News release

The election conundrum

The results of the 2011 election for New Zealand provide an indictor of the state of affairs for New Zealand both culturally and economically. While National has been returned as Government as expected, it wasn’t all plain sailing and as difficult as the last three years have been, the next three are not expected to be any easier (although hopefully with fewer disasters to contend with).

What are the issues , what are the possible causes and what have we learnt?

 A poor voter turnout
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o An assumption National would romp in and so voting not required
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o Apathy from a disaffected electorate who have “given up on politics”
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o Helplessness from voters, beaten up by natural disasters, economic downturn and uncertainty of how we will recover
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o Disconnect to any of the parties policies to voters personal beliefs
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 No clear majority
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o Despite being the most one sided election for years, National still could not achieve a majority and govern alone
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o Cross party agreements required to govern
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o Indicators of a “tainting by association” for the minor parties in government
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o The uncertainty of parliament reflecting the uncertainty of the world we currently live in
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 An endorsement to maintain MMP
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o Always difficult to change what people already have and understand
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o A vote for MMP or a rejection of the poor alternatives?
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o Consensus politics “averages” the result (not maximising the potential when things are good and not making the hard decisions when they are bad)
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o Power to the minor parties (a disproportionate level of influence relative to their percentage of the vote)
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o A smart electorate who have finally woken up to strategic voting
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 The Green ticket
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o A growing recognition that looking after the planet warrants some serious consideration
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o A window of opportunity for the Greens to take advantage of the growing consumer concern with sound economic policies rather than being another “vote to the left”
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 Assets sales by default
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o Despite the electorate not wanting to “sell the silver”, National have effectively been endorsed to do so
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o Reflection of a typical household situation – at what time do you sell up to get ahead, or keep borrowing and can never get out of the hole (Labour’s slogan of don’t sell the ladder to get out of the hole didn’t recognise the hole might be deeper than the ladder itself…)
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 Leaving it all too late
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o A great late run by Labour which could not slow the train that was already running away from them
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So where does this leave us?

As a country we have finally found out that we are in a global economy where our ability to influence gets lost in the roundings. Punch drunk from one disaster after another, we are (to an extent) at the mercy of the world economies and markets.

What can parliamentarians, businesses and New Zealanders learn from this?

 New Zealand is a great place to live. Despite the brain drain, the rich/poor division and many other “issues”, we are still a safe haven from the anathema that encircles the rest of the world
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 Our remoteness from world markets has costs and benefits. While it provides some protection from the reach of depression, it also adds time and cost to exports, and a negative “carbon footprint” perception to be overcome
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 People will always need food. World commodity prices provided the shelter to New Zealand to help it through the worst of the Global Financial Crisis
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 Too much debt leaves you no room to move when the belt needs tightening. It also means you can’t take advantage of the opportunities that follow as you don’t have enough reserves to take advantage of the opportunities
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 Working together delivers benefits to everyone.
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As we look to riding the storm through 2012 and coming out the other side on the front foot, businesses and parliamentarians need to make the same decisions.

 Look to the future
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 Learn from the past
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 Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water
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 Ride the wave, don’t sink beneath it
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 Identify keys strengths and play to them
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 Realise you can control what you do
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 Recognise we have finite resources, how best to use them
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 Define a plan, work together and keep everyone on the bus will get us to the promised land.
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Actually, if you speak to people overseas, New Zealand is the promised land, we just have to make sure we keep on delivering the promise.

ends