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Originally Posted by erimir
So apparently even though the Tories got close to a majority of seats, they won't be in government after all, and Labour will lead the government.
That sounds good to me. But is it bad that the NZ First party is in government? I don't know much about them, but the name sounds a bit "alt-right-ish".
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Yup, bit of a surprise. I'm pleased about the change of govt, which is holding out some promises of action on climate change, child poverty, house affordability and so on. Also, first PM who is younger than me! Of course my routine cynicism about what they'll manage to achieve is already kicking in.
I'm very much not a fan of NZ First, but they're not alt-right. More old-right, they're a mix of social conservatism and economic nationalism, but tend more to the nostalgic than the fully toxic. They have had a pretty shitty line on immigration, and unfortunately the Labour Party (main coalition partner) has also played a bit to this particular populist note in recent times. So we'll have to watch them on that stuff. I expect the Greens, who are sort-of in and sort-of not in the government with these two parties will hold the line there.
Overall this coalition is going to be the most critical of neoliberalism we've had in some 30 years, in rhetoric at least.