Peter George: It’s a confusing time for New Zealanders, not least amongst them the country’s most celebrated citizen.
Sir Edmund Hillary: It’s a very uncertain attitude in New Zealand at that moment. I think a lot of us are still slightly puzzled as to what we should do.
George: As the first man to climb Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary has no clearer view than the next man about where New Zealand is going.
Hillary: We used to have a society where everybody could get social security and so on. We’ve swung quite strongly away from that now. Maybe we’ve gone a little bit too far.
So maybe we ought to slow down a little bit these paying back of our debts, and spend a little bit more money on health and education and the old people.
George: Today’s New Zealand is more noted for its corporate climbers than its mountaineers.
Anthony Walton’s on the rise. He’s negotiating to franchise a chain of activity cafes called Global Tribe, across the country and into Europe and America.
A dozen years of extraordinary, often brutal, economic reform have produced a new breed of energetic entrepreneur like
Walton, ready to take the risks and take on the world.
Walton: I think there’s a fresh confidence in New Zealand, there’s no doubt about that. To be aggressive on the world scene and I think the belief that we can do it is starting to really emerge again.
George: Disciples of the free market like Walton, revel in moves to smaller government. Not just in selling off public assets, but in turning over responsibilities like health, education and social welfare to market forces.
Walton: I think smaller government, yeah, downsized government, and deregulate, get the entrepreneurs, the visionaries, the business leaders getting involved in solving some of those problems.
George: The climate of uncertainty about which way to go forward sets the scene for an unprecedented political clash.
Appropriately, you can find two arch rivals on opposite sides of the football field.
Prime Minister, Jim Bolger’s, National Party: an old player struggling to hold on to the power that his party and the Labor opposition have shared for decades.
On the other side, new players, like Winston Peter’s New Zealand First Party, harnessing people’s fears that something has gone dreadfully wrong.
Maori man: Is it not true that you made your name on the back of Maori bashing issues.
Peters: Unlike you mate. I actually put my money where my mouth is.
George: Winston Peters wants to be New Zealand’s first Maori Prime Minister.
He’s not unanimously popular even amongst his own people.
As a minister in the National Party Government, he opposed many Maori demands.
Peters: This is not a party led by a gutless leader. I’ll not be hijacked by him, the business round table or any body else.
George: Today, after falling out with the Prime Minister, defecting, then forming New Zealand First three years ago, Peters runs a well-oiled political machine.
He is far and away the country’s most charismatic politician.
Peters’ popularity with people like Gwyne McLennan, is built on attacking the economic reforms he once promoted as a government minister.
Gwyne: Well, I think he is the best candidate New Zealand has ever had.
George: You find him pretty attractive too, don’t you? Like a lot of New Zealanders do.
Gwyne: Well, I suppose I do, yes, I find him quite attractive.
Peters: This election is about who owns New Zealand.
George: Big business, multinationals, immigration — popular targets for those who believe they’ve paid dearly for economic reform.
To Gwyne and new political friends like Valda and Frank Harris, Winston Peters represents a chance to change
direction before it’s too late.
Peters: Remember come the 12th of October to put yourself first, put your family first, put your community first, but above all, put your country first.
Peters: Foreign media ownership, foreign ownership of all of our key resources. I mean if you land in New Zealand by plane you’ll come on a foreign owned airline we used to own. The airports are being sold, you’ll probably land on a foreign owned airport. If you catch the train that’s foreign owned, past the forests, they’re foreign owned. Go past all the big energy projects, which made us the sixth most energy developed country in the world, they’re all foreign owned. Check in at a hotel chain, they’re all foreign owned. Check in at a bank, they’re all foreign owned. What part of New Zealand is ours now?
George: Today volunteers flock to parties that have never before stood a chance of gaining real power.
Now, with the introduction of proportional representation, people like Valda sense an opportunity to destroy the dominance of the two big parties that left many people feeling marginalised and ignored.
Gwyne: I have to say Winston’s got the most wonderful sense of humour.
George: New Zealand First appeals to many who want the government to stop selling off public assets, and those threatened by reforms to once generous pensions, welfare and health services.
Gwyne: I’ve known several people who need hip replacements. now they’ve had to wait and wait and wait until they can hardly walk.
Valda: I’m definitely against selling off our assets. If we ever, something happened and we ever had an invasion, we’ve lost all our major things, our telecommunications, our roads. They could block us off completely.
George: Do you miss the old days when New Zealand was something more, perhaps, of a caring society. People looked after each other better, is that one of the things you’re yearning for?
Valda: Oh yes.
George: Fear also plays a large part in the minds of those
who oppose Winston Peters.
