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Monday, January 30, 2023

Tim Dower: Time for Hipkins to show us what he's made of


Time now for Chris Hipkins to show us what he's made of.

He's done what was required of him and showed up in Auckland over the weekend, now his role is to butt out and leave the rest of the job to the people who know what they're doing.

What the Prime Minister has to get stuck into now is the more serious business of getting the country back on track.

Or as he'll see it, getting Labour back on track to give it a fighting chance at the election in October.

And how does he do that?

Well, one thing his predecessor just couldn't accept was how deeply unpopular Three Waters is.

Not just for the stealing of local assets, not even for the creation of four massive new bureaucracies and the crap that'll come with them.

But mostly with co-governance. Unelected people calling the shots, accountable to no-one.

It's just not the way you do things in a democracy.

I think people now know that putting Three Waters on the back burner doesn't go anywhere near far enough. He needs to draw a definitive line under what's already been done. No more until the whole thing can be taken back and rewritten. Maybe just scrapping it all would be a better idea.

The media merger. People see that as an effort to gag state media and use funding tools to whip it into compliance. Drop it.

Something else you don't do in the middle of a cost of living crisis is slap an extra tax on people and businesses.

So the unemployment insurance scheme has to go.

And much as it'll stick in the throat of a lot of Labour's current caucus, he has to demonstrate he's heard what he was told by business leaders.

They need workers and if our own people don't want the jobs? Let business get people who do want them in from overseas.

Oh and one more thing:

Sack the Health Minister please.

Tim Dower is a self-employed Freelance Broadcaster and journalist who works for Newstalk ZB as a newsreader and substitutes talkback announcer. This article was first published HERE

6 comments:

DeeM said...

A promising start Tim, but he needs to do so, so much more than that to make up for the awful authoritarian and separatist reign of St Jacinda.....ably aided and abetted by....himself!

That's Hipkins biggest problem. He led the charge on some of the most divisive issues and biggest policy failures.
Now he has to persuade the public that he's had an epiphany and seen the error of his ways.

Chippy's going to find that a very hard sell indeed.

MC said...

Agree DeeM. An epiphany would be a good start, followed by some self actualization & a cultural appraisal from non Maori New Zealanders.

Anonymous said...

Now that iwi own the stormwater assets under 3 waters, it will be interesting to see if wayne brown and his council can get approval to upgrade this infrasturcture. I hope he doesn't lose faith in aucklanders after some nasty comments. The.msm are trying to to cancel him because he is not woke or left. It is appauling

Anonymous said...


Mr Hipkins has zero credibility - just the final link in the chain to complete Ardern agenda.

Co-governance: how will Mr Hipkins try to sell this to the public?

He Puapua explains this principle - and the journey to achieve it. Crystal clear.

So why are people still asking " What does co-governance mean?"

Are they in denial?

Robert Arthur said...

I am nervous about a too free immigration policy. The low acheiver elements of indigenous and early immigrant societies multiply out of proportion to their numbers. Bringing in low skilled immigrrnts, many from similar fast mutiplying cultures, will reduce NZ to a mediocre ability population, as much of central and south America and Africa.
The career unemployed will be dismayed at all the low skill clean up work now available in Auckland. But I guess our pedantic safety laws will effectively preclude employment of many of them, or the use of any tools requirng more ability and safety judgement than brooms. In may cases their bracelets will likely be considered a safety issue.

Robert Arthur said...

He should be hammered with the school's history curricualum but the horrors of this will not be much realised before the election. It is not an example of sound and prudent judgement or desire to restore/maintain a harmonious NZ. No single text book is reommended or intended so any twaddle can be presented and parents will be handicapped in grasping just how their offspring are being brainwashed.