The Unshackled Waves Ep. 86 NZ Election: Taxcinda, Why Back Bill, Maori Seats and Housing Affordability
Video Version
Show Description
This week we are bringing you a special review show on the New Zealand Election as part of our coverage of the final stages of the campaign. To discuss this we were lucky to have Mark John Price from Right Minds NZ join me in person.
We start by discussing the manifesto of Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, it mainly consists of new taxes which has earned her the nickname Taxcinda. She is also promising a tax working group which will explore future taxation options. We commented this is a dramatic shift to the left from the Labour Party which over the past 30 years had a modern social democrat philosophy.
While most of the focus has been on Jacinda Ardern we also scrutinize the campaign of National Party Prime Minister Bill English. He is promising tax cuts and greater heath spending. He doesn’t have the charisma of his predecessor John Key which overshadows his government’s record over the past nine years.
A unique feature of New Zealand’s electoral system is Maori seats in parliament. There is a growing movement to abolish them based around the fact that it is racist policy that has no place in modern world. New Zealand First has promised to abolish them. We concur with the justification for their abolition as well as how political correctness has led to the constant promotion of Maori culture and language.
We also discuss the central campaign issue which is housing affordability as the average Auckland house price $1 million. Not just that but we also explore how that has impacted the expectations of young New Zealanders when it comes to things such as starting a family or working abroad.
Theme Music Super Power Cool Dude by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
News Discussed
Those seven Labour taxes – what’s left in play? – NZ Herald
Bill English languishes in popularity compared to John Key -Newshub
Māori seats once again focus of debate heading into general election – Stuff
Auckland’s $1 million houses – NZ Herald