John Key’s politically cynical adoption of the interest-free loans policy is just the latest in a line of National back-flips:
Four Weeks Annual Leave: National voted against increasing the entitlement from three weeks to four, in fact Brash wanted it at two weeks. They flipped on that just before the 2005 election.
Non-market rents on State Houses: National introduced market rents in the 1990s, further impoverishing tens of thousands but freeing up money for upper-bracket tax cuts. The flip was a long time coming but Key executed it flawlessly.
The “Cullen” Fund: National voted against the Superannuation Fund that will ensure New Zealand superannuation remains affordable when the baby boomers retire (in fat, they were the ones who labelled it the Cullen Fund), their solution was to cut super. The Fund has beaten the market every year and averaged growth over 10%, National flipped in 2006.
Anti-Nuke: Brash and Key wanted nuclear ships to visit New Zealand to please the Americans, the public didn’t. Key flipped after this was a vote loser in 2005.
Maori Seats: National has always opposed Maori having a voice of their own and proclaimed the right to remove them when they choose. Now, of course, the Maori Party is politically important, so Key performed another flip and pushed the date for removal to 2014, which means never in political terms.
Kiwisaver Part 1: Key and English spoke forcefully against this savings programme but flipped when uptake was huge. Key is said to be limbering up for a back-flip with a twist for Part 2, it’s politically impossible to remove the government contributions in Part 2 but his backers don’t like the compulsory employer contributions.
And now, a back-flip on interest-free loans: As late as October, English was criticising the policy his leader has now taken on “because we lost the last election”
Which will be the next back-flip? Kiwisaver2? GP fees? that would be a record back-flip for speed, National only (accidentally) announced they would raise GP fees back in September. Or maybe Key will perform the technically challenging double-flip on child smacking.
Looks like we’ll see plenty more National back-flips this year. Key even seems to have passed on back-flip fever on his recent visit to Antarctica:
But fear not, National hasn’t lost it’s core identity. Sure, they’ve said if they ever get into power they will continue these policies but they’ve voted against them every chance they’ve had. More than that National still holds to these old classics:
no minimum wage raises , they’ve voted against each one since 1999 and have no policy of raising the minimum wage should they ever get into power.
no increases in education and health spending, National voted against each increase since 1999 and have said their spending will follow a “lower track than Labour’s” (ie below inflation)
In the last year, National voted against aid spending increases, getting money out of politics, and more money for public transport.
No matter how many back-flips they perform on ‘flag-ship’ policies, rest assured that National remains the party that will underfund public services, keep wages down, let our infrastructure degrade, and think more about their wallets than our futures.N