Farmers were the first to suffer economic restructuring. Now they’ve come through it, they’re afraid of anyone who might turn back the clock.
Larry: We would go back to a government of big spending. We would see a rise in interest rates, a rise in inflation, and in our situation here, where we’ve made pretty hefty investments in farming, that would not be a very good thing and it would worry me greatly.
George: Like most New Zealanders, Larry and Jane White don’t quite know what effect the new voting system — Mixed Member Proportional or MMP — will have.
It was chosen in a referendum by voters sick of the broken promises of the big political parties. But the Whites fear it’ll lead to weaker government, with coalitions horse-trading over their policies.
Larry: We’re obviously going to have coalition governments which means you’re going to have a watering down of policies, legislation that is full of compromise and a government that possibly isn’t going to be able to push through the hard decisions.
George: Another farming family, the characters of the Footrot Flats cartoon, has been conscripted to explain MMP to confused voters.
Voice: You may not realise it but I’m able to make two votes this election. One for a party and one for a person.
George: Simple enough, but the effect on the shape of future Parliaments is completely unpredictable.
Voice: MMP, it takes just two ticks.
George: Prime Minister Jim Bolger does not like MMP. Under the old system he’d have been certain of holding on to his job.
He’ll probably garner about 40 percent of the vote, not enough for an outright majority, nor a mandate to press on with economic restructuring.
Bolger: I think the real question is whether or not we get three parties of the left with conflicting but negative policies as it relates to New Zealand forming the next government. I think if that happens then the extraordinary progress that has been lauded around the world by international commentators, again even this morning, has every probability of slowing down and perhaps stalling altogether.
Woman: Prime Minister, do you think we could have one second for a photograph?
Bolger: Sure.
Woman: Little girls don’t meet a Prime Minister every day, do they.
George: A lacklustre campaigner, Bolger’s message to all New Zealanders has been ‘don’t lose the faith, there’s no turning back.’
Bolger: But the good news now is what we spend we can afford. We’re not going to some international banker to get the money and say please give us this money because we want to develop another social policy
George: The Prime Ministerial problem is that while he’s popular with farmers and businessmen, his economic reforms are seen as heartless.
George: A recent survey revealed that one in three New Zealand children live below the country’s poverty line.
George: People say reforms in eduction, health and welfare hurt the poor. But Mr Bolger maintains there is no poverty.
Bolger: There are poor people in New Zealand, of course there are poor people in New Zealand.
George: Well, that means there’s poverty, doesn’t it?
Bolger: Well poor people are not in poverty. I mean I think there’s an absolute misuse of the term.
George: Many beg to differ with the Prime Minister.
George: Moega is amongst the more fortunate — her temporary home is a prime bit of real estate owned by the Catholic church.
Elaine: I’m embarrassed by the policies that our government has put on to the low income families. And there is no miracle. For a lot of these children that sit in our house that have not got enough money to go to school with and to have lunch — where is the miracle for them?
Lange: There’s poverty around this country, relative poverty, not — it’s not Chinese poverty, it’s not South American poverty, it’s not African poverty. But it is relative poverty. And kids are feeling it very, very keenly.
George: As the man who set New Zealand on the road to what’s called ‘economic rationalism,’ David Lange is now one of its greatest critics.
Alongside All Black rugby heroes, Lange is still urging New Zealanders to keep to the left, but nowadays it’s the left of the road in driver safety campaigns.
Lange: We have become far too rational. People think you’re in politics to become some sort of bookkeeper, a cost accountant.
George: As the campaign enters its final days, New Zealanders find themselves facing the starkest choices in the most confusing of circumstances.
They must either believe Jim Bolger’s promises that all New Zealanders will eventually benefit when the pain is over.
Or they must take a punt on untried politicians trading on people’s fears, but promising to let them decide the pace of change, and to deliver an economy that’s fit to live in.
George: Are you ready for battle, Mr Peters?
Peters: We’ll be ready.
George: The Prime Minister might find a natural coalition partner in Winston Peters, who defected from the Nationals, were it not for their deep personal antagonism.
The horse-trading amongst prospective coalition partners that MMP has forced on the politicians will keep New Zealanders entertained, frustrated and confused after the elections until the shape of a new government becomes clear.
Bolger: I’m not interested in going back to yesterday. Some things yesterday were good, but you can’t go back.
George: There is no turning back on the road of economic reform. It’s far too late for that.
But politicians and public alike agree the nation has reached a watershed.
So when they vote, New Zealanders will pass judgement on whether the pace of reform has been too fast. On whether they’re losing touch with their egalitarian past. And on the sort of society they want their children to inherit.
