Matt McCarten asks “are we still in love?” with John Key after a year of do-nothing government and a promised ‘step change’ that is really just favours for National’s rich mates. If the views of people on McGehan Close, Key’s famous ‘underclass’ street are anything to go by, the answer is increasingly ‘no’. A lot of these people on low and middle incomes were suckered into voting National by Key, and they’re angry as hell about it:
Joan Nathan: “How many promises has he stuck to? I got warned. My family told me. They say `you voted him in, all this bullshit we’re going through, it’s your fault’.”…
…Factory worker Chandra Kumar who voted for National. “I thought he [Key] might bring in good change, but all those promises were lies.”…
…”His biggest mistake was coming here,” says social worker Vince Tuisamoa. “It will be his Achilles heel. He’s used the street, this is the street he names all the time and yet the street is still the same, we haven’t got anything.
He promised tax relief, but the only people he’s given it to is the top people. He offered jobs, but what jobs has he given? It’s like waiting for Santa Claus, but he doesn’t come.”…
…Key said the Zhous were exactly the kind of people National wanted to help, and talked about plans to help state house tenants buy their homes. Zhou voted for National at the 2008 election…[but] Zhou says nothing much has changed for him under a National government. He fears being made redundant as the economic crisis has affected his business, and believes National’s policies have benefited the rich. Planned tax changes announced last week, including a possible raising of GST to 15%, only add to that feeling…
…”What’s he done? Nothing,” was a common refrain.
Nothing, for the people whom he promised a brighter future.
I’m reminded of this exchange on Sunrise the other day:
Matt McCarten: [Key’s ‘plan’] is for his constituency. What he’s determined is that the poor don’t vote for him anyway
Duncan Garner: I reckon some poor people did actually vote for John Key…
Carly Flynn :… and they won’t next time
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress