new zealand general elections

Crumble Froo

so, anyone been following the elections over here? anyone able to vote? anyone got strong feelings on it eitherway?

im undecided as to which party i would support, and i don't know a lot about local candidates here.
but i will be angry and upset if national get through. what fuckwits!

watna

Can't vote so don't care muchly at the moment. If I could vote it would be for the greens.

Was just talking to people tonight and not one single candidate has called to my door or even put a leaflet in my letterbox. I know I live on a hill but they should at least be trying to get my non-existent vote or at least send a minion or something. Not very impressed when you compare it to the onslaught you get at home at election time. Seems a little bit apathetic to me. One of the labour candidates lives at the end of my road and we haven't even had a leaflet from her!

Cmol

Labour ftw If national get in I'm never coming home!

Watna - I don't think we ever had a candidate come to our door... I know wellington's a bit of a bitch of a city what with the hills but they must be the laziest candidates in the world!

Bearhunter

I can't bring myself to vote National, but I'm sick to death of Uncle Helen telling me what to do. So in the absence of a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper, I might give it a miss and head to the pub to watch the results coming in instead.

Crumble Froo

i do know a few people sending their "defo not national, but not labour again" votes to the maori party! :pac:

personally, i really really really really really really really really hope national dont get in. i hate john key more than i hate enda kenny, and i really really hate enda kenny.

i was kinda surprised at the greens ruling out working with national under any circumstance, but hopefully that'll serve as a good thing.

weve had national politicians at our door (i wish so much my fella coulda been there at the time to speak his mind...) and both labour and national leaflets.

i was quite amused by the guy up north who made up some 'front' posters to stick on the national signs

defo noticed the lack of campaigning here... from leaflets, to posters on every second lamp-post, but did see an amusing (if low) labour attack on john key on the telly yesterday, pointing out where he's contradicted himself, and someone put an amusing anti-john key sticker/rhyme/cartoon on the bustop over the weekend.

apparently, there's a sort of 'rule' that whenever a leftwing government get in in oz (like now), kiwi elections swing to the right. let's hope that doesnt hold out too true.

Bearhunter

Part of the reason I'm sick of labour is the bloody activists they have; they're all middle-class, well-heeled graduates who have never met the working class in their short but pampered lives. Arrogant little ****ehawks who think they know it all and yet refuse to accept that they are arrogant. Sod the lot of them, I think I'll stick with Willy Yeats on this one:

"The statesman is an easy man, he tells his lies by rote;
The journalist invents his lies and rams them down your throat.
So stay at home and drink your beer and let the neighbours vote."

Cmol

My main reason for sticking with Labour would be the fact that Nationals last leader - Don Brash - came out when he was still in power and basically said that had National been leading the Country when the Iraq war broke out that he would have sent NZ troops... Would'nt freaking trust John Key as far as I could throw him either.

Plus, as nice as it would be to have slightly lower taxes at home - which are always Nationals big drawcard, the only way to cut taxes is to take money away from things like healthcare, schools and general infrastructure which NZ cant afford, and for an extra $50 a month in your bank account I just don't think its worth it!

Methinks this could get a little deep and meaningful for a travel forum

Rabies

Haven't really been paying much attention to it all.

All I went is Helen Clarke out of office. One of the worst heads of state I've ever seen.

Crumble Froo

Cmol wrote: »

My main reason for sticking with Labour would be the fact that Nationals last leader - Don Brash - came out when he was still in power and basically said that had National been leading the Country when the Iraq war broke out that he would have sent NZ troops... Would'nt freaking trust John Key as far as I could throw him either.

Plus, as nice as it would be to have slightly lower taxes at home - which are always Nationals big drawcard, the only way to cut taxes is to take money away from things like healthcare, schools and general infrastructure which NZ cant afford, and for an extra $50 a month in your bank account I just don't think its worth it!

Methinks this could get a little deep and meaningful for a travel forum

national really are just far too rightwing, i think. this time of economic downturn, what we need are people who are going to do something to help those of us at the bottom of the ladder. national don't even seem to be doing anything much for business, most of their ideas have come from labour (the news actually did a comparison on what national promised, versus what labour had already promised), and well... labour are looking at the idea of all teens getting a full education, or learning a trade, which, though ive not looked into how they intend to implement it, is something i think would definitely benefit this country. i had more points, but i need to get to the warehouse to get some halloween facepaint

watna

I'd happily let National rule the country because they said hey wouldn't work with Winston Peters. By god, I hate that man.

A friend of mine is working at the moment on getting people to sign up to the electoral register. This is in Wellington. Apparently loads of old women came up and asked to vote for Winston Peter's. She had to explain that this was just registering to vote and that they couldn't vote for Winston Peters because he was standing in Tauranga, not Wellington but that they could vote for his party. Seriously, the mind boggles at people. Seriously.

Crumble Froo

well, if you're voting green, they're working with labour

honestly though, i do think national are gonna win it, and i do genuinely think that this is gonna be very very bad for us/nz.

WindSock

Oh is it that time again? Have they done the wormy thing yet?

Crumble Froo

no. please elaborate.

watna

Crumble Froo wrote: »

no. please elaborate.

yes, please do.

Election update: a leaflet was put in my letter box today. Yes, somebody walked up my hill. It was .......... from labour.

