Time for politics: Why our democracy feels like a circus act

We’re a year out from a general election and heading into local body elections as a dry run for next year. None of this bodes well.

A note from the team: The views shared in this piece are the personal opinions of Bruce Sheppard and don’t necessarily reflect the position of others within Gilligan Sheppard. We believe in our people’s freedom to be real and engage thoughtfully with the issues that matter to them. We encourage you to read this as one person’s perspective and, as always, to form your own views on the important decisions facing our community.

There are twelve candidates for Auckland Mayor alone. You might argue this is democracy in action, or that the number of candidates shows genuine interest in our community and wellbeing. But there are two standouts that highlight just how mad people are, and how poorly this process works in bringing forward the talent we actually need. No wonder the paid executives and Auckland Transport are running amok. Perhaps an elite bureaucracy really is better than a government of the people, by the people, for the fringe.

Meet your mayoral candidates

Inside your postal vote for local body elections is a little booklet entitled “Want the best for your Auckland? Find out about your candidates.” There are a couple of standout candidates that deserve special mention.

Take Rob McNeil, who’s standing for the Animal Justice Party Aotearoa. He’s got some really good policies, apparently (insert sarcasm here). No live exports through our ports. That should help with the brain drain, since only the brain-dead can leave through Auckland Airport, which is technically a port. All cats and dogs are going to be desexed, and our rates will pay for that, too.

But here’s the real winner: better public transport for animals. Looks like cats and dogs will have AT hop cards so they can ride the bus to get neutered. Or maybe our old-age pensioners can ride the bus with some pit bulls or bull mastiffs. That might not be a bad idea if we want to turn the boomers into dog food on wheels. That’s only a mild exaggeration of his actual statement, by the way.

Then we have Peter Wakeman, who’s focused on world events. He wants to save the Ukrainians, the Russians and the Palestinians. Maybe he plans to bring them all in to build our infrastructure. Every single one of these candidates is riding a hobby horse.

From local chaos to national problems

Now to the unrelatable Luxon. Yes, he is unrelatable, but compared to the fringe, we should be grateful. The fact that the fringe thinks he’s unrelatable might actually be a recommendation.

Will he lead the first one-term National government since the party’s formation? Probably yes, but the question is why. Yes, he’s unrelatable to the middle as well as the fringe. Yes, he needs some serious political and PR coaching. And yes, he’s made some memorable bad personal and political decisions. But frankly, Jacinda was worse.

In a group of strongly left-wing and strongly right-wing business people, we were debating which was worse: Luxon or Ardern. My view won the day. They’re both as bad as each other for different reasons, but if I had to pick one, it would be Ardern.

In Ardern’s case, she was a wet-behind-the-ears kid with no experience of anything who did her best and was guided by self-serving advisors. So she can be forgiven. Luxon ignores advice unless it suits him for some reason that’s hard to fathom. Maybe it’s a backlash from Labour being overly reliant on advice. But compared to Ardern, he should know better. So he’s better than Ardern but less forgivable.

With all that noise, the economic tide will likely wash him away next year. Just as in three years he undid what Labour did, both the good and the bad, so too will Labour undo National’s work. And we’ll lumber on toward third world status with no discernible rule of law on which to make long-term decisions.

But you never know. With a new mayor in Auckland, we might not be able to live export ourselves to Australia. By becoming prisoners, we’ll be forced to fix what we’ve so royally broken.

Time to change the system

It’s time to be rid of MMP once and for all. Maybe we should adopt a similar model to local bodies: multi-member electorates, like our wards, with one single transferable vote. This is the Australian way, and maybe that’s why they’re outperforming us.

In Australia, the fringe is kept in its cage. They’re circus acts for our amusement, not sitting in parliament.

In the meantime, keep walking, keep running good businesses, and accept that madness is the new normal to be worked around.