Ryan Bridge: We need to break away from coalition governments

Yesterday was MMP in action. It was exhibit A of a coalition government. Without a single party with a clear mandate, you end up with piecemeal positions. You get a report done then you cherry pick which options are palatable to everybody and effective for nobody. In this case they picked just two of the ten options. Seymour would have liked the option of flogging off the 51% of energy companies we do own, but on the other hand, Matua Shane wanted the buy the rest back.  It’s what we call a political halfway house.  Critics on this side say we needed more intervention, critics on that side say less. What we voters need decide is whether this country needs bold action or incrementalism. Do we need radical, or do we want to comprise? In 2020, Jacinda scored the first single party majority since 1993 (first under MMP) then burned the reputation of absolute power. Let’s be real - nobody’s going to give National carte blanche come 2026. So if the polls, Mood of the Boardroom, and talk on the street actually reflect reality, then we need to decide which side we want National pulled towards - economic nationalism in New Zealand First or free market libertarianism in ACT. Until then, we'll get more reports firing out blank recommendations. More decisions that appease everybody but fix nothing.  This decision basically went down like any three-way. Messy. Hard Work. Took ages. And nobody really leaves completely satisfied. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.