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National’s Sam Uffindell cantered home, writes Chris Trotter, but the Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Sue Grey attracted an ominous level of support

Public Policy / opinion
National’s Sam Uffindell cantered home, writes Chris Trotter, but the Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Sue Grey attracted an ominous level of support
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Sam Uffindell.

By Chris Trotter*

The Right's gadfly commentator, Matthew Hooton, summed up the Tauranga by-election in his usual pithy fashion. “Tonight’s result is poor for the National Party, catastrophic for Labour, very good for the Act Party and brilliant for the far-right nutter fringe. The last bit makes it terrible for New Zealand.” About National and Labour, Hooton is simply being provocative. But his assessment of “the far-right nutter fringe’s” impact on the by-election is spot-on.

The 2020 election result in Tauranga, which saw the gap between National and Labour shrink dramatically, was – as every political commentator should know (but apparently doesn’t) aberrant. Hell, the entire General Election was aberrant – as National’s loss of seats like Rangitata and Ilam made clear. For Jacinda Ardern and her party to have held onto the roughly 400,000 “Thank-you for saving us from Covid-19” votes that pushed Labour up-and-over 50% of the Party Vote, would have required her to shift New Zealand into some sort of weird parallel universe, where the absence of success goes unreproved, and political failure is rewarded.

Much as she might like to be living in such a universe, the Prime Minister knows that she is not. Which is why she and her advisers would have been looking at the results of 2017 for guidance – not 2020. On that basis, the Tauranga By-Election was very far from being a catastrophe.

As Greg Presland, lawyer and regular contributor to the Labour-leaning website “The Standard” tweeted shortly after the result was announced: “Election night Tauranga result is Uffindell 56% Tinetti 25%. 2017 election result was Bridges 54% Tinetti 26%. Beware of claim this is a bad result for Labour. Looks like business as usual without the anti-Government bounce that opposition parties hope for in by-elections.”

Equally untrue is the claim that the Tauranga result represents a poor showing for National. To easily restore the status-quo-ante-Covid was all anyone could have reasonably asked of Sam Uffindell. This was especially true of a contest precipitated by an incumbent National MP in circumstances entirely lacking in political drama, whose outcome was never in doubt. Uffindell was always going to win, and win he did in a commendably boring campaign. (Exciting campaigns in safe seats are generally regarded as unhelpful – even dangerous!)

In these circumstances the risible 40% turnout was as predictable as the result itself. With the outcome a foregone conclusion and the rain bucketing down, only the most faithful of party stalwarts were ever going to make it to the polling booths. That they did so in almost exactly the same percentages as the 2017 contest should be enough for any sensible commentator to conclude that normal electoral transmission in Tauranga has been resumed.

Although Act’s candidate, Cameron Luxton, should have felt extremely pleased with his 10.26% of the votes cast, he could be forgiven for feeling that he had earned a much bigger share. Most observers of the by-election campaign concur that Luxton was by far the most dynamic candidate.

Once again positing a parallel political universe, this one featuring publicly-owned local broadcasters committed to bringing fulsome coverage of electoral contests to their viewers (don’t guffaw, New Zealand once boasted such broadcasters!) Luxton would have ended his campaign with an embarrassingly large number of traditional National voters in his column.

Those Tauranga electors who tuned into the debates on the weekend political shows can hardly have avoided drawing unfavourable comparisons between Luxton and Uffindell. Not that he really needs to, given the result, but if Sam could arrange for a generous injection, or two, of political passion, his value to Team National would undoubtedly be boosted. Languid-and-Aristocratic is not the Kiwi way – not in politics.

But, if the Tauranga candidates with the best chances appeared to lack all conviction, then at least one of those written off as belonging to the worst was definitely not lacking in passionate intensity. Sue Grey, candidate for the New Zealand Outdoors & Freedom Party, managed an impressive 4.72% of the votes cast.

Just how impressive is immediately apparent when one considers that the nationwide support for the Outdoors Party in 2020 was a miniscule 0.1%. (3,256 Party Votes.) On Saturday, another 53 votes would have put Grey over 5%. Replicated across the country in 2023, that would put at least six NZOF MPs in the House of Representatives.

It is important to acknowledge that Grey’s result was achieved in a by-election with a very low turnout, and in which the NZ First and Māori parties opted not to field candidates. Nevertheless, the 47-fold increase in the NZOF Party’s support is so dramatic that it merits serious political scrutiny.

