New Zealand turns to the right | The populist National-led government is undoing many of Jacinda Ardern’s progressive initiatives, including environmental protections.(wapo.st)

posted 5 months ago

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It is reversing a ban on oil and gas drilling, and is proposing a “fast-track” for big projects, including mines, that bypasses environmental checks. It has cut climate programs and jobs, scrapped electric vehicle subsidies, abandoned plans for one of the world’s largest marine sanctuaries and set aside a world-leading cow “burp” tax as it questions the science on methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

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kaffiene@lemmy.world

14 points

4 months ago

We are not running out of money and our debt level is near the lowest in the OECD.

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HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world

-5 points

4 months ago

The significant austerity measures around the country strongly disagree with you.

Auckland just canceled a significant number of its infrastructure projects, and the regional fuel tax along with significant cuts in maintenance - 30% reduction last I heard

Hamilton is nearly being mothballed to save money.

No idea about other major centers.

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Goodie@lemmy.world

8 points

4 months ago

So noe ypu ask yourself: why?

Where is that money going?

Why are we having tax cuts of various types… only to borrow more money?

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HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world

-3 points

4 months ago

Ooo, I got quite good at this game. Let’s see…

A low GDP per capita economy, significant logistics chains and costs, low nation ownership of productive assets and banks, lack of economies of scale from infrastructure spread over a wide area with low population, surprisingly lack of accountability for project over runs…

And yes, class divide which funnels money upwards rather than reaching investment in the country.

Howd I do?

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Goodie@lemmy.world

6 points

4 months ago

A low GDP per capita economy

Still higher than some countries who manage much more. We beat Korea, Japan, Spain, hell, we edge out France.

significant logistics chains and costs

Good thing we are getting some new Toyota Carolla Ferrys to help make those logistic chains better!

low nation ownership of productive assets and banks

The same party that is now claiming we need austerity, also sold of several of those productive assets.

lack of economies of scale from infrastructure spread over a wide area with low population

Fair. I think most of our main infra is pretty consolidated, but a large portion of our economy is based on farming, which by it’s very nature, is spread out.

surprisingly lack of accountability for project over runs…

On this we agree. I also think that cancelling good projects, simply because it’s the “other sides” project, should also have accountability.

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HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world

2 points

4 months ago

A low GDP per capita economy

Still higher than some countries who manage much more. We beat Korea, Japan, Spain, hell, we edge out France.

My numbers are a bit outdated (pre covid), I thought NZ was around 80k, France sat closer to 1.2 million.

Interesting point - you also picked countries with significantly higher population in close proximity to major trade routes and markets.

significant logistics chains and costs

Good thing we are getting some new Toyota Carolla Ferrys to help make those logistic chains better!

Its a shame they love to drag the chain, so to speak…

low nation ownership of productive assets and banks

The same party that is now claiming we need austerity, also sold of several of those productive assets.

Oh, make no mistake im not supporting national in any of this. Just stating the issue and where the country is.

lack of economies of scale from infrastructure spread over a wide area with low population

Fair. I think most of our main infra is pretty consolidated, but a large portion of our economy is based on farming, which by it’s very nature, is spread out.

Agreed- unfortunately low value bulky goods that fetch global price means it sucks for us consumers.

surprisingly lack of accountability for project over runs…

On this we agree. I also think that cancelling good projects, simply because it’s the “other sides” project, should also have accountability.

Couldn’t agree more. 4 year election cycle, cut the crap and let’s get this country better.

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Goodie@lemmy.world

2 points

4 months ago

You thought France had a 1.2 million USD per capita GDP? At that rate their GDP would be… 82 trillion. Dwarfing Chinas mere 18 trillion.

Interesting point - you also picked countries with significantly higher population in close proximity to major trade routes and markets.

Honestly, I went to a country per capita list, and picked out some names that stuck out. I’m not sure if you could ever find a country that’s really comparable, in many ways we are at the end of everything.

Agreed- unfortunately low value bulky goods that fetch global price means it sucks for us consumers.

One of my big pushes in the last year has been to pay attention to food miles when purchasing… and sweet fucking jesus. The cheap stuff we import, and then sell our expensive goods overseas for minor margins.

Couldn’t agree more. 4 year election cycle, cut the crap and let’s get this country better.

I think this is a trap. A lot of our problems come from how easy it is to change things, IMHO. I’m not going to go find a source now (eating my lunch), but our democracy is unique is how easy it is to change laws. A lot of other countries have more checks and balances than we go, eg a upper house. Though in comparison we have the check and balance of MMP and multiple parties having to form a coalition.

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4 points

4 months ago

Terribly, with a layer of sneering smugness to boot. The austerity justifciations are national party spin, swallowed whole. The govt is throwing billions to landlords and mega roads while cutting funding for public housing, critical infrastructure and even fucking food banks at a time of record demand for them.

They’re also dumping costs onto households by cranking up user charges and abandoning councils to pay for decades of infrastructure underinvestment.

So no, they’ve chosen to loot and plunder.

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futatorius@lemm.ee

2 points

4 months ago

Yeah, you can’t use austerity as evidence of economic problems when austerity is NP policy. Self-fulfilling prophesy.

And the only real reason for austerity is to make the rich richer and drive inequality even higher.

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HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world

1 point

4 months ago

Except the austerity measures started when Labour was in. Admittedly not to that level, but they were aware of the issues that national took and run with.

Fully agree the landlord one is bullshit, but I find it interesting you don’t consider roads critical infrastructure, especially considering we are still diffused throughout the country and don’t have the density for lots of mass transit.

Finally, everything you have said is a symptom, not the underlying cause - you’ve told me Nat is cutting costs on key areas (yes), but you asked why it happened in the first place. Its the country wide symptoms I mentioned, and these can’t be fixed in 3 years no matter who is in.

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Xcf456@lemmy.nz

2 points

4 months ago

I didn’t say I don’t consider roads as critical infrastucture, I specifically said “mega roads”, i.e new multi lane motorways that are a waste of money because they will encourage more driving, more sprawl and make traffic even worse in the long run (and I imagine local roads will deteriorate as they did the last time this happened).

Three waters, the ferries, state housing, public transport are all better options right now that are woefully underfunded and in fact actively sabotaged by this govt.

The “we don’t have the density” argument is often pulled out against funding public transport and it’s unfounded. We’re one of the most urbanised countries in the world. We could absolutely build more PT if we chose to, we’ve had far more extensive networks in the past than what we currently do.

Overall, saying what’s happening is a symptom is just an attempt to claim what’s happening right now is inevitable imo. Different choices can be made that would be far less damaging, they’d be positive even and actually address the underlying problems you highlight instead of this “better things aren’t possible” fatalism.

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