The "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" Budget.
Unless you are a landlord or a wealthy donor to the coalition government, then otherwise, let us get on our knees and help tie those laces for you king xoxox
Behind The Panels
It would be disingenuous to say that I’m shocked by the 2025 budget announcement. For the past two and a half years, we have seen this government hack and slash the public sector, purposefully target low-income workers, and actively start a campaign to privatise our healthcare and education systems while simultaneously pleasing their donors and justifying a landlord tax during a cost-of-living crisis.
In the lead-up to this budget, the big story has been the administration's throwing pay equity cases under the bus to “even out the books” to show their core base that the government isn’t doing any wasteful spending. As many of our major media outlets have cautiously pointed out, this budget was made possible by the sacrifice of workers.
And then they doubled down, announcing that they would be halving the government contributions to Kiwisaver, meaning most workers could be saving less annually for what will most likely be most of our retirement savings. Their justification was to encourage us to up our contributions to Kiwisaver so we common folk “adopt a savings habit” because the ONE THING most middle to low-income workers have right now is disposable income.
They also announced huge cuts to the Best Start program, and that 18 and 19-year-olds will now have their Jobseeker and emergency benefits tested against their parents' incomes - a shitty system that I guarantee will not cater for circumstances around relationships with parents and parents involvement in lives.
As NZ annual job growth continues to plateau, as the government announces more job cuts, and more people flee the country for better opportunities overseas (and local bands make bops about this circumstance), this budget offers no hope for any of these circumstances changing.
Then there is the self-proclaimed “Labour” Party and its spineless leader, Chris Hipkins.
Im fucking furious at this budget, but Im not shocked because this coalition haven’t been shy with showing us who they are and what their priories are. But Chris Hipkins is supposed to be the OPPOSITION leader, he has been given a golden opportunity to fight back, show that he can lead our country, and give the people the things they are LITERALLY screaming for on the streets. Instead we get this play it safe non-committal bullshit from a man still trying to court a girl (the centre right) who has never had any interest in him.
The latest example is this response to whether or not he’d reinstate pay equity claims:
How do you fuck up such a simple win as this? Seriously, what kind of butter fingers do you have to catch this ball? How can you call yourself the leader of the LABOUR Party and not have the backs of workers???
They need a shake-up, they need a leader with a godamn spine who is going to take a risk and promise things that may shake things up, but actually make a difference. It’s such a boring, failed Democrat move to try and stay on the fence and not spook anyone. They need someone to inspire the base and turn around this sinking ship.
I’m not surprised people are fleeing this country, giving up on seeing the leadership and priorities that both major parties have. It’s fair game to not want to be the house band on the Titanic, committed to playing as the ship goes down.
We deserve so much better than this budget and these leaders, we deserve so much better than the childish insults being flung in the house, and the adoption of American influences, I hate seeing the effects of these decisions on our most vulnerable and it breaks my heart to think we have more than a year before we get to decide where we go from here.
Everyone keeps proclaiming this is a “one-term government,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve worn us down just enough to not care anymore.
Danz.
I don’t want to leave on a dire note, despite old man Winston crying “Marxism,” the Green alternative budget is a hopeful read.
I’d also like to highlight that despite their unprecedented proposed suspension, the current prime minister waxing lyrical about “Māorification” and their continuing fight with the redefinition of Te Tiriti with the Regulatory Standards Bill, I’ve been proud to see the leadership and integrity coming from the leaders of Te Paati Māori o Aotearoa, I currently feel they have the strongest and most sincere leaders of any political party at the moment.
Maybe there is a sliver of hope.
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