New Zealand turns to the right | The populist National-led government is undoing many of Jacinda Ardern’s progressive initiatives, including environmental protections.

New Zealand, once a utopia for Trump-weary exiles, turns to the right

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It is reversing a ban on oil and gas drilling, and is proposing a “fast-track” for big projects, including mines, that bypasses environmental checks. It has cut climate programs and jobs, scrapped electric vehicle subsidies, abandoned plans for one of the world’s largest marine sanctuaries and set aside a world-leading cow “burp” tax as it questions the science on methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

26 comments

Is no place on earth safe of them? 🤢
- The greed will continue until ecological collapse.
  
  Based on what I've seen, I expect it will continue until well past collapse too.
  
  Yes, probably it will.
This is just normal left / right politics.. every country has it. One side builds and people get bored and new media love to stir shit, then other side comes in and sells / destroys / winds back.. people get up on arms and vote the other ones back in and the cycle continues
- There usually has to be a lever for the far right to use, usually rampant economic inequality. Ardern never really addressed the fucked up housing market in NZ, which was the perfect tax free investment vehicle for those with money. Deny people the right to get their own place and move on with adulthood and you have a pretty big lever that the far right can use to fenagle their corporate sponsored anti environment bullshit with a dash of fascism into power.
  
  This seems to be the story in many countries right now, unfortunately, and fascism has been on the rise globally for years.
- "Both sides," says one side.
Hard Right nationalists: who the hell do you think you are, trying to slow down the apocalypse?
The unfortunate thing is the country is running out of money, and unlike much of the world we haven't had massive natural resources we exploited in the industrial revolution to build our country wealth.
Do we like it- no. But were also a country of 5 million that sells low value goods and are a tiny % of global co2. Our country is less than 200 years old, at the end of global logistics chains, with an area that (from the top of my head) would reach from Denmark to Spain.
- We are not running out of money and our debt level is near the lowest in the OECD.
  
  The significant austerity measures around the country strongly disagree with you.
  Auckland just canceled a significant number of its infrastructure projects, and the regional fuel tax along with significant cuts in maintenance - 30% reduction last I heard
  Hamilton is nearly being mothballed to save money.
  No idea about other major centers.
- I went of treaty of Waitangi, like how America was "founded" at the declaration of independence.
  Flipside, I cant exactly say us Maori were developing a strong road network, industrial base and civil structures now can I?

26 comments