20 Sep 2023

'Defeated' & 'disheartened': Young voter's feeling on leaders debate

From Checkpoint, 5:12 pm on 20 September 2023

"Defeated" and "disheartened" is how a young voter is feeling after she says the two Chrises "danced around" her question in the first leaders' debate.

Sky Rens is a waitress on Auckland's Northshore earning a living wage of $26/hr.

In TVNZ's leaders' debate the 23-year-old asked both Chrises whether rich people had any responsibility for poverty.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins confirmed a wealth and capital gains tax was absolutely off the table if he was PM after the election.

And National leader Christopher Luxon told her "help is on the way" and as a "medium" income earner she would get about $50 a fortnight back under his party's policy.

Rens told Checkpoint: "They definitely danced around my question. I was fully expecting them to say 'we should all have a responsibility' which I think Hipkins did and he was implying that we have our responsibility to pay our taxes.

"In a perfect world, I would want a promise of a capital gains tax, but I think they're not wanting to risk losing the vote of New Zealand's richer citizens."

It was "sad" that neither leader could give her an answer.

"I mean it's our future essentially more than it is theirs .. a bit disheartened but we've still got the other debates coming up."

Going by National's tax relief policy, she would get between $34 and $51 a fortnight.

Rens said that would mean she could afford a block of cheese a week.

"It's not nothing, but ... I wouldn't say it's significant."

Rens said she moved from Wellington to live with family in Auckland because of high rents.

But Luxon told her the tax relief would help with rent, fuel and food.

"... which kind of rubbed me the wrong way how both Luxon and Hipkins were able to afford a house when they were younger than I am and ... I'm probably not going to be able to afford one until I'm in my mid-30s."

She felt "defeated" by that prospect.

Rens said she considered herself a fairly average income earner.

"I definitely wouldn't class myself as rich and wealthy, which is what half of my question referred to, but I also wouldn't say that I suffer from poverty or inequality, so I'm right there in the middle.

"I do feel the effects of the cost-of-living crisis, but I'm not in that level of wealth or influence where I can actually make a difference. So that's why I decided to ask them the question and kind of ask on behalf of New Zealanders who are struggling with poverty and inequality."

At $50,000 a year, she considered herself part of the "squeezed middle" class.

After last night's debate, she was still unsure which party would get her vote.

As a young voter, she is most interested in: climate change, the cost of living, and mental health and addiction in young people.