The trash heap has spoken

I put my phone on silent for much of today, my youngest’s 6th birthday. I wanted to be fully present for a cherished whānau day of celebrating.

But after lunch, my husband gave me a look and grimly muttered ‘they’ve formed a government’. I just shut my eyes and replied ‘nope, don’t wanna know - I will look at it tonight’. I was one step away from covering my ears and singing ‘la-la-la-la-la’.

I knew the outcome would be bad and bring so much shittiness into the lives of so many people in Aotearoa over the next 3 years, with a legacy of harm beyond. I wanted to be free of the knowledge of just how bad it will be, for one last afternoon. Preventing this trash heap from moving my mood into a cesspit and the stench permeating our beautiful day together with our kiddos.

Because the trash heap has spoken, and it’s nasty. If patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, neoliberalism, internalised racism and white privilege were all put into landfill (where they belong), then this coalition government would be the disgusting leachate seeping out into Papatūānuku and our fresh water table.

We know of the awful education policies introduced in Aotearoa after they had just been proven to fail in Britain, the ill-advised use of force by police in the US that is then echoed badly here, the way in which we continue to act like poor country cousins of the Anglosphere, inheriting all their worst hand-me-down ideas and discarding our own home-made, innovative solutions to meet our own needs. Our new government stinks of this.

When I did read about the bizarre ‘job-share’ arrangement that Luxon has wrangled with his uncomfortable coalition partners, I felt an instant connection to this awkward shared arrangement. In the late 80s, I shared my bedroom with my preschooler sibling, which felt pretty hellish for a 10 year old. My toys were broken, treasures taken and space invaded. I knew I couldn’t stop it, but decided to draw a line on the carpet down the centre of the room with chalk, declaring my half verboten. Which was as effective in protecting my space as you’d imagine.

Peters and Seymour ‘taking turns’ has a very we’re setting a timer, and when your 5 minutes is up you need to give your sister a go-feel to it. Which indicates what a shitfest we’re about to witness unfold in influential positions of power and governance. Power none of them want to share, as we heard from Peters today;

"We're not sharing it either. I'm taking the first 18 months and David's taking the second. Right?"

No matter how awful I feel about this incoming government, as Pākehā, I know I’m not going to be amongst those feeling the impact of these self-serving decisions the most. These three men have agreed to push an overhaul of Te Tiriti rights through legislation, reintroduce referendums on Māori wards for local government, disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora, diminish the use of te reo Māori in public services along with co governance and halt He Puapua immediately, *shudder*.

I am raging. Sickened by how much good mahi will be undone, hurting those who need this advocacy, representation, revitalisation and decolonisation so much. Who have fought so hard for it and believe in the change and healing it can bring.

The churning in my puku when I read today’s headlines marks a moment, the beginning of a new era for Aotearoa. We must remember this feeling, all the way to the polling booth in 2026. I refuse to believe that is the start of a great decline into power mongering, bigoted, alt. right regimes of violence.

Nope, this government is a stinky chorus of death doulas, shrieking as their systems of power begin their demise, as the younger generation of New Zealanders who have been educated in kindy and kōhanga reo filled with waiata and karakia, who understand the importance of respecting peoples’ pronouns, knowing your whakapapa, checking your privilege, doing your research and challenging the status quo come of age.

And when they turn up to vote, to take on responsibility for change, protesting, boycotting, questioning, innovating, this old guard and their archaic ways will crumble.

So let’s get organised, there’s a lot of mahi to be done.