Top 5 Issues

1. Fossil fuels: ending our dependence on non-renewable, climate-disrupting energy sources is absolutely urgent. NZ is in a relatively fortunate position, but even for us, it's a massive undertaking, and we can't afford to wait till petrol is $20 a litre and waves are lapping at the steps of parliament before taking it seriously. This means investing in greatly expanded public transport, increased renewable energy generation, and energy efficiency. It also means increasing self-sufficiency; relying on tourism and dairy exports isn't a smart strategy when the global economy is going down the toilet and international travel/transport costs are set to skyrocket.
2. Fairer taxation: we should abolish GST, which is a regressive tax that hits the poor hardest (it's a sneaky way around the near-universally accepted principle that tax rates should be higher for those on higher incomes), and replace it with capital gains and financial transaction taxes. Income taxes should be more progressive, with a $10k tax-free bracket and higher top rates.
3. Asset sales: the big question which gets ignored is "why would anyone want to buy them?" Obviously, any potential buyer would be expecting to get more money back from our assets than they paid for them. They'd have to be at least as good a deal as anything else on the market. In which case, why on Earth would we want to sell them? It's simply insanity, short-term thinking at the expense of our future. We need to protect our remaining assets, decorporatise them and return them to functioning as public services, and take back essential infrastructure that's already been sold off. That includes expanding the Alliance's Kiwibank to become the primary banking service for NZ, and stop billions of dollars being sucked out of the country every year.
4. Employment: we need more and better jobs! Which means working for fair trade instead of free trade; deals like the TPPA currently being negotiated in secret result in kiwi jobs being lost to countries with inferior wages and working conditions. Local production isn't always the cheapest option, but it is the best for the economy and society. Beneficiaries are not the problem - most of them want jobs, there simply aren't enough to go round, and the only solution is to make more jobs, not punish the victims. The Alliance supports increased workers' rights, a $17/hour minimum wage, and a reduction of the standard working week to 35 hours.
5. Health & Education: increased spending now saves money in the long run. Catching and dealing with problems early is far cheaper than leaving them to get worse. There are social and economic costs to leaving people debilitated by illness or injury longer and more severely than necessary, and ensuring our children get decent educations does far more to reduce crime than any amount of tougher sentencing. We need to end user-pays, increase flexibility to deal with individual needs, and eliminate poverty - the main contributor to poor outcomes in both health and education.

Personal Profile

Kelly Buchanan was born and raised in Wellington, and has lived in one part of the region or another for most of her life; largely the western suburbs, but currently the Hutt Valley. She works as a software developer and is a part-time art student and science fiction publisher.