Take a break from big scary politics and visit New Zealand ( politics)

[Batmannerism]

In tough times we often go to escapism to take a break from the stress of the real world. I seem to remember the virtual reality hologram thing from Star Trek being the place the crew would go to de-stress ( sometimes a bit too much). Similarly people watch soap operas to distract them from the stress of real life - I think in part because nothing that happens to the characters really matters. Heck, even Superman has Smallville to escape to when the pressure of saving Metropolis/the World/ the Universe is too much.

Even from far away the world of US, Chinese, UK European even Canadian politics looks pretty crazy, and a bit terrifying.

So, why not take a vacation and visit New Zealand politics, because no matter what we do down here it doesn't matter to anyone in the rest of the world ( just like a soap opera). Nobody gives a @#$% about us. ( So much so that Stephen Colbert used our country as a running gag a few years ago - although apparently he is a big LOTR fan). We do crazy things, like have female leaders and free health care, we're usually the best in the world at a sport no one else cares about, and the toilet water goes down the opposite way.

Let's introduce some of the characters:

The hero, NZ ( aka Aotearoa, in the Maori language) has it's own Wonder Woman, she doesn't carry a magic lasso, but can certainly make the tough decisions. Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, aka Aunty Jaz.Leader of the Labour party ( Liberal)

Her super power is (at least appearing to) really giving a shirt about ordinary people. So far she's banned automatic weapons after our worst ever mass shooting, got covid under control so life is back to normal, had a baby while in office and breast fed while speaking at the UN, and won the first majority government since we changed our electoral system 25 years ago - after which we've only had coalitions.

Pretty impressive and she's not 40 yet.

Her evil nemesis.... leader of the opposition
Judith "Crusher" Collins. Leader of the national party ( Republicans)

Does she look like sarcasm and not caring about the poor wrapped up in a mean little bundle ? Well if you said yes, you'd be right. Her villainous deeds include losing her job as a minister due to corruption scandals, bringing in legislation that allow police to seize and crush cars from "boy racers" ( hence the nickname, Crusher) and being generally mean.

Stay tuned for episode 2 where I'll introduce some of the supporting cast....unless everyone ignores this thread ( just like our country) in which case I'll slink off to the pub and watch some rugby highlights.

 

[Drizzle]

Speaking as an American in 2020, I don't just want to VISIT New Zealand, I want to MOVE there.

 

[Batmannerism]

Speaking as an American in 2020, I don't just want to VISIT New Zealand, I want to MOVE there.

I moved here 25 years ago, I highly recommend it - although it might be a bit tricky at the moment.

Cheers!

 

[Doctor Jones]

How do you even move there? Is it as complicated as moving to Canada? What are the main industries there?

Because I've thought of moving there myself at one point or another one day.

 

[Batmannerism]

I moved here 25 years ago, I highly recommend it - although it might be a bit tricky at the moment.

Cheers!

Speaking as an American in 2020, I don't just want to VISIT New Zealand, I want to MOVE there.

Having said that and all kidding aside we still have a bunch of issues down here - poverty, race relations and the hangover of colonialism all being problems we haven't got sorted.

Still, it's a matter of scale I suppose - in comparison our race relations issues pale in comparison to the USA.

Okay, since at least 1 person noticed here are some more characters:


David Seymour

Interesting guy. Leader of the ACT party who are our version of the further right than right. Opposes the gun registration scheme and fought to have a private members bill which permits voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill patients- at the last election we had a referendum on this, and the people were in support.
He draws his voters from well off farmers and business people and gun fans. Went from a 1 seat party in 2017 to a 10 seat party as of this year.

Fun fact, on NZ 's version of Dancing with the Stars he placed 5th, despite some very mediocre dance moves. Possibly not a bad guy, but a lot of what he stands for is reasonably shirt, so a bit of a dukee bag all around.

Now we come to the most fascinating NZ politician, Winston Peters. He's been thr subject of investigations and scandals, and was deputy prime minister under both a National (Republican/Conservative) and Labour ( Liberal) governments. At last election his party , NZ First, failed to get enough votes to return to Parliament, but that's happened before and he's bounced back, famous for his razor sharp wit and telling people off.

