Hard right turn in New Zealand - here's Atlas
Politics π³οΈ NZ Politics
- Thread starter wizard of Tauranga
- Start date
NZWarriors.com
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- #9,562
Canβt read it but who thought life was good when we went hard left?
It was a terrible time with everything they tried to change screwed up!
NZWarriors.com
- Thread starter
- #9,564
As a multiple business owner, business was terrible under Labour.
Crippling staffing shortages, huge inflation, reduced profits, increased regulations, higher taxes, multiple recessions.
The economy is slow at the moment but at least we have consistency and predictability which business decisions can be made off.
Crippling staffing shortages, huge inflation, reduced profits, increased regulations, higher taxes, multiple recessions.
The economy is slow at the moment but at least we have consistency and predictability which business decisions can be made off.
Since records started business confidence is at an all time low.
Baldy has shown more confidence in child groomers Seymour and Bishop than business owners have in him.
Baldy has shown more confidence in child groomers Seymour and Bishop than business owners have in him.
- Thread starter
- #9,566
Yea, thatβs the Reserve Bank is crushing the economy to tame inflation (not either party) which has been a 2 year long process so far.
The reserve bank is independent of either govt.
What policies has National implemented to hammer business? (I could quote dozens of Labour ones)
NZWarriors.com
Every decision made to decrease government spending impacts a business providing the service. The decision not to go ahead with the ferries impacted a lot of businesses who would do the port work. You could argue that's for the better of the country depending on your opinion of but it still impacts business.
The decision not to invest in infrastructure and the strategy of not having a consistent bi-partisan investment strategy on infrastructure is a killer of output and both parties need to be solving that
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- #9,568
While I agree this is affecting business isnβt it like complaining a drug addict canβt get drugs anymore if it was all borrowed and unsustainable govt spending?
Shane Jones telling lies
newsroom.co.nz
Jonesβ staffer arranged undeclared dinner with mining companies
Resources Minister Shane Jones refuses to answer fresh questions about an undeclared dinner on the South Islandβs West Coast which, newly released emails reveal, was arranged by his staff.
newsroom.co.nz
NZWarriors.com
We've never gone hard left, only in your own mind.
Here you go:
WELLINGTON, New Zealand β After the debate between President Biden and Donald Trump turned disastrous for the incumbent Thursday, comedian Jon Stewart quipped on βThe Daily Showβ that he needed to βcall a real estate agent in New Zealand.β
Stewart was riffing on some American liberalsβ fantasy when Trump was last in power. Many talked of moving to New Zealand, a faraway place they viewed as utopian, with a progressive leader in Jacinda Ardern and natural beauty that was second to none. A significant number actually did: Data from the 2018 Census shows a jump in American-born residents in New Zealand of nearly 30 percent, or more than 6,000 people, compared with five years earlier.
Americans, like Stewart, looking for an escape hatch will find New Zealand a very different place this time around. Ardern is gone, and so too are her policies. This country is now led by a coalition of center-right, libertarian and populist lawmakers who have formed its most conservative government in decades.
βThis is the sharpest political swing in a generation, the coalition is the most conservative I have seen in 30-odd years,β said Janet Wilson, a political commentator who previously worked for the mainstream conservative National Party, which leads the coalition government, and is now sharply critical of it.
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The sudden shift has caught out some American expats. Jamie Pomeroy and her husband, both in their mid-30s, moved to Queenstown from Boulder, Colo., in September, the month before the election.
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They were motivated in part by Ardernβs move to ban semiautomatic weapons following the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre. A 2021 shooting at a Boulder supermarket with a similar weapon left 10 people dead.
βNew Zealand actually did something about it,β Pomeroy said.
Then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hugs a mosque-goer at the Kilbirnie Mosque on March 17, 2019, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
The country appeared to be βtrending the right wayβ on the things they cared about, she said, including the environment and gun laws.
Less than a year later, theyβre returning to North America β maybe to Canada this time. βSince the election, it seems like all the values we admired New Zealand for are going the other way,β Pomeroy said. βIt doesnβt feel like the forever home we hoped it would be.β
The Ardern era is well and truly over. The National-led coalition that took office in November has set about undoing many of her governmentβs initiatives. It is following a playbook not unlike βProject 2025,β the second-term βbattle planβ promoted by pro-Trump think tanks designed to concentrate power in the executive branch and unravel efforts to slow global warming.
