Entry 85, on 2004-11-12 at 14:08:20 (Rating 3, Politics)
The Labour Party conference is on in New Zealand at the moment and they would have to be pretty happy with the situation they find themselves in. When Labour formed the current government the more right wing political elements predicted doom and gloom and a loss of all the gains they had created over the last 20 years.
It was all nonsense, of course. The country is in a great position, as we near the end of a second term of a center-left (so called) coalition government, headed by Labour. And the previous new right politics might have made some gains for the top 10% of income earners, but everyone else lost out. It was time for more moderate and sensible policies.
So currently things are looking positive: unemployment is extremely low, the only problem we have now is that there are too many jobs for the available labour force; and the government surplus is huge, all they have to do is spend it wisely. The main trouble the government find themselves in is over the self imposed problem of the foreshore and seabed legislation.
A while back, National gained some popularity by sinking to a new low and indulging in some racial politics, but that seems to have passed now. In fact, in many ways it was quite a good thing because it did force Labour to examine their attitudes in that area and they seem to be a lot more sensible now.
I think overall our current government are a good compromise. I would like to see health and education better funded before any tax cuts are contemplated, and we really need to try to push up the pay rates for the bottom half of our population, but overall things are OK. There's a good chance a similar coalition will be in power after the next election. The far right ACT seem to be on the way out, now all we need is a good defeat of National to destroy their repulsive leader, Don Brash, as well.
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