 

[Batmannerism]

How do you even move there? Is it as complicated as moving to Canada? What are the main industries there?

Because I've thought of moving there myself at one point or another one day.

Well....long story short, the easiest ways to get a Visa are for work ( if you have an essential skill- doctor, nurse, scientist, engineer, world-cup- winning rugby player....etc.) OR if you have shirt loads of money.

Back in 1995 NZ was experiencing a massive teacher shortage. I had finished teacher's college and was working a couple of different jobs ( including garbage man) to get by, as there was a massive teacher surplus where I was living. I heard about the shortage, and applied for a job using a fax machine.....and so it began.

25 years later I'm still here.

So....there you go. The backbone of NZs economy's agriculture, sheep and dairy.

Cheers.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

I really do want to travel to NZ sometime after the pandemic is official over. I got my passport three years ago, and I haven’t used it yet. I haven’t decided if I want to go to NZ or Italy first.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Plus one for the thread title alone.

 

[Batmannerism]

I really do want to travel to NZ sometime after the pandemic is official over. I got my passport three years ago, and I haven’t used it yet. I haven’t decided if I want to go to NZ or Italy first.

Depends where you are starting from- covid wise we've done much better than Italy. We don't have historical buildings or Roman and renaissance culture - but we do have a lot of other stuff going for us,

If you're in North America or UK, why not visit Italy first, it's quite a trip to get down here.

Cheers.

 

[Batmannerism]

Plus one for the thread title alone.

Thank you, I was trying to be succinct but that's the best I could do. Cheers.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Well....long story short, the easiest ways to get a Visa are for work ( if you have an essential skill- doctor, nurse, scientist, engineer, world-cup- winning rugby player....etc.) OR if you have **** loads of money.

Back in 1995 NZ was experiencing a massive teacher shortage. I had finished teacher's college and was working a couple of different jobs ( including garbage man) to get by, as there was a massive teacher surplus where I was living. I heard about the shortage, and applied for a job using a fax machine.....and so it began.

25 years later I'm still here.

So....there you go. The backbone of NZs economy's agriculture, sheep and dairy.

Cheers.

Well it seems I'm shirt out of luck. But I would love to visit at some point. I'm a big LOTR fan and Wellington would be the place I'd visit.

 

[InCali]

I moved here 25 years ago, I highly recommend it - although it might be a bit tricky at the moment.

Cheers!

I've never been there, but a friend of mine went backpacking several years ago and said it was frelling amazing. I'd like to visit, but prolly not move there. Most of all of my friends are here. I even ruled out Victoria BC because of that.

 

[Batmannerism]

Well it seems I'm **** out of luck. But I would love to visit at some point. I'm a big LOTR fan and Wellington would be the place I'd visit.

You never know . Things may be different in the post covid world. While a lot of LOTR was filmed in and around Wellington, the most beautiful locations are in the South Island - definitely worth a visit. Ordinarily this would be the point at which I mention that I was an extra on the first Hobbit film ( and appear onscreen for 6-7 seconds) but let's get back to the important topic of NZ politics:

Fun facts: NZ has only one house of representatives ( Parliament) and our constitution is compised of several different acts and documents - but it's not supreme law.

We are a constitutional monarchy- just like Canada. So the Queen is on our money and the union Jack is on our flag and everybody speaks English. We have a similar legal system to the UK, with a few little twists and tweaks here and there.

This means that Parliament has supreme unchecked power once elected and can enact any laws it likes - and the courts have very limited power to deal with ( absolutely cannot strike down a law on the basis that it's unconstitutional).

This means that useful laws can be enacted very quickly ( like the ban on automatic weapons) but it also means that bull shirt laws can also be passed very quickly before anyone can actually do anything about them.

The only checks on this power are:

1) the MMP ( mixed member proportion ) electoral system. Which almost always delivers minority and coalition governments so that a number of different voices and agendas contribute to lawmaking.....until this year !


2) The three year electoral cycle. Effectively a government only has about 18 months to do anything before it has to start thinking about the next election. Also that means that unpopular governments don't last long.


