{"id":569235,"date":"2026-08-14T22:32:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569235\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T22:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:32:26","slug":"national-say-theyre-fixing-the-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569235\/","title":{"rendered":"‘National say they’re fixing the basics"},"content":{"rendered":"

OPINION: In the latest in our State of the Nation series, a 64-year-old financial advisor shares his views on Aotearoa and who he plans to vote for in November.<\/p>\n

How old are you and what do you do? I\u2019m 64 and I’m a financial advisor. <\/p>\n

How many people live in your household? There\u2019s two of us, me and my wife. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s your combined annual income, before tax? Approximately $100,000.<\/p>\n

Have you decided who you\u2019ll vote for in the November election? Yes, I’m probably going to split my vote \u2013 I\u2019ll probably vote National in my electorate and give my party vote to NZ First.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your thinking behind that? I guess wanting to keep the current government in. But NZ First \u2013 traditionally, historically \u2013 their values match our values.<\/p>\n

Which specific policies of theirs align with your values? I don’t know that I could give you any specific policies, but it\u2019s their more traditional family-focused values. Their [stance on] moral kinds of issues. <\/p>\n

\"Winston<\/p>\n

Winston Peters claims to lead “the only party in parliament with modern Kiwi conservative values”. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Do you mean, for example, their conservative stance on the transgender issues? Yeah, definitely.<\/p>\n

Did you vote for NZ First in 2023? Yes.<\/p>\n

Is that a consistent vote for you? Or do you swing around a bit? Oh yeah, I\u2019ve voted for Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori previously. That was back in Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples’ day. They were a different party back then.<\/p>\n

\"Dame<\/p>\n

Dame Tariana Turia. Born April 8, 1944. Died January 3, 2025. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Do you identify as M\u0101ori yourself? No, I wasn\u2019t even born in New Zealand. I was born in the UK. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s your stance on the current Coalition Government? I mean, they have their challenges, but I think they have tended to work through them. The relationship [between the parties] has developed in a way that was quite predictable. It was pretty clear that Winston, after being deputy PM in the first half of the term, was going to use the second half of the term to differentiate himself. And he’s certainly done that.<\/p>\n

\"Coalition<\/p>\n

Coalition Government leaders: Winston Peters, Christopher Luxon and David Seymour. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

I think they’re still holding together though, they’re working through their differences and they’re getting there. Interesting: I just saw National starting to put out their electioneering posters and placards around the place. And I looked I looked at their slogan (Fixing the Basics, Building the Future) and I thought, you know, actually I kind of feel that they are. <\/p>\n

Some of the policies around education<\/a>, it’s like yeah, they’re doing stuff, and they seem to be getting good results. <\/p>\n

\"Education<\/p>\n

Education Minister Erica Stanford with Prime Minister Chris Luxon. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your impression of Luxon as leader? He\u2019s had his challenges this week…<\/p>\n

I mean it is interesting that even when there’s these party revolts, they don’t come to anything.<\/p>\n

Politicians are human, sometimes they make their move, they interpret things and think they’ve read the mood of the room when in actual fact they haven’t.<\/p>\n

What’s your view of ACT leader David Seymour? I think he’s an extremely capable, articulate person. I totally disagree with some of ACT\u2019s libertarian policies and views on things. But some of the stuff that he’s done I really support.<\/p>\n

Do you agree with ACT’s election policy of giving teachers powers to use \u201creasonable force\u201d to remove disruptive students from classrooms, and to fine the parents of those kids<\/a> up to $3000 if they don\u2019t engage with schools over their child\u2019s behaviour?<\/p>\n

All of those kind of policies are dealing with symptoms of a much, much deeper problem. <\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Henry and David Seymour announced the above outlined policy. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

I think the breakdown of our family units is the problem we are paying the price for, throughout many sectors of society, and often they\u2019re sectors that government departments and taxpayers end up footing the bill for, whether it\u2019s alcohol-related incidents in emergency rooms adding to the healthcare problems, or kids misbehaving in school.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your view of the Labour Party?<\/p>\n

