I did not go into politics little more than 18 months ago for the sake of the salary, or for the pleasure of being driven around in an LTD. I went into politics because I am deeply concerned about where New Zealand is heading under the present Government, and I could not, from my non-political position in the Reserve Bank, promote the changes which I believe to be essential for the well-being of all New Zealanders.
There are lots of things that need to be improved to ensure New Zealand remains the country we want it to be, but my priorities are five, and I seek your support to achieve them.
First, we have to start narrowing the gap between our living standards and those of our cousins in Australia, a gap which sees every Australian getting nearly $200 per week more than the average New Zealander. If we don’t narrow that gap, we won’t have the healthcare that Australians can afford; we won’t have the roads that Australians take for granted; our teachers won’t get the salaries that those in Australia earn; Mums and Dads will increasingly see their kids and grandchildren grow up in Australia – we end up as a distant Tasmania to the Australian mainland. That isn’t what I want, and it isn’t what most New Zealanders want.
Second, we have to ensure that every child, whatever his or her race, whatever the affluence of his or her parents, whether he or she lives in Auckland or in rural Southland, has access to quality education, so that every child comes out of the school system able to read, able to write, able to take his place in a modern society. At the moment, they don’t, and that is a disgrace to all of us. Unless we do very much better, we are never going to have a healthy society, we are never going to have a society where everybody can get a well-paid job.
Third, we have to end the creeping paralysis of welfare dependency. It is surely a scandal that at a time when the economy is buoyant, 350,000 working age adults and tens of thousands of their children are dependent on hard-working New Zealanders for a hand-out. As a country, we currently spend $20 million per day on social welfare, nearly a million dollars an hour, 365 days every year. For the sake of those receiving that money as well as for the sake of the hard-working New Zealanders who are paying it, we have to fix that system, and give all able-bodied New Zealanders the dignity of contributing to our society.
Fourth, we need to head off the dangerous drift to racial separatism in New Zealand, a drift which this Government seems intent on encouraging. We must deal, fairly and finally, with historical grievances, but then ensure that all New Zealanders, of whatever race or creed, are treated equally before the law. It can’t be good for race relations in New Zealand to have Maori New Zealanders (often those who are as much European as they are Maori) given special privileges based on their race: it is condescending to Maori and unfair to non-Maori.
And finally, we need to ensure that all New Zealanders feel secure. And that means not just dealing firmly with crime, and drugs, and gangs, and vandalism, but also ensuring that our relationships with new friends in Asia and old friends in Australia, the UK, and the US are put on a firm footing.
Personally, I am not interested in trading insults with the Prime Minister or members of her Government.
I’m not interested in sarcasm.
I am interested in, indeed desperately concerned about, New Zealand’s future.
I am absolutely committed to doing everything in my power to ensure that that future holds prosperity, racial harmony, security and hope for every New Zealander. I need your help to achieve that.
Copyright © 2024 Don Brash.