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Debating the issues
In April 2008, Spanz invited each of the political parties to answers questions on six issues identified as of key concern to Presbyterians. Eight of the ten parties participated and their answers, along with our questions, can be found on the following pages. We also asked an array of commentators to characterise this election’s key issue. Angela Singer introduces the responses.
Green Party policies largely back Labour, and for Labour it’s business as usual; a continuation of existing Government policy. The most surprising answers to our questions came from National. We are used to the two main parties, Labour and National, offering quite different directions for New Zealand, but National is promising to keep Labour’s policy on climate change and support New Zealand’s anti-nuclear policy. Our interview with scientist Kevin Tate highlights his concerns about the development of environmental policy.
The robust attitude that NZ First brings to justice issues is questioned in an interview with Kim Workman, retiring executive director of the Prison Fellowship of New Zealand.
Ian McKinnon, deputy Mayor of Wellington, brings our attention to tertiary education. The former headmaster identifies lessons he believes are important for all the parties.
All the political parties have policies supportive of more funding and resources for aged care. Lin Hatfield Dodds, National Director Uniting Care Australia, says by this they are demonstrating they are both in-touch with societal attitudes and likely to gain the populist vote.
From their responses, it can be seen that the two new Christian parties, The Family Party and the Kiwi Party, were at this point in the campaign light on policy. Political scientist Professor Ray Miller questions whether there is enough support in New Zealand for any Christian party. Current polls show Christian parties recording negligible ratings. As at end of April, polls also put National well ahead of Labour, with National’s gain appearing to come at the expense of the smaller parties and not from Labour (which is still polling the kind of numbers it was getting prior to winning the past election). Expect to see the polls change many times during the election campaign; like the people they survey, polls are highly changeable and only offer a snapshot in time. In the past, polls wrongly predicted John Hewson would be Prime Minister of Australia and Neil Kinnock Prime Minister of Britain.
As the election gets closer, expect the minor parties’ policies to gain more attention, which could result in a rise in support at the expense of the larger parties’ votes. The smaller parties may yet end up in a position to decide who governs. For the larger smaller parties - the Maori Party, NZ First and United Future - who are not clearly aligned with either of the two main parties, it will be interesting to see which party they choose to work with post-election and why. Will the Maori Party and NZ First be able to work together despite divergent policies on race?
Election year is a chance for the Church to question and speak out on pressing issues facing our communities, and to intensify discussion about the type of society in which we want to live. If you would like to facilitate discussion within your community, you could hold an election candidate’s meeting. The Presbyterian website has a “how to” document that you can download from our Social Justice section.
The environment should be high on the agenda this election and we ignore it at our peril, warns Kevin Tate, who is a scientist, part of the Church’s Ecological Task Group and a member of St David’s, Palmerston North.
“We were all given a heads-up last year from three global reports, all warning of global environmental change that if unheeded will imperil all life by the end of this century.”
The reports talk about signs that show we are not living sustainably on the planet and how the planet is heating up in response, says Kevin. “Increased heat is a consequence of 200 years of very cheap energy in the form of oil and coal.” He says that there is no denying the benefits these cheap fuels have brought us, with huge growth in economies and populations. “But now we’re seeing the other side of the coin; we haven’t been taking the planet into account in terms of the cost.
“The reports say we need to ensure that global warming temperatures don’t rise above two degrees by the end of this century; that means we need to cut emissions by the middle of the century and stabilise emissions by 2020-2025, which is alarmingly only 12 years away.”
The Government has been doing a pretty good job in trying to meet those targets, he says. “They want to encourage by 2025 the planting of 250,000 hectares of new forest and encourage the early introduction of electric cars. They see the emissions trading scheme as a tool to help companies and institutions to get their emissions down.”
Kevin laments the fact that some organisations are resistant. “There are companies hand-wringing about the carbon trading schemes, saying it will be too costly and so on, but there is little talk about the benefits it will bring, such as new economic opportunities that will often out weight the costs. The biggest challenge is for politicians to get across that we really do have to cut our emissions. They have to get across the benefits for our grandchildren; they are the ones who will suffer.”
“Global warming is the biggest environmental issue politicians face this election, and we live in a world where we can no longer separate economical and environmental issues. The things we need to do are so urgent they need to be non-partisan and adopted by all the political parties: the politicians have to stop bickering about this.”
Kevin says one of the most common questions he’s asked is “what can people do?” “Firstly the government needs to help people make a difference. There’s no point in saying 'leave your car at home' if there is poor public transport. But if you do have it and then use it, no excuses. If people go to the Carbon Zero website (www.carbonzero.co.nz) they will see it is practical to get their carbon emissions down and ultimately achieve carbon zero.”