Wendy Geus: Van Velden's action showed much needed frugality - why is the PM not listening?

A desperate PM's latest ideas to improve the economy involve increasing tourism and house prices rising (sensible Bishop wants them to keep decreasing).

Like King Canute who failed to stop the tide, Luxon cannot magically change market forces which dictate the housing market. And his 'reckons' on lowering interest rates which he desperately tried to walk back, sounded more like Trump's demands.

So is it Brooke to the rescue once again? It could be, if Luxon adopted her strategy and others he has control over and campaigned on.

A more balanced media would have given more coverage of Brooke's cut rate rebranding of Internal Affairs name, with English first, from a public servant estimate of $50,000 to under $1,000. The sheer wastage is outrageous and is seen throughout the public service including local government.

So many opportunities have arisen for Luxon to take command and draw a line in the sand to move the narrative on excessive spending and removing an uneconomical race based approach, which the Coalition campaigned on but are slow to remove. This is one.

He could have seized the moment and given a directive to all ministers affected to follow Brooke's approach and given a time frame for completion; shown leadership for once. This could be a blueprint on how he expects all agencies to conduct their work - with frugality, during an economic downturn.

Could it be his small minded approach prevents him from praising an MP's work from another party? Still, he is mute on a promise which should have been done by Christmas 2023.

His preference before the election was for the name New Zealand, not Aotearoa (his words) has been muted by force of nature Potaka who used 'Aotearoa NZ' in the House from the beginning and has Stanford on board with her mandatory tikanga and te reo Maori in our state schools despite having tax payer funded Maori immersion schools (for decades) for that.

Once again he could have announced his preference for New Zealand not to change its name and offer a referendum for everyone to have their say. The four term referendum is another distraction from the more urgent contentious stuff he hates to deal with.

The Ministry of Education's blatant mandatory discriminatory Te Ao Maori approach is seen in a recent ad for service providers below:

“The preferred Supplier will also need to be able to describe how Te Ao Māori will be meaningfully embedded throughout the resource design and delivery for pūtaiao kits in a way that aligned to the redesigned Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. This must go beyond translation.” Ministry of Education still sending this out in the application form to people/companies who hope to be the preferred supplier to provide goods or services. 7 Aug 2025

The dumbing down of the public service by activists within MBIE continues unabated and is clearly illustrated in this excerpt below, written in pidgin English, after nearly two years of the Coalition Government's failure to act on their election promises.

“Ngā pukenga me ngā wheako e hiahiatia ana – Ētahi kōrero
People are at the heart of our mahi, our way of working is guided by our values which shape our behaviour. MBIE recognises the partnership founded under Te Tiriti o Waitangi between Māori and the Crown and is committed to giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi....... 25 Aug 2025

Trump has been called a disruptor. He is not. Amongst other things, he is simply returning America's safe borders and streets as promised. But like Maori, the media and public officials here react to this government's promises, the Democrats are rebelling; in this instance against, weirdly, deporting criminal illegals. And, unlike Luxon, he is fighting back.

Who knew America is better with crime and open borders?

The disruptors are the left wing activists who demand we adopt their unhinged ideas as normal; and call you mad, charge you and in some instances jail you if you disagree.

That is the 'same but different' job flaky Luxon has reneged on as too heavy a burden to bear and left his ministers to fight it out. The zealots in the National Party appear to be winning hands down. Stanford is spending tens of millions of dollars on Maori resources which most Maori children will hardly use due to their high truancy rate. That needs to be fixed first.

Seymour's attendance figures for May, 58% look pitiful beside the UK's 2024/2025's of 93%. Tougher penalties had the kids returning to school. The cotton wool approach does NOT work. People need to be forced to do the right thing.

Ani O'Brien recently summarised why Luxon should put a stop to Apartheid Creep to improve our economc health:

“The culture wars are an enormous handbrake on our economy. From endless consultations, cultural reports, karakia and maori religious observances to the eventual extraction of substantial bribes, NZ’s productivity is crippled while costs balloon.”

Civil servants spending other's money with gay abandon must stop. And it will. Under the new Local Government Amendment bill, this outrage will be outlawed. My local council candidates' leaflets are already promoting their 'back to basics' approach to get elected.

(This should stop projects like the Little Buckland's Beach $667,000 speed bump - not even properly consulted on!)

The government deserves plaudits for this, but it must also include stopping 'nice to haves' for Maori paid for by rate payers which Kaipara is leading the way on but being slated as being 'anti Maori' by the Herald.( see link below).

Simon Watts and Luxon should be applauding Mayor Jepson for his report illustrating how normal Council delivery of services can be achieved economically, minus the separatist approach which Luxon cannot bring himself to condemn.

Stanford has determined education legislation contains a 'Treaty Clause essential to achieving paramount objectives' (those being literacy and numeracy). This is NOT removing references to Maori, demands which are all over NZ First's Coalition agreement with National.

Seymour, the only one who continues to demand to have them removed, who failed in his herculean task of promoting his Treaty Principles Bill, gets this thrown in his face like the Maori Party's public display of hatred in Parliament.

NZ First are already campaigning and promising us stuff for next term, when two years in they have failed to deliver on one major promise: removing Maori references from public services. What makes us think they will deliver next time when they have, so far, failed this term?

Sounds like all hui and no doey! Prove me wrong Winston.

This Coalition demand seemed a given in the face of failure to pass Seymour's bill, which Luxon and Potaka publicly, rudely condemned; and would have clarified and simplified governance. But spineless Luxon, and it appears Winston, have let us down.

Now the waters get even muddier as, aided by the biased media, Maori's control of rhetoric gets more strident and intimidating against all comers. No room for a conservative voice as more emotive biased headlines proclaim any other view is racist and anti Maori.

Has Meek Winston caved in the face of Erica's zealotry? (like Mike Hosking's tame interview with the 'force of nature' as she attacked her former supporters?) Pull the other one. Winston always wins. This is a major, and intentional, fail.

Mercurial Winston, already making plans for next term, has an either or approach, meaning those who support him may find themselves with a Labour government, as he hasn't ruled them out.

Act has only one option, National. Despite Act's libertarian views, they are the nearest to providing more surety, integrity and a more courageous approach, for a right wing government. If Seymour was National's only partner in the (likely) next government he would have more power to demand the changes his deceitful partners have denied him and the voters this time.

An unlikely outcome with National support tanking and too stupid to realise why.

Meanwhile Judith Collins has introduced a bill to make public service hiring based on merit not DEI. What a novel idea. Whether the marxists still ruling the public service take one bit of notice, remains to be seen.

Reference:

Kaipara council’s $52,000 report condemned as ‘anti-Maori’ - NZ Herald

Wendy Geus is a former speechwriter and generalist communications advisor in local government. She now writes for the pure love of it.