By Chris Trotter*
It remains to be seen whether Chris Hipkins can overcome the political contradictions which drove his predecessor from the prime-ministership. Jacinda Ardern resigned her office in recognition of her personal incapacity to confront and overcome the problems that were driving her government inexorably towards defeat. When she told New Zealand that she had “nothing left in the tank”, Ardern was courageously acknowledging that after five-and-a-half years of unrelenting crisis management, she simply could not summon the energy for the political fight required to save her government, her party, and, ultimately, her country.
In many respects Ardern was the author of her own misfortune. In dealing with core challenges confronting the New Zealand state – practically all of which are traceable to the consequences of colonisation – the former prime-minister had demonstrated both excessive cultural generosity and insufficient political realism.
Predictably, the resulting “revolution of rising expectations” so clearly evident among Māori, especially young Māori, has generated an equal and opposite political reaction among the Pakeha population – especially older Pakeha – which is driving the electorate sharply to the right. The prospect of arguing her caucus, her party, and a good chunk of her electoral base into abandoning Labour’s commitment to the radical decolonisation project of its Māori caucus was simply too big an ask for Ardern – so she quit.
A prime minister possessed of less “kindness” and goodwill would have coldly informed Labour’s Māori leadership from the get-go that their programme of constitutional transformation was much too broad and far too radical to impose upon an electorate insufficiently prepared for such a revolutionary “break in the wave” of New Zealand’s political evolution. Ardern should have put it bluntly to Willie Jackson and Nanaia Mahuta, that prior to any enduring legislative changes being attempted by her own, or any, government, the unavoidable philosophical, cultural, and practical political arguments would have to be won – decisively.
All-too-clearly, such an ultimatum was never put to Labour’s Māori caucus. Like so many well-educated and well-meaning Pakeha, Labour’s non-Māori MPs – led by Ardern – were unwilling to challenge the programme being promoted by their Māori colleagues. Fearful of the charge of racism, and mindful of the bitter recriminations that followed Helen Clark’s 2004 Foreshore & Seabed legislation, the Prime Minister and her caucus waved through policies that could only be described as revolutionary.
Except, of course, they were not described – not to the broader electorate. Mahuta commissioned the report that became known as He Puapua in so quiet a fashion that Labour’s NZ First coalition partner was unaware of its existence. The electorate was similarly kept in the dark concerning the document setting 6th February 2040 – the 200th anniversary of the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi – as the date by which the transformation of New Zealand culturally, politically and economically was to be accomplished.
When, inevitably, the document was leaked, and the public acquired some inkling of what was being considered, Prime Minister Ardern was forced to deny unequivocally that the document in any way represented official government policy. By this stage, however, the electorate was growing sceptical.
That scepticism was not diminished when the full extent of Nanaia Mahuta’s “Three Waters” legislation became known. Putting to one side the bitter controversies arising out of the Labour Government’s handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic, no other government initiative has aroused so much public opposition and suspicion as “Three Waters”. Indeed, it has become a talisman for that part of the electorate which purports to feel the political ground shifting under its feet – even as its government lies, prevaricates, and at times appears to be led by the nose by those with the most to gain from the “Three Waters” legislation’s passage.
And still the case for co-governance, decolonisation and indigenisation is not made. The construction of an argument from first principles may indeed have been accomplished by the project’s Māori initiators, but, if it has, then it has been presented in the absence of Pakeha, a critical news media, and always behind firmly closed doors.
Moreover, it is not a case which the Māori Development Minister, Willie Jackson, is prepared to put in front of his Cabinet colleagues. He knows that, even among Pakeha as sympathetic as Labour’s, the arguments and recommendations contained therein simply would not fly. In recognition of their sheer unacceptability, Jackson has announced his determination to keep the revolutionaries’ interpretation of te Tiriti o Waitangi and its constitutional implications under wraps – at least until the general election is out of the way.
But it is precisely this sort of political cynicism that is fast eroding Labour’s support in the opinion polls. “Three Waters” may be the leading cause of voter disillusion, but it is merely emblematic of the voters’ growing unease that this government is hell-bent on doing things to them, rather than for them.
