As the opposition improves in the ratings we have to be prepared for the right and their media lackeys to up their game - they have everything to lose (and Atlas Network would not be happy). It is time for Labour especially to communicate clearly and loudly!
We should now welcome those voters back to the Left, who were fooled by a huge expensive and divisive election campaign. They were in a financial struggle, dealing with cost of living pressures caused by a world wide and local covid spend. Then, instead of helping with the cost of living as promised in the campaign, Coc decided to raise the funding for water through rates from Councils, doing away with Three Waters Planning, which added to the cost of living.
Further, Insurance firms swamped by Cyclone Gabrielle and Auckland floods, re-evaluated risk, and raised insurances hugely, with little oversight by Government. Then the Jenga game of stop destroy remove all progress made by Labour. Almost all worker rights removed in short order. followed by cancelling the Rail Heads and Ferries, redirecting money put aside for Housing Health Education, and Science money. The real tipping point was the attack on Maori Wards, as most Councils were shocked to find they would be up for a hundred thousand dollars to keep a working model. A full on removal of one of our three official languages Maori from documents, followed by the dismantling of all health initiatives for Maori, a bad Bill put forward by Seymour, and underwritten by Luxon as a six month exercise to "seal" his Coc deal is designed to fundamentally change Crown Maori Relationships developed by The Waitangi Tribunal and Te Tiriti and New Zealand Courts and by practice and custom. This incensed Maori, who arranged huge Hui in response. The reckless Government pushed the first reading of Seymour's Bill through. This caused a natural cry of outrage by Hana with a stunning lead into a haka all Left Mps stood and supported. This meant The Taniwha of anger and community was united in supporting the biggest Hikoi in NZ History. New Zealanders rallied support and welcomed and many joined the last part. Now we see the polls swinging hugely, as so many bad policies and promotions are revealed anger has become action. I think CoC will panic, but with few real Leaders in their pack, Bishop looks one of their best. Lord what a choice. Ego or ego we hope they all go in 2026. They have wrecked 80 000 lives to the point they have left the country. They have dismantled Public Services, trying to bring them back to 2017 levels, and now they are scrabbling picking on the unemployed. They are clearly the worst Government ever with the economy in a dive.
I feel better for that rant Mountain Tui, 6 days of RSV chest infection and this rotten lot has made me feisty. Go the Left Movement. We need to work together to chuck them out. Not just their Luxon. We will do that by offering community and innovation, building on our growing maturity towards tikanga. We need a Government who governs for all, and avoids excesses by the powerful. Thank you for your excellent platform. Patricia Bremner.
Patricia - I hope you get better very soon. What you say is 100% spot on.
I too believe that if we can find common ground, it would be good.
The power of the alt right parties is always division, and in following ACT's communications around the place, I see that's the main thing they are hanging their hat on.
Your account of the history of the Coalition is also spot on.I always wondered why no-one in the media took account of what cancelling 3 Waters meant for cost of living - and Brown/Luxon played their political hand well in lecturing councils and distancing themselves from the inevitable impact of that.
And from the start, I've said Seymour and Bishop are far more nefarious. Bishop has been carefully cultivating Cabinet relationships, and trying to stand in front of only the best and brightest press releases - while talking out of two sides of his mouth e.g. "I want house prices to fall" while being the lead sponsor to give landlords tax breaks and roll back brightline etc.
Luxon has been a useful tool - for many - but his inability to connect and fall back to muddled corporate speak will be his downfall.
There's still a while ahead so let's see where it goes.
Agree with all of this Patricia but where is the Left? Not hearing much that doesn’t mirror failed policies from the past. We need boldness but I don’t see it.
They are he funds and worked with a top agency to bowl the left wing out, very slick, persuasive and extremely damaging? Conned NZers are beginning to realise!
"According to Treasury, in the 1960s, for every person aged 65 and over, we had 7 people aged 15 to 64 to support us.
Presently, there are 4.
In 50 years there will be 2."
I got worried about this about 10 years ago while working with a statistician at MSD. It's a two-fold problem in that not only is the demographic shift creating this massive imbalance in dependency ratio, there's a second problem of wage growth not keeping up with improvements in labour productivity. So those 4 or future 2 people are earning somewhat less than the 7 were back in the day.
