Six hundred business leaders offered polite applause. Someone clapped at the mention of the India free trade deal, which seemed to startle the Prime Minister.
Welcome to 2026. It is going to be a great year. The kids are almost back at school.
This is New Zealand politics. KiwiSaver contributions. Road cones. Whether the election should be October or November.
Elsewhere, things are, well, livelier.
The American president is trying to buy Greenland. When Denmark declined to sell, he imposed tariffs on European allies and mused about letting NATO collapse – and then backed down. He blames the lack of a Nobel Peace Prize for his sour mood.
China just ran its largest military exercises around Taiwan, simulating a full blockade. The military fired twenty-seven missiles and deployed ninety warships. Xi Jinping announced that reunification cannot be stopped.
In Iran, thousands of protesters have been killed in anti-regime protests. Its internet went dark.
In Ukraine, thousands of apartment buildings have no heating at minus nineteen degrees. The ‘special military operation’ has killed or wounded over 1.5 million soldiers, so far. Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza.
Three weeks ago, American forces snatched Venezuela's president from Caracas. Economists at Davos warn that the operating system of the global order is being erased.
Taiwan faces blockade. Greenland faces annexation. We face a spirited debate about parking minimums.
Luxon, to his credit, acknowledged on Monday that the global rules-based system is "rupturing." He then outlined his three big priorities: KiwiSaver, NCEA and the Resource Management Act. The audience sat politely through all of it.
Our campaign will treat cycleway colours as matters of profound national importance. Pollsters will detect movements within the margin of error and pronounce them seismic. Someone will revive the debate about bilingual signage.
None of it will matter very much. And honestly, that is the point.
Boring is underrated. It is the thing you miss only after it is gone. Tedium is the sound a functioning democracy makes. When politicians are dull, it usually means nobody is storming the parliament.
The world is scary. New Zealand not quite so.
Thank goodness for that. Let us hope it lasts.
Nick is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, focusing on local government, resource management, and economic policy. This article was first published HERE
This is New Zealand politics. KiwiSaver contributions. Road cones. Whether the election should be October or November.
Elsewhere, things are, well, livelier.
The American president is trying to buy Greenland. When Denmark declined to sell, he imposed tariffs on European allies and mused about letting NATO collapse – and then backed down. He blames the lack of a Nobel Peace Prize for his sour mood.
China just ran its largest military exercises around Taiwan, simulating a full blockade. The military fired twenty-seven missiles and deployed ninety warships. Xi Jinping announced that reunification cannot be stopped.
In Iran, thousands of protesters have been killed in anti-regime protests. Its internet went dark.
In Ukraine, thousands of apartment buildings have no heating at minus nineteen degrees. The ‘special military operation’ has killed or wounded over 1.5 million soldiers, so far. Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza.
Three weeks ago, American forces snatched Venezuela's president from Caracas. Economists at Davos warn that the operating system of the global order is being erased.
Taiwan faces blockade. Greenland faces annexation. We face a spirited debate about parking minimums.
Luxon, to his credit, acknowledged on Monday that the global rules-based system is "rupturing." He then outlined his three big priorities: KiwiSaver, NCEA and the Resource Management Act. The audience sat politely through all of it.
Our campaign will treat cycleway colours as matters of profound national importance. Pollsters will detect movements within the margin of error and pronounce them seismic. Someone will revive the debate about bilingual signage.
None of it will matter very much. And honestly, that is the point.
Boring is underrated. It is the thing you miss only after it is gone. Tedium is the sound a functioning democracy makes. When politicians are dull, it usually means nobody is storming the parliament.
The world is scary. New Zealand not quite so.
Thank goodness for that. Let us hope it lasts.
Nick is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, focusing on local government, resource management, and economic policy. This article was first published HERE
2 comments:
"Politicians are dull means no-one is storming the parapets". You imply issues such as bi-lingual signage and by implication a further step towards co-governance is a mundane thing. Many citizens are deeply concerned by Luxon's inaction in important areas such as Treaty partnership clarification. I would suggest it is the New Zealand people who are not mundane and boring and will possibly show Luxon this at the next election. We are not all "a roomful of businessmen". The New Zealand people are also very interested in events happening overseas. They inevitably always affect us at some point.
Boring is the sound government makes. There are two possibilities for this sound, the first government is quietly plodding on with its job and fulfilling it's promises. The second is that the government, especially the public service, is quietly doing nothing new, pushing back when expected to, avoiding all responsibility and protecting each other.
So which boring sound of silence are we hearing at the moment?
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.