Written By: - Date published: 1:45 am, October 1st, 2008 - 67 comments
Categories: election 2008, national -
Tags: 'new zealand sucks' campaign
08wire produces some of the most well-thought out and best argued pieces on the blogosphere, as well as great videos. Well, I know what to do when I see gold – thief it.
From 08wires’ post, here’s a table of arguments that comprise National’s ‘New Zealand sucks’ campaign and how they stack up against the facts:
(sources)
I would add that, contrary to National’s ‘NZ sucks’ campaign, we have one of the world’s cheapest electricity, incomes for all are growing rapidly after falling for most during the 1990s, and our growth rate in the last 9 years had been faster than Australia, the US, the UK, and Japan. Turns out we’re a great wee country.
Now, National knows that its claims are untrue. The Tories lie to you because they hope people will vote against the Government if they can create dissatisfaction with the state of the country, albeit based on falsehoods.
It would be really cool if these kind of basic, easily found facts were provided by media when they report the latest attack in National’s ‘New Zealand sucks’ campaign. Kiwis deserve to have context when assessing the validity of politicians claims.
[Update: AK reminds me that, again contrary to what National would have you think, our healthcare system is better than Canada and the US's, and as good as Australia's]
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Oh yeah,
I have never seen so many wingers in a country that to me feels like paradise.
Coming from overcrowded super expensive underpaid Holland me and my husband can actually save on one middle class income and eat home grown organic food with a view to die for and a community that cares for me as I care for them. Awesome.
The only thing we saw wrong here was the fact that New Zealand’s housing market was as inflated as the US market so we are renting.
We are renting a house superfluous to requirement for as long as we want in the middle of nowhere. Absolute Paradise.
Kiwi’s you don’t know how lucky you are.
So then why are so many NZers going overseas, and being replaced by people from 3rd world countries who fail to replace the skilled people we lose everyday?
The cover up by Clark and co over the Peters scandal, plus Peters threats to the media clearly show NZ’s ranking in Corruption and Press Freedom is no longer valid.
[Tane: FYI, 'Worker' is a right-wing troll previously banned under another pseudonym. This time it's not Matthew Hooton.]
Steve – Thanks for the props and the link. Glad we’re agreed on the stupidity of this Nat campaign.
Warriors09 – As the good folk at The Standard have pointed out multiple times before, the proportion of people leaving NZ isn’t at all unusual, if you look over the cycles of the past thirty years. But nice try.
Worker – Actually the corruption rankings were released only a week or two ago. But nice try. And did you notice Peters’ angry words with the media having any effect at all on their propensity to write articles critical of him and of the government? Of course not. Why? Because the press really is free here.
SP: That is thieve it rather than thief it. Damn I think that the ‘sod and Billy have infected me with something.
W09: Because Kiwi’s like to fly especially when young and they tend to do it as a job or for advanced education rather than a holiday. So they get into a occupation that is too specialized or get into relationships, and don’t come home for a while.
Aussie is more of a special case for us. That is really internal migration because of the way our two societies are joined at the hip. It is pretty easy to see when you look at the age distributions, and it tends to be quite cyclic, usually correlated with mining booms in aussie.
What else do you expect from a population that is descended from migrants? Other migrant nations have the same issues, but they tend to do more migration internally in larger societies. What is probably more surprising is how few do it.
[Tane: I think he was misusing it for effect. Like 'youse'.]
just go to twiedme onions and you will see the biggest collection of whiners and whingers you have ever met in your life. They reaaly show off the nasty misanthropic underbelly of this country and the rubbish that they fantasise about. The whining is almost pathological and somehow manages to catch the attention of the jimmy olsens of this world but that seems to have been nipped in th bud for this election at least.
It seems to me that one could do a fine parody of the NZ sucks stuff by using sports comparisons instead eg:
National says we suck at:
Rugby (currently hold the Tri Nations and the Bledisloe Cups)
Netball (recently beat the World Champions)
etc
For a nation the size of NZ if we aren’t first at something it doesn’t actually follow that we suck completely. Frankly given our many disadvantages (geographic and otherwise) I think we punch above our weight in many areas.
complaince = compliance
Have you got any links to any parties in NZ that have actually said NZ is performing poorly compared to the rest of the world in those particular areas you quote ?
“Straw man”: look it up. Also, you might want to reacquaint yourself with the distintion between “government” and “nation”. Do you really believe that National is campaigning on a platform of “New Zealand sucks” and attracting the popular support that it is?
L’etat c’est moi, surely Glenn?
Along with “by definition I cannot leak”
Great work – yes, time to positively promote the incredible achievements of the last nine years (and don’t forget the Commonwealth Fund studies et al that consistently put our health system at or near the top, and r0b had some great lists a way back) and contrast them with the negative scaremongering tory piffle of the last three years in particular.
Room for both approaches: maybe a “Tui”-type campaign comparing tory statements to FACTS with “Whom to trust” as the by-line….. followed by a “flip-flop” chart with “before and after” statements by the Slippery Men…… and maybe an “Honest John” split-screen series on the Ashcroft, Transrail, Springbok Tour, Crosby-Textor etc lies…followed up in the latter stages with a snappy summation of the main gains and vision for further progress.
Now’s the time to pamphlet and advertise hard. The money trader’s taken another punt by pushing this shady “abolish the Maori seats” dogwhistle while telling the MP the opposite in private: the media will ignore it of course, but it’s time for Labour to shove ‘em while they’re on a knife-edge.
