First-Time Voter Advice Looks Beyond the Campaign Noise

Liam Dann reflects on what to tell his eldest son who is voting for the first time this Saturday. He spent his birthday walking and trying to ignore the campaign trail mistakes and opinion polls to find goals everyone can agree on. The old phrase healthy, wealthy and wise came to mind as a solid starting point. Nobody campaigns to make people sick, broke or stupid.

The Index

This simple phrase matches the issues voters care about most, which are health, education and the economy. It also matches the Human Development Index used by the United Nations since 1990. That index combines life expectancy for health, years of schooling for wise, and income per person for wealthy to rank country progress.

Rankings

New Zealand ranked 17th in the UN index back in 1990 and still holds the 17th spot based on figures from 2023. Good progress happened through the 1990s and early 2000s with a peak at eighth place in 2000 and seventh in 2010. The country then slid back down the rankings twice.

Context

External events like earthquakes, pandemics, trade wars and oil shocks caused major turmoil over the years. The country has struggled to respond to these challenges with a clear and unified long-term vision. Late Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Norman Kirk once noted that people simply need someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work and something to hope for.