Luxon's Untenable Grasp
Yesterday, after kids got “steam burns” from hot school lunches, came the news of a kid in Gisborne who suffered “second degree burns” after the contents school lunches accidentally splashed on their leg.
The student had to be rushed to A&E at the hospital, but it’s horrific and entirely unacceptable.
I’d always felt that Seymour was showing laziness and incompetence in managing this new, supposedly ‘better’ free market, private contract to ‘gain efficiencies and value for Kiwis with nutritionally comparable food’.
And it’s not even $3 as he claimed - it’s almost $4 per lunch even not accounting for all the extra costs he’s simply loaded onto schools.
And his promises all turned out to be a pile of unacceptable mistruths anyway.
Luxon’s position in this is untenable.
His promise to David Seymour and Winston Peters early on that he would respect their leadership and not publicly criticise them, has hamstrung him in significant ways.
Again and again over his term, he has been openly disrespected, criticised, and undermined by his Coalition partners - especially Seymour.
And in defending Seymour on school lunches this week, Luxon has also inextricably tied his own fate to the 8% party leader.
And Peters took his own shot at a weak Luxon, proving no friendly handshakes and kind words will ever win the loyalty of a political maestro:
“I made him Prime Minister”1
Erica Stanford, one of the aspiring National Party leaders, is differentiating herself too, by unsuccessfully attempting to meet with Seymour over school lunches - and refusing to express confidence in the Associate Education Minister.
And in Parliament this week, Hipkins asked Luxon why Stanford was the one with the fortitude to do so, but not the Prime Minister (video below)
Judith Collins is also differentiating her leadership -
Luxon’s position is eroding farther.
In a way we could say maybe that this wasn’t all Luxon’s fault.
By all accounts, he is John Key’s protege.
Luxon was thrown in the deep end as a successor with the type of resume that National Party voters like. Supposedly his time as Air New Zealand CEO was enough to buy him credibility, and it partially worked. National won the election and was able to form government.
But Luxon’s political instincts are way off, his marketing background base, authentic leadership skills unwitnessed, and inexperience with political sharks unhoned.
Seymour and Winston have both run rings around an all too eager to please Coalition Prime Minister.
And over time, many on the right have started to tire of Luxon’s many unforced errors - while the alt-right want to take him down for refusing to accept Seymour’s push for a referendum on the Treaty Principles Bill.
Stuck between opposing sides, I can almost feel sorry for him.
However, no-one can excuse Luxon for being an extremely weak and ineffectual leader whose propensity for lying to the New Zealand public became alarming, and his re-trying of failed austerity measures reflective of his competency - or rather, lack of.
To Luxon, everything seems to be about the pitch and the narrative - not the reality.
And that made his government unserious and unbecoming.
Luxon’s lack of empathy and care for the weakest of us also belied his stated values of compassion, and has been difficult to watch. Ditto his prioritisation of personal power over harmony and evidence based policies.
And this includes for children - this time, who have now suffered burns because of Seymour’s gross incompetence.
As usual, this government was warned not to do it - but did it anyway.
Officials told the government Compass had a long history of quality issues - but Seymour went ahead - most likely because it was reported at the time that no local providers could meet his desired price point.
Labour have called for Seymour to be sacked.
Luxon’s not going to last a term anyway - he might as well try to show some integrity while he still has a chance.
The problem is, Luxon appears to pander to the wealthiest, and his social status might rely on toeing the line.
Related Videos:
Email to Erica Stanford from Danielle
“Seymour Slop” Website Catalogues Lunches
Submit your pictures to https://www.seymourslop.nz
Thanks to Leon-P for the reference.
I am dismayed by the state of our politics. Most people, including politicians, seem to be consumed with the day to day short-term problems of earning a living, sorting out the roads and pipes and winning the next election. They are incapable or unwilling to invest precious time into reading the huge amount of research and wise writing out there on the train-wreck fast approaching our doomed civilisation as we have known it. Our lifestyles are surely going to change dramatically and shockingly and I am very sad for my grandchildren. The few among us retired folks who invest time in learning about what is happening, around us, to the planet must step up, support any brave and inspirational leaders that pop up and coach our grandchildren in how to face up to what is coming.”
Luxon is a living example of why we shouldn't raise our children on marmite sandwiches.