World Events

Meanwhile, across the Tasman

John Quiggin6 Comments

It seems as if the dying days of a political party inevitably generate this kind of moment. The ACT (Association of Consumers and Taxpayers) Party is the last remnant of the NZ Labour Party’s diversion into radical free-market reform, and is heavily backed by the NZ Business Roundtable, run for many years by Roger Kerr[1]. Finding that few voters want to hear about radical free-market reform any more, ACT shifted its ground to law-and-order populism and race-baiting a few years back, and just managed to maintain a presence in Parliament.

But then the main opposition National Party elected Don Brash as his leader. At the helm of the NZ Reserve Bank, Brash presided over some disastrous monetary policy failures, most notably the Monetary Conditions Index, but still seemed like a decent person. But then he resigned and (very improperly in my view) promptly ran for Parliament for the National Party (as a List MP, he didn’t actually run, but was effectively appointed). He made little progress until his Pauline Hanson moment – the Orewa speech attacking Maori native title rights.

As with Pauline, Brash got an instant surge of popularity which he backed up with law-and-order stuff to the point where the Nationals led Labour in opinion polls for some months. But, also as with Pauline, it didn’t last, and Labour is now back in front.

Meanwhile, though, Brash managed to steal ACT’s remaining <raison d’etre . With the Nationals playing the race card, and pushing a hard line on law and order, there’s no reason to vote for ACT, and the party is now in its death spiral. It’s at this point that the kind of incident that would be a mild embarrassment for a successful political party assumes the dimensions of a fatal blow. This story, involving Kerr pursuing an ACT MP looks like the last straw for ACT and perhaps also for NZBR[2]. Good riddance.

fn1. Disclosure: I’ve had occasional run-ins with Kerr, and he’s always struck me as a thoroughly nasty person. So I’m naturally inclined to view him as the bad actor in this story.

fn2. Both parties have issued MRD denials

6 thoughts on “Meanwhile, across the Tasman”

  2. do you mean by “the nationals playing the race card” the orewa speech?

    my understanding (if my hazy memory of early morning radio is correct) is that brash was against any type of racial prejudice in new zealand.

  3. the kerr incident definitely does sound a little undignified…

    i wonder, with my brief foray into political life, whether my most embarrasing moment in my life would play well to the public…

    i cant think of any outstanding incidents, although one at school comes to mind: scoring a try in a game of moore park touch football, i slid through a rather copious quantity of dog doo. my school uniform was covered in it, my sister had to come pick me up and i missed the science competition held later that afternoon.

  4. It is funny how advocating racial equality has become “playing the race card” in these post-modern times.

  5. It is funny how playing the race card has become “advocating racial equality” in these post-modern times.

  6. No James. Words do have meanings. That’s why we use them. ‘Advocating equal treatment’ has a very specific meaning. It cannot be equated to racism by any honest commentator.

    I liked the ACT party (from what I knew of them) and it’s a pitty if they’re on their way out.

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