By Tanya Faulkner
As New Zealand prepares itself for its 2023 general election, otherwise known as the “Battle of the Chris’s”, reports are flooding the internet that Australia may be the decider of who will run it’s neighbour across the ditch.
As a proud New Zealander enrolled in the nations upcoming election, it is clear that this year’s election is set to be ‘iconic’ for New Zealanders around the world, following a two-term stint in office for the local Labour party, and is arguably going to be one of the closest elections the country has seen in years.
The world will be watching the country in the corner of the map, to see whether it will be Chris Hipkins – interim Prime Minister and leader of the Labour party – returning to power, or if New Zealand may see a change of government under the right-wing National party, led by Christopher Luxon in the head seat.
To differentiate the two, Chris Hipkins is the man who went viral in 2021, after stating on a live Covid19 television broadcast that kiwi’s needed to get out and “spread their legs” during the pandemic, whilst Chris Luxon stands on firm ground for the National party.
Luxon has spent most of his time in recent days facing a grilling from the media as to whether he will be open to a coalition with the controversial “swing” party NZ First, or whether he will be relying on a completely right-wing National and ACT party coalition.
Currently showing in the polls is that Luxon would need to count on a National-ACT-NZ First coalition to have any chance at gaining the controlling maximum in the upcoming term.
Overseas voting opened in early October for New Zealand citizen expats to vote for their mother country, if they haven’t been home in less than six years – which is double the previous amount in place for past elections.
Of the estimated one million kiwi’s living overseas, the non-partisan group Every Kiwi Vote Counts said almost 70 per cent of them reside in Australia.
Every Kiwi Vote Counts group director Tracey Lee said in the past, elections have only seen one in 10 overseas New Zealanders vote.
“With roughly one million New Zealanders living overseas, we could have an additional 750,000 New Zealanders who aren’t exercising their democratic right to vote,” she said.
In the most recent “Leaders Debate” screened on TVNZ, hosted by the iconic television personality Patrick Gower, both leaders have pledged to keep the number of police higher than the number of gang members, promised to lower the age for bowel cancer screening from 60 to 50 – similar to Australia – and to continue paying nurses the same.
However, whilst they both promised to lift 80,000 more children out of poverty by 2028, Hipkins said Luxon’s plan to peg benefit levels to inflation rather than wages would increase poverty.
As early voting is now open for both overseas Kiwi voters, and local residents still residing in the mother country, recent polls are showing that the left-wing Labour party are creeping back into favour ahead of a right-wing coalition option.
Despite what the polls say, this kiwi-reporter is hoping for a right-wing coalition to come into power on 14 October, and see a change of colours leading the way for New Zealand for the next term, with hopes of them improving the overall economy and pull New Zealand out of recession in the coming years.
Any Knox residents who remain New Zealand citizens and eligible to vote in this years’ general election are encouraged to submit their votes either online or via post before Saturday 14 October.
More information can be found at vote.nz