The Outdoors Party’s beginnings are nothing if not firmly rooted in the “heartland”. It was founded to represent the huntin’, shootin’ fishin’ community: rugged, authority-scorning, Kiwi blokes and sheilas entirely lacking in affinity for the vegan “Greenies” of the big cities, who wouldn’t know one end of a hunting rifle or fishing rod from the other. On the other hand, the sort of hippies who hare off into the bush to live off-the-grid, and who decry the use of 1080 poison by DoC, are a different story. Like them, these outdoorsmen and women also favour the legalisation of cannabis and would like the state to FRO out of their lives.

If that description rings a bell, then it’s because a great many of these characters could be found camping in Parliament Grounds earlier this year. Begin with a general pre-disposition towards believing the absolute worst of the Powers That Be, mix-in the uncompromising government demands of the Covid-19 Emergency, and then allow the resulting anti-vaccination fury to be articulated by a personable online spokeswoman – who just happens to be a lawyer and scientist – and hey-presto! Sue Grey gets 917 votes in Tauranga.

It is also important to note that Grey’s co-leader is fellow lawyer Donna Pokere-Phillips. This bi-cultural aspect of the NZOF Party is important. Though harbouring a strong anti-immigrant element within its ranks, there is very little evidence of the anti-Māori sentiment that disfigures many far-right groups. If this is fascism, then it is of a quintessentially Kiwi, backwoods libertarian, variety. Not so much brown shirts as black singlets.

Unsurprisingly, the evangelical Christian leader of the Freedoms & Rights Coalition, Brian Tamaki, has been working hard to draw together all the parties of the far-right into a single electoral proposition – an “Alliance”-style coalition of the Dark Side, if you will. So far unsuccessful, Tamaki is likely to remain so. Too much of his message bears a “Made in the USA” stamp. New Zealand, one of the world’s most secular nations, needs a drummer of a very different kind to Donald Trump and Q-Anon.

The NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party, while far too angry and conspiratorial for most New Zealanders, has, nevertheless, clearly shown itself to have something going for it. Good keen fascism, perhaps? Something that was always there, just below the surface of New Zealand progressivism. The New Zealand poet, James K. Baxter, saw it and wrote about it in his “Pig Island Letters” series.

Lines that could have been written for Sue Grey and her comrades:

Her son is moodier, has seen

An angel with a sword

Standing above the clumps of old man manuka

Just waiting for the word

 

To overturn the cities and the rivers

And split the house like a rotten totara log.

Quite unconcerned he sets his traps for possums

And whistles to his dog.


*Chris Trotter has been writing and commenting professionally about New Zealand politics for more than 30 years. He writes a weekly column for interest.co.nz. His work may also be found at http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com.

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102 Comments

Given the hash that Nicola Willis, the great hope for the National Party, has made of the Finance portfolio, it appears that Uffindelll will be fast-tracked into that role. But I can't help feeling that the whole National caucus reeks of 'failing upwards'  - the current leader and the new member for Tauranga included.

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Genuine question - what do you mean by 'failing upwards'?

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A bit like falling down a longdrop and come back up smelling of roses

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You would think with a safe seat on offer and the near certainty of being in government next year, National should have attracted a talented candidate. Uffindell was the best they could find. It's a worry.

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Maybe a truly talented person would think that being in government from next year is a hospital pass, so it's the last place they want to be 🤔.

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I have met Sam, he is a decent family man who wants the best for his community. Compared to Todd Barclay, Jami Lee Ross, Hamish Walker and Andrew Falloon he is a vast improvement in quality.

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Yes seems like he probably done an ethics paper or two, unlike Mahuta, I know who I'd rather have trying to improve our country, and get us out of the mess coming.

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https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2022/06/19/jacinda-is-an-international-polit…

Jacinda is an international political rock star, Albo’s 501 concession & why Nanaia’s Pacific Geopolitical strategy is working

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to participate in the upcoming NATO Leaders Summit, becoming the first New Zealand leader to do so.

Our PM has enormous popularity internationally, and this is a GOOD thing for NZ! –

People criticising her and the invitation are bad faith actors who would find something to criticise her over if she had won lotto and donated it all to charity!

