Nicola Willis pulled the sympathy and sexism card this morning in an opinion piece for Stuff/The Post.
In it, claimed she had been much maligned by, well, everyone, on pay equity, and “mainstream” journalists were guilty of “sexist slurs” and misinformation against her.
The offending piece was Andrea Vance’s “The girl-math budget that will cut deep, especially for women” which started:
Three decades apart, two female ministers of finance wield the same ideological scalpel, and again, it’s women who bleed.
Ruth Richardson cut benefits to the bone, told single mothers to pull on bootstraps that were frayed thin, and called it reform.
Down the political bloodline is Nicola Willis, reading from the same playbook, just with less threatening language.
I have to give it to Willis’s PR team.
Her ploy worked.
Her social media became flooded with sympathetic comments.
A top comment said it now was time to cut all any funding to media.
And another said misinformation against Willis was being spread by left wing “bottom feeders”, who hadn’t read anything about pay equity, but were spreading lies.
Really, there was little to read.
The government intentionally omitted a Regulatory Impact Analysis, despite planning for this step since April 2024.
As Kieran McAnulty said in the House, the government’s bill was nothing but a repeal of the Pay Equity legislation that Nicola Willis said the National Party had “co-crafted” in 2020.
But in her Stuff opinion piece this morning, after praising Kristine Bartlett - who called National’s changes “gut wrenching”, “hurtful” and cried - Willis blamed Labour:
In 2020…Labour finally got around to putting its own, very loose, regime into law. Unfortunately, like almost everything Labour got its hands on, the system got way out of whack and became completely unaffordable
Willis called the pay equity process for women and men in those industries nothing but a “multi-billion dollar grievance industry”.
Tell that to the 33 claims involving hundreds and thousands of Kiwis.1
Tell that to the hospice workers who have now lost everything they have fought for after years of painstaking work, and just as the finish line neared, the government blew it up.
Warnings we may lose hospices2 comes at a time when so many hospice are already struggling to stay operational; and losing more underpaid, valuable staff is devastating.
Misconstruing is what Willis does best.
She did this same trick to the Kiwirail board where she accused them of financial recklessness for having secured future proofed, full functionality, hybrid ferries for 40% off market price. That, and seismically securing the ports for our safety.
For $1.4bn more, that deal would have been completed and the partially built ferries was on time for our 2026 delivery.3
Instead, Nicola Willis simply threw away $1bn for nought.4
It might not be “girl maths,” but it sure is extraordinary deceptive incompetence.
Losing over $1bn when we could have completed the project for $1.4bn is extraordinary.
What other job allows such an extraordinary lack of accountability?
What other profession would still trust the judgement of someone like this?
Perhaps the saddest part about all this is that the constant deception, game playing, and gaslighting hurts all Kiwis - whether we know it or not.
It’s not just about the money here - “tens of billions” of dollars - it’s the systematic undermining of our political and cultural systems that is very dangerous.
By castigating “mainstream” journalists for calling out the damage Willis is doing, and by obfuscating the reality around pay equity, Willis is showing us the clear fringes of Trump politics - which is entirely centred around grievance, deception, and division.
Our risk couldn’t be higher.
The comments on Willis’ social media aren’t anomalies - they’re armies of citizens who have been taught to distrust media and distrust anyone who disagrees with the right.
Division is power, and there are too many who will continue to ride it to the finish line.
Willis in video above (2020): I'm proud to stand in this House tonight and say that National will support this final reading of the Equal Pay Amendment Bill.
And I'm proud that our party has contributed to crafting this legislation and bringing it to the House.
EXTRAS
News Media Is At Risk
1News just appointed a Newstalk ZB political editor to the role of TVNZ business editor.
James, Jim, Grenon’s takeover of NZME’s chances are on the up, after allying with National Party friend Steve Joyce.
The government has appointed Phil Crumb, who attacked Labour, Greens and TPM, under the pseudonym Thomas Cranmer, to the NZ On Air Board,
Truth Under Fire
They said there was no time for due process. They said it was urgent.
Genter speaks about how National supported the Bill in 2020
Carmel Sepuloni At Work
33 multi-year claims blown up overnight
Education
ECE teachers
Early Intervention teachers
Primary and Area teachers in state or state integrated schools
Secondary teachers in state or state integrated schools
Support workers, youth workers in residential schools, Education Service
Education Advisors (Learning Support) MoE
Psychologist MoE employed
Service Managers MoE employed
Early Learning Teachers
Tertiary Education Library Assistant
Tertiary Education Administration and Clerical
Public Service
Public Service Administration/Clerical Claim 1
Public Service Administration/Clerical Claim 2
Corrections Psychologist
Corrections Probation Officer and Senior Practitioner
Health
Social Service Workers (5 NGOs)
CSWs 1 (1.7.22)
CSWs 2 (20.11.23)
Front line Managers and Coordinators
Plunket Administration/Clerical
Plunket Nurses and Clinical
Community Midwives in Primary birthing units
Hospice Nurses and Health Care Assistants
Primary Care Administration
Primary Care Nurses
Access Community Nurses
Labtests Awanui
Nurses in Residential Care
NZ Artificial Limb Service
Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa
Local government
Librarian and Librarian Assistant in Councils
A report by advisory firm MartinJenkins commissioned by Hospice New Zealand and released in March, found for every $1 spent by the Government on hospice care, there’s at least $1.59 in health benefits for the taxpayer.
Kiwirail lost its world-first green certification after cancelling the ferries. The cancelled ferries would have had 40% less emissions than the current fleet.
-Costs: About ~$500mn in cancellation fees, and another equivalent ~$500mn in sunk costs. It does not account for the fact we bought top shelf ferries for 30-40% off and will now spend a similar amount for lesser functionality and future proofing.
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