The National Party is the principal partner in this three-way unnatural disaster that is the current governing coalition of New Zealand. The Party’s website claims its focus is on “fixing the basics and building the future.” We might reasonably ask: what are these “basics” that they’re claiming to be “fixing”? Basic humanity, perhaps? If only.
The United Nations has a “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” document, adopted in 1948, which it claims sets out “fundamental human rights to be universally protected.” We certainly can criticise the United Nations for a great many things, but in fairness this document contains some decent and positive statements which we’d agree with – such as “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.” And “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” And “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” Terms we might reasonably consider to be some of “the basics” of human life and dignity, and, given that New Zealand is a member of the UN, a part of the international framework to which you’d expect our government would subscribe. This coalition government came to power very shortly after the 7 October 2023 events that led to a three-year (and still counting) sustained onslaught against the people of Gaza which has quite clearly been, and continues to be, a genocide. What has this government done? According to John Hobbs, writing for E-Tangata, “The New Zealand government has remained silent on the issue of genocide by Israel against the peoples of Gaza, despite numerous other countries publicly condemning Israel’s actions as genocide.” Not just silent, though. This government has opposed a Green Party members’ bill which “sought to apply sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation and rapid expansion of settlements in the Palestinian territories.” Simon Court, MP for coalition partner ACT, has been a particularly outspoken defender of those carrying out the genocide, standing on the steps of Parliament to say Israel is “facing a really difficult situation,” and even attempting to prevent the use in Parliament of the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions. Prime minister Luxon, meanwhile, has famously done… nothing, claiming in 2025 that “now is not the time” for recognition of Palestinian statehood (when is the right time, Luxon?). So much for any “basics” of humanity.
So National’s “basics” are clearly selective. Going by the four items listed on their website in the “our plan” section, this government’s leading party seems to want us to believe the “basics” consist of just four things: “rebuilding the economy,” “restoring law & order,” “healthcare,” and “education.” Well, we rank 33rd for per-capita GDP in the world, 119th for inflation in the world, and 191st for GDP growth in the world, so National is hardly succeeding even by their own basic capitalist economic metrics. The union representing nurses (the NZNO) says the health minister “is delusional and completely out of touch with reality,” while “Emergency Departments (ED) [are] completely overwhelmed and patients [are] being treated in waiting rooms and corridors,” so we’re clearly failing to provide healthcare basics. ISO has previously reported, on our website and in issue 23 of our newspaper, on declining operational funding for schools and insufficient employment of teachers, noting “all this government is offering is privatisation and exploitation.” So much for providing, or “fixing,” education basics. So that leaves “law & order,” then? Well apparently “more than 80 percent of Police Association members are unhappy with the level of (government-provided) frontline staffing in New Zealand Police.” So perhaps even the “basics” of empowering the state’s truncheon-wielders is beyond this government’s capabilities, although admittedly police recruitment is one area for which most of us can at least celebrate this government’s failures.
Claiming to be “fixing the basics,” while refusing to oppose an active genocide, is the obvious deplorable psychopathy of the capitalist system that National so gleefully represents. That situation is heartbreaking, and it’s why we need to build and build and build coherent strength to overthrow capitalism. Meanwhile, the “fixing the basics” phrase is clearly intended to (patronisingly) delude working-class voters into believing National has some claim to stability and sensible economic management. In reality, even in that respect National is struggling (and failing) even to provide the basics of state-managed stabilisation of the chaos that capitalism inevitably creates for itself. A second National-led government term, behind the facade of addressing “basics,” would mean a continuation of the destruction of working-class livelihoods here and abroad.
Banner image: Smoke and flames on a high-rise tower in Gaza City, 7 October, 2023. This is, heartbreakingly, an image of attempted and most certainly successful murder, not just an arbitrary action shot from a movie. Photo credit: WAFA via Wiki Palestine, on WikiMedia. CC BY-SA 3.0.
