OPINION
I watched TVNZ News on Thursday 28 September. (I did this so that you didn’t have to) and, honestly, it was a disgrace. According to the radio during the day, Hipkins had clearly won the second Leaders’ Debate the previous evening (Wednesday), and the knives of the oh-so-biased media were well and truly out.
I watched the last half hour of the debate. OK, I am a political tragic, and it was lucky that I was enjoying very civilised company earlier in the evening, otherwise I would have watched all 90 minutes of it. I doubt that I missed much, however.
But what I saw was a desperate Chris Hipkins shouting down Christopher Luxon, and looking lost and angry, whereas Luxon looked mostly calm and in control. Luxon had plans and solutions for most questions, but Hipkins had very little to offer. His problem, of course, is that he can promise the earth, but after the last six years, no one believes a word he says.
But here is the first comment, from Thomas Coughlan on Twitter:
Coughlan and I must have been watching different debates, unless Hipkins was absolutely brilliant in the first hour, and then deteriorated to being shouty and whiny just before I turned on the TV.
Hardly likely, though, is it?
And on the TV1 News on Thursday, the headline feature was Hipkins claiming that Christopher Luxon is taking NZ race relations ‘backwards’.
“I will not stand for that kind of overt racism and I will call it out whenever I hear it,” said Hipkins on the news bulletin.
When asked by the reporter if he was accusing anyone in particular, he said;
“I am certainly accusing the collective National-ACT-NZ First potential coalition of doing that.”
“Race-baiting?” asked the reporter.
“Yes”, said Hipkins.
The difficulty with this is that, at no point in the lead article of the TV1 News did they tell us exactly what incidents or comments had taken place to deserve the title of ‘race-baiting’. National, ACT and NZ First were accused of racism, just… because.
Brilliant news reporting, don’t you think? Don’t you expect the TV1 News to lead off with actual news: you know, the kind of coverage that we used to enjoy in this country?
Those were the days.
The biggest irony of those comments is that, of the aforementioned parties, two of them – ACT and NZ First – have Maori leaders. Yes, clearly they are the ‘wrong type of Maori’ by Willie Jackson’s definition, but they are Maori nonetheless. It seems strange to accuse them of racism, but here we are.
You can watch the bulletin here if you can stomach it.
But wait! It gets better.
The bulletin went on to make the outrageous claim that, according to one of their polls, 50% of voters (exactly 50%, which is very convenient) are not interested in tax cuts at all, but that 66% agree with Te Pati Maori’s proposal of cutting GST off all food. This makes no sense. The idea of taking GST off fruit and vegetables has not resonated particularly well with the voting public, because it will make such a small difference to the actual cost of these items, yet two-thirds of people want it taken off all food. Doesn’t the same premise apply? Why would voters overwhelmingly approve of one idea but reject exactly the same idea if applied only to certain items? I seriously question this poll. It fits too cleanly with the leftist media’s narrative – that people must not vote National – and maybe they just have to invent the news, when it is clear that many voters are heading towards the right bloc.
(“No matter what we do, the polls just simply won’t move in the left parties’ direction” – to misquote Katie Bradford in 2008.)
Besides, those who understand how GST works will know that, if GST is taken off anything, it will not give a 15% reduction, which is the implication. The price reduction is likely to be in the region of 6.5% or less, depending on the price of the item. For an average weekly shop, it might mean a saving of up to $20, whereas tax cuts would give families considerably more than that.
I don’t believe our voting public is that stupid.
But back to race-baiting. It is clear that, as each successive poll shows Labour haemorrhaging support, Hipkins is becoming more and more desperate. Every time he is asked about the polls, he remains chipper (living up to his name), but there can be no doubt that he is struggling. And what happens when someone on the left gets desperate? Accusations are made of (fill in the blanks here)…racism, sexism, misogyny, sexual assault, paedophilia, or whatever. It is designed to bring someone down, and Chris Hipkins thinks it will make voters turn back to Labour.
But the trouble is that Hipkins has not tuned in to the mood of the nation. Most of us see his racism claims for what they are; insulting the opposition to score votes. It won’t work though. The average voter is well aware of the divisions caused by the current Labour administration. Most of us heartily wish to go back to the days when a New Zealander was a New Zealander, and we were all equal under the law.
Hipkins continues to promote and defend co-governance, which is a very unpopular policy amongst New Zealanders, including many Maori. We believe in equality and the same opportunities for all. We don’t believe that essential services should be dispensed on the basis of race, but rather (as Christopher Luxon points out) on the basis of need. We don’t want one group getting preferential treatment. Above all, we want to stick with a democratic system rather than a reversion to tribal rule. Chris Hipkins seems to have tuned out to what voters want. His continued promotion of co-governance is a very large nail in Labour’s coffin, but he doesn’t seem to understand that.
Or maybe he just doesn’t want to.
As I said above, the oh-so-biased media just cheer him on, supporting him in his false claims of racism and turning them into a news story when there is no story there.
So what will happen when Labour loses the election?
I think we all know the answer to that. The media will still support the parties of the left, and they will scrutinise every move the government makes, just like they did when Labour was in government.
Oops, sorry. No, they didn’t. They scrutinised the opposition and left the government alone.
(“No matter how many mistakes they make, we cannot afford to allow the polls to move away from them” – misquoting Katie Bradford again.)
But if NZ First is part of the next government, I believe we have a chance of overturning the race-based policies of this Labour Government because Winston will (hopefully) lead the charge, and how can the next opposition leader call Winston racist when he is a Maori?
Actually, I have answered that question. They have already accused Winston of racism against his own people. That was what the ‘race-baiting’ claim was all about.
But in truth, Chris Hipkins is the actual racist. He is being racist against New Zealanders with a European heritage – not to mention Asians, sub-continental Indians, Africans, South Americans, and so on. This is where the real race-baiting comes in.
Labour are going to lose, and they don’t seem to know why. But the truth is staring them in the face…if only they weren’t too elitist to notice.
Maybe Hipkins will describe you and me as ‘deplorables’ before the campaign is over. It worked so well for Hillary Clinton, didn’t it?