And this govt had the bright idea to dissolve the Productivity Commission?
You may or may not remember me spending months trying to get their angle and realizing more concretely over time they are useless
I saw Seymour on AM last year droning on about productivity and all the things he was going to do to fix it but once in power, none of this lot cared about anything other than private and self interest ideologies which worsen our productivity
Even the National aligned Mayors tried to tell this government “you don’t improve productivity by alienating 20% of our population (with their anti-Māori policies)”
Did they care? Not one iota.
I believe outside of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss types it’d be hard to find a more uncaring and incompetent lot.
Of course, the authoritarian government in the USA next year will be saying “Hold my beer!”
Excellent piece MT. Following the Q n A train wreck of an interview for the PM, I've decided he either doesn't give a shit for briefing notes, relying instead on his "excellent" CEO skillset 😀 or his team of advisors, researchers, political know-alls who support his 9th floor Beehive are f-en useless 🙄.
I believe Luxon is good at spin and finding favourable taking points for himself / negative ones against his opposition - but only so much of that works against reality when so many of their policies are detrimental.
I quoted Hooton the other week saying the Treaty Bill wasn’t a bottom line.
The PM only had to go up against an informed, intelligent and hold your ground interviewer to be shown for who he is - “economically illiterate,” “character” on the treaty bill, and the poor are getting poorer.
It’s only a year in and they have only ever relied on a weak or complicit media. He will be praying for speedy economic recovery as his marketing brain tries to find the next positive stories.
Please don't wish for cluxon to be rolled. He's a fine lefties asset. Furthermore his lieutenants are the real evil wreckers so it won't improve the situation.
I don’t - I consider folks like Bishop to be far more problematic. But I also don’t believe Luxon will make it to the next election.
Rationale: His backers know what we see too.
Extra: I've said before - Luxon is just the figurehead. Their policies are a playbook we've seen before - and it's not great. There are much bigger forces at work here.
🤔I'll take any sliver of "good news" against the CoC even though I don't put much store in polls🤷 All of us "realists" know that in terms of actual voting & affecting change to horrendous policies, polls are but an imperfect blip on the landscape of political reality. HOWEVER, as this lot are "power-at-any-cost" it is possible that if the trend continues they MAY pull back a little on extremism in order to fight the next election? Every family/worker/retiree who isn't financially "sorted" will hope so, although most of the damage will be done 😥
I honestly think that policies from the left, at this stage, really won't make a mark in persuading people. In much the same way the media kept repeating the various NActNZF talking points prior last election, banging the drum of "not enough $$ for [insert anything on the long list] because they are giving it to landlords" (or various other recipients of no added value) might actually, eventually, sink in? Remind people that despite what the CoC are telling them - the money WAS there, they chose to put it elsewhere. Over and over and over again.
Luxon may have taken a 'beating' in the polls, but it's pretty much comparable to being the son of his lordship being slapped with a pair of gloves by papa while the household staff are being flogged with a cat o' nine tails for imagined misdemeanours. Luxon won't be standing at next election, but they won't let him bring shame upon the family by having him disappear just yet, and his obliviousness and ego prevent him from even thinking it's an option. They have much to do, and raping and pillaging the villages is the best way to suppress the masses. We've all seen the movie.
As the opposition improves in the ratings we have to be prepared for the right and their media lackeys to up their game - they have everything to lose (and Atlas Network would not be happy). It is time for Labour especially to communicate clearly and loudly!
For sure!
We should now welcome those voters back to the Left, who were fooled by a huge expensive and divisive election campaign. They were in a financial struggle, dealing with cost of living pressures caused by a world wide and local covid spend. Then, instead of helping with the cost of living as promised in the campaign, Coc decided to raise the funding for water through rates from Councils, doing away with Three Waters Planning, which added to the cost of living.
