reading research & advice from people who know exponentially more than a newly elected person with no expertise in the field (the number of times the answer to "have you read ... are you aware...??" is "NO" is totally unprofessional & shows an arrogance that doesn't help me trust their decisions) 🤷🏾♀️
No doubt you have OPINIONS about the previous govt, but the FACT is 1000's of NZers are alive today because of decisions made on the health front, and the decision to fund projects for those whose work had ceased & pay businesses to keep paying their staff meant we ended up economically stronger that almost any nation - the FACT is on an international basis AND a survivor of COVID basis, NZ was one of the highest performing in the world. As a famous physicist is wont to say - facts are true whether you believe them or not 🤔
Utter rubbish. The Auckland lockdowns stopped when covid infections were still high. It was political expediency not science. I am sure you remember the whole country locked down because of a minor outbreak in an Auckland hotel. Utter nonsense. All pre2020 pandemic protocols were thrown out the window and the Human Rights Commissioner went AWOL for 2 years.
Thanks, but you have me mistaken for someone who cares that you cannot take me seriously. I don't.
Instead of posting here you'd be better off spending more time understanding economics, international pandemic research and domestic politics because from that written 'precis' you are lacking clarity of reality.
As Mark Twain stated (and I paraphrase) - never argue with stupid folk, they always beat you with experience......
Well said Michael, a voice of reason, and you said it all for me. You are up against experts like Cindy and zealots like Mountain Tui, who seem to be diametrically opposed to common sense. They seem to driven by emotion and ideology, so thank god for democracy as a voice for reason. I keep thinking these paranoid thinkers have had one too many shots of Covid vaccine, and it is undermining their rational mind.
I've always found these 'distrust of journalists and media' findings baffling and pointless. Obviously, people *do* trust the media they personally consume - no one listens to ZB for 6 hours a day and then rates their competence and ethics in the negatives... So really, what these surveys are asking is "how do you feel about news that contradicts your own viewpoints?"... All collating and publishing this data does then is weaken the principle of the 4th Estate. And, in that sense, further empowers those who might otherwise be held to account by its existence.
Bryce, leaping from the survey results to vague conclusions about a democratic deficit has a Chicken Little tone. Yes there are problems and discontent. Yes, government isn’t as democratic as we’d like. Nothing new about that. There are numerous other ways of interpreting such surveys however, and you could be more open minded.
🙋🏽♀️It is an "interesting" indication of trends, but there is more at play than just the stark questions. Over recent years "ordinary folks" have had much wider access to information, true or untrue, and "influencers" of extreme & chaos ideology - it would be informative to know how much the general unhappiness with the world is being heightened by such factors. Also, it is natural to look for someone to blame if the world is not as you would prefer it to be, so politicians & media are the high profile and easy targets. That is not to say that some criticisms/dissatisfactions aren't justified, but if you dug deeper would you find that perceptions are sometimes just that the person doesn't LIKE the people they see in media or politics or vice versa? Also look to the USA and there is a totally unhinged candidate for President who has had the job before so has a known track record of mis-handling virtually everything, yet supposedly up to 48% of voters would re-elect him. 🫢
There is more going on than honest evaluations of actual behaviours & track records in surveys such as this IMHO - hard to compare year on year when social media etc. has such an impact on things 🤷🏾♀️
Yes, very much agree re social media. I think we consume more media content, but with less critical thinking, there being so much of it. And then we gravitate towards what suits our own preferences. I also think the criticism of the 'msm' has just become lazy: they obviously deserve some criticism, but saying you distrust 'msm' is a kind of shorthand for 'I'm perceptive enough to see past the superficial claims through to the truth'. Although your 'truth' might just be some pundit you've come across on the internet.
Yes, there may well be diminishing trust and how much is there in the opaque organisations that carry out these surveys and pontificate on the results.
Good article spotting these trends however it is a very small data set appreciate there is probably no data series that long but it would be interesting to see the trends over 50 years, especially the trend from the economic peak in the 1960s to the lows in the 1980s.
Lies. Damn lies and statistics. We are bombarded daily with all sorts of surveys and polls with the results generally painting a negative picture of where things are at as well as the interpretation of these so called polls by the beautiful people (academics, advisors, consultants etc) again all pointing towards us going to hell in a hand basket.
I could almost guarantee from a very uneducated viewpoint that had these polls been running 50 or even a hundred years ago the results would’ve been the same as they are now.
One can only wonder at how sectors of our society have regressed to the point where folk have little better to do than attend symposiums to pontificate on such nonsense…It is disappointing that the democracy project has little better to report on than this sort of drivel….