In considering Labour’s deteriorating electoral position, and its causes, over her summer break, all the while contending with the unrelenting torrents of misogynist and conspiracist hate pouring down upon her head from social media, Ardern correctly concluded that the task of righting Labour’s ship was beyond her powers. Without Winston Peters’ ability to stare down her Māori caucus, Ardern had conceded far too much ground to Jackson and Mahuta, more than she could hope to reclaim personally.
Boxed into a corner ideologically, electorally, and personally, Ardern rightly concluded that her best (and only sensible) move was to exit the game entirely. Only someone coming into the top job fresh, and unburdened by the concessions of five-and-a-half prime-ministerial years, could entertain the slightest hope of prevailing upon his colleagues to change course.
There is little doubt that Ardern’s successor, Chris (“Chippy”) Hipkins, has the necessary spinal steel to demand, and be given, a new set of political co-ordinates. On the vexed questions of co-governance, decolonisation and indigenisation, the new prime minister need not even repudiate the Māori caucus’s revolutionary ambitions, merely state the obvious truth that they have so-far failed to convince their fellow citizens that such radical constitutional changes are either necessary or desirable. In the same breath, he can then reassure the Pakeha electorate that Labour will never connive in the arbitrary imposition of a new, ethnically-bifurcated, constitution from above. To be accepted, constitutional changes must first be ratified, democratically, by all the people.
Were Hipkins to make this position clear to the Māori leaders gathered at Ratana – that they must win the debate for change before attempting to legislate their programme into being – a significant fraction of the Pakeha electorate, quite possibly a winning fraction, would be both relieved and reassured. As a consequence, both the National and Act parties would be forced to discard some pretty important face cards from what had been their very strong electoral hands.
In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If “Chippy” is able to steer Labour into less contentious and more bounteous electoral waters, then Jacinda Ardern’s sacrifice will not have been in vain.
*Chris Trotter has been writing and commenting professionally about New Zealand politics for more than 30 years. He writes a weekly column for interest.co.nz. His work may also be found at http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com.
117 Comments
“suicidal political course.” Three telling words indeed. It must be deeply disappointing for a seasoned champion of the left side of politics to need to write that. But that is one of the best pieces of journalism I have read in many a long while. A government that has exacerbated division and racial tensions in New Zealand and intervened in areas that challenge our democracy. That has quite obviously been driven from a faction within its caucus to the point where it has gotten out of hand and this might well be recognised in the reasoning of PM Adern’s decision, to resign. Unless the new PM can get this “breaking ofthe ranks” under control, Labour will struggle mightily to convince the electorate that they are presenting a uniform and equitable government for ALL NEW ZEALANDERS.
Chris "Hip"kins looks like he might be a cool character, a likeable PM. I don't want to see that condescending and fugly ardern ever again, I hate seeing her face on my screen everytime news of her comes up. I probably should not say that. The way I feel has nothing to do with her age or gender, just saying.
Even though Chris has done some despicable acts like exposing Barnaby Joyce and mistreating Charlotte, I genuinely want to see how he performs now
Too superficial.
David Lange's Government did the damage to schools and successive governments have only fiddled with the model. There was little Hipkins could do without pushing for a radical change.
The Police are dealing with the consequences of poor socio-economic policies that have lasted decades. Increasing crime is not a Police failure, it is a government failure.
Bottom line there is no vision in the Beehive.
Indeed that would be interesting and it would be even more interesting to observe the process of who is in and who is out of the shuffle to determine who exactly would stand in which safe seat and as well, who gets priority over who in terms of the order of the list.
If you ever got to watch the full video of this Marae show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVP9aRFPbhQ&t=25s then you would realize that there is no hope of Maori groups getting together as one.
And of course, the video is not available online as TV one censored it.
It was an embarrassment to watch and the disrespect they showed Miriama Kamo was appalling but not unexpected from the people involved.
Hipkins clearly understands that elections are won in the centre. The sooner he can throw out co-governance and three waters the greater his chances of winning the election. He is also a very likeable fellow, no doubt will soon overtake Luxon in the preferred PM polls. Could this see National panic and encourage Willis stage a coup at the 11th hour?