Further, Insurance firms swamped by Cyclone Gabrielle and Auckland floods, re-evaluated risk, and raised insurances hugely, with little oversight by Government. Then the Jenga game of stop destroy remove all progress made by Labour. Almost all worker rights removed in short order. followed by cancelling the Rail Heads and Ferries, redirecting money put aside for Housing Health Education, and Science money. The real tipping point was the attack on Maori Wards, as most Councils were shocked to find they would be up for a hundred thousand dollars to keep a working model. A full on removal of one of our three official languages Maori from documents, followed by the dismantling of all health initiatives for Maori, a bad Bill put forward by Seymour, and underwritten by Luxon as a six month exercise to "seal" his Coc deal is designed to fundamentally change Crown Maori Relationships developed by The Waitangi Tribunal and Te Tiriti and New Zealand Courts and by practice and custom. This incensed Maori, who arranged huge Hui in response. The reckless Government pushed the first reading of Seymour's Bill through. This caused a natural cry of outrage by Hana with a stunning lead into a haka all Left Mps stood and supported. This meant The Taniwha of anger and community was united in supporting the biggest Hikoi in NZ History. New Zealanders rallied support and welcomed and many joined the last part. Now we see the polls swinging hugely, as so many bad policies and promotions are revealed anger has become action. I think CoC will panic, but with few real Leaders in their pack, Bishop looks one of their best. Lord what a choice. Ego or ego we hope they all go in 2026. They have wrecked 80 000 lives to the point they have left the country. They have dismantled Public Services, trying to bring them back to 2017 levels, and now they are scrabbling picking on the unemployed. They are clearly the worst Government ever with the economy in a dive.
I feel better for that rant Mountain Tui, 6 days of RSV chest infection and this rotten lot has made me feisty. Go the Left Movement. We need to work together to chuck them out. Not just their Luxon. We will do that by offering community and innovation, building on our growing maturity towards tikanga. We need a Government who governs for all, and avoids excesses by the powerful. Thank you for your excellent platform. Patricia Bremner.
Patricia - I hope you get better very soon. What you say is 100% spot on.
I too believe that if we can find common ground, it would be good.
The power of the alt right parties is always division, and in following ACT's communications around the place, I see that's the main thing they are hanging their hat on.
Your account of the history of the Coalition is also spot on.I always wondered why no-one in the media took account of what cancelling 3 Waters meant for cost of living - and Brown/Luxon played their political hand well in lecturing councils and distancing themselves from the inevitable impact of that.
And from the start, I've said Seymour and Bishop are far more nefarious. Bishop has been carefully cultivating Cabinet relationships, and trying to stand in front of only the best and brightest press releases - while talking out of two sides of his mouth e.g. "I want house prices to fall" while being the lead sponsor to give landlords tax breaks and roll back brightline etc.
Luxon has been a useful tool - for many - but his inability to connect and fall back to muddled corporate speak will be his downfall.
There's still a while ahead so let's see where it goes.
Agree with all of this Patricia but where is the Left? Not hearing much that doesn’t mirror failed policies from the past. We need boldness but I don’t see it.
There are times when I get frustrated with our opposition parties. Hence the article - "Where is the opposition?"
But then I see them in Parliament - many MPs of whom ask thoughtful questions and are clearly doing the work...
Still, I agree with you - there is boldness and fire lacking and I don't like the looks of that part.
Great Summary MT. Although it continues to baffle me how anyone voted for the financially incompetent racist divisive idiots of the COC.
I think their out of context and I’d say dirty attack campaigns worked - aided by right wing and other media.
Example: how anyone can keep repeating the debt line without reference to Covid and infrastructure build outs is appalling.
When this government wants to paint things in a negative light it calls everything a “blowout”
When Simeon Brown blows out his road budget by 200% without a business case, it’s just the nature of things and not worth attention.
Media’s coverage is often hyper sensationalized and lacking in facts and nuance.
The attacks on Labour under the premise of economy and crime was effective.
Now National cherry picked easier crime statistics and are making poverty and alienation worse - but not a peep.
That and Luxon’s PR spin worked - including his claims of being a smart person and economic manager.
They are he funds and worked with a top agency to bowl the left wing out, very slick, persuasive and extremely damaging? Conned NZers are beginning to realise!
"According to Treasury, in the 1960s, for every person aged 65 and over, we had 7 people aged 15 to 64 to support us.