I contributed to the first survey. Confronted with the question do politicians act only in the interests of the rich and powerful I said I don't know, because it's not solely in the interests of the rich and powerful but of the interests of the flavour of the month, some of whom are perceived, rightly or wrongly as powerless, like trans people and Maori. The previous government, and this government have been captured by the concerns of their own likenesses, and it is in their interests that they act.
To the extent there really is diminishing trust it could possibly be an overhang from COVID, with many segments of the population unhappy about vaccination mandates, closed borders, etc. It's hard to fathom the use of the term "elite" in the context of New Zealand politicians, who come from all walks of life. It's a word du jour in some overseas contexts for sure, often applied to "cultural elites," but here? If people are discontented and not happy about the outlook for the future they should get involved and try to influence change for the better. Let's be positive, shall we?
I think NZ came out of Covid with preservation of life and it was the foremost priority - health and life. And it was wildly successful in that regard and used as an example of success in other countries.
Yet from that, and in missing the worst of the Covid impacts, NZers became angry and out of touch with what that protection ultimately meant.
And took it out on those that protected it - falling for the lies of the other side.
For example, did anyone broadcast how National's crime statistics use different measures to what they attacked Labour as "soft on crime" on?
I agree with you that NZ politicians come from all walks of life, but also there is a cultivation of populist politics happen that is infiltrating.
To wit, David Seymour, Shane Jones and even the PM criticising judges, inferring negativity on our judicial systems and processes, casting experts as woke nonsense etc.
So it's something that we can't always ignore....as well.
this makes good sense to me, it really does. If some parts of society turned on those who ultimately tried to protect and help us.........knowing that no one gets it perfect or what everyone likes.............if thems that turned on the good guys...........I dunno if I can convince myself that they will get decisions about who to vote for, who does care for most of us et al.....I dunno if they will choose like I would or make 'right' (the non political right) choices. And they are my friends and my family..............
Something I am really curious about are ram raids.......have they stopped or just not being reported coz they were politically expedient. If they are stopped, I bet the measures were in place with Labour............I may be the only one wondering that......or has Mark Mitchell and the bootcamps solved the issue???
Interesting to read your comments and think about your perspective. I see the current iteration of the ACT party as more of a move back to its libertarian roots, wanting to reduce the long arm of government in our lives, rather than populist. While TPM and the Greens populist. Shane Jones, well he’s Shane Jones. Governments of all ilks have to contend with judiciary overreach and activism in interpretation at times. The US Supreme Court comes to mind currently! Variety is the spice of life.
ACT is the definition of populism and populist parties always have a rallying call - libertarianism is just one of them.
The UK had a Greenfell Tower incident which mirrored the results of that ideology - regulations were cut to save "red tape". I wouldn't trust Seymour with a stick but respect that YMMV.
I am glad that some Politicians are criticizing judges, because who else can do so. If our elected representatives cant criticize judges, who can ? They arent gods, or experts.
For the past 40 years the solution from both the major political parties has been that the answer to our economic needs is neo-liberalism. This "remedy" has seeped throughout every sector of our society. An example would be that many Community agencies are referred to as 'not-for-profits". That reduces their functions to financial measures. Seldom does the quality improvement in the lives of the people they work with, and for, get measured properly by this description which is straight out of Douglas or Richardson's mouths. It therefore is totally understandable that the everyday citizen who looks on as the doctrine seeps into their local school, or Council, or the business they work for, as they slowly, but surely, they lose confidence in everyone, or institution, in our society. Then along comes simplistic politicians, like our temporary PM, advocating "goals" or "measurements" or "punishments" for their commonly identified enemies (like gangs) and people think.... thank goodness somebody talking sense.......and then they get let down again when this passing through politician is proven to be, yet another bird bath analyst and the trust scales go down again.
Our challenge as a society is to stop rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic which is useful for our 3-year driven politicians. We must insist on long-term thinking and dealing with the causes of our societal challenges and the much-needed solutions for them.
Perhaps the distrust originates not only from the misinformation apocalypse that began with the vaccine (originating as an effective form of propaganda from the Bannon Trump team in the USA) but with increasing inequality due to Neoliberalism/Trickle-down economics. With the erosion of Labour unions due to the Texas-style “right-to-work laws” enacted here, wages have stagnated while the wealth of the nation has increased radically.
