OPINION

Two weeks out from a general election and major parties are dropping like stones in the polls while small parties rise: NZ First hitting the magic 5% as Cam Slater predicted. MSM are doing their very best, but failing, to convince voters whom to vote for.

Support for parties at the centre of New Zealand politics has dropped to its lowest point in two decades with Labour on 27% and National on 34.5%, according to the September Guardian Essential poll. The combined “centre” now sits at 61.5% – its lowest point since 2002 – down from 81% at the 2017 election and 76% in 2020.

The Guardian

Now at the pointy end of the campaign when voters are more decided than they were one month ago about whom they will vote for, wouldn’t you expect media to focus on the issues of importance? It’s not as if they don’t know what they are.

In August the Guardian said of New Zealand:

The rising cost of living and post-pandemic malaise has translated into dissatisfaction with the political status quo. In August’s Guardian Essential poll, 70% of people were “finding it a bit difficult” or “struggling” to afford food and groceries, and 55% said the country was “on the wrong track”. Alongside those sentiments was a disillusionment with the main political options on offer: with 46% of those polled in September strongly or somewhat agreeing with the statement that “none of the current options for prime minister really appeal to me”. That dissatisfaction has left around a third of voters choosing smaller parties on the margins – a jump up from the 2020 election, which saw roughly 20% of votes go to minor parties.”

The Guardian

Two weeks ago, 1News asked, “What issue is most important to you in this election?” The top issues endorsed the Guardian‘s findings:

  1. Cost of living: 28%
  2. Economy: 17%
  3. Healthcare: 14%
  4. Crime: 9%
  5. Environment: 8%

Three years ago the government’s Covid response catapulted Jacinda Ardern back into power at the 2020 “Covid” election, and in 2020 healthcare took first place in the Horizon poll asking what voters want. Why would voters today not be as interested in a political candidate’s response to a future pandemic as when we were in the middle of one?

Media don’t go there. The Government responsible for our Covid response isn’t up for discussion. Did the Covid years never happen? Has the memory of them simply disappeared because the MSM thinks by not talking about it the Covid years are well behind us, out of sight out of mind?

The MSM and politicians both avoid mentioning Covid-19. It’s not in polls or political debates, no one has canvassed voters to ask if a political candidate’s view of the Covid years is important to them.

We do know that voters care about the wide-ranging subject of “healthcare” because that came in an impressive third place in the recent TV1 poll, and may be an indication that Covid still ranks high in importance.

Last weekend’s political programmes were very clear: don’t worry about the cost of living, the economy, healthcare or a repeat pandemic but be very worried about the rise of Winston Peters and NZ First.

Jack Tame on TVNZ’s Q&A tried a “gotcha” interrogation that failed to annihilate the irrepressible Winston Peters. Peters labelled Tame “jumped up, arrogant and overpaid” after Tame fixated on NZ First policies to separate gang members in prison and better fund aged residential care and accused Peters of lying when he said he wasn’t privy to the controversial He Puapua report.

Newshub Nation prioritised “Winston Peters, racism, education, crime” in that order, Rebecca Wright scoring an own goal when she failed to convict Peters of race-baiting and suggested he is too old for politics.

Two weeks out from the election and both popular MSM weekend political programmes attack Winston Peters and NZ First’s credibility instead of addressing issues voters regard as important.

If the MSM are trying to make themselves redundant, they are certainly succeeding. Tiptoeing around the cost of living and Covid elephants and attacking NZ First’s policies on crime, health and education as racist and unworkable will undoubtedly drive more voters toward NZ First, not away from it.

Peters took insults on the chin, telling Jack Tame he “would like to make sure we get the broadcasting portfolio after this election” (“no, it’s not a threat Jack, it’s a promise”) and saying Rebecca Wright is “shallow, ignorant, lazy, ageist, and arrogant”.

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I am happily a New Zealander whose heritage shaped but does not define. Four generations ago my forebears left overcrowded, poverty ridden England, Ireland and Germany for better prospects here. They were...