This article does nothing to stress how important it is to vote and will not help convince those who are disallusioned with politics or are undecided who to vote for and that is a great pity. Yes there is and always has been much apathy toward general election voting but this election is probably the most important since the 1943 election when after WWII important decisions needed to be made about the future of New Zealand. That time has arrived again and it would have been approriate for the article to have concluded by stressing that despite the political doom and gloom ( largely perpetuated by the media) it is important that every eligible New Zealander must excercise their democratic right and vote on 14 October. Surely as a political commentator the Democracy Project must be a strong advocate for that !
A sound enough appraisal of voter sentiment, Bryce. There is a mutinous mood afoot. It is intensified by the accelerating polarising of opinion in the electorate and the pejorative ad hominem attacks by those on the extremes.
Not voting is indeed an option but voting 'No Confidence in any Party' by way of a tickbox would be more constructive.
Why no mention of Treaty issues in your analysis? A great many of my friends - decent, thinking, caring, intelligent Kiwis every one of them - have come to resent MSM's silence on a matters in which they are entitled to have a voice. Co-governance is germane to the election and the country's constitutional future yet appears to be the Voldemort issue whose name must never be spoken. Not least by MSM. This betrayal of mature analysis amounts to social activism by journalists and commentators like you. No wonder voters are disillusioned and sensitive to being disenfranchised like this.
MSM journalism = biased, left wing, racist, woke, lying by omission and outright lying bastards. If you don’t believe me ask a few voters to have this confirmed.
A pretty good article. I agree with most of John’s comments. Co-governance is a nightmare in waiting. MSM is biased or else simply not competent in reporting on this. The secondary media is much more balanced. Matthew Hooton is starting to sound bitter, and not as objective as he used to be, such a shame as I usually enjoyed his inputs
I think this is a pretty good article based on the journalists’ view of the world. I have no time for Andrea Vance and one or two others so for me that calls into question their prediction. In the circle I move in, no one is talking about not voting. The popular view is vote strategically. Highest priority is to get rid of Marxist labour. They have destroyed our country; Bryce’s article espouses that pretty clearly. The second highest priority os to bring an end to co-governance / ethno-tribal rule. Again, in the circle that I move in, this is the biggest issue in the election, but Bryce’s article never mentions it. I know it is the elephant in the room, but apart from Act and NZF (and minor parties, no politician is mentioning it. The media is not talking about it. The media is not saying to Hipkins, hey you’ve gone quiet on co-governance. Hipkins is not going to talk about it because he will lose votes. National have already said that they have no policy on co-governance (yes, they have talked about co-management). Co-governance is going to completely kill our democracy.. We will become a 3rd world country and no one wants to address it. I rethought Luxon was keeping his powder dry, but with voting opening in 2 weeks, pretty sure he’s not going to say anything that will attract the label racist. So another election of hidden agendas. For Maori, with Maori is the Hipkins mantra. Devolve power to Maori is the Luxon version. Whatever happened to government of the people, by the people, for the people. Vote strategically: Party vote Act and get a referendum on the Treaty, stop co-governance. Electorate vote National. National will be the majority party so it is their role to get rid of labour. The more we electorate-vote National, the less there will be unelected, unvetted by the citizenry, sycophantic list MPs. My view is a bloodbath is coming for Labour.
This article does nothing to stress how important it is to vote and will not help convince those who are disallusioned with politics or are undecided who to vote for and that is a great pity. Yes there is and always has been much apathy toward general election voting but this election is probably the most important since the 1943 election when after WWII important decisions needed to be made about the future of New Zealand. That time has arrived again and it would have been approriate for the article to have concluded by stressing that despite the political doom and gloom ( largely perpetuated by the media) it is important that every eligible New Zealander must excercise their democratic right and vote on 14 October. Surely as a political commentator the Democracy Project must be a strong advocate for that !
The elephant in the room is the MSM’s refusal to help foster a true national debate around the Treaty, He Puapua and co-governance. They are in broad agreement with these policies and have also sold out to the Government for their 20 pieces of silver. They are the bought and paid for MSM.
The election campaign is dull because they have made it so. Cowards, all of them.
Thanks for this analysis Bryce. One thing I have learned about politics is the more you get into it, the more all reasoning becomes overtly political. Not moral or lucid or clear. And this is true of political writers too, I believe.
For you have just indulged in a gloomy political rant, without any mention of the big clear moral issues out there. You write "There really isn’t much that is positive or attractive about the electoral options on offer. This is an election without inspiration." And yet you do not mention at all the inspirational, forward-looking policies of the Green Party and Te Pati Maori (Simon Wilson did in the Herald today)
The great opportunity this election is for those disillusioned people to vote positively in this way.
But in your analysis only one second-hand sentence is given to this: "David Cunliffe says: 'Expect a record low turnout, and expect a record low vote share for Labour and National combined, and the highest ever share for the [minor] parties on both sides of politics.'" At least those people voting for the minor parties will be voting for something, rather than against just-about-everything.
There are big issues to be considered at this election - climate change, environmental collapse, societal sustainability into the future - but your analyses hardly mentions them, These are issues to vote on, for the sake of future generations. Perhaps it's time for younger, less-jaded voters (and yes, those voting for the Greens and Te Pati Maori) to rise to this occasion. Time for self-defeating politicisation of everything (political commentary included) to be over, aye.
The Green pantry and the Maori party are made up of vicious, hateful, racist human beings. There is absolutely no place for these people and their policies in Parliament.