Cashiers pay more in taxes than billionaires proportionately due to our unique position in the developed world of never enacting a capital or wealth tax (after jettisoning a similar land tax in 1990).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/new-zealands-millionaires-pay-lower-tax-rates-than-cashiers-its-time-to-fix-the-system?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other . And we are one of the few nations without an exclusion on the lower end of taxes for the poor and middle class, creating tax resentment. "New Zealand had the lowest income tax rate, did not systematically tax capital gains, and did not have any other types of wealth taxes, the Victoria University study commissioned by Tax Justice Aotearoa found." https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/528379/wealthy-people-pay-lower-tax-in-nz-than-in-similar-states-study-shows
Meanwhile, NZ media avoids economic realities as they push the neoliberal agenda. I personally tracked op-eds for a month in the Herald and outlying papers of the Herald franchise. The bias was Two to one against the former Labour government, with no less than four Act Party (including Prebble) affiliates writing essays, while we only had 2 MPs from the center-left in the month of December 2022. and it continues.
We are #5 in median wealth, yet we spend 23rd in the world while we are “so poor” that people with disabilities have benefits cut, mothers go without toast due to budget free fall, and 1000 people die a year due to inadequate cancer care. Bernard Hickey states that The National/ACT/NZ First Government is considering shunting elderly patients out of hospitals and lifting thresholds for entry to try to ‘free up’ 200,000 bed-nights in a drive to save $1.4 billion.”
...and the climate:
"In scoop of the day, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is considering removing the public sector’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2025.In deep-dive of the day, Simeon Brown removed car emissions standards early to meet an industry deadline, bulldozing over advice it would worsen emissions."
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/top-10-countries-with-the-highest-wealth-per-person/ and https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/511249/about-1000-fewer-cancer-deaths-in-nz-every-year-if-patients-lived-in-australia-study
...not to mention Big Business/the Real Estate industry/Agribussiness buying the election - some understand that the National Party, the party of big business and neo-liberalism has raked in more than seven times more in donations than Labour since the start of 2021...Act spent 4 times Labour....including many donations from the far right overseas. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2023-national-party-banks-75-times-more-in-donations-than-labour-party/CAKRIIEYXBGMRGUNIVQ6J3NXVM/
💯👍🏾
Distrust is born from untruth.
From 2017 to 2023 the truth from our political leaders was devoid and those same political figures continue to this day to spout gaslighting statements of which they are not held to account for.
When the public feel that the media and polticians are not trustworthy then it is no wonder we have this situation.
If the media particularly had held the last regime to account then maybe the masses would trust them more and the politicians would have some ground to be more trusted.
Sadly the NZ MSM is no longer the Fourth Estate they are a branch of the left political ideology.
With 'identity' politics being more important than policy we have a quagmire of right political policy no longer sure of what they should or can do without offending every other loud minority that the local political journalist will make a mountain out of in an attempt to discredit and thus the cycle of distrust slides further.
We must live in different universes when you write "the truth from the political leaders" of the previous administration "was devoid" and that they "spouted gaslighting statements". I think they had far more integrity than those in this coalition government who twist the truth and/or make outright false statements which are then reported by mainstream media with no fact checking. So many of the coalition's actions are not based on research and evidence. They don't seem to care about the country as a whole, the health sytem, the environment or climate change. They think they can unilaterally change the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi without consulting the other party to the treaty. They are running our country into the ground.
We clearly do. But unlike your comedy of commentary I am of the reasoned understanding that the evidence of ones eyes and ears is far better for you than belief about what you are told.
Would you willingly blindfold yourself and eat whatever someone fed you?
No?
Then stop letting the media and politicians do it to you.
If you genuinely believe that the last Labour government had 'more integrity' you will believe anything anyone feeds you.
The very fact that you believe the government 'think they can unilaterally change the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi without consulting the other party to the treaty' actually proves how ill informed you are over that particular matter.
I am betting you read that somewhere.
Oh I see. Yes it's the last lot's fault. When I hear you write, it just sounds like "The media should write what I want it to."
"The media should write what I want it to."
Yes, that exactly what I said! ......Maybe it isn't though is it?
What I said was that if the media held politicians to account then may both would benefit in the trust stakes.... I profiled the 'last lot' as an example.
Maybe you should read the content in context with the eye patch off.
If after that, you truly believe that the current version of the NZ MSN is innocent of bias toward the left you aren't taking enough notice or you are too captured and enraptured by them and their bias.
There are in fact international surveys that place New Zealand media well left of left on the political spectrum...have some google fun.
Either way, as Yoda said "do, or do not".....but anyway or either way have fun.
Ps - how exactly does one 'hear' what someone 'writes' that is a skill you should share.