Sir Edmund Hillary: It’s a very uncertain attitude in New Zealand at that moment. I think a lot of us are still slightly puzzled as to what we should do.
George: As the first man to climb Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary has no clearer view than the next man about where New Zealand is going.
Hillary: We used to have a society where everybody could get social security and so on. We’ve swung quite strongly away from that now. Maybe we’ve gone a little bit too far.
So maybe we ought to slow down a little bit these paying back of our debts, and spend a little bit more money on health and education and the old people.
George: Today’s New Zealand is more noted for its corporate climbers than its mountaineers.
Anthony Walton’s on the rise. He’s negotiating to franchise a chain of activity cafes called Global Tribe, across the country and into Europe and America.
A dozen years of extraordinary, often brutal, economic reform have produced a new breed of energetic entrepreneur like
Walton, ready to take the risks and take on the world.
Walton: I think there’s a fresh confidence in New Zealand, there’s no doubt about that. To be aggressive on the world scene and I think the belief that we can do it is starting to really emerge again.
George: Disciples of the free market like Walton, revel in moves to smaller government. Not just in selling off public assets, but in turning over responsibilities like health, education and social welfare to market forces.
Walton: I think smaller government, yeah, downsized government, and deregulate, get the entrepreneurs, the visionaries, the business leaders getting involved in solving some of those problems.
George: The climate of uncertainty about which way to go forward sets the scene for an unprecedented political clash.
Appropriately, you can find two arch rivals on opposite sides of the football field.
Prime Minister, Jim Bolger’s, National Party: an old player struggling to hold on to the power that his party and the Labor opposition have shared for decades.
On the other side, new players, like Winston Peter’s New Zealand First Party, harnessing people’s fears that something has gone dreadfully wrong.
Maori man: Is it not true that you made your name on the back of Maori bashing issues.
Peters: Unlike you mate. I actually put my money where my mouth is.
George: Winston Peters wants to be New Zealand’s first Maori Prime Minister.
He’s not unanimously popular even amongst his own people.
As a minister in the National Party Government, he opposed many Maori demands.
Peters: This is not a party led by a gutless leader. I’ll not be hijacked by him, the business round table or any body else.
George: Today, after falling out with the Prime Minister, defecting, then forming New Zealand First three years ago, Peters runs a well-oiled political machine.
He is far and away the country’s most charismatic politician.
Peters’ popularity with people like Gwyne McLennan, is built on attacking the economic reforms he once promoted as a government minister.
Gwyne: Well, I think he is the best candidate New Zealand has ever had.
George: You find him pretty attractive too, don’t you? Like a lot of New Zealanders do.
Gwyne: Well, I suppose I do, yes, I find him quite attractive.
Peters: This election is about who owns New Zealand.
George: Big business, multinationals, immigration — popular targets for those who believe they’ve paid dearly for economic reform.
To Gwyne and new political friends like Valda and Frank Harris, Winston Peters represents a chance to change
direction before it’s too late.
Peters: Remember come the 12th of October to put yourself first, put your family first, put your community first, but above all, put your country first.
Peters: Foreign media ownership, foreign ownership of all of our key resources. I mean if you land in New Zealand by plane you’ll come on a foreign owned airline we used to own. The airports are being sold, you’ll probably land on a foreign owned airport. If you catch the train that’s foreign owned, past the forests, they’re foreign owned. Go past all the big energy projects, which made us the sixth most energy developed country in the world, they’re all foreign owned. Check in at a hotel chain, they’re all foreign owned. Check in at a bank, they’re all foreign owned. What part of New Zealand is ours now?
George: Today volunteers flock to parties that have never before stood a chance of gaining real power.
Now, with the introduction of proportional representation, people like Valda sense an opportunity to destroy the dominance of the two big parties that left many people feeling marginalised and ignored.
Gwyne: I have to say Winston’s got the most wonderful sense of humour.
George: New Zealand First appeals to many who want the government to stop selling off public assets, and those threatened by reforms to once generous pensions, welfare and health services.
Gwyne: I’ve known several people who need hip replacements. now they’ve had to wait and wait and wait until they can hardly walk.
Valda: I’m definitely against selling off our assets. If we ever, something happened and we ever had an invasion, we’ve lost all our major things, our telecommunications, our roads. They could block us off completely.
George: Do you miss the old days when New Zealand was something more, perhaps, of a caring society. People looked after each other better, is that one of the things you’re yearning for?
Valda: Oh yes.
George: Fear also plays a large part in the minds of those
who oppose Winston Peters.
