If to predict the victory of Javier Milei and his chainsaw all you had to do was talk to the Argentines who have made Barcelona their home, to predict the arrival of the hard right in New Zealand it was enough to feel out the fifty thousand Kiwis residing in Gran Brittany. They were fed up with six years of Labor and eager for change.
Inflation, the cost of living, homelessness and a dedication to issues of gender equality, Māori (Aboriginal people) rights and the environment – at the expense of greater attention to poverty, deterioration of health and education – made the charismatic Jacinda Ardern go from icon of international progressivism to former prime minister, ex-MP (she resigned from her seat) and ex-politician. She currently works, without pay, for an organization that combats incitement to violence on the internet.
Following his surprise resignation in January, things have gone from bad to worse for Labour, which was the only party that had been able to govern alone since the establishment of a proportional system in 1993 (everything else has been coalitions). Chris Hipkins, his successor, lost resoundingly in the October election and Christopher Luxon, a former chief executive of Air New Zealand and leader of the National Party, has officially been prime minister for a fortnight.
New Zealand is further proof that, in the midst of a cultural war, with the rise of populism and nationalism, in a world of misinformation where any hoax conveniently spread by social networks becomes a parallel reality, it is possible to go from the left to the right, or even to the extreme right, in no time.
Luxon, at the head of a coalition with two smaller and more radical parties, the libertarian ACT and New Zealand First (populist, socially ultra-conservative, protectionist, anti-immigration, anti-globalization and defender of the interests of pensioners), has not wasted a minute in begin to disrupt Labour's policies. Goodbye to tobacco restrictions, with a drastic reduction in points of sale and a prohibition on purchasing for all those born after 2008, with a progressive increase in the age at which smoking is allowed until reaching a situation in which no one could do so legally, a policy that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has copied. Money is king, and the Wellington government receives around 800 million euros in taxes annually (70% of the around twenty euros that a pack costs) thanks to this addiction. The justification is not of course that, but to prevent the appearance of a black market.
But it is not only the anti-smoking lobby that takes its hands on its head with the new direction taken by the New Zealand conservatives. Also the environmentalists (their ministry has been replaced by one of Hunting and Fishing), with the new Government's renunciation of the most ambitious objectives in this area, such as incentives for the purchase of electric cars, creation of a marine reserve, strict measures to combat the pollution of river waters, reducing traffic in residential neighborhoods, promoting cycling and public transport, reducing the number of livestock... Reverse everything.
The legacy of Jacinda Ardern, who came to be considered one of the most influential people in the world, is being destroyed not with a chainsaw, but with an excavator. The 49-point program by Luxon and her coalition allies abandons the legal obligation to reduce the country's prison population, dismantles a task force dedicated to Māori health and rips up the recommendations of a commission set up to close the gap between Aboriginal and white population, and give natives a role in governance. “We will never support a formula that undermines our liberal democracy and treats people differently based on their ethnicity, rights cannot be determined by ancestral criteria, but must be identical for everyone,” said the new premier. The problem is that, like on Orwell's farm, all the animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Thousands of Māori have demonstrated in recent days in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and cities large and small across the country, blocking traffic to protest “the rollback of several decades of progress on indigenous rights”. The coalition has set out to review the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, a founding document signed by Aboriginal leaders and the British Crown. The objective has also been set to reduce the official use of the native language. “We are not going to accept being second-class citizens,” says the Maori Party, which has expanded its seats from two to six.
Fewer taxes and regulations, the staunch defense of private property as the first commandment, landlords before tenants, harsher sentences, fewer civil servants, austerity, suppression of public infrastructure works, war on the nanny state... The country has passed from the social democrat Saint Jacinda to the most right-wing Government in a generation. In one breath.
