Tax cuts or more/better government services

[harm_less]

Do we trust these two parties to invest in public services though? They do not have a good history in that regard.

As for the last two terms there has been substantial investment in government services. The problem is though our population increased substantially putting pressure on all areas, while those servicing those departments saw salaries and living costs make overseas opportunities very attractive. The interesting thing we often fail to see is these are shared experiences worldwide. Public health systems in many nations are struggling with staffing issues and technology out pacing funding - but those systems still benefit many many more people than those unfortunate enough to be covered by private systems. Education is in a similar state worldwide, competition for qualified staff, and for fee paying students is high, and we are an island nation on the edge of the world - albeit one with a great reputation and other benefits.

As you say, black holes - and frankly, we have high expectations boosted by media and lobbyists campaigning on behalf of their own agendas.

Every housekeeper knows about cutting cloth to fit their budget. Elections are about picking the team that suits our ideas of how that household should be run. The thing most important to me though is not government services, not taxes, not even that hip op waiting list - it is the fact we are not moving fast enough or hard enough on climate change.

Because in order to run our national housekeeping, we have to have a safe house to do it from. And lots of us are in dire danger of losing that safe house, if we haven't already...

In addition NZ, like many Western nations, is on the brink of a major disruption to its skilled workforce brought about by demographic factors related to the baby boom. Sectors including health, education, trades, primary produce and construction are well aware of their workforces rapidly approaching retirement age to a large extent. This is a long term issue with factors of decreasing population replacement and neglect of formal training such as our apprenticeship schemes over past decades further complicating the situation. And ours isn't the only country experiencing such issues so our workforce will continue to be poached overseas by financial incentives.

Throwing a few dollars at such long term problems just isn't going to solve them. Neglect by past governments has resulted in the mess that we're now seeing and longer term solutions are sorely needed especially as the economic and social disruptions of climate change start taking effect.