New Zealand Regional Party

There have been a few attempts to get a purely New Zealand regional political party off the ground going back to the 1970's. Of course there was the provincial government era which was disbanded (Christchurch is still looking for a use for its Provincial Council Buildings.) but since then NZ has been a relatively harmonious one size fits all type of place.

The main reason regional states were scrapped was due to population. In its early days, NZ wasn't as successful as had been hoped. In the end the capital was centred on Wellington (moved from Auckland) and NZ became one whole. The NZ Legislative Assembly (equivalent to the House of Lords) was then removed in the 1940's, leaving an empty house inside NZ's Parliament. All good fun, a unicameral legislature, laws are enacted fast.

But I think the time has come for regional interests to push for a better deal. That's because Auckland is getting everything and the regions are being repeatedly screwed over. And the modern electoral system NZ uses allows for this kind of voice.

Consider the recent protest on the West Coast, https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105666228/protest-against-mining-ban-on-doc-land-as-last-rail-road-bridge-in-new-zealand-closes The government must have thought the opening of a bridge was reason for celebration, instead they got a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. That's because the Greens are the tail wagging the (Labour/NZ First) dog and want to turn the West Coast into a depopulated wasteland where nothing happens apart from German backpackers coming through to crap on their front lawns. I kid you not.

Call this party something useful like the Country Party, or Heartland Party. Its function would be as power broker, getting the best deal for the regions in return for backing the government of the day. An argument justifying this type of negotiation would be to look at export revenue from the regions compared to the whole of the country including urban areas. What proportion of NZ's total export revenue comes from the regions? In return the regions should get a slice of the pie. Instead what happens is the regions make the money and then have their tax dollars spent on building roads in Auckland. This has to stop.

Correcting the imbalance would see the regions grow as services would be made available. Employment follows. NZ has no singular voice promoting regional interests. It needs to find one.