'We are going to do wonderful things in New Zealand'

July 21, 1993
Issue 

Matt McCarten is president of the New Zealand NewLabour Party and chair of the Alliance (involving NewLabour, the Greens, the Maori party Mana Motuhake, the Liberals and the Democrats). In April, he visited the United States, speaking on the experience of NewLabour and the Alliance. This is an abridged text of a talk he gave on April 22 in San Francisco.

I haven't been to the northern hemisphere before, but from all the interviews I've had, they always expect me to tell how terrible things are in another part of the world.

I haven't come to tell you how terrible things are; I've come to tell you how good things are. There is a country in the world where progressive forces, which involve ordinary people from all walks of life, are actually taking back their community against the forces which seem to have some malicious joy in beating them back.

In New Zealand we've had the problems that other countries have had, but the difference is that we're organising a mass base of progressive forces from every movement possible: the peace movement, a huge environmental movement, the women's movement, the Maori movement, minority groups, the gay and lesbian movement, the trade union movement, the unemployed movement have all come together around a common program.

The Alliance is made up of the Green Party, the NewLabour Party, Mana Motuhake and two smaller parties. The environmental movement is very strong. For example, the Greenpeace organisation in New Zealand, with a population of just over 3 million, is 180,000 members. There are two other environmental movements with more than 100,000 members.

Maori people, who have always been oppressed, make up 15% of our country. In the mid-'70s Maori people said no longer will we be victims, we will organise ourselves, and a movement of Maoris was formed called Mana Motuhake, which means self-determination through pride. We organised our community to be a real force in New Zealand politics.

In the Alliance with the Green Party is the NewLabour Party. It is a party in which two-thirds are unemployed. We are a party of poor people, of what you would call the underclass. We are a mass party of workers, and we represent that constituency.

So the Alliance brings us the Greens, indigenous people and labour. And that is a connection which hasn't been done before. We have ordinary New Zealanders, we have no business backing at all. All our funding comes from our own members and our own supporters. We're proud of that, because we won't be accountable to outsiders. We aren't going to buy our way to victory. We are actually arguing and discussing. We'll win by convincing people of our ideas.

We are a very new organisation. We've only been around as the Alliance for 18 months now. What we have is a whole bloc of people re coming together to see what we have in common. One of the interesting things has always been that labour and the environment were at odds. Members have always been trained that if you protect the environment you would somehow lose jobs, and that turns the labour movement against the environmental movement. But we've found that when we listen to people, the needs and wishes are the same.

We are perceived as the progressive force in the community. We're attacked by the mainstream media whenever they can get away with it. That's okay, because we're building a different movement; we are not going to play their game. That's where our strength is, because we ignored the traditional media. We went out and knocked on the door of every home. We used people power and went out and actually talked to people about the issues.

Most of our movements have the general vision of what we want. But then we have to have the discipline of how we put it together. What if we were elected next week? That's the question that we have to ask ourselves. It's no good talking slogans, we have to say what we would actually do. In Auckland, in the regional elections, we got 42%, and have 78 elected officials, two mayors, and we now control the regional government. So, it's all very well saying we're going to do something, now we are in a position that we have to do it!

The other thing, which doesn't happen anywhere else, is we judge all our policies and our ideas against three criteria. One it's got to make economic sense; it's got to be economically sustainable. The capitalist system always does that, and it's a discipline on us.

Second, what is its social cost? Is it socially useful? Is it good for people? What are the pluses, what are the minuses? It is no good us promoting things which are economically useful but not socially useful. Is it good for people? Politics should be to help people, not to oppress them.

The third thing that we judge on is, is it environmentally sustainable? All our policies have to measure up. It is a very strict criterion, a discipline on us. All our policies meet this criterion.

One thing we do with our policies is say, this is how much it will cost. It is very difficult for the establishment people to attack us, to put down our proposal. We do our homework, we say how much it's going to cost. Then we say where the money's going to come from, and that's a new thing for progressive forces. We tell them who's going to be taxed and how much. Nothing's free, and we say we will be honest. We tell people what it's going to cost and what's in store, so when they elect us there are no nasty surprises.

All our candidates sign a public pledge that they will implement this policy or they will resign. We give them strict criteria and they actually put down we will implement this because we believe in it. Then every month, in Auckland, our elected officials turn up and give reports on their progress. When you've got 500 or 600 or 800 activists all there — well I wouldn't defy a group of

People aren't answerable to a party boss, or a party structure; what they are answerable to is the things they promised the people. We don't break promises! Our candidates are accountable to this platform. We have dumped elected officials who have not carried out the program in good faith. People don't mind that you're having difficulties, if you're still trying to do it.

One out of four houses, when we knock on their doors, say we support you. One in 20 people actually join us. That's not bad — when you get 5% of the population actually joining you, or giving money, or giving support, turning out for meetings. It is a wonderful feeling, to be part of a mass movement.

It is an exciting time because we've already done wonderful things. They tried to bankrupt Auckland before we took over. They left us with a debt, they passed legislation by the central government to force us to sell off the ports, the sewerage, the water, the public transport, electricity. We ran on a program that the people are in charge: we will defy you if we are elected, we will not sell!

Because how can you have an environmental program if you don't own the resources? You can't have it; you're just a regulatory body. Ownership of the resources like the shores, the harbours and the land: if you don't have that, how can you be effective in carrying out decisions? Decisions are made by those who own it.

So we've retained public ownership. What's more, we haven't gone bankrupt, because we had the people on our side. We haven't made one worker redundant. We haven't sold. We haven't had a rate increase either. People start to realise that you can do all these things.

These problems exist throughout the world. Poverty, repression, justice and indigenous peoples' rights, self-determination and the economic questions — all those issues, you can't just solve them in one country. What will we do if there is international pressure? Of course, we can be defeated, but we're winning the hearts and minds of people. That's how we will do it. Ordinary people: if you win them, then you can stand anything.

That is our belief. It's a very exciting time. We may get it wrong. But at this time, it is right; you just have to have faith in people. We scared the other two parties like you've never seen. We were told that if we win, it will be the end of civilisation as we know it. We've started out to do something and we're going to do it. We think we are going to do wonderful things in New Zealand.
[Thanks to Alex Chis and Independent Politics for the text.]

You need Green Left, and we need you!

Green Left is funded by contributions from readers and supporters. Help us reach our funding target.

Make a One-off Donation or choose from one of our Monthly Donation options.

Become a supporter to get the digital edition for $5 per month or the print edition for $10 per month. One-time payment options are available.

You can also call 1800 634 206 to make a donation or to become a supporter. Thank you.