People protest on Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand, on June 8. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)
It is reversing a ban on oil and gas drilling, and is proposing a βfast-trackβ 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 worldβs largest marine sanctuaries and set aside a world-leading cow βburpβ tax as it questions the science on methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
For years, mainstream politicians on both sides of the aisle have attempted to preserve New Zealandβs unusual fauna. The marine sanctuary was a vision of a former conservative government, which also funded climate studies and vowed to eradicate nonnative pests by 2050.
When she was prime minister, Ardern argued that her policies would help New Zealand preserve its green image globally. The new resources minister dismisses that as βgreen unicorn thinking.β
New Zealandβs pivot to the right was driven by the political fallout from the Ardern governmentβs coronavirus pandemic response. Although hailed internationally for saving lives, the lockdowns and vaccine mandates led to protests about freedoms being trampled.
The leaders of the two junior partners in the coalition government capitalized on that sentiment. They are David Seymour, the 41-year-old leader of the libertarian ACT party, and Winston Peters, who has been in Parliament since before Seymour was born and leads the populist New Zealand First party.
The two of them are pressuring Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his National Party to veer sharp right, Wilson said, pushing through changes that were never part of Nationalβs campaign plan, like reversing a world-leading plan to ban smoking for future generations.
βLuxon hasnβt put his imprimatur on the coalition, so youβve got three leaders of a country trying to battle it out to see who really is the alpha dog,β she said.
From left, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and ACT party leader David Seymour in Wellington on Nov. 24. (Mark Coote/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
ACT has boasted that it βpunches above its weightβ in the coalition, saying that even though it has only 11 lawmakers in the 123-seat Parliament, it is responsible for half of the governmentβs actions. But Seymour wants more. Asked if ACT has an outsize influence over the government, he said: βWe have some but not as many as I would like of our policies being advanced.β
During coalition talks, Seymour won concessions for American-style charter schools; a βthree strikesβ law extending prison terms for repeat offenders; and a deal to rewrite the countryβs Arms Act, revisiting a ban on military-style rifles after the 2019 mass killing. He is pushing for a referendum on New Zealandβs founding document with Indigenous mΔori that opponents warn will be divisive.
Some researchers also attribute Seymourβs rise and the recent political shift to aggressive campaigning by right-leaning interest groups with ties to the United States, where think tanks backed by conservative donors have been a brain trust for GOP administrations since the Reagan era.
They point to one neoliberal nonprofit in particular: the Atlas Network.
The Atlas Network has nearly 600 global partners β including the Heritage Foundation, which leads Project 2025, and climate deniers. Its stated goal is helping βfreedom-oriented idea entrepreneursβ lobby for lower taxes, smaller government and less regulation. Behind the scenes, neoliberalism scholars say Atlas Network alumni campaign against climate policies around the globe from Argentina to Australia.
βItβs like a permanent soft coup. Theyβre ready to go at any moment in any country as soon as the opportunity arises,β said Jeremy Walker, a political historian at the University of Technology Sydney who studied the links between neoliberal lobbyists and fossil fuel companies in Australia. Others have charted the activities of Atlas Network partners in South America and Europe.
Atlas Networkβs chairperson, Debbi Gibbs, is a New Zealander whose wealthy businessman father helped found ACT. Her mother is one of ACTβs biggest donors. Gibbs says Atlas Network is nonpolitical, and βthe idea that there could be a centrally controlled cabalβ overseeing hundreds of groups in 120 countries βis just mind-blowing.β
The most prominent Atlas affiliate in New Zealand is Seymour, who will become deputy prime minister next year.
His relationship with Atlas dates back nearly two decades. He was awarded a two-week βAtlas MBAβ in 2008. At the time, he worked for the Frontier Center for Public Policy, an Atlas Network partner in Canada that has disparaged climate science.
Upon his return to New Zealand, he went into politics, entering Parliament in 2014 as ACTβs sole representative. But it wasnβt until 2020 that he gained prominence, successfully campaigning for assisted-dying laws. Gibbs, who has been on the Atlas Network board for a decade, got to know Seymour during this end-of life-campaign. She said she wasnβt officially involved but shared research and ideas from her American advocacy with Seymour.
Then when New Zealanders bristled at pandemic-era restrictions, Seymour seized upon the mood and accused Ardern of using the coronavirus to βjustify more state control.β
In a speech in February 2021, Seymour cited an Atlas survey to bolster his claim that βour commitment to freedom is being lost.β
Asked about his links with Atlas, Seymour dismissed as βconspiracyβ the idea that βsomehow the world is organized by the Atlas Network,β saying he has been subject to a lot of theories about secretive influence efforts.
