Firstly, he is a vast improvement on the old one but already the cracks are showing.
He came in to see us this week for the first time, he wants to come in when the house isn't sitting, so good on him.
He arrived early; we told him to arrive at least on time because the last one who barely ever came in, despite the fact she was from Auckland, didn’t arrive on time. She was often late and she was late because she was one of those people who was a shambles, invited shambles and had that air of 'I'm not quite ready” about her.
Hipkins is organised and low key. I can report he is the same off mic as he is on mic. This has, and will, serve the party better than if the predecessor had stayed on.
You might not rate Hipkins given his performance in education and the police, not to mention MIQ, but he isn't polarising the way the predecessor was.
You either quite like him, or you're not fussed - he's no lightning rod.
But being Prime Minister is hard and even with the optics of a disaster to help in his honeymoon period, he has already made two glaring mistakes.
The first was the road workers he has now apologised to for the gun incident in Hawkes Bay post-Gabrielle.
The incident he didn’t believe, the incident he dismissed, because the Police Commissioner, who is a wet blanket when it comes to guns and gangs and general criminal upheaval, gave him bad intel.
Add to that the meeting in Hawkes Bay where the Government were generally eviscerated, I think we can say the honeymoon is over and old Labour and their tin ear and lack of delivery are back.
The second was the question in the house from David Seymour. He completely butchered because, on his own admission, he didn’t prepare properly. Not prepping for question time, indeed the first question time as leader, is inexcusable.
Especially for a bloke who claimed when the media were in that obsessive ”Ooh look we have a new Prime Minister", phase where they ran those mad stories headlined “Who is Chris Hipkins?”
Well, Chris Hipkins claimed he liked hard work. You can't like hard work then not do it on day one in the house.
Next trick is, does he learn? We all err but the good ones learn and don't repeat it.
Being a leader, a good leader, is rare. Just getting appointed because there is no one else, which is sadly the Hipkins story, is not enough.
Having been about the place for a while isn't enough, being a decent bloke and turning up on time isn't enough.
So a couple of weeks in, the shine from the hi-vis disaster response is well and truly gone.
Is it too soon to say different leader, same old crap?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings.
Hipkins is organised and low key. I can report he is the same off mic as he is on mic. This has, and will, serve the party better than if the predecessor had stayed on.
You might not rate Hipkins given his performance in education and the police, not to mention MIQ, but he isn't polarising the way the predecessor was.
You either quite like him, or you're not fussed - he's no lightning rod.
But being Prime Minister is hard and even with the optics of a disaster to help in his honeymoon period, he has already made two glaring mistakes.
The first was the road workers he has now apologised to for the gun incident in Hawkes Bay post-Gabrielle.
The incident he didn’t believe, the incident he dismissed, because the Police Commissioner, who is a wet blanket when it comes to guns and gangs and general criminal upheaval, gave him bad intel.
Add to that the meeting in Hawkes Bay where the Government were generally eviscerated, I think we can say the honeymoon is over and old Labour and their tin ear and lack of delivery are back.
The second was the question in the house from David Seymour. He completely butchered because, on his own admission, he didn’t prepare properly. Not prepping for question time, indeed the first question time as leader, is inexcusable.
Especially for a bloke who claimed when the media were in that obsessive ”Ooh look we have a new Prime Minister", phase where they ran those mad stories headlined “Who is Chris Hipkins?”
Well, Chris Hipkins claimed he liked hard work. You can't like hard work then not do it on day one in the house.
Next trick is, does he learn? We all err but the good ones learn and don't repeat it.
Being a leader, a good leader, is rare. Just getting appointed because there is no one else, which is sadly the Hipkins story, is not enough.
Having been about the place for a while isn't enough, being a decent bloke and turning up on time isn't enough.
So a couple of weeks in, the shine from the hi-vis disaster response is well and truly gone.
Is it too soon to say different leader, same old crap?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings.
3 comments:
No not too soon - same old crap. Whatever cosmetic changes he has made, Hipkins has been there with Jacinda all the way, and there is no intention to change the racial separatism his government is bent upon.
You are dealing with the same old cult Mike, so all you can expect is the same old ideological, incompetent,racist crap. Its up to you whether you can hold your nose and just pretend to be a mushroom.
I don't see it being very different the policy agenda is still there, some are just parked, not gone, just parked behind a convenient tree. He had his chance to make a real difference in people's opinion of Labour by abolishing race based policies, but hasn't, the language may become rearranged but it will still be the same race based agenda. He thinks he'll swing on into winning the upcoming election by trying to be Mr Nice Guy, I don't think he is. The portfolios he has overmanaged have been disastrous for NZ. The broom needs to be wielded over the whole lot of them. Once trust has gone, it's gone. all that remains is suspicion.
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