What about National asking themselves this question, “If we do stick with Luxon, how can we generate a rapid increase in his popularity?
Most of the National Caucus and even the “deaf, dumb and blind kid” knows the answer to that.
Stop facilitating the escalation of influence and control wielded by Maori activist leaders, start curbing the dispensing of financial largess to Maori organisations that are masquerading “charities”! Your appeasement agenda is strangling growth and will ultimately bankrupt the country!
And, what about this – Call Tama Potaka aside and inform him “The Office of Crown Maori Relations is being closed down, sorry Tama your role as minister no longer exists!” But then, dropping the equivalent of a neutron bomb on New Zealand, stand proudly in the Beehive theatrette announce to the country, “We are disbanding the WAITANGI TRIBUNAL!!!”
That is what a government who identified the best interests of New Zealand as their primary role would do!
“They can’t hope for him to change” Suggests Heather. Don’t voters generally perceive politicians as people who “bend with the wind” or “would sell their soul to the devil for an extra vote”?
The fact that Luxon is probably the only one in the National Caucus who does not deduce the failure to address the “Maori issue” would be a significant factor in a downfall of the coalition, does that not visibly illustrate he believes Maori are disadvantaged, Maori are suffering from colonisation, Maori are victims and therefore, must be afforded exclusive and select patronage?
If that is his belief, then I vote for someone else!
Stop facilitating the escalation of influence and control wielded by Maori activist leaders, start curbing the dispensing of financial largess to Maori organisations that are masquerading “charities”! Your appeasement agenda is strangling growth and will ultimately bankrupt the country!
And, what about this – Call Tama Potaka aside and inform him “The Office of Crown Maori Relations is being closed down, sorry Tama your role as minister no longer exists!” But then, dropping the equivalent of a neutron bomb on New Zealand, stand proudly in the Beehive theatrette announce to the country, “We are disbanding the WAITANGI TRIBUNAL!!!”
That is what a government who identified the best interests of New Zealand as their primary role would do!
“They can’t hope for him to change” Suggests Heather. Don’t voters generally perceive politicians as people who “bend with the wind” or “would sell their soul to the devil for an extra vote”?
The fact that Luxon is probably the only one in the National Caucus who does not deduce the failure to address the “Maori issue” would be a significant factor in a downfall of the coalition, does that not visibly illustrate he believes Maori are disadvantaged, Maori are suffering from colonisation, Maori are victims and therefore, must be afforded exclusive and select patronage?
If that is his belief, then I vote for someone else!
Christopher Luxon or someone else? National Party MPs are at a crossroads
National MPs are at a crossroads. Or if they’re not at it yet, they’re nearly there.
They have to choose. Do they continue with Chris Luxon and hope their leader improves? Or do they choose someone else? The someone else is becoming less and less of a mystery.
People who attended the Air New Zealand party in Parliament this week said the possible rolling of Luxon was the talk of the event. One name kept popping up. Chris Bishop. He is now being openly talked about in Wellington as a better choice.
He’s got many of the things Luxon lacks. Political instinct. Clear answers in interviews. Confidence in the House. A fairly normal wealth situation.
He hasn’t indicated an interest in the job. That could just be smart politics from him. But who would really turn down the chance to be PM? It doesn’t sound like he has the numbers. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Not everyone in caucus loves the idea.
Because it’s a risk. Rolling a Prime Minister is a different ballgame from rolling an Opposition leader. It spells instability, infighting and distraction to voters who’d rather their government MPs be spending their time doing actual work.
On the other hand, sticking with Luxon is a risk. He’s a drag on National’s popularity. At somewhere between -10 and -24 in recent polls, his popularity is so low it’s almost drilling through to China. Out of the past 23 polls, National has registered as the most popular party in only seven. Labour has claimed 16.
The IPSOS Monitor poll this week was a wake-up call. Voters now have more trust in Labour to manage the economy. National has lost its own wheelhouse. Worse still, it’s lost it to a party that finished trashing the economy only a couple of years ago.
So far, the Nats have been telling themselves their polling will get better when the economy gets better next year. They’re right. It’ll definitely lift their polling.
But they can’t guarantee the size of the lift-off. If the economic lift is small, the resulting poll bump may also be small.
And they can’t guarantee it’ll lift Luxon’s personal polling, because sometimes people fall so badly out of love there’s no chance of winning them back. It is possible Luxon’s given some voters so much ick it’s past the point of no return.
The decision looms. If they choose to pull the pin and gamble on a new leader, they really should do it this side of Christmas. It limits the damage. It gives voters the summer break to get used to the idea. It gives their PR department a bit of time to organise nice magazine stories full of pictures of the family and the pets.
But if they choose to stick with Luxon, they have to figure out how to limit his damage to the party’s polling. They can’t hope for him to change. That’s not a strategy. A thousand different opinions offered to a leader on how to make voters like them inevitably leads to leaders doing weird stuff like Judith Collins kneeling to pray in church before the 2020 election.
Perhaps the best strategy is just to limit how much of Luxon the public sees and instead make more use of popular ministers like Erica Stanford and Mark Mitchell. A lot rides on this decision for some MPs. At current polling, plenty of them will lose their seats next election and be out of work.
Which is why National can’t continue as it is. Something has to change. And time is ticking.
Pee Kay writes he is from a generation where common sense, standards, integrity and honesty are fundamental attributes. This article was first published HERE
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