While recently out to dinner in a Queensland restaurant we were seated adjacent to a partly opened bi-fold door. A confused black and white bird, a willie wagtail, repeatedly flew smack into the false opening, flipped backwards each time onto a nearby table, staggered up and repeated the process. Over and over, at least a dozen times. It eventually fell to the floor, stunned and, after a few steadying seconds, managed to fly off. I thought it was an appropriate metaphor for the National Party as it continues to hit repeat on poor decision-making.
Their continuing snuggling up to the Labour Party by National’s Christopher Luxon is a worrying trend, with many erstwhile supporters already having declared their departure from the party they have supported, in some cases for a lifetime. This is not what the once party faithful want. They want a revitalised party true to its founding principles.
They see Luxon as betraying these – and they are right; he is. The Party continues to fly into that partly opened door.
The appointment of Peter Goodfellow as Party President was one of the first recent and damaging backward flips onto the adjacent table, and “some National members were left furious after a three-day party conference resulted in a board with no rural members and president Peter Goodfellow keeping his job.” He was, it had been said, ‘good at fundraising’ although “Former National Party cabinet minister and speaker David Carter immediately resigned from the board when Goodfellow retained his role. He told Stuff he had no confidence in Goodfellow so it would be hypocritical for him to stay on.”
“The review of the campaign last year said that the two major faults were that the governance was not good and the fundraising was inadequate,” Carter said.
“One National Party delegate told Stuff rural members were resigning in serious numbers and National was “no longer the party of rural New Zealand”.
‘No longer the party of rural NZ’ — National members furious following conference | Stuff.co.nz
The fortunes of rural NZ and hence the country continue to be eroded by the willful actions of the red tyrant in the driver’s seat but the National Party cannot be complacent and expect to count on rural support.
And then came the appointment of Christopher Luxon, whose lack of political experience continues to be of concern.
“He has had the shortest term as an MP before being elected leader of a major political party in modern New Zealand history.”
Christopher Luxon’s plan to lead a moderate National Party | Stuff.co.nz.
His lack of political nous is worrying.
“Christopher Luxon strikes one as yesterday’s man, both in his beliefs and his business background. Is this really the man to defeat Ardern? “
Christopher Luxon is out of step with most New Zealanders – can he really challenge Ardern? | Morgan Godfery | The Guardian
The recent appointment of Nicola Willis as the finance spokesperson is also causing some head-scratching. Has the party not been happy to throw mud at the current Minister of Finance with his B.A? Have they not made political capital from that? Given that Grant Robertson has a propensity for reckless expenditure of OPM – other people’s money, it would have been tempting to think that with Simon Bridges’ abrupt declaration of his unforeseen resignation, Luxon would take the opportunity to appoint someone who had a background and qualifications in finance to shore up the Party’s skill set. But no, yet another B.A. will take the job.
With the economy in meltdown and a cost-of-living crisis that even Jacinda Ardern will now admit to, albeit with a Thesaurus of synonyms, a finance spokesperson with a credible background in financial matters would have been a pragmatic and sensible option for Luxon.
It seems the party continues to move from a position of weakness to one even weaker. How to snatch even greater defeat from the jaws of defeat. Was Andrew Bayly considered for the position? He initially trained as an accountant before working with merchant banks in New Zealand and London for a period of 10 years. After returning to New Zealand he co-founded a merchant bank, offering corporate advisory and capital markets advice to a range of government entities, local authorities and corporate clients.
He is National’s Shadow Treasurer (Revenue) and spokesperson for Infrastructure and Statistics. He is a Member of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee. An impressive background with qualifications and wide experience. The National Party is not doing itself any favours by providing a platform for Labour Party attacks before the ink is even dry on Nicola’s promotion announcement.
Christopher Luxon is showing a gain in the latest polls but he lost significant support with his me-too refusal to engage with or listen to the parliament protesters. He did not speak up against the “river of filth” diatribe, and his deferential support for all things Jacinda and Covid are disturbing, although he is now showing a bit more spine and “says it is time to dismantle Covid restrictions and get back to normality.”
“He spoke to media this morning with his Covid-19 response spokesman Chris Bishop after issuing a call for the Government to immediately scrap vaccine passes for all but large, indoor events.”
“In a statement this morning, Luxon also called for all scanning requirements to be dropped immediately and to get rid of vaccine mandates for all young people aged under 18.” Why only under 18?
“He also called for a move to a five-day isolation period for Covid-19 cases and their household contacts, down from seven days.”
Covid 19 Omicron: National Party leader Christopher Luxon calls for vaccine passes, mandates to be dumped – NZ Herald
However, he continues to support forced vaccination, and this too could be a costly exercise for him.
He has yet, unlike his predecessor, Judith Collins, to agree to rolling back the invidious measures of Pae Ora, of Three Waters, of He Puapua, UN Agenda 2030, and now Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways, that “will embed Te Tiriti across the design and delivery attributes of the system, and enable opportunities for matauranga Maori. It will also recognise that research is a global undertaking and seek to stand alongside the best systems in the world”.
Graham Adams writing at The Platform considers this co-governance model to be “one of the most significant examples of chicanery by Jacinda Ardern’s administration”
[…] even as New Zealanders have been enjoined to “follow the science” over vaccination and Covid management generally, it has been simultaneously engaged in a stealthy project that will undermine the integrity of science and the nation’s scientific institutions.”
OPINION: Co-governance coming to science & universities | Graham Adams | The Platform.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not recall Luxon promising to repeal any of these. He has however undertaken to roll back the additional and punitive taxes imposed by the socialist regime.
And losing his former Finance spokesperson? It seems careless somehow and possibly another head-butt into that partially open bi-fold door.
I was prepared to give Luxon a fighting chance, but no more. He does not inspire or position the Party as centre-right, and so we are, it seems, heading for two major centre-left parties, a move initiated by John Key. Another hit and repeat.