liberation

Who runs New Zealand in 2009?

The 6th annual Listener ‘power list’ is out this week – seeking to shine a light on who makes up the modern New Zealand Establishment. This blog post offers an extensive critical summary of, and commentary on, the Listener’s list. Highlights include:

• Politicians do well on the power list. Although there are only 12 MPs in the whole list, 4 out of the top 5 are politicians. New entries include Simon Power, Judith Collins, Tony Ryall and Nick Smith.
• The Listener sure to do love John Key – although he’s too managerial and not rightwing enough
• The A-list ‘Top 10’ has been expanded by the peculiar inclusion of Phil Goff in the #11 position!
• One significant change in the A-list is Rodney Hide’s elevation from #7 to #4,
• Notably, Rightwing Treasury boss John Whitehead jumps into the A-list at #9
• Air New Zealand’s Rob Fyfe’s sudden inclusion at #6 of the A-list is a bit trivial
• The Listener heralds the inclusion of the country’s senior receiver, Michael Stiassny at #7, as ‘the most telling detail about this year’s Power List’
• Tariana Turia, is the only woman in the Top 10 power list at #8
• There are seven women on the power list this year; there are seven Maori
• The Environment category is distinguished by the arrival of five completely new environmental power listers – including Gareth Morgan. Nick Smith surges into the #1 spot from nowhere
• Four of ‘Business & Economy’ places go to either new entries or re-entries on the power list
• All five of last year’s Maoridom power listers have been delisted from this category in 2009; Pita Sharples is #2, transferring from #6 on the 2008 A-list, and coming in for criticism from the Listener
• In the Media category, John Armstrong of the New Zealand Herald is #3. And David Farrar has finally made the power list.

[Read more below]

The Omaha Establishment(s)

To answer the question of “who runs New Zealand?”, it’s worth looking to the small trendy beach town on Omaha Bay in Rodney District, an hour’s drive north of Auckland. It’s here that the rich of Auckland have their multi-million-dollar holiday homes, and as Bill Ralston has observed, ‘The wealthy beach community of Omaha is to Auckland what the Hamptons are to New York’. What’s particularly insightful about Omaha is that it is a representation of more than just The Establishment in New Zealand, but instead it appears to contain three separate settlements that represent three different Establishments in New Zealand. And in understanding the distinctively different nature of these three Establishments at Omaha beach, we can better understand who now runs this country. [Read more below]

Protesting in a recession; Are 'We are all in this boat together'?

Thirty staunch leftists gathered outside the Government’s Jobs Summit on Friday in Manukau, South Auckland. In the face of the growing recession they had come to chant on behalf of the working class that ‘We won’t pay for your crisis!’. In his latest From the Left column (‘New Zealand not ready for Irish anger – yet’) Chris Trotter draws attention to the very different protests being held against neoliberal recession in the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy of Ireland – where the numbers involved are somewhat larger: ‘an impressive 100,000 demonstrators marched through Dublin’s fair city to vent their anger at the centre-right’. Trotter points out the very different nature of the working class mood in the two comparative countries, and suggests that the slogan most likely to resonate with New Zealand workers at the moment is actually ‘We are all in this boat together’. A number of other interesting left commentaries on the Jobs Summit can also be found on the blogosphere. [Read more below].

Who runs New Zealand – in Auckland

The cover story of the latest Metro magazine is all about power in Auckland, and who wields it. However, like the Listener’s latest Power List, Metro’s attempt to explore the configurations of power in Auckland ends up being rather more celebratory and celebrity-focused than cerebral. Senior writer Simon Wilson has updated last February’s feature on The Auckland Influentials – this time seeking to provide ‘a hundred bite-sized chunks of knowledge about Auckland and how it works’. The focus is apparently on answering the questions of: ‘How does the city work? Who are the key people for getting things done?’. In the following blog post I’ve attempted to filter out some of the more important insights into the Auckland Establishment. Therefore, this post is a continuation of the series on liberation about Who runs New Zealand? [Read more below]

Who runs New Zealand in 2008?

The question of who runs New Zealand is infrequently examined in the media (or even that much in our universities), but it obviously deserves the attention of anyone interested in understanding politics or wanting any kind of social change. Fortunately, for the last five years the Listener has been publishing its annual Power List in an attempt to do just this. Although it’s always more journalistic and celebratory than analytical and critical, the exercise does nonetheless always shine a light on the people involved in running New Zealand. And it indicates some significant trends. This year there has been some major changes to the list, partly representing the fact that the outgoing Labour Government’s favoured businesspeople, ‘thinkers’ and lobbyists are now out in the cold as a change of government brings about different influences, but also because the Listener probably wants to dazzle us with new faces that are supposedly wielding great undiscovered power. This blog post offers a critical summary of, and commentary on, the Listener’s list. [Read more below]

The wealth and expectations of NZ’s “political class”

More evidence that our parliamentarians constitute a “political class” - rather than merely being representatives of the people - is provided by Tim Donoghue writing yesterday about the business and financial activities of Jim Bolger - see: It pays to be a former PM in the Dominion Post. The list of Bolger’s wealthy pursuits indicates how politicians from all colours of parties are afforded the opportunity of an affluent lifestyle after leaving politics. The experience of being a politician in NZ certainly opens doors to lucrative post-politics careers. [Read more below]

[who runs new zealand?] The Auckland ‘influentials’

The ‘greying establishment figures’ of Auckland are being superseded by a new generation of businesspeople, artists, politicians, journalists and sportspeople. This is the view of Metro magazine, which in 2007 attempted to identify who makes up the emerging influential set of Auckland. This blog post surveys the results of Metro’s roll-call of ‘Aucklanders in their 40s and younger who will make a difference in their fields over the next decade’. [Read more below]

[who runs new zealand?] Religious charities

Should religion be deemed a charitable cause? And should the state subsidise religious proselytisation? These are questions asked by an article in the Listener this week. The argument put forward is that there are very wealthy and powerful religious charities in New Zealand that profit from their tax-exempt status. And the Government is about to make it even easier for such not-for-profit groups to collect greater funds. This is the first blog post of many in a series examining the contemporary Establishment in this country. [Read more below]