Farmers were the first to suffer economic restructuring. Now they’ve come through it, they’re afraid of anyone who might turn back the clock.
Larry: We would go back to a government of big spending. We would see a rise in interest rates, a rise in inflation, and in our situation here, where we’ve made pretty hefty investments in farming, that would not be a very good thing and it would worry me greatly.
George: Like most New Zealanders, Larry and Jane White don’t quite know what effect the new voting system — Mixed Member Proportional or MMP — will have.
It was chosen in a referendum by voters sick of the broken promises of the big political parties. But the Whites fear it’ll lead to weaker government, with coalitions horse-trading over their policies.
Larry: We’re obviously going to have coalition governments which means you’re going to have a watering down of policies, legislation that is full of compromise and a government that possibly isn’t going to be able to push through the hard decisions.
George: Another farming family, the characters of the Footrot Flats cartoon, has been conscripted to explain MMP to confused voters.
Voice: You may not realise it but I’m able to make two votes this election. One for a party and one for a person.
George: Simple enough, but the effect on the shape of future Parliaments is completely unpredictable.
Voice: MMP, it takes just two ticks.
George: Prime Minister Jim Bolger does not like MMP. Under the old system he’d have been certain of holding on to his job.
He’ll probably garner about 40 percent of the vote, not enough for an outright majority, nor a mandate to press on with economic restructuring.
Bolger: I think the real question is whether or not we get three parties of the left with conflicting but negative policies as it relates to New Zealand forming the next government. I think if that happens then the extraordinary progress that has been lauded around the world by international commentators, again even this morning, has every probability of slowing down and perhaps stalling altogether.
Woman: Prime Minister, do you think we could have one second for a photograph?
Bolger: Sure.
Woman: Little girls don’t meet a Prime Minister every day, do they.
George: A lacklustre campaigner, Bolger’s message to all New Zealanders has been ‘don’t lose the faith, there’s no turning back.’
Bolger: But the good news now is what we spend we can afford. We’re not going to some international banker to get the money and say please give us this money because we want to develop another social policy
George: The Prime Ministerial problem is that while he’s popular with farmers and businessmen, his economic reforms are seen as heartless.
George: A recent survey revealed that one in three New Zealand children live below the country’s poverty line.
George: People say reforms in eduction, health and welfare hurt the poor. But Mr Bolger maintains there is no poverty.
Bolger: There are poor people in New Zealand, of course there are poor people in New Zealand.
George: Well, that means there’s poverty, doesn’t it?
Bolger: Well poor people are not in poverty. I mean I think there’s an absolute misuse of the term.
George: Many beg to differ with the Prime Minister.
George: Moega is amongst the more fortunate — her temporary home is a prime bit of real estate owned by the Catholic church.
Elaine: I’m embarrassed by the policies that our government has put on to the low income families. And there is no miracle. For a lot of these children that sit in our house that have not got enough money to go to school with and to have lunch — where is the miracle for them?
Lange: There’s poverty around this country, relative poverty, not — it’s not Chinese poverty, it’s not South American poverty, it’s not African poverty. But it is relative poverty. And kids are feeling it very, very keenly.
George: As the man who set New Zealand on the road to what’s called ‘economic rationalism,’ David Lange is now one of its greatest critics.
Alongside All Black rugby heroes, Lange is still urging New Zealanders to keep to the left, but nowadays it’s the left of the road in driver safety campaigns.
Lange: We have become far too rational. People think you’re in politics to become some sort of bookkeeper, a cost accountant.
George: As the campaign enters its final days, New Zealanders find themselves facing the starkest choices in the most confusing of circumstances.
They must either believe Jim Bolger’s promises that all New Zealanders will eventually benefit when the pain is over.
Or they must take a punt on untried politicians trading on people’s fears, but promising to let them decide the pace of change, and to deliver an economy that’s fit to live in.
George: Are you ready for battle, Mr Peters?
Peters: We’ll be ready.
George: The Prime Minister might find a natural coalition partner in Winston Peters, who defected from the Nationals, were it not for their deep personal antagonism.
The horse-trading amongst prospective coalition partners that MMP has forced on the politicians will keep New Zealanders entertained, frustrated and confused after the elections until the shape of a new government becomes clear.
Bolger: I’m not interested in going back to yesterday. Some things yesterday were good, but you can’t go back.
George: There is no turning back on the road of economic reform. It’s far too late for that.
But politicians and public alike agree the nation has reached a watershed.
So when they vote, New Zealanders will pass judgement on whether the pace of reform has been too fast. On whether they’re losing touch with their egalitarian past. And on the sort of society they want their children to inherit.