It is positive for NZ that the rest of the West respect and like our Prime Minister, this is soft NZ power at work!

One of the things not known by many is that when China attempted their Pacific bribe, those Pacific nations privately asked our advice on the offer.

They didn’t ask Australia or America for their thoughts on the offer, they asked us.
They asked us, because NZ has been genuine in its interaction with the Pacific because they are whanau to us and that has had an enormous difference in approach.

America and Australia were as shocked by the Pacific Nations asking our advice as they were at China’s audacity to try it on in the first place. This level of trusted influence NZ has with our Pacific family has provoked the hint of a massive change in the 501 rules that will see an enormous drop off of deportees and the quiet promise of a bilateral economic relationship with America.

That’s why Nanaia kept her Cabinet position despite claims she is lazy with our Pacific geopolitical strategy, the truth is that we have very deep and genuine relationships with our Pacific neighbours and that is only building because off China’s aggression, not declining.

In her meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi last week, the Chinese noted NZ soft power influence and how much they wanted to work with us…

On the Chinese side, a readout of the call published by Chinese-state media Xinhua said Wang told Mahuta China was ready to work with New Zealand in the South Pacific.

…NZs soft power is an enormous diplomatic tool that we have built with decades of genuine interaction with our Pacific brothers and sisters, we should feel proud that we are respected internationally and we should embrace our skills to sit down and hui issues out rather than picking up weapons.

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Worst PM in living memory. Listening  to Kidscan on the radio this morning. Ardern flies overseas while children starve. 

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Rex,kids were starving when JK was in charge,he still went on holiday to his Hawaiin holiday home....stop being so emotive.

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Tell that to the Henderson school students cited on the radio. I don’t think Ardern even knows where the room is to read it. International political fluffing does nothing to feed the poor. Is she the Minister?

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Emotive and completely unable to connect dots between policy of the last two decades and where it's brought the country to. These are the results of policy pandering to speculators' greed.

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Good comments. I do wonder if Mahuta is struggling physically (she has a bad back) but overall, I think her comments reflect on the relationship NZ has in the Pacific, and an understanding that the PICs are a bit sick of various countries telling them what to do. SIs choice to side with China alludes to the broken domestic politics at play, but it's great to see the other countries consider the interactions and take a step back. Hopefully the pause provides an opportunity for the Pacific Islands Forum to re-fresh and come back stronger. 

On Jacinda Ardern's international profile - if it were John Key the same people having a go at Ardern would be lauding what a great job he is doing of placing NZ on the international stage. I think we have to accept there are a large number of people that just don't like her - some with a bit of rationale, a lot with no rationale other than her being a middle class, young uppity female. NZ tall poppy syndrome at it's best. 

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"- some with a bit of rationale..." that would be the hubris and deceit then.

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Richardfromauckland, perhaps you have lost your sight and hearing! Adhern only became PM because of a stupid, self centred decision made by Peters.Before that she was a particularly average back bench MP, a list one at that. She couldn't even win one of Labours safest seats - twice in a row! If you actually listen to her speak she knows a whole lot about nothing. Always was the emperors new clothes! Absolutely our worst ever PM and government!! The country is already in a very bad place, if she gets another term we are toast! 

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Yep, I watched on and cheered when Peters announced it. This government has a lot of weaknesses, and Ardern (I assume that's who you meant when you say Adhern. Guess it's better than calling her Cindy) has a several blindspots. As does Luxon - his are anyone on less than 180k, and of course public transport. 

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An accidental spelling error but thank you for pointing it out! If you can get past that my point is I hate fake posers! And Ardern is right up there!!

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vman, you sound like one of the multitude of PR muppets working in the department for the PM! The sooner someone (ANYONE!) overseas offers her a job the better!

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DD62,As an enthusiatic amateur,I will take that as a compliment.I just like to add a counterpoint as it does seem to be an echo chamber of Hoskings listeners at times in here.  

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Our PM has enormous popularity internationally.  You must be reading mainstream media.  Here in the USA she is looked upon as a fascist who has taken all liberties from the people.  The rural people laugh at the heinous lockdowns, weapon confiscations, banning protests and mandatory vaccinations.  Americans love their liberties.  I guess living in a hermit kingdom makes one ignorant to what is really going on, perhaps it is the government sponsored media or the medical industrial complex putting her on a pedestal. 

