NZF members are lefties – will they get a say in choosing government?

19 comments on “NZF members are lefties – will they get a say in choosing government? ”

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1. Tamati Tautuhi 1

   1 August 2017 at 7:32 am

   74% of NZF Voters would prefer a Labour/NZF Coalition Government if Winston & NZF went with National I would say that would be the end of NZF forever ?
   • Draco T Bastard 1.1

     1 August 2017 at 1:08 pm

     We all thought that in 1998 as well after their spectacular fall from grace after a) going with National when they hinted that they’d go with Labour and b) their spectacular meltdown at National’s hands.
2. You_Fool 2

   1 August 2017 at 8:15 am

   I am beginning to wonder if a NZF/Green coalition could actually work. There are issues of language and the words they both use to get past, but there seems to be a common thread of policy and desire there…

   Who needs Labour?
3. WILD KATIPO 3

   1 August 2017 at 8:25 am

   Some years back , I recall an article with a graph that showed that NZ First was ( at least at that stage ) to the left of the Greens on economic issues. I wish I could find that article , but certainly seemed to tell quite an accurate story at the time when I compared Labour , Greens etc.

   The same article also showed that the last govt of Rob Muldoon was left of Labour and the Greens ,- and was actually compared almost to Mana. The point was made , – that this was how far to the hard right NZ politics has gone.

   This is something that many right wingers seem to forget , … that not only our recent political history but its cultural , economic and social leanings ,- were based on the Keynesian model , not neo liberalism. Neo liberalism is a newcomer. And it is rather extraordinary to see people like WAYNE commenting as if this was not the case.

   It is also a lie that neo liberalism is ‘ permanent’ . That is only a scare tactic. A scare tactic used by the only ones who have something to lose if a fairer system were to be reconstructed , – with the only ones being scared being the neo liberals themselves.

   A lot of people have deliberately focused on one or two areas of NZ First policy ,- and almost conveniently ignored the most of it . The fact is , there is more similarity’s between NZ First , Greens and Labour than there are dissimilarity’s. All three working together would create a new era of change for this country.

   And that new era of change would see literally hundreds of thousands of New Zealander’s well being and that of their children lifted from despair and despondency about their future prospects and politics to seeing the wisdom of the vote and that there can be effective changes made.

   I think there needs to be a little less division and a whole lot less taking on board what the media have to say all the time . The media should just be doing their job , keeping their nose out of trying to influence the public and reporting on policy , – and cease with the constant slanting of interviews and articles designed to favor just one party .
   • lprent 3.1

     1 August 2017 at 9:26 am

     That article about the NZF members is pretty accurate. I’ve managed to find time to go to two NZF party conferences as ‘media’, and what Branko Marcetic saw was the same as what I’d seen several years before.
4. esoteric pineapples 4

   1 August 2017 at 8:30 am

   Labour and the Greens would never agree to a referendum on the Maori seats while Winston has made this a key policy. Therefore, NZ First only has one option and that is to go into coalition with National. A vote of NZ First is simply a vote for National and this has to pointed out again and again till election day.
   • Tamati Tautuhi 4.1

     1 August 2017 at 9:07 am

     Nah definitely won’t be National you are just trolling change the bait m8.
   • Draco T Bastard 4.2

     1 August 2017 at 2:02 pm

     Labour and the Greens would never agree to a referendum on the Maori seats while Winston has made this a key policy.

     Actually, they might now that Winston has turned round and said that it’s up to Māori to decide to keep them or not. A referendum asking Māori if they want to keep them is a valid position even for the Greens.

     Of course, he’s now being cagey on that as well now.

     The problem with a populist is that they tend bend the way the wind blows.
5. LivinInTheBay 5

   1 August 2017 at 8:36 am

   Winston has previously said that he’d talk First with the largest party, which makes sense.

   I’m not sure MMP intended a PM to come from a party with less than 25% support with a leader with less than 10%.

   Plus Winston hates the Greens.
   • srylands 5.1

     1 August 2017 at 8:51 am

     “I’m not sure MMP intended a PM to come from a party with less than 25% support”

     I don’t understand the basis for such a conclusion. All MMP governments to date have comprised a large party plus one or more minor parties who get a few policy concessions.

     However inevitably we will see a government made up of more equal parties. For example Labour on 25 percent the Greens on 15 percent and TOP on 10 percent.
     • Tamati Tautuhi 5.1.1

       1 August 2017 at 9:08 am

       Nah definitely won’t be National you are just trolling change the bait m8.
   • Tamati Tautuhi 5.2

     1 August 2017 at 9:10 am

     NZF should get 20-25% and should be able to have some say in forming the next Government, a lot of disillusioned Nats and Labours supporters moving over to NZF.
   • Draco T Bastard 5.3

     1 August 2017 at 2:05 pm

     I’m not sure MMP intended a PM to come from a party with less than 25% support with a leader with less than 10%.

     I’m pretty sure that MMP didn’t intend anything – abbreviations just don’t do that.

     The people who wrote the rules for MMP have allowed for such to happen.
     • Richard Christie 5.3.1

       2 August 2017 at 11:22 pm

       At least MMP ought to be altered so as to ban party leaders with under 10% electoral support or, say, half a dozen seats, from holding ministerial positions.

       That’ll put a stop to the buying of support from pricks like Dunne with baubles of power and ministerial salaries.
6. Brutus Iscariot 6

   1 August 2017 at 11:10 am

   It’s a risky strategy, but NZF could also send the country back to the polls rather than enter into a formal coalition with National. Or stay on the cross benches and pick them off slowly.

   In that scenario i believe they absorb Labour as the main opposition party, and end up the major partner in a 3 way coalition in 2020.
   • exkiwiforces 6.1

     2 August 2017 at 11:59 pm

     I would like to see NZF stay on the cross bench, as I think they would have more options achieving their policy goals than with going national if it becomes a tight race and Winnie has a long memory at what happen to NZF in a national coalition. Hell they might be to push though a some Labour and possibly the odd Green policy. Just have a look at the Oz senate atm.
7. Psych nurse 7

   1 August 2017 at 11:25 am

   Offer Peters 18 months as PM followed by Ardern when she had more experience in Goverment.Peters couldn’t pass up that opportunity, he’d die a happy man. The Greens would have to suck it up.
8. Sable 8

   2 August 2017 at 11:41 am

   There seems to be an assumption that NZ First attracts right wing voters. I know a few who vote that way (now myself included) and many of them are ex Labour. Sick and tired of their “Blairite” attitudes and seeming inability to correct the 80’s shift to the right.
9. Sumsuch 9

   3 August 2017 at 12:04 am

   You don’t know which way he will go? Says it all. Tiresome for ever Peters. But appreciate him speaking explicitly against the 84 free-market takeover, which no other politician does. Given the smothering of so many left wing points of view.

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