The Christchurch Civic Creche Case
	News Reports
	2004
	The Daily News December 10 2004 Labour's ethical black hole by Chris Trotter What is it about this Government that makes me so uneasy? By any normal measure, Helen Clark and her colleagues have performed well beyond the expectations of even their most caustic critics. Unemployment is down to levels not seen for nearly 20 years. Economic growth continues to exceed the expectations of both the Treasury's and the OECD's forecasters. Real steps have been taken to eliminate poverty among the working poor. Public Health Organisations are steadily reducing the cost of going to the doctor. Hundreds of state houses are under construction. Surely this is a government Labour supporters can be proud of? And, of course, they are. As poll after poll has testified, this is one of the most popular governments in New Zealand history. It is even possible that -- come the next election -- Labour will win enough votes to govern alone. So, why does that frighten me? Perhaps it's because Phil Goff cannot understand why Peter Ellis should be pardoned, and Helen Clark cannot grasp why Ahmed Zaoui should be freed. Perhaps it's because Jim Sutton sees nothing wrong in signing a free-trade agreement with a regime that still incarcerates hundreds of thousands of its citizens in labour camps. Perhaps it's because Steve Maharey sees nothing cruel or inequitable in excluding the children of beneficiaries from his "Working for Families" package. Perhaps it's because so many Labour MPs are willing to incur the wrath of the Catholic bishops over the Civil Union Bill, and so few are prepared to endure the outrage of employers by restoring the internationally recognised right of trade unionists to strike over social and political issues. Perhaps it's because, at the very heart of this Government, there is an ethical black hole. Like its British counterpart, the New Zealand Labour Government has set up shop in a strange, morally desiccated universe; a world where every one of its considerable achievements is instantly swallowed up, leaving no trace -- like water poured upon sand. Is this the fate of all "third way" governments? Does the key strategic decision that all "modern" social-democrats feel obliged to make -- the decision not to challenge the core economic structures of the neo-liberal capitalist state -- cause them to become moral neuters from the moment they're elected? One thinks of Bill Clinton, leaving the White House with nothing more to show for his eight years in office than a widening gulf between rich and poor, and the stain on an intern's blue dress. Or Tony Blair, poisoning the air with deceitful rhetoric as he loyally followed his imperial American master to war in Iraq. Or Germany's Gerhard Schroder, ruthlessly dismantling his country's welfare state to the cynical applause of the right-wing German media, and the utter ruination of the German left. America's wars -- on drugs and terrorism -- have helped these ethical black holes at the heart of the social-democratic universe to grow even larger. More and more is being demanded of nominally left-wing parties by US drug and security agencies, and the Labour parties of Britain, Australia and New Zealand have been quick to oblige them. Thanks to Tony Blair's "New Labour", British subjects will soon be required to carry official state identity cards. Not to be outdone, the Australian Labour Party has repeatedly voted for the most draconian of John Howard's "security" legislation. New Zealand, too, has been keen to play the game. Phil Goff's love affair with double-jeopardy, majority verdicts and property sequestration is clearly inspired by the US "war on drugs"; and there can be little doubt that the only reason Ahmed Zaoui remained incarcerated for two years was to demonstrate Labour's rock-solid commitment to the "war on terror". But the bellicose demands of the US are not the whole explanation for the social-democratic left's moral vacuity. As befits a movement founded in class struggle, the ultimate explanation for Labour's ethical black hole lies in the party's new role as defender of middle-class privilege. Where once there were manual labourers and tradesmen, there are now professionals and managers. Labour has become the political champion of a social strata whose high incomes and elevated social status is derived from its strategic role in "managing" working-class life. This is the party's dirty little secret: the black hole into which its idealism is continuously being sucked away: Keeping working-class families under the tutelage of teachers, social workers and trade union officials has become much more important to Labour than rescuing them from the clutches of capitalism.