Simon Bridges disgraces himself with appalling attack on beneficiaries in wake of pandemic relief

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
103
12985

Someone needs to sit Simon down, pour him a really strong whiskey, let him have a couple of slugs, bitch slap him with your ring finger, and state in a very clear calm manner…

“Simon, you are never going to say something as malicious and spiteful as that again because it is beneath you and what you actually believe”.

I like Simon Bridges. I do. I know him better than I’ve ever known any of the previous National Party leaders. When Matthew Hooton and I were hosting the IPredict Election series in 2011, Simon appeared on the show and I’ve always found him to be personally very funny, really pragmatic and a lot less of a dick the role Opposition Leader demands of him.

I wouldn’t ever in a  million years vote for Simon, but there is a person in there you can reason with and genuinely talk to.

Which is why his comments on the relief budget were so ugly. That type of vicious divisive malice has no place in mainstream politics.

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To begrudge beneficiaries being given an extra $25 per week to help cope with a possible full blown pandemic is beneath the National Party and NZ politics.

Simon, mate, buddy – you can’t fucking say this…

“Bluntly, what we see in this package today is money flowing faster into the hands of beneficiaries than the workers and the businesses that will lose their businesses and their jobs over the coming weeks and months.”

…if all you have to add are criticisms of the other desperate people in your life boat while arguing why they should just be tipped out of that life boat, then maybe you’ve had a wee bit too much time in the pressure cooker of the debating chamber and you need some chill space, because attempting to specifically rip at the cultural wounds between beneficiaries and the working classes purely for political theatre is fucking nasty.

You are a better man than this Simon. A far better man. This pandemic is calling for bi-partisanship, not pointless rancour.

History is watching how we are tested here Mr Bridges, your country needs you to step up, not stand over right now.

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TDB Team 2020.

103 COMMENTS

  1. “You are a better man than this Simon. A far better man.”

    Nothing I have ever seen of this man makes him a decent human being.

    • I am a beneficiary and suffer severe traumatic depression inclusive of suicide. In another life I was a Corporate Manager running over 590 employees. I have a degree. I represented New Zealand. I travelled the world. But now due to this debilitating illness I am a mere shell of my former self. I paid taxes from 17 through to 55 years of age
      So Simon now I am labelled as a beneficiary and in your eyes the scourge of our country. In your eyes I am nothing and worth not an ounce of empathy. My intelligence is still on point. For you to state that I dont matter deflates me even more. Tell me Mr Bridges how would you feel if most days you spent trying to crawl out of an abyss of darkness only to repeat the same exercise the following day. Knowing what I was and what I am now Mr Bridges is crushing
      But I your eyes I am nothing but a curse. Walk one day in my shoes and I guarantee you would change your opinion

          • Fake christians who know nothing of Jesus …The Jesus who said Love thy neighbour, have compassion, feed the masses/the poor with bread & fishes. The Jesus who threw down the tables of the moneychangers in the temple, who said you cannot worship both God & Mammon (Wealth/Money), who said as you giveth so shall you receive, who said it is easier to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man man to reach Heaven, who said not to worship/follow the letter of the law but fulfill it’s spirit. Jesus was a Socialist!

      • I think you should take this content even more public. Giving your pain a voice would help others , and your self esteem

      • Jackie, Thank you for writing that. It really is helpful, at a deeper level than just ‘the facts of the matter’. Just, thank you.

    • 1000% AGREE with you, Bert!!!

      (I’m feeling so angry about all this that it’s difficult to write …)

    • Totally agree. He is whatever he thinks you want him to be.

      He wanted to be John Key. Even tries talking like him.

  2. Perhaps Simon Bridges should be tested for ‘Blue Rabies’ ,,, a virulent disease which destroys the brain and makes those infected want to attack the poor,,,

  4. A number of us lifetime political types, and activists, over the years have got to know public figures personally. And even become friends with some of them. A few do exhibit charm and appealing human angles regardless of their publicly perceived personas.

    The thing with Mr Bridges, is that to try and somehow plead his humanity-sure he has kids and claims to like Led Zep in the car-gets you into “banality of evil” territory. That well explored notion says that even the worst arseholes among us go home for dinner after causing misery, and worse, for others all day.

    Soymun crossed the decency line sometime time ago for many, and seems little more than a “mini Trump” wannabe these days.

  6. I am appalled at your lack of empathy and disgusted in your beneficiary bashing. Try walking one day in my shoes and your opinion would change

  7. Simon Bridges is a nasty little guttersnipe, small minded and spiteful he and Paula Bennet make a good pair.

  8. Simon is a nasty little guttersnipe he and Paula Bennett are cut from the same cloth. Spiteful, small minded and elitist

    • But at least they are SMALL !!!

