I helped vote these guys in, and we are off to an awful start. Firstly we ended up with a 3 way coalition, and one of the smaller parties is a horror story of self indulgence imo. Wasn't expecting NZ to be stupid enough to give that minor party a position of power again. Then they remove the sliding tobacco ban to eventually rid the country of that curse. Wasn't expecting that, and it is damn stupid. Don't mind the new oil & gas exploration so much. Even though I am keen to push hard towards renewables, we are a decade or two away from being almost fully independent of fossil fuels. Whilst we still need them, it makes more sense to find them locally than to ship them in from overseas as expensive imports. If NZ runs a balance of payments deficit it is mostly due to fossil fuel imports. Without those the economy would be in almost continuous trade surpluses. That will eventually be one of the huge benefits of mass renewable energy. A country running continuous trade surpluses is usually in a good place economically.
Now we wait and see what else the new govt will do. I like that they will reduce the public service headcount. That needs to happen every few years to keep pressure on costs. I am not so convinced about the tax cuts. Although they would obviously be nice to have, the path to running govt budget surpluses again post covid is important, and I am not sure that tax cuts are going to help in an economy that is already struggling for workers as unemployment sits near historic lows. Going to be interesting to see how effective their plans are to build more housing at a faster pace. Definitely a huge need unless they put the clamps on immigration. Bit clamping down on immigration will stall economic growth due to a lack of workers. There is a tough tightrope to walk between housing and immigration.
I can't speak to the current NZ government, but I will speak to putting experience before hope. New Zealand is slightly over 2/3rds the size of California.
California in 1964 was 15.7 million, it is now nearly 40 million in 2020. If NZ is now 4.5 million it is well on its way to nearly 12 million (although it may be growing faster than did California).
In 1964 California was a very affordable state, with ability of many near the ocean (or on the beach) to purchase a home. We were the "mellow" state, of vehicles on beaches, uncrowded state parks, plentiful water, and lots of charming rural communities of blue collars and orchards. College was very cheap (or free for community colleges) and anyone graduating from a CCollege could transfer into the best UC college. Back then everything was more attainable - land, housing, etc.
Today, save for a greater variety of restraunts due to immigration, nothing is better and a whole lot is worse. Those charming towns became "boutique villes" for the well off, enclaves. The modest middle-class home I grew up in is unaffordable. Freeways are packed, water is often rationed, keep off and keep out, access to recreational lands is pervasive. The Annette Funicello and Bobbie Darin beach movies are a glimpse into a long lost era of informality and freedom extinguished by population growth.
The whole notion of bucolic rural communes have been replaced by $$$$ communities, disney like diaramas of modest homes surrounded by grape orchards - residences now over a million.
New Zealanders are very foolish letting the myths of immigration seduce you into thinking you will be better off packing millions more into NZ. Even now you are suffering from the affordability crisis, making formerly less expensive areas less affordable.
What will you gain by losing rural land to subdivisions? Doubling the pollution output? Creating urban sprawl? And how is a loss of social capital, of social trust, and increased socio political divisions going to help NZ?
Becoming like California will help nothing and lose much for your people. The dream of five acres and a house is absurd here unless you are at least among the top 1 percent income.
You have been warned, take heed Kiwi's.