Meet the Candidates meeting
Damien O'Connor (Labour) addresses the audience at last week's meeting while other candidates, from left, Kevin Hague (Greens), Steven Wilkinson (Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis) and Robert Terry (Aotearoa Youth) look on. Photo: Marg Braggins.
The non-appearance of sitting member Chris Auchinvole took some of the shine off a “Meet the Candidates” opportunity in Takaka last Wednesday.
Grey Power and the primary teachers' union, the NZEI, co-sponsored the meeting, which was chaired by Roy Reid from Grey Power and attended by about 40 voters.
The action took place in front of the backdrop from Takaka Primary's recent hit production, Walt Disney, This is Your Life, prompting one audience member to wonder whether Mickey Mouse might show up as well.
Candidates who did attend were Kevin Hague (Greens), Damien O'Connor (Labour), Robert Terry (Aotearoa Youth) and Steven Wilkinson (Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis).
Mr Auchinvole was unable to attend because he was meeting with Pike River families in Greymouth. He sent a prepared speech to be read out by his electorate secretary, Fran Cohen. The ACT candidate, Allan Birchfield, sent an apology, but there was no sign of the United Future or Conservative candidates.
Labour's Damien O'Connor is campaigning only for the constituency - he is not on Labour's list.
"It's likely that West Coast/Tasman will have two MPs elected to parliament via other parties' lists. I'm passionate about this electorate. If you make me your representative in parliament, that would make three in the house for West Coast/Tasman. Labour is the only party that can stop National from progressing their agenda."
Mr O'Connor said that Labour had a long and proud record of making "hard calls in hard times,” but times were clearly not tough for everyone.
"Westpac enjoyed a 14 percent increase in their profit - to $800 million. Times are not tough for them."
Labour's solutions for the country's economic ills include a capital gains tax and a staged increase to 67 in the age of eligibility for national superannuation.
"By 2025 the number of us who will be 65-plus doubles, and there won't be many more people in the work force paying tax. Everyone but the PM agrees that the age for super has to go up, and the capital gains tax will help to make the whole tax system fairer. Making the first $5000 of earnings tax-free will help this rebalancing too."
Mr O'Connor attacked the proposed asset sales, saying that his party had learned from its mistakes in that regard.
"First we were told that proceeds from National's planned asset sales would be used to pay down debt. Now John Key has changed his mind and says they will be used to build infrastructure. We're not that stupid. The Government is simply talking to their supporters who have money. They haven't got anything to invest in with safety any more so they're being offered the chance to invest in the nation's energy companies. This kind of thinking will undermine our way of life. We like to think we live in an egalitarian society, but we're third only behind the US and the UK in disparity. We have to fight to maintain equality of opportunity in New Zealand. If we don't stop National in this election, the country will be a sad place in three years."
Kevin Hague explained the Green Party's position succinctly, especially in relation to the current government's philosophical position.
"This government is intent on a traditional economic model in which capital uses people and resources to make as much profit as it can. We see this is as wrong. The economy is a tool by which a society can achieve social goals."
Mr Hague said that Labour was likely to be the Greens' preferred coalition partner. He stressed that he was campaigning for the party vote only in West Coast/Tasman.
"We have three priorities: jobs, rivers and kids. The Green party would create 100,000 new jobs by retaining our assets and using the energy companies, for example, to create new technologies and green jobs.
“Rivers are a high priority. Most of New Zealand's lowland rivers are no longer safe to be in, let alone to drink. We want to make every river swimmable again. Most New Zealanders - including most farmers - want to see this. You can see how it can be made to work in the Aorere catchment - it's a shame about the Motupipi."
The Greens had already signalled their determination to raise 100,000 New Zealand children out of poverty before 2014, and Mr Hague said that what disturbed him especially was that two out of five of the 200,000 New Zealand children who currently live in poverty come from homes in which people are in paid employment.
"There has been no effective action by successive governments to close the gaps between the rich and the poor. After the election, if we have more MPs, we will make it a priority. I realise that lifting 100,000 kids out of poverty isn't the whole solution, but if you give us more power, or a longer time-frame, we'll get them all."
Mr Hague also spoke about the Greens' home insulation project, making the point that having healthier rental properties was also likely to make a difference to lower income families.
He criticised the Government's removal of the Training Incentive Allowance, which he described as a "ladder out of poverty" that had worked for people like the Greens' own co-leader Metiria Turei.
Takaka man Steven Wilkinson is standing for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party. He spoke of the 70 percent of police time and the $70 million worth of hospital time that is absorbed by alcohol-related behaviour. By comparison, cannabis users were unlikely to commit offences, he said, repeating that prohibition of cannabis was expensive, wasteful and unsuccessful. Mr Wilkinson spoke of the 16 states of the USA that had legalised cannabis and said that the threatened decline of civilisation had not occurred there.
"Successive governments have tried to keep cannabis in the bag. The only time it's actually in the bag is at the point of sale. Prohibition is supposed to be there to protect us from excessive use. You cannot justify the jailing of people on cannabis offences. Jailing is a lifelong punishment because it prevents people from travelling and getting some kinds of jobs."
Though not conspicuously youthful himself, Robert Terry from Reefton represented the Aotearoa Youth Party. He spoke about his own long history of political action. He urged the audience to "take direct political action" and favoured "civil revolution" as the best way forward.
Mr Auchinvole, in his speech, made a particular pitch to older voters, correctly surmising that most of the people at the meeting would be middle-aged or older. His speech also spent some time attacking Labour's record when they were in government, and said that his party had the strategies for keeping "thousands of young people off the dole for the rest of their lives”.
As "one school leaver in five leaves without enough skills in numeracy and literacy", Mr Auchinvole's party contends the solution lies in National Standards, which "identify where improvements need to made," he said.
With reference to the "mixed ownership of state assets", Mr Auchinvole claimed that it was the most successful ownership model and stated that it would free up $5-7 billion, the first billion of which would be used to modernise NZ's schools.
When questions were invited from the floor, educational National Standards quickly became an issue. Wendy Drummond from Collingwood Area School asked all the candidates for their position on the issue, saying, "testing regimes don't make a difference to children's learning; good teaching and appropriate funding do”.
Mr O'Connor explained that Labour would make the standards optional and make the Ministry of Education and ERO "smarten up". Mr Hague said that the Greens would scrap the standards because "education should focus on the strengths and needs of individual children. The point of having a state is to provide education, health and social services."
Ms Drummond was disappointed not to have the chance to debate National Standards with Mr Auchinvole.
"I hear that this is the third or fourth candidates' meeting he's missed. I've had trouble getting to see him too. It's not good enough."
Neil Wilson
