Why are we surprised to learn that postal services will be cut in the cities but not in rural areas? Oh yes, the Government will trot out all sorts of excuses to try to justify this very ‘uneven’ decision whereby the rural areas will not face the same drastic cuts. One can only come to the conclusion that the Government has assessed the impact of its electoral chances by choosing the direction it has and that it has an entirely political agenda. It is about survival, nothing else. The old belief that some ‘services’ should be provided on the basis of a ‘social contract’ have long since gone out the window; something both main parties have been guilty of to be fair, but it is the National-led Government that is the current culprit in the abandoning of what New Zealanders have taken for granted in the past.
The question now remains as to whether Labour and its ‘friends’ will reverse the carnage if given the chance. I suspect that Labour in particular will ‘fuddle’ the words it uses around the area of postal services. They will play a canny game and may not come out with a clear and open policy. That is the test of their mettle. We shall wait and see, but in the meantime, the old expectation of being able to go down to the corner and post letter along with other essential services, has long been consigned to the dustbins of nostalgia.
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