Voters given two distinct blocks with National ruling out Opportunity – Editorial
As we approach this year’s election, voters are increasingly being given two distinct choices.
They are voting for a version of the current coalition Government, or a mix of parties broadly defined as being on the left.
While Prime Minister Christopher Luxon faced some criticism for how he handled the Opportunity Party question from reporters, somewhat clumsily, voters now know National won’t work with the teal team.
This was perhaps the most likely scenario to eventuate anyway.
While Opportunity and its supporters are keen to market it as a centrist party, most middle New Zealand voters, upon reading its policies, will view it as a left-wing party.
Its natural bedfellows, it would seem, are the Greens and Labour. It should not come as a surprise that the leaders of the Greens have taken a liking to some of Opportunity’s ideas.
National isn’t the only one playing the rule-out game with smaller players.
Labour’s Kieran McAnulty, the campaign chairman, told reporters his party would be “very clear shortly who we are willing to work with and who we’re not”.
Luxon said National was not wanting to go into “business with people who want to increase taxes” and argued a vote for Opportunity was a vote for Labour and the Greens.
Opportunity’s tax policy includes a tax-free universal payment, a land value tax and a reorganisation of income tax rates.
The party’s leader, Qiulae Wong, told the Herald that National ruling out working with her party was “indicative of where politics is at in New Zealand”.
“It’s old-fashioned tribalism that we have to get beyond,” she said. “Kiwis expect our political parties to leave ideology at the door, and work constructively together to make progress on the big issues.”
A nice soundbite that will appeal to some, but could also be described as naive.
Ideology is part of politics.
This broad idea, which some would describe as realpolitik, of ignoring ideological or moral ideas for the promise of practical solutions has been around for more than a century.
In reality, ideology does always play a part in determining the vision for a country and its political destiny.
We as New Zealanders should want our politicians to be both practical when dealing with the day-to-day issues of governing, while also being aspirational for a future New Zealand.
Whether a voter agrees with a politician’s ideological vision for New Zealand is one of the reasons they will or won’t vote for them.
Sadly, we have had far too few visionary people in our recent parliamentary terms.
Wong has said despite Luxon’s ruling out of Opportunity, her party will still be willing to work with parties across the political spectrum.
In the latest NZ Herald-Motu Research Poll of Polls, modelling showed Opportunity breached the 5% threshold for the first time.
But it is still essentially a coin flip as to whether Opportunity will even be at the negotiation table after November 7.
It will be interesting to see if Luxon’s ruling-out of Opportunity impacts the next poll taken post his declaration.