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Dick, I can hear the banjoes playing from here...are you speaking on behalf of the whole USA or just QAnon & the Proud Boys...??

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Thanks for the info vman. Pleased to see how Jacinda and Nanaia are viewed internationally. There focus is not just domestic politics. Especially the Pacific Island countries asking us for advice preferentially. Very impressive irrespective of whoever is in government.

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Wow, that is a seriously low bar. Damning with faint praise.

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Gnats leader Chris Luxon turned up in Tauranga to support his contender .... Jacinda Ardern did not ... she was too busy swanning around Queenstown , regardless that she's never skied  ... she's the leader of all NZ , except Tauranga , just couldn't be bothered  with you lot ...

... sadly , voters didnt give greater support to ACT candidate Luxton  .... that would've sent a message to Labour & to the Gnats ... 

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ACT???

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ACT !

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Association of Citizens and Taxpayers

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Association of Consumers and Taxpayers.

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NRA

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yes there is a message in that. One which will not be missed by many. She is increasingly guilty of arrogance. Will she jump before the next election?

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I think JA probably realised there was more value for NZ Inc by being seen in Queenstown and providing Aussie media outlets with sound bites and footage of her announcing the opening of the ski season,especially with pre departure testing gone soon.I don't think Good Morning Australia is going to run a segment on the Tauranga by election.I am sure the Qtown businesses appreciated it. 

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nz-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-ranked-a…

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ranked Australia's most trusted politician - again

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The champion of climate change - who owns an airline and opens a ski season - or did she drive there in her kiddlie cobalt mined, jungle coal powered EV? Captain Cindy's unclear climate change moment.

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Junior Staffer, you're sounding a wee bit unhinged. Might need to calm the farm a tad.

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Thank you for your kindness - I suffer from Hypocrisy Derangement Syndrome.

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Accurate. All you omitted was the comma.

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GBH...let's also remember,Mr Luxon doesn't have a lot to do at the moment,being in opposition is essentially being unemployed and on a very nice benefit,JA is a bit busy running the country.

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... I wouldnt complain if she was minister of tourism , or foreign affairs  ...  she's got a talent there ... heaps of it ...

Less so at running the country ... Hipkins would be better at that , IMO ...

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Quite disappointing to see Chris Trotter throwing labels such as “the far-right nutter fringes" & "facists" at NZdrs whose politics he doesn't agree with. I've read his columns for years, frequently admiring his erudition & eloquence. I'm also sure he's well aware of the "Overton Window".

I don't agree with most their politics either & I also don't agree with many of any parties policies. I do acknowledge that people & their representatives have a right to their beliefs (however misguided) so I don't call the Greens "far left nutter fringe" or the Maori party "fascists".

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They seem like a very populist rural centrist party to me. The do seem angry though. If you combine anger and populism and a less strict definition of fascists, I guess you could make the argument.

Looks to me like they have just crammed every "outdoors and freedom" populist idea from the last 20 years into their policy and manifesto. Not much neo-liberalism so maybe that's what confuses CT. Lets see if they can turn themselves into a functional party by next year there is a lot of anger in the electorate for them to tap into right now.

Their wiki page is hilarious I can't tell what level of satire was achieved from a quick read. Link

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Maybe it's more about growing levels of feeling disenfranchised.

Which isn't necessarily restricted to the rural/city divide.

Plenty of those within they city limits probably feeling like that too. Maybe they'll be voting TOP, and the rural folk voting for the Outdoors crowd.

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The Outdoors Party are a complete joke, they have zero regard for the native environment here, to the point when 'highlighting' nature on their ikky fb page, they post pics of Red Cardinals and such

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I'm not on facebook so thanks for highlighting that.

I reckon both Labour and National have their heads stuck up their respective ***** on a lot of growing issues in society. Labour have managed to find a few wedges to stick in here and there to sow the seeds of divisiveness that I haven't sensed since the Springbok tour.

National on the other hand, haven't offered anything on how they would bring us all back to be a slightly more unified country.

So if these 'complete joke' minor parties are starting to gain some ground, then it's only the fault of the two major parties.

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Something I am 112% sure of, and that is, a turn to the political right will do less than zero to address any of this. 

I agree Labour have been a bit chicken instead of being bold, and are still tainted with neoliberalism, but unless we do something pdq about climate change, nothing else will be worth arguing about.