Not particularly high. From a moral perspective, I think they’re just way off where I would stand on many many things. I’ve certainly voted Labour in the past I’m old enough to have voted for David Lange\u2019s party. So there are certainly some aspects of [their philosophy] like wealth redistribution that I would identify with. But, generally speaking, I don’t think that they put a great emphasis on personal responsibility.<\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/p>\n

Labour leader Chris Hipkins. (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n

Do you feel secure in your job? In your industry?<\/p>\n

That’s a really good question. No, I don’t. That’s probably not anything to do with government policies, rather it\u2019s around the rise of AI.<\/p>\n

In my industry, we are advisors, and as with lawyers and lots of people who give professional advice, I think people are turning to AI and starting to trust it a lot more. It’s probably going to be able to do a lot of things that professional advisors do now.<\/p>\n

It’s a great threat to this kind of industry. But then it’s a great threat to lots and lots of industries.<\/p>\n

Do you use it?<\/p>\n

I try not to, but when I do use it, I’m pretty startled by how good it can be.<\/p>\n

What’s your view on the large AI data centres that are being proposed or planned around New Zealand \u2013 an opportunity or something to be avoided?<\/p>\n

I think we need to be extremely cautious. <\/p>\n

So, would you agree with the Green Party policy<\/a> that we should press pause for one year before we agree to any AI data centres?<\/p>\n

That would probably be the one Green Party policy that I might actually agree with. <\/p>\n

Are climate change and environmental issues high up in your list of concerns?<\/p>\n

Yeah, they are actually. But the Green Party have taken a position on stuff that I don’t think they really should be taking a position on.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Green Party co-leaders Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick and Marama Davidson. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Are the issues you\u2019ve mentioned around morals and family values connected to religious beliefs?<\/p>\n

Yes, yes they are. <\/p>\n

What do you think of the National Party’s proposal to raise the superannuation<\/a> age to 67? I don’t have a problem with that at all. Should\u2019ve been done ages ago.<\/p>\n

But these kinds of changes, though I think they\u2019re overdue, will need to have a long lead-in time, because people make long-term financial decisions. [The National Party is proposing raising the age in 2044.]<\/p>\n

What’s your view on immigration? Should we allow more or fewer people into New Zealand?<\/p>\n

I mean, I’m an immigrant myself, so I’m all for it. Although, I don’t know if we have fully thought through some of the issues that may come with that.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your view on Winston Peters\u2019 recent comments<\/a> to Chinese-born Green Party MP Lawrence Xu-Nan \u2013 were they an issue for you?<\/p>\n

Yeah, they were. I think sometimes he does shoot with his mouth. And he seems to have a tendency not to want to back down or apologise, so he keeps digging.<\/p>\n

\"NZ<\/p>\n

NZ First leader Winston Peters (L) told Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan (R) to “go back to your own country”. (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n

Do you believe te reo M\u0101ori should be taught to all New Zealand children in primary school? <\/p>\n

Actually I do. It’s uniquely New Zealand. If we hear it when we\u2019re overseas we get stirred up by it. It\u2019s who we are. <\/p>\n

What do you think of the government’s proposed move on orders<\/a> which would enable police to move on people who are rough sleeping or begging on our streets?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another one of those tough things, eh? It’s the breakdown of family and some basic core values that have led to that, and this is another symptom that we’re having to deal with. I probably support the policy, but it’s like, where are they moving on to?<\/p>\n

My mother lives in (a small North Island town), and it seems that there are a lot of homeless people who have moved on to there now.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The views expressed do not represent those of TVNZ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OPINION: In the latest in our State of the Nation series, a 64-year-old financial advisor shares his views…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69,2114,384,135,270122],"class_list":["post-569235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opinion","tag-people","tag-politics","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}