Editorial: Health spending so lavish we will queue up to be sick

Mark Dawson, editor of Wanganui Chronicle

It was when I first heard Alice Cooper sing: "I wanna be elected!" that I really got interested in politics (and ageing American rock stars).

The power, the prestige, the perks ... it was all summed up in one full-tilt triumphal, winner-takes-all chorus.

And so I have savoured this election battle, even though conducted in the coliseum of decorum that is New Zealand politics, as opposed to the swagger and brutality of, say, Trump versus Clinton.

The remarkable thing is, perhaps, that as well as the attraction of the three Ps above, people usually enter politics with the belief they can make the world - or, at least, their country - a better place.

And the good news for all New Zealanders is that when the final whistle blows at 7pm tomorrow night and the referee calls "No side", NZ will be on its way to becoming a better place.

How could it not be so?

Every party in this election is promising to reduce child poverty significantly if not eliminate it altogether. It's boom time for household incomes - they are all pledging that.

Whoever forms the government, the housing crisis will not only be tackled, it will be brought to the ground and thoroughly rucked in a manner the late Pinetree Meads would approve of.

Better education outcomes - that's a cinch; investment in health so lavish that we will be queuing up to be sick; rivers not only swimmable and drinkable but likely to moisturise your skin and remove wrinkles.

The parties have gone flat out topping one another's offers; it's a bidding war for votes; it's four no trumps; it's stud poker, and it's all in.

Aah ... the promises. But when the (star)dust settles and someone takes the reins of power, how much will have really changed?

And in three years time, how many of the social ills that beset us will have been expunged ... or will we just be back for another round of the same old, same old?