is somewhere to live,
somewhere to work,
someone to love,
something to hope for.
Norman Kirk’s words echo like the faint sound of a bell heard in a dark room. Not because he didn’t mean them, or because he wasn’t right, but because, at this moment in time, whether you’re for Labour, National, Green, NZ First, United, Act, or Opportunities Party, there is no-one saying these words because if they did they might have to do something about them.
Words get all dressed up in other clothes. Any time the Minister for Education say, or Housing, or Environment, is asked a question, whatever the question, the answer is, ‘We’ve put in lots of millions of dollars and we have a plan,’ or ‘if you vote us in we will put umpteen million dollars into fixing this – or even that.’
We will fix up the health system, we will fix housing, we will fix education, is the cry but they never tell us how, just parrot, again, how much they have, or will, put into that area.
No-one from any party ever says, all anyone wants is somewhere to live, somewhere to work, someone to love, something to hope for. And we will see that they get it.
You know why they don’t say it? Because the words are too simple (haven’t been written by a speech writer or vetted by one of the spin doctors) , too powerful (can’t be too upfront, have to be vague, have to waffle and talk about the money we’ve put in or will put in), too scary (we might lose our seat if we say things that anyone can understand at first hearing). These are words a child could understand. If we say such simple words the voters will think we’re stupid, we have to talk the talk, the fudge, the techno crap, that the people we pay high wages to, tell us we must because the polls say that what people want. This is why they don’t say these words.
So I think we should say them. We should front up. Stand on street corners. Stand up on the grass in front of parliament, on Queen Street, on every damn street corner in this country and say, very loudly, to everyone we meet…they might not be able to supply someone to love but they can definitely do the rest. All it takes is the will to do so. And if they do the three then the fourth will follow. So – all together now…
All we want is…
somewhere to live
somewhere to work
someone to love
something to hope for.
Seventeen words my friends, seventeen words in this year 2017, that’s all it will take. Because if we don’t say them, who the hell will?
