100 years ago today, the New Zealand Labour Party was founded with a simple aim: To build a fairer New Zealand. A century later, the party is still dedicated to that goal, and it’s needed now more than ever.
The video above, and the graphic below, talk about some of the progress Labour has brought to New Zealand, and it’s a proud history. But now, after eight years of conservative National/Act Party rule, we have dramatically increasing inequality, an out of control housing crisis that the current government denies even exists, ever weaker workers’ rights, along with cuts to education and healthcare. There is much work left to do.
Today, in the wake for the Chilcott report’s damning assessment of Tony Blair’s handling of the lead up to the Iraq War, we were reminded how Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark stood against George Bush and Tony Blair’s rush to war by keeping New Zealand out of it. She was right to do so, as history has proven, and ensured that, once again, Labour kept New Zealand on the right side of history [read the full text of her 2003 speech to Parliament].
On the big issues that New Zealanders really care about—like health, education, workers’ rights, and so much more—the Labour Party has been right. In the next Labour Government, they’ll fix National’s messes and get New Zealand moving forward again. We know this because the commitment to move forward has never changed.
Happy Birthday, Labour Party!
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