It'll be interesting to see what happens with Three Waters. The way in which it was forced upon everyone despite massive opposition suggests to me that the decision was an institutional one; one which transcends politics and party lines.
National have said they're going to get rid of it, but Three Waters is the thin end of the wedge towards privatisation of our water infrastructure, and I can't imagine National opposing that. I suspect what they mean is they'll change the name, paint it a different colour, and push through their own version of the same thing. Hipkins will probably try something similar.
Something needs to be done about our water infrastructure aside, it's been clearly shown that councils and their rate rise averse constituents have been doing a poor job of handling it, from the deaths in Havelock North, to faeces on Lambton Quay and countless beaches frequently deemed unswimmable due to sewerage overflow.
From my reading of three waters, it's a reasonable way to go. Move to a user pays scheme, essentially ring fencing water levies for water infrastructure alone. They will have the scale to get efficiencies, but there are multiple so it will be clear if some are performing poorly compared to their peers. The Maori representation on the councils is the only real question mark, but arguably better than council representation which has got us into this mess.
Something certainly does need to be done, but that doesn't automatically mean the answer is more central government control.
Local councils have been lumped with all the responsibility, but none of the resources. Combine this with a policy of record high long-term immigration, without any investment in infrastructure to accommodate the corresponding growth in population, and it should come as no surprise to see people swimming with the sharks - big brown, not great white - after every decent downpour.
Local councils have the resources - rates. However because of politics they don't use them. For example in right wing Texas, property tax rates (equivalent to rates) are nearly 2%. In NZ you'd be looking at more like 0.5%. Bumping that to even 0.6% would pay for a whole lot of pipes
Property taxes in Texas are the seventh-highest in the U.S., as the average effective property tax rate in the Lone Star State is 1.60%. Compare that to the national average, which currently stands at 0.99%. The typical Texas homeowner pays $3,797 annually in property taxes.
These taxes are the primary source of revenue for local governments, and fund local services like schools, water systems and law enforcement.
Yes, so are not an equivalent comparison to property/land tax with NZ.
But even if they were, it doesn't take a maths genius to work out with the cost of housing at 4x median household income in texas compared to double that in NZ, who both upfront and over the lifetime of ownership, get the best deal.
Basically in NZ, we way overpay for our housing (capex) and underpay for our maintenance (opex).
... it was begun under John Key's watch , to build an overview of the state of the nation's 3 water infrastructure ... after Key exited , it was taken by Nanaia Mahuta as an opportunity to gain immense power for her tribe , not for Maori as a whole ... and expanded surreptitiously to 5 waters ... plus a sleight of hand attempt at enshrinement ...
The only agenda has been Labour's ... the Gnats just wanted to check the councils' pipes ; Labour wanted to seize the assets & hold the power ...
What it has done is allow Labour to do a reset. They couldn't do this without changing leader. National did similar changes to policies when Key stepped down, and National did win the most seats, but that election win came down to NZ first selecting who would be the government
Chippy has no choice, he either forces massive change very quickly or they do not stand a chance come election time. Who knows, maybe he will surprise us and break out the axe!
I am a swing voter and to be honest I see very little in either of the main parties that makes me think they will do anything to improve NZ as a whole. It is quite depressing.
It is hard to imagine the Maori caucus backing down from anything. They have the bit between their teeth and are at full gallop. The electorate has finally woken up and whilst about it acquired a good sized sense of betrayal. Negative sentiment, distrust like that, once entrenched, is difficult to turn around, impossible in nine months. Even if it was, then after all this discord and plotting has been exposed, how can the electorate be convinced that a disparate, disunited Labour Party who can’t keep their own house in order could possibly cobble together a coalition with the Greens and the Maori Party and then conduct a stable government especially in the face of the immediate difficult future challenging our country.
The Maori reps in Labour have shot themselves in the foot if they don't read the room, back down and accept a lesser role that matches their % of the NZ population. If they cant do so qicly and quietly then hey and labour will both sink and not be trusted for 2 terms, during which time any inroads they have made will be dismantled with public approval and they will have zero chance of any progress or influence.
