Opinion: The political game that does nothing for our future

Central politics mirrors some sort of professional sporting league, but the stakes are much higher than getting to inscribe your club’s name on a trophy at the end of the season.

Opinion: When you strip it all back central government politics is an absolute farce.

It doesn’t need to be that way though. It just needs some sort of grown-up long-term outlook.

Hear me out.

The focus centres on polling numbers and election results and that often trumps genuine discussion and planning around what’s best for New Zealand. Both now and in the long term.

It mirrors some sort of professional sporting league, but the stakes are much higher than getting to inscribe your club’s name on a trophy every three years.

What we get left with - when politics is turned into a game - is debates about banning cell phones in schools, who can use what toilets, and fresh fruit and vegetable GST announcements with no real detail as to how it will actually work.

They are simply vote-grabbers.

That’s not to mention the ongoing sideshow around who may or may not work with Winston Peters as part of a possible coalition. He’s a person who has now had a - on-and-off - 44-year stint at trying to make New Zealand a better place.

About 160 years ago a group in London devised a transport plan that led to the creation of the Underground network which to this day generally serves the congested city well.

In the year 2023 New Zealand still seems to have little to no plan for the future of our most congested cities, and the country in general.

One party is fixated on potholes, others point to cycleways as being an answer.

That doesn’t feel like the long-term big-thinking outlook that will set New Zealand up as our population continues to rise.

If our politicians - and probably more importantly the political parties - spent more time working together on a long-term vision for the country, we might be better off.

At the moment one major political party could suggest the sky is blue and another will question the motive and reasoning behind that comment.

It’s an exaggeration, but you get the point.

Interestingly on some matters - certainly not all - the Labour and National parties probably have more in common than say the National and Act parties, or the Labour and Greens parties.

But that’s not part of the political game for National and Labour to work towards an agreement on pretty much anything.

That’s the way politics has been since 1936 when the Labour and National started going at it. That’s what we will probably always get.

But at the very least it’s worth pondering how ridiculous central politics can be as we immerse ourselves in another election campaign.

Here’s my thought.

Look for policies that show a genuine well-thought-out plan for the country, not just those policy statements that have been thought up as part of a think-tank designed to chase votes.

Now is the time for long-term thinking.

We need cost-effective plans that are focused on having a long-term impact beyond just the next electoral cycle.

Enjoy the campaign people.