(but now’s not the time to give up).
I have been to eight electoral debates this election cycle for my job. Now, most people would think, “That’s far too many, what on earth are you doing, is there something fundamentally wrong with you??” and you’d be correct. However, I’m just stating it to give this delirious article some form of knowledgeable grounding—if such a thing exists—as I firmly and utterly state,
“HEY, THIS ELECTION FUCKING SUCKS.”
I saw it coming late last year, blowing in on the breeze, when Labour was already polling badly. I saw it in the rise of conspiracy theorists, who sat for three weeks on the lawn of my workplace, sniping at my students, and sending my organisation death threats for daring to take a stand against them. I’ve seen it since in the muddied puddles of centrism that Labour and National both call policy, in what seems to be endless ACT Party candidate resignations, and in a media that is complicit amongst it all.
This election fucking sucks.
I’m sure you can all agree. Every day there’s another empty news story.
The National Party will create a new Minister for Space as a part of its plan to supercharge the aerospace sector.
Chris Hipkins shares his COVID music playlist (sike, it’s actually a cunning marketing strategy)!
Scott Sheeran is really good at fire poi!
Who CARES!!!?
The world is burning and we’re stuck with two centrist parties doing absolutely nothing about it or seeking to actively make it worse. I’m sorry, but I can’t care about Labour’s taking GST off fruit and vegetables when Antarctic scientists are sharing climate data that is “deeply alarming”. On the flip side of that, I can’t exactly get behind National’s building thirteen new roads “of significance” when the proverbial highway to get there is paved by forming a coalition with one or two parties that are actively out to usurp the rights of minority groups.
Hey, at least there’s a lesser of two evils here, right? It’s just a shame that Labour’s too weak to add queer identity into the hate speech laws, tax the rich or put decent support into Long COVID; but at least they’re not getting into bed with fascists.
This election cycle has felt dire. It’s been oily and queasy and deeply disheartening. It’s hard to care about the hijinks that politicians get up to on the campaign trail when there’s so much at stake. Let’s face it, if you’re reading this article, you’re likely some flavour of queer, and we’re staring down a dark and dirty road if National+ACT+additional conspiracy weirdo parties get in government on 14 October.
In a month where the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has actively uttered transphobic rhetoric on live television to the cheers of surrounding Tories, I can’t say I’m all that enthused with the prospects of welcoming in a new Prime Minister of our own country who has indicated that he supports strong links between the National Party and the UK Conservatives—which is what most political polls of late have been suggesting.
It makes you want to do nothing but sit back and weep.
But at this time, I ask you to not give in just yet.
The fact is, young people in this country are not all that engaged with politics. Young people can find it confusing or too difficult to participate in. Last election, 78% of all enrolled voters between 18–25 voted, but that doesn’t include those who weren’t enrolled—and was a marked uptick from previous years. In comparison, nearly 90% of voters over 60 voted, and far fewer of them weren’t enrolled.
You can be certain that the awful older customer you served at your hospo job is voting. You can be certain that your landlord is, that the person who owns the company you work for is, that guy who sneered at you on the bus cause you’ve got dyed hair is too.
And the fact is, if you don’t vote—and you’re eligible to—their vote will have more weight than yours. Often, when that comes to societal change or progressive thinking, that means you’re shit out of luck.
But—if we actively get out and vote, campaign, encourage the people we know and love to get out and vote—and vote progressively—we could have a real shot at improving life for those of us in this country. And unfortunately, that doesn’t really come from voting for Labour.
We have mixed-member proportional voting in this country for a reason. MMP means that smaller parties get a say, and in this election, there’s really only a handful of parties that are consistently putting up progressive policy and progressive thought day in, and day out. A Labour party that’s being pushed to be its best by an exciting and productive Green and Te Pāti Māori coalition is one that’s set to do something bigger about inequality.
As has been proven increasingly by the 2020 election, a Labour Party that’s not wrangled into actually doing shit by a coalition agreement has a propensity to stagnant.
I’m not saying that Labour’s not done anything in the last three years; they’ve dropped prescription fees at chemists, banned conversion therapy, legalised abortion, increased public housing by 13,000 homes and reduced carbon emissions, plus a lot more, but these policies aren’t at the forefront of the mind when we’re facing down a Cost of Living crisis, and prices are spiking at the supermarkets.
Hey, if I was of a certain persuasion—one that’s not terrified by the prospect of the right wing being allowed to spout their bigotry all across Parliament—maybe a vote across the aisle would be appealing.
But it’s not.
‘Cause it’s pretty damn apparent that even if you exclude the cookers that are rife within National, ACT and NZ First, alongside a slew of other scandals, a coalition with National, ACT and NZ First—or even just National and ACT is going to be a hot mess of old men bloviating for time immemorial.
How inspiring.
(*For the record, I’m not saying that the left-wing parties in this country don’t occasionally have these problems too, but at least they hold the folks involved accountable.)
Even excluding all the REAL BAD STUFF, do we really want a bunch of dudes who can’t get on running our country for the next three years? I’m certainly not all that keen.
So now’s not the time to sit still and watch it all turn to shit.
Your vote matters, and you need to take this opportunity to support people to make their vote matter too. Voting can seem scary for some people. It can seem like a challenge or a nuance. But with some support, it can be the easiest thing in the world. Something that feels good.
As a frequent ticket-seller for theatre events, I shall repeat the cynical statement I’m rather attached to—your biggest audience comes from the people you know. That’s true here too. The personal connection gets shit done. You can tweet your heart out about injustice, but if you’re not making the effort to talk to the people in your own life about why voting matters**, and support them to get it done, then what’s the point?
(**I am not asking you to go toe to toe with your red-pilled uncle who thinks the COVID-19 vaccine is going to turn us into zombies. That’s a much harder conversation, and I’m not the one to teach you how to have it.)
ActionStation Aotearoa is currently running a campaign called Triple The Vote! You think of three people who share your values but might not vote, get them voting for people and planet and follow up to make sure they’ve voted. Three simple steps to get people to the polling booth who might not necessarily be considering voting. It’s a good campaign and a simple one. Get involved!
If you’re reading this article, I hope you understand how much is at stake. If you don’t, here’s some glimpses of a possible future:
- “Disease of co-governance‘’
- Transphobic policies and legislation
- An increasingly dehumanising and ableist welfare system
No matter how much this election cycle sucks, and how much most of us want it to be over, a National+Act+NZ First government is not one we should be praying for, ‘cause it’s like that first sip of a suspiciously blue cocktail during a night out in town.
At first, you’re like, ‘Hey, this is a bit fun, this is a bit different!’ and then six hours later you’ve broken a heel on Courtenay Place, have pashed someone you’re not really into, and are crying in an Uber on the way home.
This election, you have the chance to vote for actual progressive change.
Don’t waste it.
Election 2023 Resources
- Find a voting place
- How to vote (you can enrol ON THE DAY!)
- VoteCompass: Explore how your views align with each party
- Compare Party Policy on issues that matter to you
- Triple your vote impact
Featured photo courtesy of the Electoral Commission.