But even commentators on the right are alarmed. βNow heβs got power. We are absolutely seeing the whites of his eyes,β Wilson said. βWeβre now seeing the radicalism of some of his policies.β
Itβs an opinion piece written by a former Massey University BA student who describes herself as being a former member of the βTeam of 5 millionβ. Hardly impartial journalism.We've never gone hard left, only in your own mind.
Here you go:
WELLINGTON, New Zealand β After the debate between President Biden and Donald Trump turned disastrous for the incumbent Thursday, comedian Jon Stewart quipped on βThe Daily Showβ that he needed to βcall a real estate agent in New Zealand.β
Stewart was riffing on some American liberalsβ fantasy when Trump was last in power. Many talked of moving to New Zealand, a faraway place they viewed as utopian, with a progressive leader in Jacinda Ardern and natural beauty that was second to none. A significant number actually did: Data from the 2018 Census shows a jump in American-born residents in New Zealand of nearly 30 percent, or more than 6,000 people, compared with five years earlier.
Americans, like Stewart, looking for an escape hatch will find New Zealand a very different place this time around. Ardern is gone, and so too are her policies. This country is now led by a coalition of center-right, libertarian and populist lawmakers who have formed its most conservative government in decades.
βThis is the sharpest political swing in a generation, the coalition is the most conservative I have seen in 30-odd years,β said Janet Wilson, a political commentator who previously worked for the mainstream conservative National Party, which leads the coalition government, and is now sharply critical of it.
Follow Climate & environment
Follow
The sudden shift has caught out some American expats. Jamie Pomeroy and her husband, both in their mid-30s, moved to Queenstown from Boulder, Colo., in September, the month before the election.
GET CAUGHT UP
Stories to keep you informed
Next
Dissenting Republican delegates sign protest of Trump platform
Dissenting Republican delegates sign protest of Trump platform
U.S., Germany foiled Russian plot to assassinate CEO of arms manufacturer, officials say
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Family of teen who died after βOne Chip Challengeβ sues snack company
Family of teen who died after βOne Chip Challengeβ sues snack company
La NiΓ±a is coming. Hereβs how it could change the weather.
La NiΓ±a is coming. Hereβs how it could change the weather.
Do landlords have to provide AC? Hereβs what renters should know.
Do landlords have to provide AC? Hereβs what renters should know.
They were motivated in part by Ardernβs move to ban semiautomatic weapons following the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre. A 2021 shooting at a Boulder supermarket with a similar weapon left 10 people dead.
βNew Zealand actually did something about it,β Pomeroy said.
Then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hugs a mosque-goer at the Kilbirnie Mosque on March 17, 2019, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
The country appeared to be βtrending the right wayβ on the things they cared about, she said, including the environment and gun laws.
Less than a year later, theyβre returning to North America β maybe to Canada this time. βSince the election, it seems like all the values we admired New Zealand for are going the other way,β Pomeroy said. βIt doesnβt feel like the forever home we hoped it would be.β
The Ardern era is well and truly over. The National-led coalition that took office in November has set about undoing many of her governmentβs initiatives. It is following a playbook not unlike βProject 2025,β the second-term βbattle planβ promoted by pro-Trump think tanks designed to concentrate power in the executive branch and unravel efforts to slow global warming.
People protest on Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand, on June 8. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)
It is reversing a ban on oil and gas drilling, and is proposing a βfast-trackβ 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 worldβs largest marine sanctuaries and set aside a world-leading cow βburpβ tax as it questions the science on methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
For years, mainstream politicians on both sides of the aisle have attempted to preserve New Zealandβs unusual fauna. The marine sanctuary was a vision of a former conservative government, which also funded climate studies and vowed to eradicate nonnative pests by 2050.
When she was prime minister, Ardern argued that her policies would help New Zealand preserve its green image globally. The new resources minister dismisses that as βgreen unicorn thinking.β
New Zealandβs pivot to the right was driven by the political fallout from the Ardern governmentβs coronavirus pandemic response. Although hailed internationally for saving lives, the lockdowns and vaccine mandates led to protests about freedoms being trampled.
The leaders of the two junior partners in the coalition government capitalized on that sentiment. They are David Seymour, the 41-year-old leader of the libertarian ACT party, and Winston Peters, who has been in Parliament since before Seymour was born and leads the populist New Zealand First party.
The two of them are pressuring Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his National Party to veer sharp right, Wilson said, pushing through changes that were never part of Nationalβs campaign plan, like reversing a world-leading plan to ban smoking for future generations.
