Latest opinion polls vary not so much as to whether there
will be a change of government but more as to the size of the centre/right
victory and who will join National and Act as the governing coalition - if
indeed they need anybody else in order to gain a majority of seats in the
House.
Who would have thought that the wily old campaigner, the Hon Winston Peters would be looking like returning to parliament albeit only as a minor support party.
There is a rule that operates in NZ politics as long as
NZ First is led by arguably the most skilled politician we have seen since he
first emerged as a contender for higher office. We should have learned that you
count Winston out at your peril!
He has proved time and again that he is light years ahead
of any other operator in this fluid environment that dictates who lives and who
dies - although it is worth noting that his Party’s participation as a
coalition partner has not always worked out as planned. But that hasn’t always
been his fault.
Mind you, love him or hate him - it is fair to say that
Winston’s Provincial Growth Fund was about the only thing that kept us rural
folk solvent during the first term of the Ardern Government from 2017 - 2020 so
he can be effective.
And it is also a fact that his “sea anchor” effect on the
Labour/ Green excesses was sadly missed during the second term, allowing the
current mob to contemptuously ride roughshod over our democratic rights in a
manner that will ultimately lead to their downfall more than any other single
factor.
My own take on the survival of NZ First is that it has
repeatedly demonstrated an uncanny knack of not only peaking at the right time
in voter support but it has also fine tuned that art into an ability to appeal
to voters with policies that resonate with those struggling at the coalface.
When looking at the policies being offered by the major
parties, it is not hard to understand why the voters are casting around for
parties who identify with the needs of those who are desperate for help.
Grandiose plans for transforming the roading network hardly cut it when you are
not sure if you will have a job tomorrow, let alone have enough money to feed
the family for the next week.
I am reminded of that simple incisive comment made by Air
Chief Marshall Dowding at the height of the Battle of Britain during WW2. He
was contemplating defeat at the hands of Hitler’s Luftwaffe and the only thing
that stood between the British people and
overwhelming superior odds was the galant pilots and ground crew of the
RAF.
Yet Dowding had to deal with his two subordinate Air
Chiefs - our own Keith Park who was in charge of the Southern Fighter Squadrons
and Trafford Leigh-Mallory who commanded the Northern Group - both of whom
according to Dowding, were failing to recognise the real nature of their
difficulty.
Dowding is
supposed to have castigated his junior officers for their inability to accept
reality with these immortal words “we don’t need a big wing or a small wing -
we need pilots! “ How’s that for realism!
When reflecting on the accuracy of his assessment of
their predicament during those dark hours, we here can draw direct comparisons
with modern New Zealand and our plight particularly in the hardest hit
provinces struggling for survival after the cyclones destroyed much of what we
had taken for granted for so long.
I’m not suggesting that Winston Peters even comes close
in comparison to those heroes of yesteryear but he does deserve credit for
assessing where the real need is today and is committed to policies that are
realistically capable of making a difference.
Maybe he deserves another period in the sun.
You be the judge.
Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.
6 comments:
Sadly Winston talks a good talk, yet in office fails to walk at all.
He is great in opposition where he is unafraid to speak up on any topic, no matter how contentious. If part of the government he folds like any other small party. He accepts a bauble or two then quietly sits in the corner.
This is quite off the topic, but Dowding’s rejoinder to his subordinates did not address the point they were arguing which was, ‘’What is the most effective way to use the pilots we have now?” Histories of the Battle of Britain tend to side with Park. In their urgent context, one could say that the disputed solutions were more ‘realistic’ than Dowding’s diplomatic answer as it was possible to implement immediately one approach or the other, more difficult and slower to increase the supply of fully trained fighter pilots, though that was necessary too. None of this is to disparage Dowding - he tenaciously and far-sightedly created the world’s first air defence system centred on radar; without its force-multiplying effects, the BoB would haven vastly more difficult for Britain.
Peters boasts he was the hand brake on Labour. That's only because he put them in the driving seat which is like an arsonist claiming credit for helping to put out a fire.
In acting as the brake he indulged in tail waggery, negotiating issue by issue on anything not in the coalition agreement. We can't afford that sort of nonsense slowing down the change that is so urgently needed.
The only way to get a government that gets what needs doing done, and done quickly and well, is to vote National or Act.
Dear Mr Bibby.
I admire your "belief in NZ First & Winston Peters" as you resourcefully state -
"There is a rule that operates in NZ politics as long as NZ First is led by arguably the most skilled politician we have seen since he first emerged as a contender for higher office. We should have learned that you count Winston out at your peril"!
Sadly to most and/or many New Zealander's, he has History of seeking the Party that can give him - "what he wants", not what the Country needs.
You also refer to the "Provincial Growth Fund", which, I state, sarcastically - that was the "Grand Road Show, led by Shane Jones, dispensing Largesse", to which I would ask - "What accountability was applied to the money dispersed, to the point such funds were used appropriately"?
As a consequence of Winston "marrying to Labour, 2016" and the resulting failure of the then Govt, the NZ Public showed NZ First the "door" in 2020.
It is interesting to read comments posted under videos via YouTube, on what the NZ Public think of Winston. Not good news.
With his latest appearances, to "re- launch NZ First", just who (age range) is sitting in the audience?
I recently listen to "a person", when asked about Winston, - well sadly I can not print the statement made, but simply say - "The comments made, were enlightening"- and I sure those also present, were left in no doubt as to what this person thought of Winston's "potential" return to Parliament.
Many of your comments are very relevant, yes why roading upgrade in the North of the North Island, what about the South Island?? Or any where else.
In 70 days we will see Who will lead NZ forward. I just hope the "collective group of MP's" who will find themselves on the Treasury Benches have "the wherewithal" to be cohesive, decisive & brave to improve NZ from what we have now to what is needed in the coming days.
ANON, of New Zealand.
for a start he will it seems be part of the parliament again if he is polling 5% now it will be 8% on the day.
Additionally when people who are entrenched Labour voters stand in the booth and are very unhappy with Labour will a number chooses.
don't vote, vote Green probably they will realize that is like voting for Labour but voting National is a bridge to far so an option of NZF is a way of protesting.
currently so long as he is not King maker I am happy for him to say thing nobody else can utter and as such he should be there.
His policy mix should include the following.
A binding referendum on Maori seats.
The splitting of the Gentailer into electrical generators and electrical retailer thus breaking up that ridiculous oligopoly.
That would put him the history books of NZ.
After all is said and done there is still one question, I would like answered by all the political parties. and that is where they stand on the war in Ukraine, if the US, UK, UN, and NATO ask NZ to send Troops would they.
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