They are too busy fighting for power and control anyway - surely they should be fighting for the other 90% of NZ'ers to help the Maori who are struggling to engage with society for specific reasons. So we can all benefit from better outcomes. Control of water offers those people zero value and paints a poor picture of their leaders values.
Sorry if i missed something in all this. i just believe we are all equal and deserve as level a playing field as possible.
one of the things I keep hoping for is one of GRs comments when they first got in to government; ...."jobs everywhere, for everyone" (roughly)
I would like to think the Maori caucus would see the value in this as tino rangatiratanga (self determination) starts with the individual. Give them good jobs, good opportunities at decent wages and the ability to apply tino rangatiratanga to ones own life expands exponentially. Instead the focus of the Maori political elites is only tino rangatiratanga as a nation. (and what does "de-colonisation" mean in the real world anyway?) A determination to keep people dependent steals their ability for self determination and to have control over their own life and the long term consequences are disastrous at every level.
But no, it seems that the opinions of a few of the other commenters are pretty much on the money in that all the politicians are only in it for themselves.
What you missed Old Skool was a binding legal obligation whereby Maori have customary right to both fresh and coastal waterways. This is little to nothing to do with Labour, parliament or any political ideology the nation decides to follow. I'm pretty sure you rely on case law, statutes and regulations when conducting your affairs.
If you find the current level of Maori activism on the nose, the next generation are better educated, more aggressive and more determined.
I agree with you.
Obviously the cost of living situation is dire, but in the end my chief concern for the future of the country is to have our Government not handing all our resources over to Iwi - who I do not know or trust - and who do not by any means represent all of us.
I want to see social policies based on need, not race.I dont care that the first Maori canoes got here a mere three hundred years ahead of Abel Tasman and other European explorers. The only indigenous life here was our flora and fauna.
Not quite. There were human inhabitants here when the Maori arrived. That seems to be an inconvenient truth but as it has occurred all over the globe, centuries on centuries ago, those original inhabitants were “superseded” by the, invaders, incomers, immigrants, colonisers whatever description you might choose. It draws out the hardly unique but often ignored question as to how exactly to define an indigenous race. For instance the UK, is it the Celts, Britons, Saxons, Normans or might it have been the Germans if Adolf had had his way? Conquest and subsequent subjugation have been around since before recorded time regardless of whether or not the acknowledgement and any discussion of that, is PC nowadays.
The only agenda should be to work for the progress of the country.
If any politician brings good to the country without being a politician, then i do not see why they won't be respected and will have no issues in convincing the public with their work.
The society is smart these days, so stop playing politics and if you got the position of power, use it to bring prosperity to the country and help everyone.
Smudge - that dark place is very close just look at France/Iran/Brazil/Us/Uk were riots and strikes show that the citizens are very unhappy and in NZ the level of hate & division between Maori & the rests hows how close the world is to revolution of the violent variety.
The Treaty is extremely short, it could be written on a sheet of A5 with room to spare. I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it to do so, considering the influence this document has on so many aspects of our lives. It'll take you less time than making a cup of tea.
So they say...& they would say that wouldn't they.
I refer you to the wisdom of Sir Apirana Ngata, a century ago:
https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-NgaTrea-t1-g1-t1.html
"...the Treaty of Waitangi created Parliament to make laws. The Treaty has given us the Maori Land Court with all its activities. The Treaty confirmed Government purchases of lands which is still being done and it also confirmed past confiscations. The Treaty sanctioned the levying of rates and taxes on Maori lands, it made the one law for the Maori and the Pakeha. If you think these things are wrong and bad then blame our ancestors who gave away their rights in the days when they were powerful."
No political party will change NZ's reliance on primary industries and ongoing immigrants both short or long term.
Any election is just a name change on who is in charge. Nothing more, nothing less.
Labour and Green and Maori will make NZ becoming a more isolated, inward looking country much quicker.
The reliance on immigration isn't going away because labour-intensive industries dominate our economy.
Heard Kirk Hope on the radio comment that it is Hipkin's job now to position NZ as an attractive destination for skilled migrants. Isn't that the job of those directly utilising the skills, i.e. businesses?
