Politics - a necessary evil
 

Hi All,
I've not posted in a while, but still on course to move to Auckland in November.

I was recently on a Webinar with a migration company and they were talking about politics.

In the UK I follow it as much as to say I know who the major parties. (I don't know MP names lol)
And I know what the major talking points are.

Can someone give me a brief lesson in NZ current politics since I believe it's an election year.
When's the election?
Who's running?
What are the major topics?
Etc.

I wouldn't say I'm hugely interested but I think its important to know the basics.
:)

Stay Safe
Stephen

Re: Politics - a necessary evil
 

Most of the details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ze...election,_2017

Main topic presently is immigration. :lol:

Re: Politics - a necessary evil
 

Those damn immigants I knew it was them.....although has t the whole immigration thing been called a shameless attempt to win popularity

Re: Politics - a necessary evil
 

We have a Thatcher style National Party government and a New-Labour style opposition (i.e no real difference) if that's any help.

No sign of a Corbyn revolution yet..but give it time :starsmile:

Re: Politics - a necessary evil
 

Politics New Zealand style....

Searching for Todd Barclay's people deep in the murky heart of Clutha-Southland

Re: Politics - a necessary evil
 

- Later this year, if your sheep aren't registered to vote they won't get a say!
- Bill, Andy and an old fella called Winston.*
- Andy reckons we should build a few more houses so the people who move here have somewhere to live but Bill said "..something, something market forces something..." Winston Peters winks and smiles at pensioners with a streak of silver in his hair and a cheeky sparkle in his eye.

*Full disclosure: Other political parties/leaders are available.

The New Zealand political scene is not that sophisticated or ambitious, everyone electable tends to defer towards being centrist in any view.

Re: Politics - a necessary evil
 

What i love about New Zealand is the country has so few issues compared to many other western nations that opposition parties can't really gain any traction as the issues they focus on that need to be fixed aren't as extreme as in other parts of the world. The biggest issue here is migration and lets be honest NZ is a very underpopulated nation where skilled migrants are sorely needed. They enforce a points based system so therefore in order to migrate and work here one needs both the skills and to be not hindering the local population from getting the same job. It works for both the migrant and economic prosperity of the nation. The problem however is that New Zealand needs to have a system like Australia where they have a regional migration system in order to prevent most migrants staying in Auckland. While i think Auckland is a pretty cool city i can't for the life of me understand why so many people find it more desirable over other cities here where you get half the rain, half the congestion and a more relaxed lifestyle. Anyway i find politics here to be much more tame compared to whats happening in the west, There is so much anger there