3) A short sighted electorate. Kiwis are an interesting bunch - and while white kiwis are the majority, 65-70% there are the indigenous folk , the Maori ( but of course almost all Maori now have some European ancestry - mixed ethnicity marriage/relationships are so common, that even that dukee bag David Seymour I mentioned before ( the whitest looking guy in the world) has Maori ancestry. Maori are around 15%. People of Asian descent make up around 15% , Pacific Islanders ( Samoans, Tongans, Cook Islanders, Fijians etc. ) are around 10% and then lots of other tiny fractions of other groups.

What does this mean ? Well, that the electorate, just like in every other country are often a bunch of suckers - very much " what have you done for me lately?" Although sometimes they get it right.

E.g. Ardern's leadership has meant that NZ is back to normal while the UK and Canada are in lockdown ( honestly I'm too scared to guess what the US is doing) but come 2023 everyone will only remember what she did in 2022.

Farmers are probably the worst, as they only seem to give a shirt about the price of milk, and they are quite a powerful group. Forgetting that if everyone's got covid, no one's going to be buying milk anyway.

Similarly, Sir John Key coasted to 3 terms as PM despite cutting personal taxes ( to help the rich) and at the same time raising sales tax ( to screw the poor). But no one remembered that at election time...

Stay tuned for more gripping stuff next time....like the story of Bill English, the unluckiest PM ever !

 

[Batmannerism]

A politician who puts the country before himself.

Andrew Little: The unsung hero of NZ politics.

Since no one watches this thread I can say what I like, within reason. Today I'd like to introduce one of the great unsung heroes of NZ Politics, Andrew Little.

This is Andrew Little, former lawyer for trade unions and current minister for fork-knows.

However, our current government wouldn't have gotten its massive success without him.

Back in 2017, Labour was looking like an outside chance at best .

9 years of the John Key National party government had left the rich richer and the poor poorer and not really done a goddamn thing to help anyone - real, " hand on the wheel" style of governance.

Anyway John Key stepped down and left his Deputy, Bill English, in charge. Now Bill is a conservative, but to provide some context he's a dairy farmer, married to a Samoan Lady Doctor, a full on catholic, with 6 kids - and actually quite a decent bloke. That's what ordinary conservatives look like here - not the far right nutters.

Anyway, Bill had previously been party leader and led National to its worst defeat ever, before John Key came along ( a charismatic but mildly soulless person), this time he was poised to comfortably slide home to a real election victory.

All of that was derailed by Andrew Little, who had inherited a Labour party in absolute shambles after a quick succession of useless leaders came and went. While earnest and capable, Little didn't have the charisma to pull of a come-from-behind election win.

However, young Labour MP Jacinda Ardern was the kind of person who had enormous popularity, a real rising star.

So, knowing that NZ desperately needed a change in government, Little stepped aside as leader - he put what he perceived as the good of the country before his own. Lesser men would have stayed on as leader, lost the election and the stepped down, just for the sake of ego. But not Little, he knew that he couldn't win the election, but Ardern just might.

Anyway the rest is history, Labour squeaked into government in 2017, with Wonder Woman....sorry, Ardern as leader. After handling 2 massive crises ( the Christchurch mosque shootings and the Covid response) she led Labour to a historic victory in 2020 - but she never would have got there without Andrew Little's sacrifice.

 

[InCali]

But we have Trump.

 

[Batmannerism]

But we have Trump.

Yes you do..... and I feel sorry for your country, because a whole lot of other stuff has gone wrong for a guy like that to become President, be really shirt at it and still get nearly half the vote.

We're not perfect here at all - we have crime, social, economic and racial issues, the gap between rich and poor grows and grows and housing prices have soared so even 2 income families cannot afford a house.

But some things we seem to be doing well. In particular we smashed Covid early and as a result were pretty much back to normal while the US, UK and Canada are still in lockdown. NZ was a very socialist country back in the 50s , as in the state really looked after people.

I think a part of that was echoed in Kiwis being very compliant with restrictions during the lockdown, which made it work.

We were the first country to allow women to vote and one of the first to have a free health care system and social welfare. Even today you cannot sue another person for personal injury, due to our social healthcare system ( ACC) which makes us a lot less litigious, even than Canada. But it can also make us careless.

