A Different New Zealand

New Zealand: The Lucky Country in Politics – Follow-Up

A follow-up on yesterday’s post: With New Zealand now under lockdown, the New Zealand Parliament cannot meet for the next four-plus weeks.  So, the Parliament, which has a Labour-led majority, is setting up a special select committee to follow and examine the government’s performance while Parliament cannot meet.  It is expected the committee will meet by video conference three times a week.  The committee will be chaired by – the leader of the opposition National Party.  With a national election scheduled for September.  A lucky country, indeed.
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Note: Once again, I am simultaneously posting this on both of my blogs.

Once Again, New Zealand is The Lucky Country – In Politics

[This is being simultaneously posted on my other website, too: The View from Right Field]

In December 2016, I wrote a post entitled “New Zealand: The Lucky Country – In Politics”.¹  Well, it is still true.  New Zealand has closed its borders and will be instituting a shelter-at-home order Wednesday at 11:59 pm, New Zealand time.  But what makes them a “lucky country” is two things.

One, the Labour-led government’s plan seems pretty decent, and they now seem to be doing it reasonably well.^2,3  Two, in the words of The Spinoff, a New Zealand website:

Inequality, Social Mobility, and a “Fair Go”

Inequality and a decline in social mobility is a concern of many today.  In the Financial Times of December 19, Miranda Green wrote about Sanna Marin, the new 34-year old prime minister of Finland.¹  Ms. Marin had been a shop assistant and was the first in her family to go to university.  But Ms. Green had trouble coming up with a proper phrase or word to describe Ms. Marin’s rise to the prime minister’s job.

In a letter to the Financial Times that was published on December 23,² I suggested this:

“In celebrating the new 34-year prime minister of Finland and worrying about the health of the American dream, Miranda Green canvasses alternatives for the phrase ‘social mobility,’ which smacks too much of policy wonkery. 

Jacinda Ardern Gets It Right

See this post in my other blog, "The View from Right Field."

A Tragedy in Christchurch

Or should I say yet another tragedy in Christchurch.  We visited Christchurch five years ago, at the end of our 5½-week vacation in New Zealand.  At that point, in March of 2014, Christchurch was still recovering from the earthquakes in September of 2010 and February of 2011, the latter of which resulted in 185 deaths and which caused so much destruction especially in the central business district.

Even with the devastation of the earthquakes, Christchurch was still one of the highlights of our trip.  I wrote about our time in Christchurch here, and I wanted to link to it today in memory of those who were killed in Christchurch and in honor of the resilience of the people of Christchurch – and New Zealand.
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Note: The Re:START mall, which was referred to in my post, has shutdown, which is a good thing because it shows that Christchurch has rebuilt.

An American Appreciation of Bill English

This is mostly a blog about things to see and do in New Zealand beyond the most famous ones.  I have, however, included a few posts on other New Zealand-related subjects from time to time.  This is one of those.

In December of 2016, I wrote a post, you can see it below, entitled “New Zealand: The Lucky Country.”  While the post talked about several New Zealand politicians, it was mostly about Bill English, who at that point had just become Prime Minister upon the resignation of Sir John Key.  I went into a fair amount of detail on what I liked in Mr. English’s approach to politics.  There is no need to repeat what I wrote then, though you may find it interesting if you have not read it before.

New Zealand: The Lucky Country – In Politics

Australia is often called “the lucky country,”¹ but I think the name could also apply to New Zealand.  In saying this, I am not talking about New Zealand’s natural beauty, climate, etc., though all of them are great.  Rather, I am talking about its government and its politicians.

From 1999 to 2008, Helen Clark and Michael Cullen, her Finance Minister, ran an impressive center-left Labour government.  Anticipating the problem of affording superannuation payments in the 2020s and later, when the baby boomers reach retirement age, the government set up what is commonly called the “Cullen Fund.”  Payments were made into the fund and invested so the money would be there to help make superannuation payments in the future.

#NeverTrump Judges Paul Ryan – The New Zealand Example

[While this is basically about the upcoming presidential election in the United States, it does include a lot about New Zealand, so I am also posting it here, too.]

Some members of #NeverTrump are now ripping on House Speaker Paul Ryan.  Even though Speaker Ryan has publicly criticized Donald Trump’s appalling complaints about the judge in the Trump University case and is working hard to develop a detailed House Republican program representing real Republican principles, Speaker Ryan has said he will vote for Mr. Trump and that puts him beyond the pale for many #NeverTrump-ers. George Will, for one, did it in his column on Monday.¹

I certainly understand Mr. Will’s views on Donald Trump, and I will not be voting for Mr. Trump myself.  However, that does not mean I am going to accuse Speaker Ryan of, in effect, selling his soul to the devil (whether the Faust version or “Damn Yankees”).  It is easy for columnists like Mr. Will (or bloggers like me) to act morally superior to politicians like Speaker Ryan for the choices they have to make.  It’s easy to say #NeverTrump when it won’t affect your life or what you are trying to do in it.  But for people such as Paul Ryan, who are in the battle and see some potential to actually do something good at some point, it is not so easy.  And it is not for me to criticize the difficult choices they have to make – especially because it is sometimes not so easy to know which decision today will turn out to be the best one ten or fifteen years down the road.  Let me give an example.  From New Zealand (of course).

An American Looks at Waitangi Day

February 6 is Waitangi Day in New Zealand.  Waitangi Day celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by the British and a number of Maori chiefs on February 6, 1840.  The Treaty is in many ways the founding document of New Zealand.  The Treaty provided for a British governor of New Zealand, recognized Maori ownership of their land, and gave the Maoris the rights of British subjects.  As often happens, though, disagreements about the Treaty soon developed, in part because the British and Maori language versions of the Treaty were different.  However, since this is supposed to be more of a travel blog, I will go into that more below, after the pictures.

The main point is that the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which are near Paihia and which are where the Treaty was signed, are definitely worth a visit, even for non-New Zealanders.  In addition to the Treaty House, where the Treaty was drawn up, there is a carved Maori meetinghouse (opened on the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty), the world’s largest ceremonial war canoe, and more. 

Rugby

There are all kinds of lists of the best things to do in New Zealand.  You can find them in travel books and all over the Internet.  What is interesting, though, is the one thing you don’t find on most of those lists is the one thing you should do: Go to a rugby match.  You can see New Zealand without going to a rugby match, but I am not sure you can understand New Zealand without going to a rugby match. 

Rugby is the national sport.  It may be the national religion.  And the All Blacks are the national team.  If you want to really see a haka, see the one the All Blacks do before every match.  In fact, the All Blacks haka may be a good symbol of New Zealand society today.  Originally, the haka was a traditional Maori war cry, dance or challenge.  But when the All Blacks do a haka, they all do it, Maori, Pakeha, Pacific Islanders, everybody.  They’re all one.