liberation

A leftwing perspective on asset sales

Some political commentators – and Labour and National party activists, too – are suggesting that this year’s New Zealand general election will present voters with a genuine ideological choice: between a radical leftwing Labour Party that favours nationalised industry and a radical rightwing National Party that wants to privatise everything. Any such description is hugely inaccurate, and a proper examination of the situation would show that the positions of both parties on the issue of state owned enterprises are actually remarkably similar. Once the rhetoric from Labour and National is put to one side, it obvious that both parties favour a mixture of state and private ownership of industry, with only degrees of difference in how much should be owned and which direction should be taken. But given that there is at least some differences opening up on the issue of asset sales – and that this is set to be some sort of election issue, I hope to write a few posts in the near future examining it all in detail. This initial blog post merely raises the question – from a leftwing point of view – of whether there is actually anything progressive about the state owning businesses. It argues that the New Zealand left have developed a nostalgic and false idea that the government ownership of businesses like TV2 or NZ Post is something wonderful. [Read more below]

Understanding the latest Maori Party schism

This is a fight to the political death. Hone Harawira has been battling for control of the Maori Party, but now his caucus colleagues are fighting back. Today saw their declaration of war against Harawira vis the seeking of legal advice about how to expel him and through Te Ururoa Flavell’s formal complaint within the party organisation. This manuover is not so much about Harawira’s outspoken Sunday Star Times column – which is really just a pretext for the ambush on the rebel MP – but is more about a fight over the political direction of a pan-Maori party that has a very contradictory voter support base. This blog post attempts to explain what is happening in the Maori Party, and why. [Read more below]

Who will dominate New Zealand politics in 2011?

Today the Herald on Sunday published my predictions of which politicos will dominate New Zealand politics in 2011. Putting aside the various party leaders who can be assumed to be constantly in the news and making a big impact, I gave the newspaper a list of five politicians and powerbrokers who, despite not necessarily being household names, will be extremely important in shaping how we think about parliamentary politics during the year: Steven Joyce, Hone Harawira, David Cunliffe, Guyon Espiner, and Kevin Taylor. You can see my explanations within the article Crystal ball gazing into 2011 on the Herald website, or else in the blog post below, which includes the full text that I submitted, along with some details of those ‘influentials’ that I considered but kept off the list. [Read more below]