- By Simeon Brown, MP for Pakuranga
With advance voting now open for this year’s general election, Kiwis across the country are heading to the polls to decide the future of New Zealand.
Every election is important in a democracy like ours, but many feel this is the most important we’ve had in several decades.
It is hard to argue that our country hasn’t gone backwards over the last six years. By just about every statistical measure, things in New Zealand are worse than they were back in 2017.
Our economy is struggling, with a cost-of-living crisis making life difficult for all Kiwis as prices for groceries, fuel, and rent have skyrocketed.
Our health system is under pressure, with care taking far longer to get to those who need it as we face nurse and doctor shortages in the thousands.
Our educational outcomes are slipping, with far too many kids getting to high school without meeting basic literary and maths requirements.
Our transport infrastructure is slowing us down, with poorly maintained roads and not enough new ones in the pipeline to deal with growth.
And crime is getting out of control, as criminals know they can get away with a lot worse under Labour than they could under National.
Wherever you look, life in New Zealand is not nearly as good as it should be, and we all know we could be doing so much better; the good news is that help is on the way.
This election we have the opportunity to get things back on track by electing a National government with a real, aspirational plan to see New Zealand succeed.
But such change cannot happen unless New Zealanders choose it. We cannot simply hope for change, we must vote for it.