βLuxon hasnβt put his imprimatur on the coalition, so youβve got three leaders of a country trying to battle it out to see who really is the alpha dog,β she said.
From left, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and ACT party leader David Seymour in Wellington on Nov. 24. (Mark Coote/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
ACT has boasted that it βpunches above its weightβ in the coalition, saying that even though it has only 11 lawmakers in the 123-seat Parliament, it is responsible for half of the governmentβs actions. But Seymour wants more. Asked if ACT has an outsize influence over the government, he said: βWe have some but not as many as I would like of our policies being advanced.β
During coalition talks, Seymour won concessions for American-style charter schools; a βthree strikesβ law extending prison terms for repeat offenders; and a deal to rewrite the countryβs Arms Act, revisiting a ban on military-style rifles after the 2019 mass killing. He is pushing for a referendum on New Zealandβs founding document with Indigenous mΔori that opponents warn will be divisive.
Some researchers also attribute Seymourβs rise and the recent political shift to aggressive campaigning by right-leaning interest groups with ties to the United States, where think tanks backed by conservative donors have been a brain trust for GOP administrations since the Reagan era.
They point to one neoliberal nonprofit in particular: the Atlas Network.
The Atlas Network has nearly 600 global partners β including the Heritage Foundation, which leads Project 2025, and climate deniers. Its stated goal is helping βfreedom-oriented idea entrepreneursβ lobby for lower taxes, smaller government and less regulation. Behind the scenes, neoliberalism scholars say Atlas Network alumni campaign against climate policies around the globe from Argentina to Australia.
βItβs like a permanent soft coup. Theyβre ready to go at any moment in any country as soon as the opportunity arises,β said Jeremy Walker, a political historian at the University of Technology Sydney who studied the links between neoliberal lobbyists and fossil fuel companies in Australia. Others have charted the activities of Atlas Network partners in South America and Europe.
Atlas Networkβs chairperson, Debbi Gibbs, is a New Zealander whose wealthy businessman father helped found ACT. Her mother is one of ACTβs biggest donors. Gibbs says Atlas Network is nonpolitical, and βthe idea that there could be a centrally controlled cabalβ overseeing hundreds of groups in 120 countries βis just mind-blowing.β
The most prominent Atlas affiliate in New Zealand is Seymour, who will become deputy prime minister next year.
His relationship with Atlas dates back nearly two decades. He was awarded a two-week βAtlas MBAβ in 2008. At the time, he worked for the Frontier Center for Public Policy, an Atlas Network partner in Canada that has disparaged climate science.
Upon his return to New Zealand, he went into politics, entering Parliament in 2014 as ACTβs sole representative. But it wasnβt until 2020 that he gained prominence, successfully campaigning for assisted-dying laws. Gibbs, who has been on the Atlas Network board for a decade, got to know Seymour during this end-of life-campaign. She said she wasnβt officially involved but shared research and ideas from her American advocacy with Seymour.
Then when New Zealanders bristled at pandemic-era restrictions, Seymour seized upon the mood and accused Ardern of using the coronavirus to βjustify more state control.β
In a speech in February 2021, Seymour cited an Atlas survey to bolster his claim that βour commitment to freedom is being lost.β
Asked about his links with Atlas, Seymour dismissed as βconspiracyβ the idea that βsomehow the world is organized by the Atlas Network,β saying he has been subject to a lot of theories about secretive influence efforts.
But even commentators on the right are alarmed. βNow heβs got power. We are absolutely seeing the whites of his eyes,β Wilson said. βWeβre now seeing the radicalism of some of his policies.β
Which parts are incorrect?
NZWarriors.com
Interesting to see Janet Wilsonβs opinion who used to work for the national party
Itβs an OPINION piece.
Which parts are incorrect?
NZWarriors.com
- Thread starter
- #9,576
The first paragraph about how many Americans were calling a NZ real estate agent.
6,000 is insignificant out of 300,000,000.
Also insignificant with record immigration that went up 200k last year alone.
I stopped reading after that.
Can we read you economic theory thesis you wrote for your doctorate?
Fuck itβs like Christmas with 2 new emojis. Thanks for alerting me to this
NZWarriors.com
At the end of the day what matters for either side of the political spectrum is what the majority think. Not the opinion of a couple of journalists and one American family. Rightly or wrongly, the majority of NZβers are supporting the right, and by a decent margin.
At the end of the day our political parties should be implementing a common good for all New Zealanders. Regardless of origin.
