Mystery of Rogernomics days

By WARREN GAMBLE and JO-MARIE BROWN

For first-time voters, Rogernomics is a meaningless word. "It sounds like a rap group," one 18-year-old told the Weekend Herald.

"I think it's someone from National," another said.

The only link many new voters have to the sweeping economic reforms named after former Labour Finance Minister Roger Douglas is their birth year.

For them, 1984 is another country.

Big hair was in, the first Macintosh computer and mouse had just arrived, New Zealand won eight golds at the Los Angeles Olympics and Split Enz, Netherworld Dancing Toys and the Patea Maori Club were in the charts.

Beer was sold by the crate; clunky television sets went for $1200.

And in the middle of July, 1984, the man who had ruled New Zealand for nine years, National's Sir Robert Muldoon, called a snap election.

The choice was a stark National or Labour, with cameo roles played by Social Credit and Bob Jones' New Zealand Party.

Muldoon's final gamble ended in a decisive loss to Labour's charismatic David Lange. An era dominated by the catch-cries of free-market and nuclear-free was ushered in.

Next weekend the babies of that era go to the polls with the economy barely figuring, and a far wider range of parties from which to choose in a vastly different political spectrum.

New voters spoken to by the Weekend Herald showed a preference for parties that talked about the issues rather than squabbling like "third-form girls having catfights" according to one.

At Edgewater College, in Auckland's ethnically diverse Pakuranga, five 18-year-olds have never heard of Rogernomics. And none mention the economy as an issue that has grabbed them.

The big three are GM, crime and education - the students had another rostered day home this week during the teachers' strike.

Lisa Hoyle says GM is her number one concern, and she will be supporting the Greens because of it. "They are going to do all this stuff and have no idea about the repercussions it might have."

She also likes the young style of Green MP Nandor Tanczos, who she saw skateboarding in Wellington.

Dietrich Soakai, part Samoan, Tongan and German, argues that GM has benefits, such as enhancing the qualities of fruit. If controlled, it should be allowed. "I'm not picturing, like, killer tomatoes."

He has ruled out the Greens and Labour. Helen Clark has done well with the economy but he dislikes her moral standards, citing the Paintergate issue as an example.

Dietrich is leaning toward the United Future party of Peter Dunne. None of the five had heard of him before this week's televised debate, but several were impressed by his showing and policies.

(The long-serving politician came to Parliament with the Labour Government of their birth year, 1984).

Tian Lun Chen has also ruled out the Greens and Labour. The Greens "because they just irritate me for some reason, they are too over the top about everything", and he doesn't like the way Labour is running the country.

Tian Lun arrived with his parents from China 12 years ago. He believes Winston Peters' campaign comments on immigration and Asianisation are a bit racist. Immigration, he says, leads to growth in New Zealand.

For Amy Redwood, violent crime hit close to home. She lives near the pizza shop where teenager Marcus Doig was killed by an armed robber two months ago.

"It's just gone totally overboard and I think the punishment should be a lot harsher," she says.

Like Dietrich, she was impressed with Dunne's showing in the debate and may give her party vote to United Future, although she knows little else about him and the party.

Several say they may give their electorate vote to local MP Maurice Williamson because he is the only recognisable name.

Adam Morrow admits he has not been following the campaign and is undecided.

However, he did receive National's mailout promising higher bursary payments and a loan reduction if he stayed in New Zealand for three years after finishing his studies.

All five plan to go to university, but apart from the National letter they have heard little about how different parties plan to solve the teachers' strike or reduce the loan burden.

Across the city, Waitakere College seventh-former Garrick Knight has a good knowledge of Rogernomics and its impacts.

The issues which have appealed to him are Winston Peters' calls to curb immigration and the Treaty of Waitangi claims. He favours only allowing immigrants in with skilled work qualifications.

Garrick believes the Greens contradict themselves with their stance of banning GM and decriminalising cannabis. He says some young voters bow to peer pressure supporting the Greens because cannabis is seen to be cool.

Up at the Auckland University quad, with a sweet-smelling smoke wafting nearby, Green voter Alex Cvetanovic disagrees: "We have got to look after our environment. We are one of the cleanest countries, we are so far away from everyone else we should be an isolated, hippy kind of country with legal pot".