      Human beings have been shown to migrate towards familiar , recognized images… so no wonder why Bridges and … who ? … are so popular…

  10. Perhaps Simon is just trying too hard altogether to show of his ‘leadership skills’. Which, the reality is (!!) that it only shows his leadership remains under threat.

    I agree, it was a very poor, almost immature showing on his part today replying to Robertson’s speech.

    And his questioning of the government at Question Time is always very repetitive, and even boring. So much so that the PM threw her hands up in exasperation today and then sat down without completing her answer – probably because she had given him the same answer already to the same or very similar questions. And Simon’s boorish political mates kept loudly interjecting so most in the Chamber couldn’t hear the answer anyway!

    Simon simply isn’t cutting it. And the antics of the drama queen sitting beside him doesn’t enhance his leadership team or their reputation. Even Paul Goldsmith um-ed and ah-ed and regularly tripped over in his delivery today in an uncharacteristic speech.

    Perhaps today’s government’s package was so comprehensive and timely that it left them with nowhere to turn and nothing of substance to say!

    • Soymon has a very fragile ego, I remember the days when Jacanda and he would give a political round up on one of the breakfast shows and she would wipe the floor with him every single time. He was self-promoting arsehole back then and nothing has changed….he must be so jealous that Jacinda got to be PM before he did and his little head ego telling him its not fair I’m the big man and I deserve to be PM, farkin pathetic and the beneficiary bashing is absolutely disgraceful these people dont deserve to have this arsehole as PM. He and that pig deputy have no morals and will ruin NZ if they get back in again.

  11. “I like Simon Bridges. I do…………………..”

    I bet you must have had more than a couple of whiskeys to write that.

  12. I call Simon Bridges the Village Idiot. He deserves that name so well because every time he opens his mouth he sounds like and comes across as a bloody stupid idiot.
    I often wonder since Bridges became leader of the Opposition as to why he has been so selective and conveniently forgetting – perhaps by selective amnesia – all the awful things John Key and Bill English did to NZers whilst there was a National government.
    Here are some examples of events that I recall to this day and reason why I would never ever vote for a National MP ever again:
    John Key promised no increase in GST. Well low and behold look what happened.
    John Key said to John Banks at Cuppagate that the older population are dying off and so less votes for Winston. Does that mean now here in March 2020 that Simon Bridge is comfortable(one of John Key’s pet words)with the older population dying off from a Corona Virus? And if so then that confirms Bridges doesn’t merit voting for.
    But also there was not a peep out of Simon Bridges at the time of Cuppagate saying that comment of Key was unacceptable and disgusting even towards the elderly voters in the Tauranga electorate.
    John Key made disparaging comments about NZers at every opportunity and again not a peep out of Bridges for these awful comments. In fact it now seems Bridges has echo-ed and same low opinion about NZers as John Key in his(Bridges)attitude towards beneficiaries. Which shows National just cannot be trusted one bit when their very leader behaves in such a unacceptable to merit a vote manner.
    Bill English happily Double Dipped on the NZ taxpayer purse. And there was not a peep out of Simon Bridges about all that. But then didn’t Simon Bridges do a “get to know me(Bridges)” tour around NZ and naturally passed the bill for his self-promotion onto the NZ taxpayers to pay?
    I think the behaviour of Simon Bridges is a true indication that National just hates anyone that isn’t on an income that is enough to make donations to the NZ National Party.
    Maybe Simon Bridges is behaving all irrational and insane because blame for the Corona virus appears to be focused upon China and we all know the NZ National Party will always court China for donations especially as this year is an election year.

    • Right has three legs to tripod Immigrant-Bashing, Beneficiary Bashing & Tax-Cuts. NZFirst has a lock on immigrant-bashing & National ceded that ground by importing well-off moneyed Chinese & Indian Students which caused house shortage & drove up housing prices & congestion (meaning need to spend billions to add/ugrade roads which benefits Big Businesses & foreign businesses) who used bullshit courses to get 20 hour jobs in hospitality & used that to transition to residency via all being recognised as ‘Chefs’ who now are dominating all the low-level jobs here formerly filled by young, poor/uneducated whites, Maori, Polynesian workers & mostly voting for their benefactor (and their classs interests as they mostly originate from the well-off classes of their homelands). Without the votes of Chinese & Indian new citizens & residents National would be a shadow of itself. So National left with tax-cuts which generally just gets a tepid response as general mass of people aren’t clamouring for tax-cuts but rather for greater social investment spending on public health/education etc so they’re left with beneficiary-bashing which gets some level of enthusiasm from a subsection of the pop.