😂😂😂 Sorry - can't take you seriously when you compare a govt handling a global pandemic doing their best to rely on science & reality and adapting as more was known, and the current regime who are sneaking through changes to regulations without announcing them or consulting on them & ignoring or not even reading research & advice from people who know exponentially more than a newly elected person with no expertise in the field (the number of times the answer to "have you read ... are you aware...??" is "NO" is totally unprofessional & shows an arrogance that doesn't help me trust their decisions) 🤷🏾♀️
No doubt you have OPINIONS about the previous govt, but the FACT is 1000's of NZers are alive today because of decisions made on the health front, and the decision to fund projects for those whose work had ceased & pay businesses to keep paying their staff meant we ended up economically stronger that almost any nation - the FACT is on an international basis AND a survivor of COVID basis, NZ was one of the highest performing in the world. As a famous physicist is wont to say - facts are true whether you believe them or not 🤔
Utter rubbish. The Auckland lockdowns stopped when covid infections were still high. It was political expediency not science. I am sure you remember the whole country locked down because of a minor outbreak in an Auckland hotel. Utter nonsense. All pre2020 pandemic protocols were thrown out the window and the Human Rights Commissioner went AWOL for 2 years.
YOUR interpretation... I prefer facts🤷🏻♀️
Thanks, but you have me mistaken for someone who cares that you cannot take me seriously. I don't.
Instead of posting here you'd be better off spending more time understanding economics, international pandemic research and domestic politics because from that written 'precis' you are lacking clarity of reality.
As Mark Twain stated (and I paraphrase) - never argue with stupid folk, they always beat you with experience......
Enjoy.
Well said Michael, a voice of reason, and you said it all for me. You are up against experts like Cindy and zealots like Mountain Tui, who seem to be diametrically opposed to common sense. They seem to driven by emotion and ideology, so thank god for democracy as a voice for reason. I keep thinking these paranoid thinkers have had one too many shots of Covid vaccine, and it is undermining their rational mind.
🤣🤣🤣
😱🥺... 😁🤣🤣🤣
Is that a reply?
Is it a word salad or just a salad?
Emoji replies are a rocking chair for the indolent that allows their brain to clatter because they have nothing sensible to contribute.
Good luck, have fun and keep on rocking..
😂😘
I've always found these 'distrust of journalists and media' findings baffling and pointless. Obviously, people *do* trust the media they personally consume - no one listens to ZB for 6 hours a day and then rates their competence and ethics in the negatives... So really, what these surveys are asking is "how do you feel about news that contradicts your own viewpoints?"... All collating and publishing this data does then is weaken the principle of the 4th Estate. And, in that sense, further empowers those who might otherwise be held to account by its existence.
Bryce, leaping from the survey results to vague conclusions about a democratic deficit has a Chicken Little tone. Yes there are problems and discontent. Yes, government isn’t as democratic as we’d like. Nothing new about that. There are numerous other ways of interpreting such surveys however, and you could be more open minded.
And what are your conclusions if you want to make accusations of others, I wonder?
https://theconversation.com/dont-trust-politicians-that-may-not-be-such-a-bad-thing-227292
🙋🏽♀️It is an "interesting" indication of trends, but there is more at play than just the stark questions. Over recent years "ordinary folks" have had much wider access to information, true or untrue, and "influencers" of extreme & chaos ideology - it would be informative to know how much the general unhappiness with the world is being heightened by such factors. Also, it is natural to look for someone to blame if the world is not as you would prefer it to be, so politicians & media are the high profile and easy targets. That is not to say that some criticisms/dissatisfactions aren't justified, but if you dug deeper would you find that perceptions are sometimes just that the person doesn't LIKE the people they see in media or politics or vice versa? Also look to the USA and there is a totally unhinged candidate for President who has had the job before so has a known track record of mis-handling virtually everything, yet supposedly up to 48% of voters would re-elect him. 🫢
There is more going on than honest evaluations of actual behaviours & track records in surveys such as this IMHO - hard to compare year on year when social media etc. has such an impact on things 🤷🏾♀️
Yes, very much agree re social media. I think we consume more media content, but with less critical thinking, there being so much of it. And then we gravitate towards what suits our own preferences. I also think the criticism of the 'msm' has just become lazy: they obviously deserve some criticism, but saying you distrust 'msm' is a kind of shorthand for 'I'm perceptive enough to see past the superficial claims through to the truth'. Although your 'truth' might just be some pundit you've come across on the internet.
Since unelected list mps got into parliament on party lists alone my trust of all parties has declined.
Since govt funding of Māori journalists rather than their capabilities gave them entry. into all media reporting I have seen bias unbounded
Yes, there may well be diminishing trust and how much is there in the opaque organisations that carry out these surveys and pontificate on the results.
