Go NZ, for sure. I guess the flag update didn't happen, alas.

UKIP is centrist, so it's not that weird.

sounds like a nightmare thank god that I live in America #MAGA and not New Zealand

Are you sure about that Demon Overlord ? The Australian State of South Australia gave women the vote about the same time. A conservative MP in the State Parliament at the time thought he had a cunning plan to stop the enabling legislation getting the votes it needed to pass, he added an amendment that also gave women the right to be members of the State Parliament... His cunning plan failed, so women were given the right to vote and also the right to be members of parliament in South Australia. Then shortly thereafter when the Australian States ( they were colony States under British rule ) "federated" to form the Australian nation, because it was agreed that there could be no "loss of rights of citizens in individual States", the rights of women to be members of parliament became "nation wide".
In Western Australia, women were given the right to vote for the purpose of diluting/reducing the " political power" of male voters in the WA goldfields who wanted to secede from the WA State. Because the overwhelming majority of women in WA at that time lived in the settled areas of Perth, Albany etc, and very few lived on the goldfields.

Trust me, CroakandDagger, NZ First is pretty weird.

Surprised you think it's a nightmare ND. I think you'd like old Winnie.

Ay my country made the forum :)

First country, MM.

NZ was definitely the first to let woman vote, NZ first is pretty wierd but people love the irregular way Winnie does politics. I was split on both parties tbh. I either rly liked labour policy or hated it, and national was the more middle ground one. Altho labour for me had mostly better policy's than bad. The problem with the coalition tho is that because it's 3 parties nothing will get done and Jacinda (<3) will lose support next time because of it, for labour it would almost be better for national to win this year. Anyway not sure how many people care

You really think nothing will get done? I feel the problem with either of the main parties (National slightly more so than Labour) is that they're so afraid to rock the boat that without radical coalition partners nothing would get done. Of course I prefer some radical coalition partners to others!

My biggest concern is that without any tax reform on capital, a kiwibuild policy will effectively be a taxpayer funded lottery, with those who buy these 10,000 "affordable" homes winning a golden ticket to tax free gains.

Likewise it's hard to take seriously any claims to clean up rivers when NZ First has taken a water levy off the table. Who pays if the polluters don't? Hopefully they'll agree on a TOP style market price on nitrate leaching, plus a market price on water, neither of which are levies so technically not ruled out. Can't see Winston going for that though, because they'd have to settle the treaty issues first.

Wow I'm jealous. You kiwis get to talk about real policy. Our elections are about emails, lewd bragging about sexual assault, and endless preposterous claims out credulous press never has the spine to challenge.

Don't forget potential foreign meddling...

The press studiously ignored that until after the election, despite clear reports of it, because emails.

The press studiously ignored it until after the election because they were a Democrat propaganda arm and talking about foreign interference was more likely to land their candidate in trouble.

See: Gulf states/Clinton foundation

Well congratulations to the Kiwis for being the first country to give women the vote. I was a little surprised that Winston Peters decided to support the Labor Party. As far as the election results go, it was, I think, a properly run election, no corruption etc, and the voters have made their choices. So it's up to the Politicians to accept the results and "get on with business" & form a government, which they've apparently done.
I'm interested in what sort of reforms to capital Leon Walras would like to see, I assume he means tax reforms of some type.
As far as the cleaning up of pollution in the rivers, water catchments etc, I think that's important for New Zealand. New Zealand enjoys a reputation for having a good environment and it's food exports rely on that reputation. Although there was controversy here in Australia about allowing apples and pears to be imported to Australia, as there's the risk of (I think it was) "fire blight" mainly, but also a type of "canker" plus an insect pest being introduced here from NZ, and our apple and pear orchardists were upset with that decision.
Still, as an example, given the amount of dioxins the USA dumped on Vietnam ( thanks so much Du Pont, and the way the USA denies any responsibility or liability hardly does the USA any credit) I'd definitely choose food from NZ over food from Vietnam, especially seafoods. Contaminants in foods is becoming a real concern. Pesticides in honey as an example.

@ND, I think most New Zealanders would also be grateful that you reside in the USA, quite a reasonable attitude imho.

