'IF VOTING CHANGED ANYTHING, THEY'D MAKE IT ILLEGAL'

No capital gains tax here : Grant Robertson and Paul Goldsmith playing Monopoly.

The latest opinion poll shows that Labour is heading for an easy election victory, but it won't be a cause for celebration for the many carrying the burden of the economic crisis and Labour offering next to no financial relief.

THE LATEST OPINION poll is further good news for the Labour Party, although Labour supporters may be feeling a little concerned that Labour has dropped 10 points while National has jumped over 4 points. It does indict a narrowing is occurring between the two main parties but the margin is still so wide the only real question now is whether Labour will be able to govern alone.

But what we do know is that this poll, like all the others, will be met with a mixture of disinterest, resignation and cynicism from a large chunk of the electorate who have little expectation that their personal circumstances are going to dramatically improve under another three years of Labour.

In recent days they have had a preview of what is to come and its not something they'll be buying tickets for.

Last week Labour announced plans to make life even harder for some of the country's most vulnerable people. It plans to charge rent for those using emergency housing for longer than a week. The rent will equate to twenty five percent of the family's income and will come into force two days after the NZ election on October 17.

The policy, which has been described by Auckland Action Against Poverty as a 'really cruel and inhumane policy to introduce' is presumably intended to drive folk into the clutches of private landlords since there is next to no chance that any of them will obtain a state house anytime soon. The waiting list is now approaching 20,000 applicants, which is a record historical high. When the Labour-led government came to power in November 2017 the public housing waiting list stood at 5844.

With rents already at an unaffordable level, the lifting of the six month rent freeze on Saturday will also see rents surging upwards again. The fact that landlords can only put rents up once a year will be cold comfort to tenants who could be facing rent hikes as much as $100 or more a week. Jacinda Ardern's plaintive appeal to landlords to be 'fair minded' is risible.

This week will also see folk receiving the last of the Winter Energy payments, which ceases on October 1. The allowance was doubled because of Covid-19 with single people receiving approximately $40 a week and couples receiving some $60 a week.

The loss of the allowance represents a significant drop in income for beneficiaries and people on low incomes and, given the Labour-led government's refusal to significantly increase benefits, many community groups called for the Government to extend the allowance.

With unemployment continuing to rise and the food banks barely able to cope with the demand, the Government needed to demonstrate the 'kindness' that Jacinda Ardern likes to talk about. And it hasn't. The decision not to extend the allowance will send more people and families to the economic precipice and many will tip over.

This all comes at a time when, as Bernard Hickey of Newsroom has noted, there has  already been a gigantic transfer of wealth to the already wealthy:

'Almost by accident, and without debate, the Labour-led Government has delivered the biggest shot of cash and monetary support to the wealthy in the history of New Zealand, while giving nothing to the renters, the jobless, students, migrants and the working poor who mostly voted it in.'

As the political establishment goes about defending the economic and political status quo, I'm reminded of what the anarchist activist Emma Goldman wrote. She said that elections consisted primarily of 'wire-pulling, intriguing, flattering, lying, cheating; in fact, chicanery of every description, whereby the political aspirant can achieve success. Added to that is a complete demoralisation of character and conviction, until nothing is left that would make one hope for anything from such a human derelict. Time and time again the people were foolish enough to trust, believe, and support with their last farthing aspiring politicians, only to find themselves betrayed and cheated.'

Observed Goldman : '“If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.'

In the absence of a genuinely progressive political party that will authentically represent folk who rightly feel that they are being denied a political voice, voting isn't enough. And that's why I won't be voting.