Skilled workers don't want to come here for the low wages and mediocre career prospects NZ has to offer.
"(Hipkins said) the Government would stick to commitments made by outgoing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She had said there would be no Capital Gains Tax..."
Goodbye, Chris. Enjoy the next 9 months in the job, because they look like they will be your last.
No interviewer has yet asked chippy how the same MPs that have failed to fix any of the problems they identified when coming into office but made much worse suddenly acquire the ability to fix the problems they created as well as problems that arise from normal or abnormal events such as a war? On reflection perhaps father Christmas is real and his gift to labour was the wisdom of solomon.
My interpretation of Mr Trotter’s column here is that the Maori caucus has bitten the hand that fed them. For example, the devious attempt of entrenching three waters was calculated disobedience and a middle finger at the Prime Minister’s authority. That hand has now actually been bitten off. So what cards will be in the incoming PM’s hand, and when he considers the fate of his predecessor, what will he then play with them?
Chippy can afford to stare down Jackson & Mahuta ... if they waka hop to the Maori Party , no problem : MP wont support the Gnats anyway , they're in Labour's power circle ...
... if he doesn't deal to the more outrageous demands of these two , he'll be skun alive by the voters at the next election ...
Imposing a cultural revolution on the country is the far worse crime than the parasitism of he puapua, with the purposeful forgetting and memoryholing of our European inheritance, with a purposeful astroturfing of a watered down maori culture is more striking. It all seems to revolve around the political repression (symbolised by the counter-terrorism huis, which are obviously about controlling politically unacceptable populations) and the 'social cohesion' building (the millenarianism cult of endless climate change moaning without any coherent solutions presented, bleating about the perpetual suffering of maori etc). It is all purposeful social engineering of the population, which we never had any say about and for the purposes of these jacobins in power who clearly hate the society they govern.
This government has imposed the yoke of a Maoist style cultural revolution, with the bureaucratic opportunity seekers only too eager to fulfill it. Never forget that this government imposed such evils on us.
Wow - many really deep and worthy of contemplation points made in that, VM. Historical knowledge is one of the best ways to reflect on our current social condition. So, I wondered what you meant by "a purposeful astroturfing of a watered down maori culture"?
Here's a wonderful short article in reflection on that is/was question where Māori culture is concerned
My problem is with the commodification and desacralising of Maori Culture. By attempting to project it onto the majority population, instead of preserving it for Maori themselves, it breeds resentment and anger. The current government policy is effectively removing any cultural touchstones from any of the settler/immigrant peoples and projecting a 'national identity' based around Maori culture and Te Reo. In the face of a globalised world, people who want to oppose this flat, monotonous globalist consumer system embrace their local and native identities. Maori should be able to embrace this for themselves and the state should support it. But it should not be imposed at the expense of teaching the history, culture and philosophy of the different settler/immigrant peoples of New Zealand.
The appropriate approach is supporting Te Reo in usage on dual language signs and maps, supporting it in media and literature. Instead, the consequences of these policies are a mere stealing of words from Te Reo to be used as replacements for core English words. Keep Te Reo as a unique treasure of the Maori people, but the Majority should also be taught their own history and culture.
My problem is with the commodification and desacralising of Maori Culture.
100% support of this. I have also warmed to the idea of decolonisation as being important and the idea of Maori having 'more rights' than non-Maori. But that being said, whatever form the future constitution takes, it cannot be be done in a clandestine fashion. One part of this revolution that is not openly discussed is also the issue of monetary power. This is very important as it robs Maori of economic sovereignty. What's more, Maori run the risk of being colonized in a different way through CBDC.
This following article discusses the future of money from a sovereign perspective. The aim is to show that New Zealand is not built on free market principles and in order for NZers to live up to the partnership envisaged from the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori must be allowed to decide for themselves what currency and governance best satisfies their needs.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/new-zealands-past-putea-and-future-…
Really great discussion, VM and J.C. - more of this needed in public spaces. How to bring that about is the question as I fear many folks just shut down or perhaps better to say shut out (can't be bothered thinking about, let alone discussing these things). I refer to it when teaching ethics/philosophy as 'finding shared meaning'. We will always have different worldviews - and the more we understand about one another's the more successful a society becomes, to my mind.