HS. Just go and look at the national party’s press releases, not a day goes by that they don’t have a moan based on some misused stat.
the basic argument is this ‘thing x about NZ sucks, that’s why everyone’s leaving, it’s the gummit’s fault, we’ll makes it better, how? trust us’
I can only assume ‘complaince’ is a pun on 08wire’s part. Thief is intentional.. its how we used to speak in the old schoolyard… all the formal english and brilliant prose is merely an act I put on for youse.
Sp – so that’s a no then
oh, HS, do you think ‘easily found’ should be hyphenated? /easily-found’?
SP: It’s “it’s”.
Really, I don’t know why we bother…
incomes for all are growing rapidly after falling for most during the 1990s,
Except for benefits.
Damn I think that the ‘sod and Billy have infected me with something.
You shouldn’t have drunk the pedantry koolaid.
weka. true, but far fewer people are on benefits and the people that are have lower housing costs, higher tax credits… so disposable incomes for those people have risen rapidly too
I guess a strict adherence to the truth is not really a campaign option for National.
Which Canadian Health System are you referring to? Your rash comment regarding a “Canadian” service shows the lack of research here, every province has its own system and service.
When my family and I were covered by OHIP (The Ontario Health Insurance Plan)we received the best service we have experienced in the world; something my wife (a nurse) tells everyone who raises the issue of how good or bad the NZ health system is.
As for how good things are – lets just wait till the Crash of ’09 hits, and then we can start to judge ourselves and our standard of living. As long as it’s possible for a couple to earn $150,000 a year AND STILL RECEIVE A WELFARE PAYMENT I know things are NOT GOOD.
Strings, bro, I know more about the Canadian healthcare system than you would think, and more than I care to. Follow the link, the ranking is not mine.
And you can’t get WfF on $150K.. look it up on the IRD site.
I used to try and point out the great things about NZ at Kiwiblog and the lot would fly into a tail-spin. There is nothing a whining pessimist hates more than good news.
our healthcare system is better than Canada and the US’s, and as good as Australia’s
And note (from your link) that this is achieved with by far the lowest per capita level of funding, hence our health system is outstandingly efficient.
I tend to be naturally suspicious of this kind of country ranking system. There are all sorts of measurement issues that make these things notoriously difficult to nail down with a ‘hard-number’.
Here’s an interesting thought experiment;
On a ranking of race relations, I would expect NZ to do pretty well. Certainly, we have far better race relations that somewhere like Japan, or parts of Europe. Does that necessarily mean that we shouldn’t be doing more, or even regressing in this area?
Given the answer to that question, why should we not do more to reduce, say, compliance costs?
In other news, crime is down, yet again.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4712290a11.html
weka. true, but far fewer people are on benefits and the people that are have lower housing costs, higher tax credits so disposable incomes for those people have risen rapidly too
Housing cost lower? I don’t think that’s true for anyone, anywhere in NZ is it? Particularly not beneficiaries as the accomodation supplement hasn’t risen to match housing cost increases. Plus Special Benefit is gone so people in hardship are getting less support.
I think it’s still fair to say that most beneficiaries are not better off now in income terms, and certainly haven’t experienced a rapid rise in disposable income. I get what you are saying with your post, and broadly agree about what National are doing and why it’s wrong. It was just the global statement that everyone has better incomes now. They don’t and I think that sentence should have been written more carefully.
So phil takes the classic kiwiblog “my personal prejudices are worth more than research conducted by reputable international organisations” approach. Nice one phil. When the truth doesn’t support your desire for more money, you fall back on denial. Pathetic.
in many countries (the US for example) you can claim your spouse and kids as tax exemptions (even for people earning $1M) – NZ has a wonderfully simple tax system – but as a result we do some of these social policy things a different way though things like WFF
So people earning over $150k receiving a break from the govt for their kids is not that unusual
Phil, no one’s arguing we shouldn’t strive to do better where possible.
But the point we on the Left are trying to make is that the crap you keep hearing from National and its mates about NZ being a socialist suckhole where crime is out of control and corruption is rampant is, well, crap.
Also, the ‘economic freedom’ indicators show we already have an overwhelmingly pro-business environment, often at the expense of workers. So the argument that businesses are being suffocated by pro-worker legislation and we need to ‘rebalance’ the employment relationship is bullshit.
great post – and great destruction of the pathetic counter aguments.
I think Kiwis should travel MORE not less so that they can truly appreciate how much better NZ – for all its faults – is than anywhere else
(could do with better weather though – I blame Helen Clark…)
Arg, all the anti-Aotearoa whining from the right is so lame.
Clarkistan, blah, blah, blah, “brain drain” to Australia, blah, blah, blah, Cullen and his train set, blah, blah, blah.
The only bad thing about New Zealand is these narrow-minded, self-interested pathetic little people infatuated with the pursuit of wealth and convinced of their own superiority. If they want to leave the country it suits me.
For example, the comments on the rape of that 12-year old girl in Otahuhu on Kiwiblog yesterday made me sick to my stomach.
Having travelled the world – there is not a country I would prefer to live in than beautiful NZ. I am quite happy to have lower pay or even higher taxes to pay for the privillage and cannot believe that people find so many little things to whinge about – What I am concerned about is the possibility that all the good work that this government has done over the past nine years could be destroyed so easily by this National Party governing the country – it frightens the life out of me!
Tripod.. I hadn’t heard Clarkistan before. It’s an upgrade on Helengrad at least.