Bearhunter

The worm was an audience reation meter they used during a televised debate back in 2002 (I think). It went up or down accoreding to the telly audience's reactions to whichever outrageous lie the party leader was promising. Apparently it was responsible for Peter Dunne and his vile pompadour getting back into parliament with a few extra MPs.

BattyInNZ

Crumble Froo wrote: »

national really are just far too rightwing, i think. this time of economic downturn, what we need are people who are going to do something to help those of us at the bottom of the ladder. national don't even seem to be doing anything much for business, most of their ideas have come from labour (the news actually did a comparison on what national promised, versus what labour had already promised), and well... labour are looking at the idea of all teens getting a full education, or learning a trade, which, though ive not looked into how they intend to implement it, is something i think would definitely benefit this country. i had more points, but i need to get to the warehouse to get some halloween facepaint

Labour have done nothing ONLY help people at the bottom of the ladder. I know this might seem a bit strong for only my second post (I think) but it's what Helen does to me! They're great for the handouts and the mealy maulyeh faces but where's all the money gone? Bloody billions there was, less than 2 years ago and where is it now? It's done nothing for middle New Zealand which is where we are. If the only thing you can think of to win an election (short of bribing students like she did the last time) is to smear your opposition then that's the true mark of someone with nothing left to say.

Crumble Froo

... ive made my decision.

if i could vote. i would vote for bill and ben.

Rabies

What I found out, and I don't agree with is that the Maori Party automatically get seats. They don't have to work for it.
That isn't right in my opinion.

You earn your election seat. Not given a few seats regardless.

watna

Rabies wrote: »

What I found out, and I don't agree with is that the Maori Party automatically get seats. They don't have to work for it.
That isn't right in my opinion.

You earn your election seat. Not given a few seats regardless.

Are you sure this is the case? It's not what I heard. I heard they had to get %5 of the party vote to get seats - just like the other parties. That's why there are posters saying give you part vote to the Maori party. Surely they wouldn't bother if they got seats automatically withouth doing anything?

Rabies

I was told they automatically get 5 seats.

/goes to google.co.nz

watna

Rabies wrote: »

I was told they automatically get 5 seats.

/goes to google.co.nz

It's definitely possible. Let me know what you find!

Rabies

Hmmm... Seems its more Maori seats, not Maori Party seats.

Ah... my head is confused

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Māori_seats
http://www.elections.org.nz/democracy/history/maori-vote.html

WindSock

Are Destiny running? What's the fellas name...Brian Tamaki, yeah he's very odd indeed.

Bearhunter

There are seven Maori electorate seats, decided by those who opt to go on the maori roll. They are not "Maori party" seats, although currently four (or possibly five, I can't remember) are held by the Maori party.
Maori seats rise a fair bit of ire, with poeple saying they are racist and divisive and should be abolished. They conveniently forget that the seats were introduced to limit Maori power in the Parliament in the days when Maori outnumbered settlers, so there is a nice irony in the fact that the seats wind up so many rednecks.:p

Crumble Froo

WindSock wrote: »

Are Destiny running? What's the fellas name...Brian Tamaki, yeah he's very odd indeed.

that that crazy religio group? if it is, im fairly sure that one of their daughters is married to my fella's bro. :eek:

Crumble Froo

SHIT

Rabies

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1316907/2288255

Election results.
I'm glad Clarke is gone.

Not sure what I think about her party or any other.

Anyway... I was informed wrongly about the the maori seats. Should learn to chbeck things myself before jumping in.

Crumble Froo

i can't believe the greens did so badly!
in my opinion, helen shoulda stepped down, and put forward a new leader... we need a change, and that woulda been change.

national, i don't trust. too much for the wealthy, big business, and i don't like a lot of their policies. act... i'd rather just see national in there on their own. act are awful. yes, all well and good to be tough on crime, but i just really really really don't like their policies on that.

at least our labour candidate got through. don't think our section's ever come out national. which is a comfort at least. you can't blame us! :P

watna

Twas an interesting night anyway. We had an election results bbq and we watched the results coming in. One of my OH's friends (who is a complete twat - that is neither here nor there) was scrutineering for labour and arrived just as Helen was giving her concession speech. He cried! It was ridiculous!

I am also surprised the greens did so badly. If I could have I'd have given them my vote. My OH did anyway.

I'm pretty glad Winston is gone - that man makes my skin crawl. Our friends that were over were pretty shocked by it as Winston has been in parliament before they were born. End of an era was said a lot!

What we found very odd about all the coverage (we were watching tv 1) is that all the people they interviewed gave very superficial responses why they voted for who they did. Most of them just said it was time for a change. There was nothing about Natoional's policies. So many people said it that we turned it in to a drinking game and every time someone said the word changed we all had to drink. We were fairly drunk by the end of it!

Crumble Froo

yeah, coverage was odd. we tuned in and out, mostly keeping up with text (my fella's sister is mates with a national candidate, so they were following closely), and at one point, they had three cameras zoomed in on the finger food at the parties, and were guessing which party each plate belonged to...

saw a lot of people when asked why they were voting who they were voting for, just heard 'family first', 'family first', 'family first'...

Bearhunter

I thought the TV coverage was typically childish, but I went and struck a blow against the forces of evil and darkness. For all the good it did me...