Agree with your points about the use of te reo words as replacements for core English ones - it can be detrimental more often than good. And more often than not, a one-word English interpretation is not sufficient to provide sound understanding.
I think this is something a lot of people don't understand about languages. It's not just a matter of substituting one word for another. Languages reflect the culture and values of the people who speak them. Certain ideas and concepts are much easier to express in some languages than others, for example, whereas others are almost impossible.
I think this is something a lot of people don't understand about languages. It's not just a matter of substituting one word for another.
Yes and no. If I order a Big Mac set in English or Maori, a literal translation can suffice. This is the real day-to-day use of langugage.
Dropping words like mahi and mana into English sentences I don't particularly like as someone who identifies as a Pakeha with Maori heritage. IMO, words with deeper spiritual and cultural ties should not be bandied around in an attempt to appear 'culturally attunded'.
If I order a Big Mac set in English or Maori
Perfect illustration of my point. How would you order a Big Mac in Maori?
Pretty difficult to find a literal translation for "Big Mac", but even if you could, it wouldn't carry the same meaning as the English version, since McDonalds is not a part of traditional Maori culture. The only translation would be a carry-over from English (Te Big Mac or something).
Pretty difficult to find a literal translation for "Big Mac", but even if you could, it wouldn't carry the same meaning as the English version, since McDonalds is not a part of traditional Maori culture.
Yes, but for example, the Big Mac is not part of traditional Japanese culture, but they chow through those things like they're going out of fashion.
ビッグマック (Biggumakku) is what it is called. They do not have Chinese character for it. In Mandarin they do. 巨无霸 Jù wú bà.
Well , you have a big job in front of you , a whole paddock to be ploughed ... and there's two available horses .... a show pony , prancing & kicking up its feet ... and , a big old fly infested clydesdale standing quietly in one corner ...
... which do you choose to harness up & hitch the plough to ...
NZ has had enough of show poneyism ... we need a dullish old horsey Hipkins to knuckle down & do some work ... or he's dog tucker , come October 14 ...
Farming will be going that way with the Labour, Greens and TOP going hell for leather on Climate Change policies. Don't know about the Nats. Maybe just luke warm and will tone things down a bit. Postpone net zero for another 20 years at least and water down the ETS. There again the ETS is just up the Nats and definitely ACTs sleeve to keep their overseas and local investors/speculators happy.
Well Boxer did end up becoming dog tucker. The left do eat their own first.
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-is-the-role-of-the-three-main…
But which one is JA, Mollie or Clover?
"Were Hipkins to make this position clear to the Māori leaders gathered at Ratana – that they must win the debate for change before attempting to legislate their programme into being – a significant fraction of the Pakeha electorate, quite possibly a winning fraction, would be both relieved and reassured."
In fact, far from being "relieved and reassured", a significant fraction of the total electorate wouldn't believe anything Labour says now. With good reason.
Precisely. Labour have already shown that electoral promises are hollow and they cannot deliver. Most of what happens leading up to an election is all a power play regardless, however there is a lot of political chat out there, and people seem to be speaking more freely of their thoughts on the current political climate since JA's resignation. Hold on to your horses
Doesn't matter what he does or doesn't do, he's the certified Chill DudeTM (e.g. see the fawning over the as-pictured 'speed dealer' sunnies) so he wins by default over as-interesting-as-drying-paint Luxon. May as well not bother with the election and save on ballot printing costs.
I'm not saying that's good for the country's future, or that National would be any better ... but we get the democracy we deserve if we just vote on issues of personality.
I'm really looking forward to the day we finally purge Aotearoa New Zealand of the "consequences of colonisation".
Once we have abolished Reading, Writing, The Wheel, Soap, Metal Tools and all other artifacts of colonial oppression we can live in the unspoiled paradise that our ancestors enjoyed.
Anybody who disagrees is racist.
I can relate to that - every time I put my head into that wonderfully warm, high pressured flow of water that we have come to see as a normal part of our privileged everyday lives, I give thanks for freshwater and the reticulated services we enjoy - and I think of all those people in the world that have never experienced such luxury.
