There is, unsurprisingly, a stark difference between the left and the right of our Parliament when it comes to MPs who have had any real experience in the world of business.
The Labour Party might have had a landslide in the number of votes cast their way in the election but unfortunately there is no landslide in the amount of experience in business they bring to Parliament and consequently the running of the country. Out of their 65 MPs only nine have had what I would call anything close to business experience and that’s being generous.
The Greens, not surprisingly, have also failed dismally in this regard. Only two out of their ten have had business experience. Again, that is being generous. What comes through loud and clear looking at their backgrounds is that the Greens, bar a sincere one or two, are basically a party of political activists. I am aware I’m not telling you something you don’t already know.
On the other side of the house the National Party have 16 MPs, nearly half of their caucus, with a business background. They have either started up their own businesses or worked for large private companies mainly in the private sector. This means they have an understanding of budgets, balance sheets, and the wise spending of monies.
The Act Party, as one would expect, have all of their 10 MPs with experience in the business world. It is interesting to note that the most libertarian party in the house should attract those that have made a success of their lives, some starting from non-privileged backgrounds.
In looking at what MPs did before entering Parliament I have broken the numbers down under headings as follows –
LABOUR
- Law. 12
- Education. 9
- Community Work. 8
- Public Sector. 8
- Politics. 8
- Business. 8
- Unions. 5
- Health. 4
- Media. 3
GREENS
- Community Work. 4
- Politics. 2
- Business. 2
- Public Sector. 1
- Law. 1
NATIONAL
- Business. 16
- Law. 5
- Health. 3
- Politics. 3
- Media. 2
- Public Sector. 2
- Education. 1
- Community Work. 1
ACT
- Business. 10
Collectively, out of 43 MPs on the right 26 have some form of business experience. On the left the opposite applies. Out of 73 MPs, nearly two-thirds of Parliament , only 10 have any sort of experience. I reiterate what I said above, that’s being generous.
To my mind, what this shows is that those least equipped to run the country are in charge. Those best equipped to run the country are in opposition. It also tells you the type of person who is attracted to the left and right of politics. Finally, it tells you why the right are normally regarded as better managers of the economy.
I can only hope the majority of voters reflect on this in three years time.
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