ELECTION 2023 : ZOMBIE CENTRISM STALKS THE LAND

After four decades of relentless neoliberalism that has benefited a few at the expense of the many, the public mood is for change. But that's not what's on offer from our present crop of parliamentary parties. It's failed centrism.

IN THE holiday township of Queenstown ostentatious wealth and grim poverty live uneasily alongside each other. Queenstown has registered the biggest increase in rent prices in the country, increasing by almost 20 percent in the twelve months ending in March. Many workers are effectively homeless, living out of cars and 'couch surfing'. And it was to Queenstown that the finance spokespeople for the four main parties travelled to debate the state of the economy. 

But neither Grant Robertson, James Shaw, Nicola Willis or David Seymour provided any evidence that they have credible solutions for the extremes of inequality found in Queenstown and throughout the rest of the country. Instead, they jockeyed for political advantage on such issues as National's tax plans and the Labour Government's spending record. Lacking among the scripted attacks was any hint of any new vision for the country. Apparently, the neoliberal template has been welded onto the New Zealand economy and society in perpetuity.

But after four decades of relentless and largely unchallenged neoliberalism the mood among the people is for change. Real change that provides them with tangible benefits. The kind of change that Jacinda Ardern hinted at before she lost her nerve. But that's not what's on offer from those who seek to be our 'elected representatives'.  

Despite abysmally poor poll results Labour continues to work off a weak centrist platform that doesn't offer anything but token improvements. Labour seems determined to make the job easier for a National Party that is not particularly popular.

American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is right in her observation that centrism won’t defeat economic inequality or climate change. As she says, ‘Moderate is not a stance. It’s just an attitude to life like, ‘meh’'. Unfortunately, we live in a New Zealand where ‘meh’ politics prevails while progressive policies are condescendingly rejected as ‘unworkable’.

But in the absence of a strong left-wing alternative to 'trickledown economics' the only rational and sane choice, for the progressive voter, is simply not to vote. 

Those who might have been thinking of voting for the Maori Party should also think again. Co-leader Rawiri Waititi's appalling comment that 'it is a known fact that Maori genetic makeup is stronger than others' is thoroughly reactionary. And I'm being polite. It underlines that Te Pati Maori seeks to prevent working class unity in favour of the interests of a narrow layer of tribal capitalists and upper middle -class Maori who have benefited from the 'free market'. It is worth noting that there are Green MPs, like co-leader Marama Davidson, who also hold to similar divisive and anti-working class politics. 

What this election campaign reveals again that even though the free market model is fundamentally broken, our present crop of political parties have little to offer but some minor tweaks. The four parties that were represented in Queenstown this week have no explanations for the current economic malaise and even fewer answers.