Good article spotting these trends however it is a very small data set appreciate there is probably no data series that long but it would be interesting to see the trends over 50 years, especially the trend from the economic peak in the 1960s to the lows in the 1980s.
Exhibit A: Update from RANZ Chair on membership resignation by Curia Market Research
20 August 2024
https://archive.is/wip/bdms9
Exhibit B: Chiding in plain sight
https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/10/31/chiding-in-plain-sight/
https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/11/02/chiding-in-plain-sight-part-two/
Exhibit C: Revealed: How many properties each New Zealand MP owns
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/05/revealed-how-many-properties-each-new-zealand-mp-owns.html
Lies. Damn lies and statistics. We are bombarded daily with all sorts of surveys and polls with the results generally painting a negative picture of where things are at as well as the interpretation of these so called polls by the beautiful people (academics, advisors, consultants etc) again all pointing towards us going to hell in a hand basket.
I could almost guarantee from a very uneducated viewpoint that had these polls been running 50 or even a hundred years ago the results would’ve been the same as they are now.
The trust in government/business/etc graphs run from 2017. This shows the trust in government as still above what it was in 2017 (by 2% points).
The other data graphed unfortunately is for a short, very recent period.
Shouldn't we be looking at a longer time series and drawing conclusions from that.
One can only wonder at how sectors of our society have regressed to the point where folk have little better to do than attend symposiums to pontificate on such nonsense…It is disappointing that the democracy project has little better to report on than this sort of drivel….
But then an idiot may have both integrity and the best of intentions for all but is still an idiot.
That's about who wants to become an MP - how are they incentivised, motivated etc? Who would want that job and if so why?
It's why money OUT of politics and donor transparency is so important. That's a first step to then evaluating competency etc.
I contributed to the first survey. Confronted with the question do politicians act only in the interests of the rich and powerful I said I don't know, because it's not solely in the interests of the rich and powerful but of the interests of the flavour of the month, some of whom are perceived, rightly or wrongly as powerless, like trans people and Maori. The previous government, and this government have been captured by the concerns of their own likenesses, and it is in their interests that they act.
To the extent there really is diminishing trust it could possibly be an overhang from COVID, with many segments of the population unhappy about vaccination mandates, closed borders, etc. It's hard to fathom the use of the term "elite" in the context of New Zealand politicians, who come from all walks of life. It's a word du jour in some overseas contexts for sure, often applied to "cultural elites," but here? If people are discontented and not happy about the outlook for the future they should get involved and try to influence change for the better. Let's be positive, shall we?
I think NZ came out of Covid with preservation of life and it was the foremost priority - health and life. And it was wildly successful in that regard and used as an example of success in other countries.
Yet from that, and in missing the worst of the Covid impacts, NZers became angry and out of touch with what that protection ultimately meant.
And took it out on those that protected it - falling for the lies of the other side.
For example, did anyone broadcast how National's crime statistics use different measures to what they attacked Labour as "soft on crime" on?
I agree with you that NZ politicians come from all walks of life, but also there is a cultivation of populist politics happen that is infiltrating.
To wit, David Seymour, Shane Jones and even the PM criticising judges, inferring negativity on our judicial systems and processes, casting experts as woke nonsense etc.
So it's something that we can't always ignore....as well.
That said, positivity is important!
this makes good sense to me, it really does. If some parts of society turned on those who ultimately tried to protect and help us.........knowing that no one gets it perfect or what everyone likes.............if thems that turned on the good guys...........I dunno if I can convince myself that they will get decisions about who to vote for, who does care for most of us et al.....I dunno if they will choose like I would or make 'right' (the non political right) choices. And they are my friends and my family..............
Something I am really curious about are ram raids.......have they stopped or just not being reported coz they were politically expedient. If they are stopped, I bet the measures were in place with Labour............I may be the only one wondering that......or has Mark Mitchell and the bootcamps solved the issue???
Interesting to read your comments and think about your perspective. I see the current iteration of the ACT party as more of a move back to its libertarian roots, wanting to reduce the long arm of government in our lives, rather than populist. While TPM and the Greens populist. Shane Jones, well he’s Shane Jones. Governments of all ilks have to contend with judiciary overreach and activism in interpretation at times. The US Supreme Court comes to mind currently! Variety is the spice of life.
ACT is the definition of populism and populist parties always have a rallying call - libertarianism is just one of them.
The UK had a Greenfell Tower incident which mirrored the results of that ideology - regulations were cut to save "red tape". I wouldn't trust Seymour with a stick but respect that YMMV.
I am glad that some Politicians are criticizing judges, because who else can do so. If our elected representatives cant criticize judges, who can ? They arent gods, or experts.