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If it gets too hot in your area move.  If it goes under water then move.  If it gets too wet move somewhere drier.  Migrate like the hunter gatherers did.  I still love my fossil fuels and my V8 is getting expensive to run, but my condo stays cool in summer and warm in winter.  And I can fly around the world whenever I please, except visiting the hermit kingdom.  Drill baby drill.

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Don't read anything into Sue Grey receiving ?% of the vote on a 40% turnout. Every single one of her supporters will have voted, which, if there was a full turnout would equate to half the % she got at the byelection. 

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Hard to see a typical skittish by- election throwing up such an “ominous”  threat. Suggests to me more like the local body elections whereby if there is only a 30/40% turnout interests of the minority can get represented disproportionately to the electorate simply because those voters are proactive. In other words pro rata, the smaller the pool the bigger  your fish becomes. This can be evidenced by some local bodies being directed into such as bike lanes, removal of car parks for example, and beyond what the general population might have envisaged. Serves them right then for not turning out & voting then doesn’t it! 

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Maybe all local body elections should be on ANZAC day? Stop calling it a 'holiday' and bin the sales and get people to the polling booths.

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Of course it's about disenfranchisement. ACT managed to soak it up last election, with vague libertarianism, but then chose to advocate for landlords instead.

Its a global thing, we are in the end stages of neo-liberalism, the debt cycle has run it course. The population is starting to see it's lies and flaws. Everyone scenes the anger and the establishment is trying to ramp up the totalitarianism and state to control it. If the population organises they will become evil recluses.

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Spot on bud.

Ironic how he laments the demise of quality election broadcasting in the same article.

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Yes. A very low bar for labelling people Nazis these days. The risk is that otherwise reasonable people who find themselves agreeing with some of what these types put forward, will start openly identifying with the label so eagerly given to them by Trotter et al.

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Sue Grey is a far right nutter.  So why can't Chris Trotter label her party as such?

https://suegrey.co.nz/index.php/2020/05/18/cell-towers-burning-off-demo…

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...  how do you explain those two shapely bumps protruding through the top of her tee shirt , huh ! ... a pair of 5G's I'd reckon  ...

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Blimey GBH. Almost unprintable. What cups are you in then tonight?

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Which part of that article suggests to you that Sue Grey is on the far-right of the political spectrum?

Chris Trotter has fallen victim to the same tribal mindset as far too many others, and uses political terms to try and discredit people he doesn't like. He's like that old uncle who goes around calling everyone a communist, except unfortunately some people apparently pay attention to Chris Trotter.

Think what you like about Sue Grey, but the article you linked there relates only to the electromagnetic spectrum, not the political one.

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fair enough, far right probably doesn't apply to Sue, only a little bit of 'freedom fighter' about her, mostly she's just a regular conspiracy theorist nutter.

She has a whole website, you don't need to limit yourself to that one article.  It's full of facinating 'facts'

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Basically all that lot, her and VFF are preppers in the making. Sue Grey herself is a flat out liar, has zero concept of truth

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Despite the MSM portrayal of events, quite a lot of people are against or at least uncomfortable with forced vaccination Chris. None of the incumbent parties represent that view. The FOP result is not surprising at all and would likely be even higher if people thought Sue had half a chance here.

With the demise of United Future and probably NZF, there is both room and a need for new parties and new ideas in parliament. Next year may well bring it.

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.. when the fear of covid stupor wears off , increasing numbers of voters will be very angry at Ardern for having stripped them of some important civil liberties , and for the sheer bloody minded idea of mandates  ... next year  , I'm predicting a blood bath for Labour ... not that the Gnats offer much ... it's just that this government had been so amazingly awful ...

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Worst PM and Government in living memory. 

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Come in car Vman. Wherever you are.

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Glad to oblige...but really,just from your comment,even you have to admit it is repetitve lol.

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Ms Ardern must be praying that Chris Hipkins doesn't get sick , 'cos she's  damn near made him minister of everything ...

... with a record 60 or so MPs in her government  , how come so few have portfolios ? ...

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GBH,You do see that in some Goverments...

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/minister-for-everything-moves-on

Minister for Everything moves on

A week after a poor showing in National's leadership contest, Steven Joyce has announced he will retire from politics, marking the end of the Key-English-Joyce triumvirate that kept National in Government for nine years. Bernard Hickey and Thomas Coughlan report.

