Recently when looking over the list of NZ political parties I was lamenting the shrinking number of small parties in our political system. I should have been careful what I wished for: infamous cat-hater Gareth Morgan has decided to play Bob Jones and found his own political party:
Mr Morgan, a philanthropist and economist who set up The Morgan Foundation - a charitable trust "primarily for the purpose of reducing the wealth disparities between people" - said he has resigned from his position as a foundation trustee to launch his political career.
In a statement, Mr Morgan said The Opportunities Party would aim to improve fairness, environmental sustainability and national pride while reducing poverty and housing prices.
He said fear of losing votes made established parties "champions of inertia and only ever reluctant proponents of incremental change".
On the plus side, it sounds like he's interested in action on climate change. On the minus side, he's interested in superannuation (that is, getting rid of it). The former isn't a hugely popular issue, but the latter means that he'll be about as popular as a dead cat. Or ACT.
Still, even cat-haters deserve Parliamentary representation. Its just a shame that our undemocratic 5% threshhold is likely to prevent it.
