Although most people are already very aware of Michael Cullen's orthodox economic conservatism, Colin James published an article on Cullen last week that gives further evidence that the Labour Government under Cullen's stewardship is far from radical. Cullen admits that Labour and National 'converge towards the middle' of the political spectrum, but of course suggests that Labour still has different 'values' than National. Yet despite being the 'party intellectual', Cullen has problems elaborating on what these different values are.
Even when it comes to persistent economic inequality in NZ society, Cullen's programme could have come straight out of the Economist magazine: 'It is to "move the whole of society rather than the individuals within it" - in plainer language, "a rising tide lifting all boats" through upskilling and a higher-value economy'. I.e. the government aren't interested in redistributive economics, but only 'trickle-down' policies.
According to Colin James, Cullen apparently believes that he has embedded an economic framework that even National is unlikely to alter:
a superannuation consensus, a long-term fiscal perspective which "preserves choices around an equitable framework", a level of government spending from which he thinks National will not be able to cut more than 2 or 3 per cent in share-of-GDP terms (5 per cent at most), the beginnings of policy to tackle climate change at the front end to avoid sudden large costs later.