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Maybe Nats slogan for next year...simple but to the point lol...save them a few mill on campaign costs.

 

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... I'm hoping the Gnats will go with a simple  , memorable slogan  ... something like :

" They're Worserer Than Us ! " ...

... elegant in its brevity ... accurate too , maybe ...

I ditched " We're Gooderer Than Them " ... because it sounded too arrogant  ... 

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Unfortunately within that “satire” lies a telling message. How much of the electorate votes negatively for a candidate and/or party  that is seen to be the lesser of two or more evils? Quite a lot, including me, I would say. Bloody sorry state of affairs isn’t it. No wonder voting on the day returns such a poor percentage.

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... it's a sad state of affairs that MMP was meant to deliver more voices , greater choices ... but , we're not far removed than where we were with FPP ... two major parties , and some mini parties scrapping over the crumbs ..

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Governments are always voted out not in. I suspect this time there will be Labours blood on the moon and the butchers will be Labours back benchers whom ardern and her clowns will have lost them their best paying non job ever.

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Similar to National in 2020...happens to every party at exit time.

 

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Assumedly, in old fashioned stage drama speak, , that signals Labour are expecting to be exiting stage left?

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LOL RP, do you have another line to trot out?

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His memory is not what it was once. He simply may not recall posting his living memory comments over and over.

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And people finally realize Pfizer's mRNA scam ($$$$).

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"new ideas" is a bit of understatment.  Let see how the general public feels about banning RFEMR, how many people do you know that would like to have their cellphone taken from them by the state?

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Trotter missed the most important part - the abject failure of this government across multiple metrics (including its self-declared ones),  and its divisive nature (vaxxed vs unvaxxed, rich vs poor, Maori vs the rest) that is driving people to the fringes.

Grey's success in this byelection didn't happen in a vacuum.

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Can't comment on the quality of Sam Uffindell, but clearly campaigning on the morning of the by-election (including making a "go vote for me" social media post that has since been deleted) didn't do Jan Tinetti any favours. 

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... I've heard that the Electoral Commission will be investigating her behaviour  ... clearly she's breached the act .... another example of the " I do what I want ! " attitude of this government  ... 

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It is poor form, and the candidate should always know better. Hard to control what all your clingers-on and campaign volunteers do ... but the candidate (no matter their affiliation) should comply with the rules.

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All Labour represent these days are societies losers (the welfarites) & the growing gap between Maori & the rest of us. Oh, and the educated elite - so knowledgeable & yet so dumb at the same time. At least CT has an article. I'm not sure Labour Party members can read, let alone write.

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They used to say if youre under 30 and not liberal you have no heart and if youre over 30 and not conservative, you have no brain.

Our 2 "major" parties are probably both left of centre and both seem incapable of making good decisions.

We need a common sense party, but we wont get one.

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TOP & ACT seem to be the best of the " mostly commonsense " parties  ...

... no one has it 100 % ...

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I looked at a lot of TOP policies and didn't find a lot of common sense. Too much wedded to mainstream economic theory and superficial interventionist strategies that favoured the Government and  people with money. Just one example;m Gareth Morgan wanted to tax people who had assets. If you owned a house you got taxed because you "didn't pay rent". 

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As I understood it , Gareth's policies were based on taking some from the wealthy  , wealth taxes ... to allow tax breaks on the lower PAYE bands ... my problem was that his policies were so complicated  ...

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Yes but you could be low income with a house as your only asset, which you had paid off with interest over 25-30 years and spent $1000s on maintaining. When you sold the house to move into a retirement home, TOP would tax you on your "gain". That is why taxing the primary residence is unfair as it doesn't target the truly wealthy. Tax investment properties, tax the batch but don't tax peoples homes.

Now that the equity is being eroded their tax policies won't work anyway. Stamp duties and capital gains taxes on all assets other than the home would be fairer.

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"...unfair as it doesn't target the truly wealthy. " oh, you mean the 5% of NZdrs who pay over 30% of the tax paid by individual taxpayers - 75% of taxpayers paying less.

https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/financial-managem…

What's fair about that ? 

Stamp Duties were eliminated decadss ago because they are economically inefficient & restricted labour flexibility. "Those who don't learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it."

