OPINION
The Collins English Dictionary’s definition of a cot case in Australia and New Zealand is someone who is either to ill to get out of bed or too incapacitated by drink. The Oxford English Dictionary also defines the term as a person or thing regarded as useless or unable to cope. My headline refers to the Oxford meaning.
The latest comments from Carmel Sepuloni and Chloe Swarbrick suggest the voters who consigned them to the Opposition benches must be congratulating themselves with such gay abandon.
The clar1ty of voters’ “right” decision: MPs with business backgrounds are sorely needed.
It would appear that the business of how to run a country has yet to register with these two. They had six years to present their credentials but came up woefully short
Until they grasp why they were dealt painful posteriors last October, their chances of ever getting re-elected are bleak at best. They appear oblivious of why they lost the treasury benches even though the reason is staring them in the face.
Carmel and Chloe can’t understand that, in order to get the country back on track, some principles from the business world might be applicable. One could show some sympathy for their plight since neither has a clue about business. Carmel was a teacher and also worked in academia in the area of public health before entering parliament; Chloe studied journalism and law. They are both lamenting the government’s next 100-day plan, something they obviously don’t agree with.
To them it would seem that having a plan is tantamount to running the country like a business and we the people are simply commodities. You could argue that, but I don’t think those who voted for the coalition Government would agree. They wouldn’t describe themselves in that way but rather as people who were aware the country was in sore need of leadership that had some business acumen. Christopher Luxon provides just that. Chloe says a country is not a company and a prime minister is not a CEO. Strictly speaking, maybe not, but there are similarities – something these two don’t seem to get.
Whether the country is run as a business or not is not the point: it’s the successful outcomes of how the country is run that do matter. If these two thought the way the left were running the country was ‘it’, then, as most of us suspect, they truly are in la-la land. We now have a government showing strong signs of being capable of getting things done in its own right. It is competent to the point that it does not need to rely on a myriad of working groups and consultants to advise and recommend what it should do. This is a major difference between the right and the left and the way the majority of the electorate sees it.
New Zealand is not the only example where people are waking up to the fact that a turn to the right is needed. Finland, just voted the happiest country on the planet, last year elected a government the farthest to the right in their history for exactly the same reasons we did: to rein in excessive government spending, get the country on the road to prosperity and also to join NATO. Their previous prime minister, a political clone of Jacinda Ardern, at least had the courage to stay on and fight the election.
Carmel says the action plan is pointless and there’s not much in it. Well it might not have dawned on Carmel but if this Government achieves only what is in this plan, then they will have managed to eclipse what the Labour Government achieved in six years. It’s Carmel and Chloe’s stupid comments that are pointless. The quarterly statements are a means of informing the public of what is in the pipeline and being dealt with in the next three months. Those who were sensible enough to vote the coalition in will be interested to know if what was promised is being acted on.
The comments by these two are glaring examples of just how out of touch the left are.
No doubt, without even realising it, they are consigning themselves to the Opposition side of the House for some time to come. I can only assume if there were no more than 50 cars on the road, all electric, Chloe would be thrilled but the fact the country was $100 million in debt would not concern her in the slightest.
Carmel told RNZ the plan was not bold enough to tackle the real problems people were facing such as the cost of living but then acknowledged the proposed tax cuts were a way of doing that. But at what cost? she asked. That’s a bit rich coming from her when her government spent hundreds of millions on light rail without disturbing the turf. At least with the cost of tax cuts people in need are getting something and something which in many cases is badly needed. The verbal utterances of these two illustrates the problems this Government is now facing.
The March Roy Morgan poll has the right on 56 per cent approval to the left’s 40.5 per cent. What will Carmel and Chloe’s reactions be? A difference of that magnitude means the poll can’t be rigged. If they care to dig into the numbers they will see they only have majority support among females aged 18 to 40. That will never win them an election. They are a long way from once again winning the hearts and minds of the voters. Their recent vacuous discourse only serves to highlight the disconnect that is all too apparent and is a salutary reminder of the folly of a vote for the left.
There is an old saying – ‘Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.’ Carmel and Chloe would do well to adhere to it.