New Zealand Drops the Labour Party

“At the end of the day, there’s one unavoidable reality…” said Chris Hipkins, the defeated New Zealand Labour prime minister, “We lost because not enough people voted for us.” Perhaps it’ll go down as one of the most insightful things ever spoken by any world leader.

In 2020, the centre-left Labour party under Jacinda Ardern won 50% of the vote, a historic high, winning 65 seats, but on Saturday, Mr Hipkins only attained a dismal 27%, and 34 seats nearly halving Labour’s seats in parliament, with conservative former businessman Christopher Luxon winning a decisive election victory and he will become New Zealand's next prime minister.

So what went wrong for Labour? Well, we all know Ms Ardern sensationally left office in January this year citing occupational burnout, but I suspect she had a suspicion that Labour were on the nose and she wanted to get out before the electorate got their revenge.

Her replacement, Chris Hipkins, managed to say a couple of stupid things. He famously said that it was not compulsory for New Zealanders to take a certain medicine.

Yeah, it wasn’t compulsory. It’s just that, if you didn’t take it, you’d lose your job. That’s not compulsory. Compulsory. Adjective. Required by law or a rule; obligatory. Involving or exercising compulsion; coercive.

See, it wasn’t compulsory. It was just not optional. I think Mr Hipkins, like most leaders nowadays, enjoys playing word games. Compulsory, optional, mandatory… These are just words! Now let’s get back to playing Boggle.

He also thought himself a bit of a comedian at times stating, “It is a challenge for people in high density areas to get outside and spread their legs when they are surrounded by other people.” Yes, that certainly was a challenge.

Under Mr Hipkins watch, New Zealand started giving priority to Māori and Pacific elective surgery patients, while European New Zealanders and other ethnicities, like Indian and Chinese, are lower-ranked. Yes, ethnicity is being used as a factor to determine when you can get surgery in New Zealand in a bid to “combat racial inequalities”. The whole idea is completely unethical and medically indefensible in my opinion. It goes against all traditional triage practices where patients should be prioritised on how sick they are, how urgently they need treatment, and how long they have been waiting for, not on their ethnicity or ancestry. It’s absolutely disgusting.

Anyway, New Zealanders have spoken, and Chris Hipkins and the Labour Party are out. Good riddance, I say.

PROLOGUE
Two days after the 1896 US presidential election, Democrat William Jennings Bryan conceded defeat to Republican rival William McKinley by sending the very first concession telegram. He wrote, “I hasten to extend my congratulations. We have submitted the issue to the American people and their will is law.” Not bad, not bad. But it wasn’t as good as Mr Hipkins.

IN THE NZ ELECTION, THERE WERE SWINGS TO THE LEFT AND RIGHT, BUT ALWAYS AWAY FROM LABOUR
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-15/nz-election-analysis-labour-loses-support-in-both-directions-/102976938

NEW ZEALAND STARTS GIVING PRIORITY TO MĀORI AND PACIFIC ELECTIVE SURGERY PATIENTS
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/20/new-zealand-starts-giving-priority-to-maori-and-pacific-elective-surgery-patients

MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn