{"id":639577,"date":"2026-10-24T01:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/639577\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T01:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:56:16","slug":"new-zealand-election-workers-speak-with-socialist-equality-group-on-war-and-the-social-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/639577\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand election: Workers speak with Socialist Equality Group on war and the social crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Socialist Equality Group (SEG) in New Zealand has held numerous discussions with many workers and young people over the past week, as part of its candidate Tom Petterson\u2019s campaign in the Hutt South electorate for the November 7 election.<\/p>\n

SEG members and supporters are distributing thousands of copies of its election statement<\/a>, which calls on workers to build a new party: the New Zealand section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution. It explains that the National Party, Labour, and all their support parties are complicit in the mounting attacks on living standards, the gutting of public services, and New Zealand\u2019s integration into US-led wars and war plans. None of them has anything to offer except deeper austerity cuts and militarism.<\/p>\n

The SEG urges workers to register to attend<\/a> its public election meeting on Sunday November 1, at 1:30 p.m., in the Dowse Art Museum, 45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt, to discuss these vital issues and the socialist alternative.<\/p>\n

Sam, a young chemical manufacturing worker, attended a candidates meeting in the suburb of Epuni on October 18 where Petterson spoke about the SEG\u2019s policies and socialist perspective. He also read the SEG\u2019s election statement and described it as \u201cprofoundly powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt actually spoke to the concerns that I had, and I imagine many other working-class people have, about how the current parties just don\u2019t facilitate the needs of workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issues that face New Zealanders,\u201d Sam said, \u201cincluding the housing crisis and the cost of living, are not things that can be fixed with a simple policy reform.\u201d He identified the capitalist system as \u201cpushing us in the direction towards war, towards tyranny, towards imperialism,\u201d and called for workers to organise against it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of how the vote goes,\u201d he said, \u201crevolution could still occur. Support the SEG, support Tom. Beyond the election, there is more that we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan with Tom Petterson<\/p>\n

Jonathan, a professional gardener, said that New Zealand\u2019s contribution to \u201cgenocide and ethnic cleansing is my most pressing concern\u201d in the election. \u201cOn top of that, and connected to that, is increased military spending. No political party is ever talking about severing ties with American hegemony.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said recognition of the Palestinian state, which Labour is promising to do, is \u201cpointless\u201d if New Zealand does not also \u201ccompletely sever ties with America, the Five Eyes [intelligence sharing network], AUKUS [the Australia-UK-US military pact against China].\u201d He added that a nuclear war was \u201ca real possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

On the high cost of living, he said the policies from Labour and National, such as proposals to break up the supermarket duopoly, were \u201cjust talk. Healthcare, GPs, prescriptions, public transport, school lunches, everything should be free, and there\u2019s no reason why it shouldn\u2019t.\u201d As a father, Jonathan said the future was \u201cnot looking good\u201d for his young children. \u201cI feel like I need to become radicalised in some capacity to give them a fighting chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Petterson with Samuelu<\/p>\n

Samuelu, a student at WelTec in Porirua, said \u201cthe cost of living has gone up, it\u2019s really affecting a lot of people in our community. I feel like every year is getting worse.\u201d He said it was not realistic to move out of his parents\u2019 home and find his own place. Asked whether he saw any difference between Labour and National he said: \u201cNo, not really. Both have affected the cost of living. Nothing really changed with both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the plan by both parties to boost military spending for war, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t understand that. All that money could go towards funding for apprenticeships, jobs. The money\u2019s not going to the right places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon<\/p>\n

Simon told the SEG that he had been unemployed for \u201cover a decade\u201d following the closure of a New Zealand Post sorting facility in Petone in 2015. Dozens of workers in Lower Hutt lost their jobs as part of mass redundancies<\/a> and closures by the postal service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely hard to live,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryday items are going up in cost.\u201d After paying \u201caround 60 percent\u201d of his benefit on rent and electricity, Simon said he is left with \u201chardly anything.\u201d He can only afford to live in a boarding house with 19 other people. It would cost him $500 a week to rent a one-bedroom house, which is almost the same as his weekly benefit. He said the government should \u201clower the house prices and the rents\u201d and stop \u201crich people buying up all the housing materials and hiking up the prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Petterson with David<\/p>\n

David, a retired worker, said the major issues in the election were health and homelessness. \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t know which way to vote. I\u2019m still unsure about both National and Labour. I was a Labour voter, but not now.\u201d He was \u201cannoyed\u201d that every government blamed the previous one for increasing homelessness and other problems, saying they should \u201cjust do the job\u201d to fix it.<\/p>\n

Instead of spending money on war, he said governments should fund education, \u201cbecause education\u2019s really important, and they\u2019re missing out.\u201d He said he worried that New Zealand political leaders were \u201ctoo scared to say \u2018no\u2019 to Trump\u201d if they are asked to join a war.<\/p>\n

Questions about this article? Ask Socialism AI<\/p>\n

Referring to the mass protests by young people in France, David said the same thing should happen in New Zealand: \u201cI can fully understand what they\u2019re going through in France, because we\u2019re going through it too,\u201d in terms of soaring inequality.<\/p>\n

Kayden<\/p>\n

Kayden, a 17-year-old labourer, said: \u201cOur family is having to cut corners in a lot of places. Things like the fuel crisis, the price of food and all that, it reflects in low economic households in terms of having to walk to work or not buy butter one week, just because it\u2019s too expensive. It\u2019s just terrible. Even people who are middle class are having to cut corners. It\u2019s absolutely crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I know is struggling to get jobs. For me, it was hard to get a job. I\u2019ve noticed that you just have to know somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kayden agreed that the war was behind the crisis, and yet no politicians were talking about it. \u201cOil products run the world. If oil products go up, everything goes up.\u201d He denounced Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for pretending that he had not supported the war against Iran, saying it \u201cshould be illegal\u201d for politicians to lie.<\/p>\n

He said Luxon and opposition leader Chris Hipkins \u201cdon\u2019t live in the same reality\u201d as ordinary people. \u201cI feel like a lot of political figures at the moment are just saying what they think people want to hear. Their actions are completely different. I haven\u2019t really noticed much of a difference between the National and Labour parties, growing up. Both the parties perpetuate each other\u2019s issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kayden added that the social situation, including the housing crisis, had deteriorated \u201cwhen COVID hit,\u201d under the previous Labour Party-led government. For a brief period he and his father had tried to get emergency accommodation after having to leave their home, but there was nothing available for weeks. \u201cEver since then it\u2019s just got worse and worse. You see homeless people everywhere, especially in Wellington CBD, it\u2019s terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kayden thanked the SEG for its campaign and said he would aim to attend its public meeting on November 1.<\/p>\n

Authorised by Tom Petterson, sep.wellington@gmail.com<\/p>\n

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