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When you sold the house to move into a retirement home, TOP would tax you on your "gain".

You'd be surprised that many countries do this.  To avoid being taxed on her gain recently, my sister in the US bought a retirement home that was worth more than her family home in order to avoid the capital gains tax.

Weird psychology.  We seem more willing to pay tax on our earned income, than on our unearned income.  

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Because money is simply the medium of asset exchange, the asset value remains the same while the asset price reflects the devaluation of money due eg to inflation & a lot of other extraneous govt policies, exchange rates etc completely unrelated to the original asset. So, the asset owner hasn't any real additional income.

Also, in the USA, owner occupied home mortgage interest is deductible against the homeowners income tax.

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 It is well summed up in the Billy Bragg song Red to Blue.

 

"Should I vote red for my class or green for our children?" .........

 

"so you bought it all, the best your money could buy

and I watched you sell your soul for their bright shining lie

where are the principles of the friend I thought I knew

I guess you let them fade from red to blue".

 

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Indeed, need a decent economically conservative option that'll lower income taxes and raise an LVT on the unimproved value of land, to reward productive work instead of sitting around on our ass-ets.

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Wrong John, I think we like to call those folk "Bottom feeders",not 'losers'  in the National Party

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The Labour party calls them "river of filth" and "ferals".

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Incorrect,that was in relation to a segment of the Parliamentary Protesters,many of whom did not come from the bottom rungs of society.As we see in the USA,some of the most right wing unhinged have the most money.

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Perhaps, but even so that was ill considered and hasty hyperbole with a snide and arrogant twist. A government, in fact all parliamentarians, should be above that,  have the restraint and acumen to be able to criticise meaningfully and accurately without having to descend into such base gutter sniping. In truth, it simply puts them on the same level as those that they are targeting.

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The old saying that the Govt will look after you from the Cradle to the Grave is becoming more of  a reality the longer this Govt are in power.

 

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The NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party will be extremely pleased if all our Chris Trotter types jump straight to labelling them angry far-right harbingers of fascism.  Will garner them more visibility and help attract voters who distrust our Chris Trotter types.  

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Bring on the labeling and name calling - wear them out.  The sooner they get old and lose their sting the better.

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Hard to tell whether you're serious, but if so then our democracy is in a very sad state indeed 

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Labeling them "fascist" or "far right" is a bad, lazy and dangerous mis-characterization. Anti-establishment, yes. Anti-authoritarian, yes. Trying to place them on the old fashioned "left/right" spectrum is overly simplistic.

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With the risk of upsetting the masses, what a disgusting article full of political generalizations, gas lighting and mistruths - but then it's no surprise really when the media is brought and paid for to push global agendas. Keep peddling your false reality comrades...the masses love it...

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Facebook algorithm consumer spotted.

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Here's a point of view from one of those living in the hills outside of Jafaland . Yes you know those people who grow your meat .. those little Red Packets in the supermarket come from somewhere ... Try seeing your stock foaming at the mouth and writhing in pain after DOC accidentally drop poison on your property.. and then have to write your invoice out for 'Track Maintenance' for your compensation payment. So they can hide what's really going on ... No difference from that behavior to fudging Covid figures, to make a flu look much worse than it is and shove propaganda at a nation and have it living in total state of fear.   

As a mother who's son was driving down the highway delivering your food so you get fed during lockdown, who got forced to take a jab, as you could walk in the front of the supermarket but he needed a vaccine pass to drop trailers contactless at the back ..  He didn't want the jab, which then lead to him having to pull his B Train (thats a big truck and trailer)  to side of the road nearly collapsing six hours after shot one and then an ambulance called to side of the road and 3 ED visits later . Hey presto my 25 year old son has Myocarditis and on going heart problems from the Jab.  Then because Doomfield makes sure no one can get an exemption he looses his Job... that's 'No Jab No Job Jab, permanently Injured No Job!'  Medsafe's official figures Safety Report #43 – 30 April 2022 (medsafe.govt.nz) now show 62,391 adverse reactions reported 3,308 considered serious (My sons was not included as 'Serious' as an example) and 3 deaths with 10 under investigation . Its worth looking up and understanding that globally via a number of studies only 1% to 5% of Adverse Reactions are ever reported. 

