Pages

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Mike Hosking: Poor, old Chris - this Government is imploding


Do you reckon Chris Hipkins regrets the deal he did with Grant and Jacinda late last year?

Do you think Jacinda had an inkling that things were spiralling out of control, both economically and internally, and thought "tell you what, a book deal, a King's Honour and wandering around a few universities waxing lyrical about kindness looks way more fun than this cluster"?

Poor, old Hipkins can't even leave the country without yet another minister imploding.

We must be careful, of course, in a world where our mental health has taken on new significance, personal tumult is not to be dismissed.

But the Kiri Allen story appears to have two different chapters to it. Her personal leave is for personal issues, but there's also a group of people seconded to her office that clearly couldn't stand it and bailed early.

There is a pattern here, given she is not the first minister to face staffing issues. Meka Whaitiri was accused of assaulting one of her staff, Anna Lorck had trouble and who can forget Gaurav Sharma.

In the meantime, in China poor, old Chris, still frozen in fear from having to talk about foreign matters, was bailed up about errant behaviour back home.

He said concern had been raised, although there was no official complaint, as though that somehow justifies or explains it. You have to wonder how many more fall between now and October 14th.

Jan Tinetti still awaits her verdict from the Privileges Committee. What must her staff think of her, given they gave her the warning about correcting the mess she created in the house?

Michael Wood, like Allen, is off on personal leave, having imploded under the weight of his hubris.

Stuart Nash got warned and sacked and warned and quit - or whatever the order was.

Now, Hipkins has to rumble his way back to the country via Manila and Darwin to face yet another ministerial crisis.

Here is a thought - could part of it actually be on him?

Wood was a busy minister portfolio-wise. Post sacking all his work got distributed to other already busy ministers.

Why? Because Hipkins, having learned from Tinetti and the Ginny Andersen promotions, knew he had no talent left so he had no choice.

Which brings us back to Ardern. Good leaders, actual bona fide leaders, leave with the place in better shape than they arrived.

You don't bugger the place up and then bail leaving a trail of destruction.

Yet, here we are.

One question left - how much do you want to bet the carnage ain't over yet?

Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are getting very close to where we the people stop funding (paying tax) governments. Governments have been taken over. They are no longer our government, but someone else's policy enforcers driving a global agenda, and we are funding it?

Anonymous said...

Are good leaders made or are they born to lead?
Whatever you believe Ardern was neither, circumstances thrust her into the spotlight. And circumstances highlighted the vacuous open space she had for a brain.
The Country is royally screwed and Dame Cindy an Co are the reason why!