The overwhelming win for John Key in the 2011 Election and the decimation of the vote for the Labour Party is a clear mandate for the party to follow through with their pre-election policies.
Asset sales, education and government department reform, just to name a few, should be just the start.
Perhaps the biggest mandate was for welfare reform as minister for welfare Paula Bennett was returned with a higher margin than in 2008.
In that seat she had competition from Carmel Sepeloni and the Labour Party's old ideas about extending welfare while National's policy of reforming welfare was given the big tick with Bennett's return.
This is an important overall as our welfare system is clearly unsustainable, especially at this time of economic uncertainty and need for fiscal restraint.
The National election win means the country can begin this reform and begin to turn around the problems that welfare has caused; crime, unemployment, child abuse and death and generations of people who have become dependent on the State (State = taxpayer of course).
The new Government has been given a mandate for reform of the Welfare State and if done correctly could be a turning point in a country saturated by dependence. A turning point that will turn dependence and hopelessness into independence and dare I say it a brighter future.
As the Labour Government of the 1930s introduced the welfare state and set this country on a downward slide to the present day, National has a chance to reverse the notion that your neighbour owes you a living and can pick your pockets at will, to an ingrained obligation that we are all responsible for ourselves and welfare should be in the hands of individuals and families and not the heavy hand of a failed state apparatus.
National have the mandate but do they have the will to put a line in the sand and turn this country into a truly great nation where its citizens look to themselves for inspiration instead of the State (again see your fellow taxpayer) and the next welfare check?
I will watch with much interest.