I've had Covid . I have lung problems already and I was over it in 3 days, had worse hang overs!  What a Crock !  Got to say at least you mentioned Sue Grey as most in media won't, they drunk the coolaide and took part of journalism fund and spout propaganda for Jabcinda. 

What you pointed out is right in the figures . WE are coming for parliament! The Freedom movement that is .. and if you don't want that, you better hope Tamaki doesn't succeed in pulling all the freedom vote together under an umbrella party before next election.  

Yes Tauranga was a bit of pulse of the nation vibe when you add Sue's % to One party and NNP (who are in talks with each other) You get nearly 7% of the vote. What you didn't mention is she had shifted to Tauranga recently and most of that vote are city Tauranga not even place Papamoa or Welcome Bay are included in the electorate 

The effect of the mandates on the health system and people's lives..  have been totally downplayed in the media .. When you consider the declaration at NZDSOS Signatures | NZ Doctors Speaking Out With Science (nzdsos.com) has been signed by 109 NZ Drs, 1202 Nurses and 2459 Allied Health workers .  Those and more are floating around the country not working in health anymore, whist their jab colleagues are all getting Covid and dropping like flies ) That doesn't included Drs and Nurses who have quietly taken a sabbatical because they have seen what happens to Drs who speak out, or are seen to have involvement with NZDSOS.

Any of those Nurses and Drs could go to the UK, land without a vaccine  and get a job where there are NO MANDATES in hospital staff.   

I went to the protest in Wellington just to stand there because those barst$% cost my son his health and job! Never been to a protest in my life and bar the end when the police moved in.. What it was like in there was NOTHING like the media portrayed . There was no human sh*t infact there was no rubbish on the ground ..   I met nurses and Drs in the Health Tent there .. what I noticed was they were not just nurses .. I met specialist cardiac and other specialist nurses and Drs, Pathologists (one was the only person who could test for cancers in the Hawkes bay) radiologists, ED room Drs, an anesthetist, wards sisters, health managers .. they all seemed to have been top of their game .  I got to tell you if during the two weeks of 'Freedom Village' you got hurt . The health care  was the best qualified in that tent .  I also met 6 Air NZ Captains, loads of groups of hosties and teachers, truck drivers lawyers officer workers, hospo workers..Yes there were some hippies there but they were not the majority . 

As for the poor hospo industry I went to visit my son a barman in Courtney place a couple of weeks ago . It was PACKED on the street ... not a mask in site only one's muzzled were the poor bloody barmen and the bouncers .. 8 hour shifts breathing your own crap !  Masks and Covid droplets are like trying to catch a mosquito through a number 8 wire mesh gate .. and what about your eyeballs .. don't think its going to land on them .. lol .. but the laughable part of the indoctrinated is people driving in their cars alone with masks on WTF! So glad I don't live in the city with all the brainwashed . 

So with that said, I for one, would say every kiwi who's family has suffered either a vaccine reaction or job or career lost from the mandates or just got excluded from society or actually still has the ability to critically think , won't be voting for any single parliamentarian that is in that building or any party in that building during this bullsh$t .. (I like call it the WASPNEST... that needs a good spray of RAID )  .. NOT one of them was there to even ask a single question to stop the mandates or let people have a choice,  as we or our families and friends  were getting injured or loosing our jobs, excluded from society or worse like 26 year old Rory Nairn (Killed by the vaccine) .

That is not to mention families and friendships who have been torn apart by their medical decision to be jabbed or not be jabbed .. and a government encouraging families to excluded members who don't get jabbed. 

A real worry for you all is when the farmers start to work out that SNAs and 3 Waters are coming from the WEF and UN Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals .. yes the WEF who want you to own nothing and be happy by 2023 in their advertising .(they are quite out front about it ) . and people are not alarmed about that ? 

We need the freedom movement to get in to extract us from those organisations and the WHO (Go look up the pandemic treaty see what those bar@#ds are planning)  and stop Pharmaceutical Lobbyists from ever having influence over NZ Gov policy again .  

This government will go down as the worst government in NZ history our economy is in deep do do .. Unfortunately National is more of the same also in the pocked of the above and organisations and those like Blackrock that own the media and the pharma companies ... Last comment .. I had to laugh when Blackrock bought  ASB's kiwi saver . We immediately shifted our Kiwi Saver out of ASB and guess what they called the new Blackrock owned ASB Kiwisaver .... Boosted!   

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