Presently, there are 4.
In 50 years there will be 2."
I got worried about this about 10 years ago while working with a statistician at MSD. It's a two-fold problem in that not only is the demographic shift creating this massive imbalance in dependency ratio, there's a second problem of wage growth not keeping up with improvements in labour productivity. So those 4 or future 2 people are earning somewhat less than the 7 were back in the day.
And this govt had the bright idea to dissolve the Productivity Commission?
An excellent point James - couldn’t agree more.
You may or may not remember me spending months trying to get their angle and realizing more concretely over time they are useless
I saw Seymour on AM last year droning on about productivity and all the things he was going to do to fix it but once in power, none of this lot cared about anything other than private and self interest ideologies which worsen our productivity
Even the National aligned Mayors tried to tell this government “you don’t improve productivity by alienating 20% of our population (with their anti-Māori policies)”
Did they care? Not one iota.
I believe outside of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss types it’d be hard to find a more uncaring and incompetent lot.
Of course, the authoritarian government in the USA next year will be saying “Hold my beer!”
Excellent piece MT. Following the Q n A train wreck of an interview for the PM, I've decided he either doesn't give a shit for briefing notes, relying instead on his "excellent" CEO skillset 😀 or his team of advisors, researchers, political know-alls who support his 9th floor Beehive are f-en useless 🙄.
I believe Luxon is good at spin and finding favourable taking points for himself / negative ones against his opposition - but only so much of that works against reality when so many of their policies are detrimental.
I quoted Hooton the other week saying the Treaty Bill wasn’t a bottom line.
The PM only had to go up against an informed, intelligent and hold your ground interviewer to be shown for who he is - “economically illiterate,” “character” on the treaty bill, and the poor are getting poorer.
It’s only a year in and they have only ever relied on a weak or complicit media. He will be praying for speedy economic recovery as his marketing brain tries to find the next positive stories.
Please don't wish for cluxon to be rolled. He's a fine lefties asset. Furthermore his lieutenants are the real evil wreckers so it won't improve the situation.
I don’t - I consider folks like Bishop to be far more problematic. But I also don’t believe Luxon will make it to the next election.
Rationale: His backers know what we see too.
Extra: I've said before - Luxon is just the figurehead. Their policies are a playbook we've seen before - and it's not great. There are much bigger forces at work here.
100%
I still think the next election will be triggered when Winston is due to leave the DP role
That would be a fine outcome
🤔I'll take any sliver of "good news" against the CoC even though I don't put much store in polls🤷 All of us "realists" know that in terms of actual voting & affecting change to horrendous policies, polls are but an imperfect blip on the landscape of political reality. HOWEVER, as this lot are "power-at-any-cost" it is possible that if the trend continues they MAY pull back a little on extremism in order to fight the next election? Every family/worker/retiree who isn't financially "sorted" will hope so, although most of the damage will be done 😥
I agree Cindy. Much too early to celebrate but honestly just a short reprieve against the endless assault of ... interesting policies.
And also - yes - despite what they claim - they are definitely shaken by and care about the polls.
So may see them be less conspicuous .... but not yet retract some of their many awful policies.
I honestly think that policies from the left, at this stage, really won't make a mark in persuading people. In much the same way the media kept repeating the various NActNZF talking points prior last election, banging the drum of "not enough $$ for [insert anything on the long list] because they are giving it to landlords" (or various other recipients of no added value) might actually, eventually, sink in? Remind people that despite what the CoC are telling them - the money WAS there, they chose to put it elsewhere. Over and over and over again.
As always Mountain Tui, insightful article... I'm not sure about your time cleansing pic(at the end) though.
;-)
Agreed 😃
Luxon may have taken a 'beating' in the polls, but it's pretty much comparable to being the son of his lordship being slapped with a pair of gloves by papa while the household staff are being flogged with a cat o' nine tails for imagined misdemeanours. Luxon won't be standing at next election, but they won't let him bring shame upon the family by having him disappear just yet, and his obliviousness and ego prevent him from even thinking it's an option. They have much to do, and raping and pillaging the villages is the best way to suppress the masses. We've all seen the movie.