A week out, Garrick Knight favours Peters - not least because of his fairer tax policy on Knight's passion, racing - but is also looking at Dunne or National.

In the hotly contested local electorate he favours Alliance leader Laila Harre because "she bothered to come to our school".

In Rotorua, Western Heights High School seventh-former Kerry Phillips may not know what MMP stands for but she has no trouble seeing through politicians' promises and slick campaigns.

The first-time voter has been watching the bickering over Paintergate, GE corn, law and order and immigration, and says the parties are not doing themselves any favours by "chucking dirt around".

The only policy to get a favourable response from Phillips was National's plan to increase the amount paid to students who gain A or B bursaries - but she says she is unlikely to fall for that carrot.

"Sure it'll benefit us but it'll benefit them more if we vote for them.

"I'm not so much looking at the issues they're pushing because they're all doing it," Phillips says.

"I'm kind of looking at who's in the party and what kind of reputation they've got."

And the winner of that contest? Winston Peters.

"I think he's done really well . . He appears so much more straight up than the rest of them. It's a good image, it's what most New Zealanders would like to be represented by, I think."

But even before casting her first vote, Phillips was of the opinion that it's a necessary evil rather than a wonderful opportunity.

"But then again, it's one of those things that you couldn't do when you were 17," she grins.

Phillips' classmate Takurua Bidois was still on the lookout for a party to get his vote.

Aware that under MMP he was entitled to cast two votes, Bidois knew Rotorua's incumbent MP and Labour candidate was Steve Chadwick as her billboard was parked right outside his house.

Bidois, too, was looking at the character of politicians rather than what they were saying.

Green MP Nandor Tanczos got the thumbs-up for being "cool" and visiting nightclubs on the campaign trail.

National's Bill English, however, had not impressed Bidois with his boxing skills during last month's Fight for Life.

"I wouldn't want to vote for him after seeing him get the bash. We want a strong leader."

National's campaign pamphlet featuring English posed around a barbecue with his wife was "cheesy as", leading Bidois to conclude the party would stoop to anything to "scab a vote".

He says the present Government seems pretty safe and he will probably vote for them next Saturday.

Trainee hairdresser Jessica Brell grew up in Taupo and is familiar with local names such as Labour MP Mark Burton and National's Georgina te Heuheu. But having recently moved to Rotorua, she admits she hasn't a clue who the candidates are for her new electorate.

Brell knows she gets two votes despite being unsure of how MMP works and has already decided which party she'll support.

"Our friends have discussed it and we all think we'll go for Greens because this GE thing just isn't right.

"I think most of our generation are probably going to go for Greens because they're more on our level. They're quite laidback. They're not as tense and as posh as the rest."

Brell regards Labour as a friendly Government with a social conscience.

"But I honestly don't think anyone can run New Zealand right," she says.

Back in Auckland, Rangitoto College student Daniel Gibson is thinking National but doesn't think Bill English is getting his message out there enough.

But he thinks MMP has created too many fine distinctions between parties. "You've got National and Labour, the right and left wing and all these little parties surrounding them. Are they really going to make a difference because they are so close?"

Northcote College seventh-former Julia Hyde likens the televised leaders' debate this week to a circus with Paul Holmes the ringmaster.

But she picked Peter Dunne as the winner before the worm.

"He just sort of seemed like honest and fair - really unusual for a politician."

She had received Bill English's bursary and student-loan letter but sees it as a bribe. She has been disappointed with the lack of help for new voters, and says the debates had been more confusing than helpful in making up her mind.

She agrees with the Greens' GM policy but doesn't want them to run the country; she agrees immigration needs to be looked at but not as severely cut as Winston Peters wants - "maybe a kind of becoming a New Zealander 101 course"- and she thinks Helen Clark has been hurt by the painting and corn.

"I wish I could just make up my own party and do what I agree with."

Full news coverage:
nzherald.co.nz/election

Election links:
The parties, policies, voting information, and more

Ask a politician:
Send us a question, on any topic, addressed to any party leader. We'll choose the best questions to put to the leaders, and publish the answers in our election coverage.