Karakia has no prescribed form.
I can relate to that - every time I put my head into that wonderfully warm, high pressured flow of water that we have come to see as a normal part of our privileged everyday lives, I give thanks for freshwater and the reticulated services we enjoy - and I think of all those people in the world that have never experienced such luxury.
Well said Kate
EQs were a wake up call. We camped in our home 4 weeks without power & six without water. Carried the latter in and thank god for gas hobs & bbqs. Water was precious, how do you rinse off your rice for instance. Didn’t do us any harm. Still knew enough of the tricks and turns from being brought up on a farm, but certainly a reminder that what might be considered everyday expectations here, would be luxuries in many, many parts of the world.
Mr F : throw out the white rice , its rubbish carbs : get some packs of fine Aussie grown brown rice ... cheap as chips , and you dont need to wash it ... 1 measure brown rice , 2 measure water : cook ! ... loaded with fibre , nutriments & complex carbs ... unlike white rice ... You're welcome , mon ami .
.. to be fair , everyone does whatever they can to stay in power ...
But , if Hippy flip flops on all of Labours divisive unpopular policies now , we could ask why now , and how much time & money has already been wasted ...
... recall the $ 57 million wasted on consultants for the proposed $ 785 million pedestrian/cycle bridge over Auckland harbour ... this is the government of barking mad ideologies , of wastage , of accountability ... $ 3 million for the Mongrel Mob meth programme , any evidence of it being properly implemented ? ...
National did the same thing when English replaced Key, they flip flopped on the rising of Super up to 67. Labour reversed it. Now they are going to bring that back in again, even recycling the old dates, so people have nearly a decade less to prepare. Essentially anyone in their mid forties will get 2 years less super.
Yeah, but these bunch of clowns, of which hipkins was/is one supporter can always come back with the maori policies - which still remain the way government departments are named and how the media (apart from Interest) has been bought off. Willie jackson putting 2 billion dollars into maori over 5 years - how was that spent? Plenty more examples.
Predictions...
Hipkins will deliver nada/ nil/ zilch ...
Why?....
Because he has delivered zero in the portfolios he has had .
... Except... Covid he's delivered plenty of deaths and zero elimination
But that's Arderns cock up that she handed off to Chippie....
Ardern rides off into the sunset as NZ burns!
Richard Prebble in the Herald predicts that Hipkins will be the weakest Labour Prime Minister since Palmer. Remember when Lange quit they promoted Palmer and Clark. Palmer in the polls had never featured as a preferred PM but overnight he was over 20%. Just goes to show the advantage ignorance gives to the incumbent. Then there was panic, Mike Moore stood up and at short notice did very well and even better at the next election. Canny Clark though did not step up, instead she bided her time and then plunged the knife in the good old fashioned style of Kirk, Muldoon, Bolger, Shipley and whoever’s next.
Nice article Chris, to the point, and reality of the situation.
Im not sure what happened to labour over the last few years, but going off script to what a majority of new zealands want is political suicide.
I just want the government to concentrate on what really matters NOW, and thats the cost of living.
Im not really sure why labour went down the road of 3 waters, media mergers and constitutional change now when there are more important issues, like food on the table.
Pretty obvious why Adern and Labour pushed 3 waters and co-governance.
It's all about Adern looking good internattionally especially at the UN, and Mahoota, Jacksonand co exploited this without any mandate or referendum.
Looter has been biding her time after losing out to Helen Clark on the Seabed issue, she and her Maori supporters want major control of NZ and our assets. 3 Waters was the way into this and she exploited this.
Is this the same Hipkins as Education Minister allowed and endorsed the Min of Education and its' Iwi academics to introduce a new NZ History curriculum to our Schools?
This is the History version where all things Colonial are bad and NZ is worse off for being colonised by Queen Victoria's British! I.e. Cancelling out a huge part of our proud multi-cultural heritage in New Zealand.
I think the plan is to get our kids while they are young and impressionable and push/brainwash that European way is bad and the iwi co governance is best?!
So Chippy is not pro governance...yeah right!
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