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Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Mike's Minute: Two areas where the Government might have trouble


There are two areas where the Government has, or might have, trouble.

As a result of their first 100 days you get the summation, the round up, how they did and so on.

Forget the policy and whether you like it - what they have going for them is twofold, for at least the first term.

They won the election, so have the numbers, and a lot of what they are enacting is not just the opposite of the last lot for the sake of it, but because a lot of the last lot's record is indisputably a mess.

Think light rail, housing, the deficit etc. So, a new path is not a path about change because of ideology. It’s a path about correction or fixing what is broken.

But a lot of what they campaigned on was the wokeness and the Māorification of the system.

This, apparently, was going to change. Well, has it?

Not at the Reserve Bank. They are advertising for a diversity adviser, someone to put a Te ao Māori lens across matters. Now, as ACT quite rightly pointed out, this does not help bring down inflation, which is exactly what they are supposed to be doing. And if you compare them to many a trading partner, they're not doing it very well.

Now, it is this very sort of activity that was supposed to end. Not just because we didn’t like its flourishing presence under the last Government, but because its wasteful and money we don’t have.

So why is it still happening? ACT say the Reserve Bank is independent, which it is. But the issue is in opposition ACT would point this sort of madness out and get easy headlines for it.

The difference now is they are the Government and can fix it, yet they aren't. They are offering excuses and that starts to weigh on your credibility and popularity after a while.

The second issue is the Prime Minister's so-called radar. The consensus among the commentariat, if that in fact means anything, was Luxon's political radar is off.

Certainly, the weekend's poll, showing a crash in personal support, would lead you to believe that the $52,000 accommodation allowance was a mistake. There has also been no shortage of observations about Luxon looking like he was getting schooled by Peters and Seymour.

Now, here is the trouble. I don’t think it's as bad as they make out, but numbers are numbers. In this case observation can very quickly become reality.

The trouble is the Government remains popular. In fact, support is growing and yet support for the Prime Minister is doing the opposite.

That's not a reason to panic in March, a handful of months into a new term. But time runs quickly in Government and if this doesn’t change it will be a problem before you know it.

Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.

7 comments:

DeeM said...

"The Reserve Bank has been wholly owned by the New Zealand Government since 1936. The Reserve Bank is established by an Act of Parliament (the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021) and it has statutory independence. The Reserve Bank is accountable to Parliament and provides an annual dividend to the Government."

As regards DEI and employing a "diversity" advisor with a Te Ao Maori lens, the Governor should be hauled in and made to ACCOUNT for why this position is necessary to control inflation or any other core activity.
He won't be able to do it, of course, because this is not a core activity of the RBNZ but just another tax-payer funded frivolous woke expense.
He should be sent away under no illusion that wasting tax-payers money is completely unacceptable and if he wants any chance of retaining his fragile position he needs to ditch it immediately.

Anonymous said...

Why can’t the comments and recommendations of DeeM be dawns directly to Luxon and Orr a million times!

CXH said...

The Governor got caught refusing to employ anyone that had any experience in economics and had to backtrack that it was all a mistake. Now he can just ensure no one with economic experience fits the new diversity requirements.

Anonymous said...

Could be that Luxor’s popularity took a plunge not because he took the housing allowance but because he quickly retracted on it? Leaving many to wonder if he can stand up to challenges?

Anonymous said...

The brown clown malaise has sunk into all aspects on NZ life, in a grotesque way. And rudeness and genitalia seem to intimidate Luxon et al such that they disguise the malaise behind a smoke screen of 100 day blurb. Look beyond the blurb and some of it is any thing but robust.

Where the bloody hell are ya NZ?

Anonymous said...

It is far better to have governments who are afraid of its people than it is to have people who are afraid of their governments.
The former are forced to “listen” to we the people while the latter override and “dictate” to we the people.
We the people need to stay vigilant of our government at all times, call them out and hold to account when required, to ensure that our government remains afraid of we the people.

mudbayripper said...

Adrian Orr's belief is that the future is MĀORI.
Guess he's sticking to his guns.
Meanwhile the sheriff is pissed, and passed out, back in the saloon.