@Leon I agree that the water tax being taken off the table was a pain, and that's gonna be a struggle now. However it does reinforce my point that nothing will get done

Or at least a lot less, with three parties with,, let's be honest, very different views it's going to be hard to keep policies agreeable for all 3 especially with such a small majority

(sry for the multiple responses, I'm on a phone and if I type too many lines the post button disappears... Mods?)

UKIP are centre-right, with the emphasis on the right.

UKIP are only "right wing" in that they have made a couple of concessions once or twice to the conservative value of free speech.

UKIP gave positioned themselves to the right of current Conservative policy in the UK, accepting that this has itself shifted from centrist to centre-right since the EU Referendum

There are currently no genuinely centrist parties in UK politics. Labour have moved farther left under Corbyn. The LibDems (who they) have always been the closest we have and they are absolutely centre-left. The closest are probably now the SNP.
Reading left to right of the main parties, I'd say it goes:

Labour, Green, Lib-Dem, SNP, Tory, UKIP.

@MM you have a capital gains tax in Australia right? We don't here in NZ, which combined with negative gearing, has locked up an awful lot of wealth in Auckland houses. We have one of the worst house price to income ratios in the world, which makes sense when we are literally paying investors to hold on to houses while every other investment has taxes levied against it.

The solution I voted for is slightly more radical than a capital gains tax, but unlike the tax that Labour has been forced to rule out, it would have been balanced by income tax cuts. Taxing assets shouldn't be about punishing wealth, it should just be about treating all income equally, so that capital will flow to where it is most productive. More here if you're interested: http://www.top.org.nz/top1

How on earth are the Lib Dems further left than the SNP in any world whatsoever?

I think the current capital gains tax system in Australia has a bias favouring real estate investments to other investment types. The Australian tax laws are gargantuan in length and complexity. John Howard was prime minister here from 1996/7 to 2007 & enjoyed a boom run of increasing tax revenues.. So he did pay off all of the Federal government debt that existed in 1996 in the first 5/6 years of the decade in power. Approx half way through, maybe later, he changed tax laws and treated things like negative gearing on property investments more favourably.. So we have high property prices now after a twenty odd year boom in real estate prices, ( especially in comparitive terms eg vs average incomes / price of vehicles etc ) with Sydney being generally the most expensive.
The tax "subsidies" to property investors have become a significant "structural cost" in the Federal government's budget. The millennials are finding it much more expensive/more difficult to buy their first home, particularly in the capital cities. But property investors, the "real estate industry" etc in Australia are very effective political lobbyists for their cause. I don't think a Conservative government will cut back on the favourable tax treatment. Labor might, but are not in power and the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd governments from 2007 to 2013 were problem racked, despite getting a few things half right.

I see that New Zealand is about to have a vote/referendum on marijuana law "reform" although what a news story suggests will happen is not necessarily what occurs. Particularly on this type of change.

HR:

A world where the Lib Dems will say anything not to be in anyone’s coalition.

I'm pretty sure the Lib Dems would love to go back in coalition. It's the only way they'd have any relevance whatsoever. They haven't been a centre left party since Charles Kennedy stood down after 2005 though - they've been centre right ever since the Coalition. And with the Tories moving further Right since May took over... They still failed to gain many voters. Because the Lib Dems are a dead force til they have the brevity to pick a leader who didn't serve under the coalition and isn't tainted by it.

The SNP have been happily centre left for a long time now - and indeed, until Corbyn took over Labour, the SNP were the most left wing party in Britain.

The SNP is realistically further left, but Tim Farron pledged both before and after the election that Lib Dems would refuse any coalition deal. And because it was unlikely for the Tories to lose the government, it meant moving leftward. Still obviously hovering around the center though.

In what sense are the Lib Dems centre right? Their policy in the election was tax and spend, pro immigration, pro the EU, and all the traditional Liberal stuff on drugs and crime etc. Just because Labour dived headfirst into a Green Party style old left bunker and started waving the red flag again doesn't mean the Lib Dems are moved right as a counterweight.

I agree that the SNP are centre left, although their independence catch all nature gives them larger than usual far left and right wing fringes.