No, You Don't Deserve a Second Term

Right wing pundits come to the rescue of Christopher Luxon

Last week, Matthew Hooton wrote an op-ed, published in NZME, that essentially says that if Luxon secures a trade deal with India, that alone, would mean Luxon deserved a second term in government.

Hooton said Luxon displayed "seriousness and depth" in New Dehli. He praised Luxon for ‘doubling down’ on the India trade agreement - ignoring the fact that Luxon doubles down on everything his government wants. (school lunches, failed boot camps, health privatisation, citizens’ arrest, rolling back climate protections, homelessness - you name it, Luxon’s doubled down)

By the way, this is the same Hooton who is clear Luxon has always been an “imbecile”, said he “never thought he was any good”, and this month told a right wing podcast, that Luxon just “wasn’t very intelligent”, “lacks self awareness”, “thought he’d inspire New Zealand like Obama” and over-estimates himself at every turn.

“Anyone”, Hooton says, would be “better” than Luxon.

But apparently now, Hooton’s had a change of heart. He claims Luxon’s potential of striking a trade deal in India and his performance there is enough to wipe all that away - and could be enough for voters to give Luxon a second term.

My first thought on this was, is Grenon’s NZME potential deal affecting Hooton’s calculations?¹

(Update: Yesterday afternoon Grenon backed down on his 50% support shareholder claims but Grenon is still trying to strong arm the Board to resign.)

My second thought was, if Hooton’s premise is any potential trade deal in India should secure Luxon a second term, what about his and his cohort’s damning criticism of Jacinda Ardern?

Did she not secure a genuinely resounding, hard to secure, and historic trade deal with the EU?

A truly amazing achievement, reminding me of another: how Grant Robertson obtained an increase in NZ’s global credit rating - securing lower credit costs for our country and undeniable, global recognition of our economic credentials.

Contrast that with Luxon’s empty talk, while councils around the country get credit ratings cuts precipitated by central government policy.

Yet after the EU deal we saw many headlines leading with National attack lines: ”National gives EU free trade agreement a six out of 10'“ - wrote RNZ, our national broadcaster.

What are the right’s standards?

Did Ardern deserve the right wing, Murdoch, corporate driven, Hoskin shill, beat down at every turn? The more I see, the more I feel she was not done right by many.

On Luxon’s potential Indian trade deal, I watched a few minutes of a speech he gave to a nodding and approving Modi.

It was full of exuberant and sincere sounding praise for Modi and his government - a style typical of Luxon in schmooze mode and his tone as sincere as when he promised NZ he genuinely cared about cancer victims in 2023. And then didn’t lift a finger or contribute one cent on fulfilling that cancer drugs promise until a very public backlash.

i.e Luxon can do sincere.

It just doesn’t mean he means it.

Last year I wrote: “Luxon’s Business Acumen” where Luxon schmoozed with Philipine President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, son of dictator, Marcos Senior.

Critics of the regime wanted Luxon to raise Marcos Senior’s human rights record and his son’s defence of it at the time.² Jacinda Ardern had done this years earlier. But of course Luxon refused to.

He was too busy playing Big Business, Important Man.

Same as in India.

Modi’s government has been in a public battle with Canada over the last years after the Canadian government confirmed it had credible evidence Modi was aware of the assassination plot resulting in the murder of a prominent Sikh Indian dissident in Canada. The Canadian was not the only Sikh activist who died - other similar activists were murdered in Britain and Pakistan. But the spat widened after Canada refused to back down, communicating it had intelligence that diplomats were involved.

Trudeau: “These are credible allegations”.

Canada’s message was clear amidst all of this - it was not acceptable to murder Canadians on Canadian soil, the rule of law was important, and Canada would not stand for that. Trudeau didn’t try to brush it under the carpet, and Canadian officials noted Indian officials did not deny the allegations in closed door meetings, although publicly it was vehemently denied.

Affirming the inter-country relationship, Trudeau’s message was nevertheless clear: not on his watch.

Earlier this month, Modi pointed to “anti-India” activity in New Zealand, and expressed his concerns to Luxon:

"In this context, we have shared our concerns about anti-India activities by some illegal elements in New Zealand”

"We are confident that we will continue to receive the support of the New Zealand government in taking action against these illegal elements."

I can imagine Luxon smiling and nodding while spurting generalities at that point.

And this week, despite pleas for support from our government, Auckland doctor Sapna Samant had her Indian citizenship revoked for criticising it’s government’s treatment of Sikhs, Muslims and other minorities.

This is all to say that Hooton’s description of “depth and seriousness” is a matter of your-mileage-may-vary.

As I watched Luxon praise with flattery and follow Modi’s lead to appease a potential trade partner, my only thought was “dignity”.

Yes, material benefits can accrue individually, and the role of leaders is always to cultivate relationships and further a country’s well-being, but we should never forget our ethics, morals and values too.

To my mind, there is really no left or right. There is only the values that one rises and falls on.

Luxon allowed Nicola Willis’s officials to cancel a South Korean trade deal with our sixth largest trade partner, and a critical security partner, 26 minutes before³ she publicly announced the ferry cancellation Kiwis. That was despite MFAT telling National that we needed to be “careful and deliberate” in our communications, and to uphold the principles of dignity and respect.

Willis didn’t do so - because this government’s arrogance, and its insistence on PR above reality, knows no bounds.

But here, Luxon, in trying to prove to the world and himself that he is as good as he tells us on the label, bows down for himself.

Can Luxon secure a second term? Anything can happen - look at the US. Look at our media.

Does he, or anyone in his party, deserve one?

My own answer is “never”.

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Sharon Murdoch’s Great Cartoons

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Related Reading:

1. Newsroom’s Tim Murphy did a further deep dive into Grenon and his boisterious, somewhat belligerent past. Some of it has been covered here but the article is excellent for diving even deeper into Grenon’s battles with the Canadian tax agency, uncovering beliefs such as claiming there is “constitutional discrimination against men”. That argument was based on the CRA disallowing Grenon to claim tax deductions for his child support battle with his ex-wife, a point highlighted in the first article on Grenon on this publication.

The new alt-right often appears to be based on grievances - including for its drivers, resentment at having to pay taxes - and this theme appeared no different.

2. Former President Marcos Senior is now at the Hague after finally being arrested this year

3. By text message!