Budget Day is probably the most important day of the political calendar, other than the day of a general election. Everyone is affected by the budget one way or another. Whether you were hoping for more funding for Pharmac, an increase in benefits, tax cuts, more money for those with disabilities or something else, everyone hopes for something from the budget. Most years we are disappointed. This year, most of us were. Surprisingly, many of my associates who are diehard Labour voters are bitterly disappointed as well. Giving away free money but omitting those who really need it, like beneficiaries and pensioners who are most affected by the cost of living increases, is cruel. When I told my associates that I thought it was an act of vote buying, most of them agreed.
That is not good news for the sainted Jacinda.
But Jacinda had her own particular contribution to Budget Day. (The term ‘no show without Punch’ comes to mind here.) Forced to isolate due to Covid, and actually being infected herself, we all hoped for a bit of a break from the social media queen.
No such luck.
The Prime Minister fulfilled her Budget cheese rolls tradition on Thursday despite having Covid-19.
Newshub
Jacinda Ardern livestreamed the tradition on Instagram with Finance Minister Grant Robertson, where she revealed she’d lost all of her taste.
As she began her livestream voices and laughter could be heard in the background before telling them to be quiet.
“Can you please mute?” she said before laughing.
Tee hee. What a hoot. The Prime Minister is celebrating Budget Day by making cheese rolls that no one is going to eat. I trust she got her recipe from Nadia Lim.
Why do we have to be subjected to this drivel day after day? There was the photo of her supposedly working on an ironing board in her hotel room in Queenstown (although she was busted by one of the hotel staff posting a photo of the desk in her room), a fake Mother’s Day card that Neve, not yet four, could not possibly have written, fake muddy boots at parliament because she claims she didn’t want to wake up her household (who goes to bed with only a pair of muddy boots in the room?) and so on. She treats the people of New Zealand with total disdain, like we are all silly children who wait with bated breath for the latest story of cuteness coming from her quarter.
But Budget Day, in the middle of a cost of living crisis, where people are afraid that soon they may not be able to buy food? What is this woman thinking?
It would be cheese rolls, of course. They are, apparently, a Budget Day tradition (only for this government though, with Grant Robertson particularly favouring them) but the tone-deaf Prime Minister also forgot that, here in dairy rich New Zealand, a regular measure of our cost of living is the price of a block of cheese. Just last week, there was discussion in the media about how a block of tasty cheese is twice the price in New Zealand as in Australia – there is nothing like putting the (muddy) boot in, is there?
Many pensioners and beneficiaries are probably crossing cheese off their grocery list right now as it is too expensive. Tone-deaf Jacinda, with her mantra of kindness, flashes a plate of cheese rolls that are for show only. Grant had his own plateful anyway. Her culinary efforts were not needed.
Oh, and let us not forget, she also gifted him a tie!!! How wonderful – covered in red bubbles! Tee hee!
Why, oh why are we subject to this nauseating display? The Prime Minister showed her disdain for all New Zealanders by reducing the budget to a giggling session while people are struggling. Really struggling. She thinks people love her and find her delightful, but in reality, these pathetic displays are turning people off in droves. My friend who lives on a pension and is having to sell her beloved house and move to a cheaper area just to survive is not amused by any of it… and she has voted Labour all her life.
The media doesn’t help, of course, gushing over the silly overgrown schoolgirl as if she has done something heroic. We are exposed to this garbage day after day.
The world is a very uncertain place at the moment. With a pandemic still raging, supply chain issues, the war in Ukraine and rampant inflation, things are only going to get worse for most of us in the short term. There is, for example, only 10 weeks worth of wheat left in the world at present. This is potentially dire for many countries who rely on Russian and Ukranian wheat for food. Our troubles are far from over. And yet we have to suffer a prime minister who behaves like a silly teenager at every turn.
I want a prime minister who can focus on real issues – not a giggling schoolgirl who thinks her Facebook and Instagram posts are more important than everything else. Just resign, Jacinda. You really are a complete joke.