This article does nothing to stress how important it is to vote and will not help convince those who are disallusioned with politics or are undecided who to vote for and that is a great pity. Yes there is and always has been much apathy toward general election voting but this election is probably the most important since the 1943 election when after WWII important decisions needed to be made about the future of New Zealand. That time has arrived again and it would have been approriate for the article to have concluded by stressing that despite the political doom and gloom ( largely perpetuated by the media) it is important that every eligible New Zealander must excercise their democratic right and vote on 14 October. Surely as a political commentator the Democracy Project must be a strong advocate for that !
A sound enough appraisal of voter sentiment, Bryce. There is a mutinous mood afoot. It is intensified by the accelerating polarising of opinion in the electorate and the pejorative ad hominem attacks by those on the extremes.
Not voting is indeed an option but voting 'No Confidence in any Party' by way of a tickbox would be more constructive.
Why no mention of Treaty issues in your analysis? A great many of my friends - decent, thinking, caring, intelligent Kiwis every one of them - have come to resent MSM's silence on a matters in which they are entitled to have a voice. Co-governance is germane to the election and the country's constitutional future yet appears to be the Voldemort issue whose name must never be spoken. Not least by MSM. This betrayal of mature analysis amounts to social activism by journalists and commentators like you. No wonder voters are disillusioned and sensitive to being disenfranchised like this.
MSM journalism = biased, left wing, racist, woke, lying by omission and outright lying bastards. If you don’t believe me ask a few voters to have this confirmed.
A pretty good article. I agree with most of John’s comments. Co-governance is a nightmare in waiting. MSM is biased or else simply not competent in reporting on this. The secondary media is much more balanced. Matthew Hooton is starting to sound bitter, and not as objective as he used to be, such a shame as I usually enjoyed his inputs
Hooton and Hosking's are correct, noting illustrates the democratic twilight zone we find ourselves in better than that
I think this is a pretty good article based on the journalists’ view of the world. I have no time for Andrea Vance and one or two others so for me that calls into question their prediction. In the circle I move in, no one is talking about not voting. The popular view is vote strategically. Highest priority is to get rid of Marxist labour. They have destroyed our country; Bryce’s article espouses that pretty clearly. The second highest priority os to bring an end to co-governance / ethno-tribal rule. Again, in the circle that I move in, this is the biggest issue in the election, but Bryce’s article never mentions it. I know it is the elephant in the room, but apart from Act and NZF (and minor parties, no politician is mentioning it. The media is not talking about it. The media is not saying to Hipkins, hey you’ve gone quiet on co-governance. Hipkins is not going to talk about it because he will lose votes. National have already said that they have no policy on co-governance (yes, they have talked about co-management). Co-governance is going to completely kill our democracy.. We will become a 3rd world country and no one wants to address it. I rethought Luxon was keeping his powder dry, but with voting opening in 2 weeks, pretty sure he’s not going to say anything that will attract the label racist. So another election of hidden agendas. For Maori, with Maori is the Hipkins mantra. Devolve power to Maori is the Luxon version. Whatever happened to government of the people, by the people, for the people. Vote strategically: Party vote Act and get a referendum on the Treaty, stop co-governance. Electorate vote National. National will be the majority party so it is their role to get rid of labour. The more we electorate-vote National, the less there will be unelected, unvetted by the citizenry, sycophantic list MPs. My view is a bloodbath is coming for Labour.
This article does nothing to stress how important it is to vote and will not help convince those who are disallusioned with politics or are undecided who to vote for and that is a great pity. Yes there is and always has been much apathy toward general election voting but this election is probably the most important since the 1943 election when after WWII important decisions needed to be made about the future of New Zealand. That time has arrived again and it would have been approriate for the article to have concluded by stressing that despite the political doom and gloom ( largely perpetuated by the media) it is important that every eligible New Zealander must excercise their democratic right and vote on 14 October. Surely as a political commentator the Democracy Project must be a strong advocate for that !
The elephant in the room is the MSM’s refusal to help foster a true national debate around the Treaty, He Puapua and co-governance. They are in broad agreement with these policies and have also sold out to the Government for their 20 pieces of silver. They are the bought and paid for MSM.
The election campaign is dull because they have made it so. Cowards, all of them.
Thanks for this analysis Bryce. One thing I have learned about politics is the more you get into it, the more all reasoning becomes overtly political. Not moral or lucid or clear. And this is true of political writers too, I believe.
For you have just indulged in a gloomy political rant, without any mention of the big clear moral issues out there. You write "There really isn’t much that is positive or attractive about the electoral options on offer. This is an election without inspiration." And yet you do not mention at all the inspirational, forward-looking policies of the Green Party and Te Pati Maori (Simon Wilson did in the Herald today)
The great opportunity this election is for those disillusioned people to vote positively in this way.
But in your analysis only one second-hand sentence is given to this: "David Cunliffe says: 'Expect a record low turnout, and expect a record low vote share for Labour and National combined, and the highest ever share for the [minor] parties on both sides of politics.'" At least those people voting for the minor parties will be voting for something, rather than against just-about-everything.
There are big issues to be considered at this election - climate change, environmental collapse, societal sustainability into the future - but your analyses hardly mentions them, These are issues to vote on, for the sake of future generations. Perhaps it's time for younger, less-jaded voters (and yes, those voting for the Greens and Te Pati Maori) to rise to this occasion. Time for self-defeating politicisation of everything (political commentary included) to be over, aye.
The Green pantry and the Maori party are made up of vicious, hateful, racist human beings. There is absolutely no place for these people and their policies in Parliament.