I am not originally from NZ, but have lived here 25 years and became a citizen. I wouldn't live anywhere else if I could - but I have no illusions that this is a utopia.

 

[Batmannerism]

Breaking news from New Zealand.

To give some context as to where we are with Covid and how our government respond to it, today we found 3 community cases of Covid in Auckland ( largest city) as of midnight Auckland will be in level 3 lockdown for 3 days, the rest of the country in level 2.

New testing stations have opened, and the movements of the infected people published online so that anyone who was at those places at specific times they can get a test.

Live updates: Auckland to move to level three for 72 hours, rest of NZ goes to level two

This is why we've been virtually Covid free gor ages while the rest of the world continues to suffer. In our experience with the virus, short but intense lockdowns deal with outbreaks.
True, our small size and distance from other countries has been a big advantage but so has the political will of the government to do what is necessary to keep the virus under control.

 

[Batmannerism]

This week 2 important National events have occurred in New Zealand:

1) in politics, Simon Bridges ( former leader of the National Party) criticized our Police commissioner, calling him a "wokester" - and alleging that police being soft on crime has contributed to the rise of gangs.

He has been rebuked by his party leader , and in response told us that " no one reprimands me except Natalie Bridges " ( his wife).

I feel like the point has been missed here - because policing is not a solution to gangs, it's a response and not a particularly effective one.
Simon Bridges is just a dukee bag, so he's not going to understand that, but there was an opportunity for the government and the public to really think about the problem.

2) Super rugby Aotearoa, probably the highest level rugby competition in the world, in terms of speed and skill level, has started. That's an important even down here.

 

[:eek:]

New Zealand Approves Paid Leave After Miscarriage - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

[Batmannerism]

New Zealand Approves Paid Leave After Miscarriage - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Well, what can I say ? Aunty Jaz is all about being kind.

 

[:eek:]

New Zealand introduces climate change law for financial firms in world first | Reuters

 

[Batmannerism]

New Zealand introduces climate change law for financial firms in world first | Reuters

Cheers, that's interesting. Not the biggest story going here at present - which is probably the opening of a trans Tasman ( NZ - Australia) bubble, to allow tourism to recover a bit.
Not sure how this will play out.

 

[:eek:]

New Zealand rated best place to survive global societal collapse | Globalisation | The Guardian

 

[Batmannerism]

New Zealand rated best place to survive global societal collapse | Globalisation | The Guardian

Well, I wouldn't really put much faith in anything I read in the Guardian, but I have enjoyed living here for over 25 years. It's not perfect, and there's plenty of ridiculous crap going around, but it's still a great place to live.

 

[Batmannerism]

I'm mostly posting this for myself, but if anyone else reads it that's great.

So I wanted to gauge the depths of human stupidity the other day - naturally I had a look at Twitter.

Some idiot was describing NZ and Australia as totalitarian regimes that lock down the entire country etc.
Anyway, after I stopped laughing I couldn't be bothered responding to something that stupid. Clearly this person needs to look up totalitarian in the dictionary and maybe google it for some examples.


Of course, we've just gone back into a nationwide lockdown. 7 days for the Auckland region and 3 for the rest of our country. This is because the first
Community case of the delta variant has shown up. For context, the entire country goes months at a time with no cases at all outside of managed isolation ( and there are about 20 deaths total, none since last June I believe). Our government's strategy from day one has been one of quick lockdowns for community cases , tracing and isolation of affected citizens.

This is the first time in a year and a half that I haven't been able to go to work because of Covid - compared to the rest of the world that's not bad.

Anyway, if anyone wants to be critical of this approach- which causes occasional restrictions with corresponding benefits ( i.e. a quick return to normal day to day life) unless you're a world renowned epidemiologist who specializes in pandemics......then politely, get stuffed.

Surprise overseas sees media report on NZ's lockdown 'after a single case is reported'

In return I won't criticize the covid response of the government in your country no matter how massive the death toll is, I promise.

Yeah we're a bit isolated and we're a couple of islands but the reason its worked so well is because we shut things down before the disease gets out of hand and generally people follow restrictions and surprise surprise the disease doesn't spread.

What works for us might not work elsewhere, fair enough but I'll freely admit that I'm fine with Aunty Cindy's cautious approach.