The Breaking Views blog is administered by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research at NZCPR.com. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
Will it be under whelming when we finally see the state of it?
Did we just build it up as this huge thing full of controversy and twists and turns, when in fact it was just a boring longer than expected meeting of negotiating endless minutiae?
Many would argue it’s a relatively inconsequential role - it doesn’t mean much. I mean most of last term we couldn’t remember who was deputy leader or deputy PM: Kelvin Davis or Carmel Sepuloni. It didn’t really matter, no one really cared.
But it does carry gravitas. There is something about the title which carries weight – and of course the obvious additional bonus of stepping into the PM’s shoes when they're out of the country. So you can’t argue it doesn’t carry some responsibility too. And Seymour’s argument is fair I reckon. Proportionality. He’s arguing that the role makes sense for him given they’ve got the second-largest government party, so he says, the second-biggest role makes sense. He thinks that’s the clear case for him to be Deputy PM.
That makes this entire negotiation of talks that he’s enduring.. all the more harder I reckon. I also don’t buy into the media’s timeline. This is not one of the longest negotiations on earth. Not by a long shot. And I don’t believe it started the day we counted votes either. That’s unfair to start the clock from there.
Within all these sectors there are still amazing people doing amazing things. I hear so often for example from people who, despite all the doom and gloom and horrible news about our Hospitals, have the best experiences with considerate, hardworking, and dedicated nurses. People who say they could not fault the care and attention they received.
We here in NZ are among the biggest vapers in the developed world. The OECD found 8.2% of people aged 15 or older regularly vape in New Zealand, which puts us in second place, just behind Estonia.
I was speaking to a specialist cardio sonographer the other day, and she was telling me that she thinks we’re going to find out down the track that vaping is worse than smoking. We just don't have enough research on it yet, but the toxins you're inhaling when you're vaping... no good can come of that.
So, my first thought is – what ‘experts’ said this, and what wave? And how big is the wave? And when will we stop reporting waves?
Turns out it was Australia’s New South Wales Health Ministry who were saying there’d been a ‘moderate’ rise in Covid cases, and they’d asked people to consider wearing a mask inside crowded indoor spaces.
If you’re an Aucklander, or a visitor to Auckland, you know the Waiheke Island Fullers ferry service is unreliable, often fraught with maintenance, or staffing or scheduling issues. Locals who regularly commute on and off the island by and large hate it – but they’re trapped as Fuller’s has had a monopoly and been their only means to get across the Gulf... up until now, with a new player in town. And God speed to Island Direct that they can make a go of it, get well patronized, and give Fullers a run for their money. But for years now, Fullers has been it and it's been a rubbish service.
I mean let’s face it, one, who else have they got? And two, when you’re a career politician, what else is it you’re going to do at this point?
But it’s the best possible option for Labour I reckon. He’s adept at politics and playing the media – and those two things go hand in hand these days. He’s quick on his feet, he’s an attack dog – which is what opposition is all about. But how attack-y is the potential problem for him... as in, is he too much attack dog?
We can thank special votes for that.
So, I’m trying to look for positives, and trust me, it’s not easy - but I found one.
He at least has institutional knowledge of how parliament works, what being a politician means, and how the place functions.
That’s a benefit to Luxon because that’s more than he’s got.
Specials will be done, duplicates checked, ballots finalized, we will know where we’re at, and more importantly, what form the new government might take.
The fact we’ve had three weeks in limbo is completely ludicrous and at least the incoming PM has acknowledged that and claims he’ll do something about changing it. Which as far as I understand involves changing the law and the way the electoral commission operates, and I hope they do that.
Why? They’re not going anywhere. Three Waters, light rail, Let’s get Wellington Moving... why are people on these projects persevering when they must know it’s over? They’re gone, surely the spending stops. It’s reckless and wasteful, and smacks of a deluded sense of entitlement that they can carry on in the false belief —or maybe just arrogance— that wasting taxpayers' money on contracts and outlay trumps the reality, which is they’re toast.
He makes a lot of sense, which is why I love having him on this show. He recently gave an interview where he talked about the fact we shouldn’t have to wait this long for election results.
I agree.
A statement made by Ron Mark when interviewed about how coalition negotiations have gone in the past with NZ First. Unfortunately, he went on to say in the article that not only was she ready to sell her grandmother, but she did.
Ouch.
From the nail biter of a fantastic AB’s game, which, for the record, I was never in any doubt of. For those of you who were still listening to our election night coverage at midnight Saturday night you would have heard me say I picked the AB’s to win – so you know, never in any doubt from me, just saying. Just so happy for Fozzie to be honest. I feel like he deserved that.
Honestly, I’ll be glad to see the back of it. It’s been too long, too divisive, too feisty, too nasty. I think that’s all been a turn off for voters and it may go towards explaining the current apathy. If the polls don’t pick up Saturday, then I think that says something about how this whole campaign —from every side— has been run. The sniping, accusations and insults has been gross. The misinformation that’s been allowed to run unchecked, fuelled by media, has been a disappointment.
Winston could kill all the fun Saturday night by holding the whole country to ransom and not forming a government. Wayne Barnes could ruin Sunday morning with his calls against the AB’s... we are potentially in for a rocky weekend of woe and misery leaving us all with a collective hangover Monday. The country could sink into a deep depression. More so than it already is. Yikes.
As the two hours slipped by, he seemed to get more relaxed, leaning back in his chair more and more, taking it easy. I wondered if the Coke Zero hadn’t kicked in, or maybe he was just tired, or maybe he’s just given up.
I mean don’t get me wrong, I thought he came across well, I think relaxed is good. But I was interested to hear what he backs about his government, and what he was less proud of. MIQ, the debt still owed to them over that and their handling of how to manage that, he thinks they could’ve done that better or differently.
I mean yes our communities and our suburbs are in dire straits too getting ravaged by crime and unruly gangs in many places, but our CBDs are a mess - they’re unsavoury places.
They don’t feel safe anymore. I get people messaging me every day about the CBD, particularly Auckland, and what a mess it is, or how embarrassed they are of it. Which is a shame because parts of it are really cool.
