2017 has been a year of seismic change. It started with Donald Trump’s inauguration. It carried over into the French and British elections. And now it looks like it’s coming to New Zealand.

For the first time in nine years, the right-wing National government that’s led New Zealand for the better part of this decade looks close to being removed from power. What’s more, the government that could replace it is a left-wing coalition led by a young, charismatic, female leader, apparently smashing the moribund status quo of the last nine years. This is certainly the prevailing narrative sold by the New Zealand media: young versus old; change versus status quo.

But is that the case? If anything, the 2017 election demonstrates the way that, despite its supposed progressivism, New Zealand’s politics in many ways lags compared to the rest of the developed world. While left-wing populists in the US, UK, and even France have challenged not just their political rivals but the political status quo, shifting their respective Overton windows, New Zealand hasn’t followed suit.