  14. Martyn!
    Sometimes nice blokes can also be complete arseholes. There’s a lot of it about.
    And clearly when someone behaves consitently and repeatedly like an arsehole for whatever reason, they’re not as nice as you may have thought.
    This sort of shit now comes naturally to Simon. He’s inserted himself in among a group of people who feed off each other. If he was such a nice bloke, he’d get the hell out of it

  15. On a positive note, National has probably just lost the election. What hopeless sack of concentrated misery is going to vote for Bridges after that performance?

  16. We are in a pandemic, right????

    Or has it all been some sort of illusion?

    What frigging reality does that stupid little boy simie live in????

  17. If ever there was an argument for MPs to be paid ONLY as much as the lowest beneficiary recipient, with all the associated rheeeems of red tape and “conditions”, mr bridges asinine comments in parliament following the coronavirus recovery budget provide that argument.

    He makes the statement “Let them eat cake” seem like a blessing.

  18. Beneficiaries have been “given” $5 a day.
    Big whoop.

    Is that enough to even get them to the doctor when they get the virus (or any other winter sickness)? Is it enough for transport to the Med centre, or to pay the medical fee? Certainly not enough to get a coffee while they’re in town.

    These are people who are living right on the edge. They are hungry. They are cold. They are facing a long, dark, cold winter. Some will not survive this winter. And most have landlords, some of whom will be immediately converting that $5 a day increase into their own pockets via rent increases.

    All in the time of a worldwide pandemic and a national crisis.

    Yet mr bridges begrudges any movement at all in the direction of trying to help those most in need. And there at his elbow is the woman who ensured that this is how it would end up, for all those on benefits. Ms Bene herself.

    • Last time I checked there was a 3hr wait for HealthLine. It sounds like their advice is to see your GP if you do manage to get through so not sure what their role is.

      Clearly waiting for 3 hours on Health Line is hard if you have to pay for calls or can’t afford a phone/credit.

      Also there are less landlords left now, so the woke can sleep easy (sarcasm) knowing less landlords are available under COL and that rental people are now worse off, out on the streets, or in a 1 room motel worrying how the $1000 p/w is going to be paid back, or worrying about Corona virus at their brand new Compass accomodation costing the taxpayers millions, where they share the kitchens with everyone else…..Great plan for viruses!!!! Not!!! Bullying and sexual harassment comes free with the accomodation.

      Like the roads, hospitals, schools, waste water, sewerage, COL should have had the supply available before they had their brain farts on housing and infrastructure while adding more hundreds of thousands more people on temporary, permanent visa demand for dumb businesses!!!

      Can’t wait for the tourists and new visitors to NZ to come down with the virus and take up the hospital beds that are not there because NZ grew it’s population for low cost restaurants and retail ponzi’s and like Italy started being reliant on massive tourism – now looking like a bad idea under coronavirus!

      Yes Natz started the stupidity that led to our infrastructure and environmental and medical crisis at breaking points, but COL are neoliberal lite…. Natz and COL are both consistent on impractical, ideological, globalist export trade related, solutions on anything important!

  19. What is most needed now is secure housing for all those who need it, before winter arrives. This includes the need for a rent freeze and rent cap, – meaning some of the OTT exorbitant rents need to come down.

    The govt can use emergency measures as required by the pandemic, to achieve this. There are around 40,000 empty homes around Auckland alone. Please, those who have some say in the matter, do something about this!!

    If they fail to get people into safe housing before winter, with all the usual winter flu’s and ills, then the pandemic will blast through NZ. How do you even have a lockdown, when so many have no secure home in which to self-isolate?

    • Yeah homeless & car/van dwellers & those sharing 3 br houses with a large extended family of 12-15 with converted garages, sleeputs, caravans, van in drive etc are in trouble.

  20. Yesterday was a nightmare for Simon Bridges. We all witnessed impressive leadership from Ardern when it mattered most. The speech by Finance Minister Grant Robertson was terrific. It was an enormous confidence builder when NZ needed that most. It was about so much more than money. The two told ALL of NZ regardless of who or what you are that you all matter as much as each other and we will help you when you need it most and get through this together. Inclusiveness personified.

    Mr Irrelevant, Simon Bridges watched it unfold and knew the divisive contempt he preaches to his trolls 24/7 to pass on was all unraveling. The welfare etc of all New Zealanders mattered not one jot to Bridges. All that really mattered to him was that his one chance at achieving his sole quest to be Prime Minister was slipping away. Bridge confessed early in his leadership of National what was his number 1 priority.

    “SCORING HITS” on the Government. In reality, it’s more “SCORING PERCEIVED HITS”. His narrative yesterday was as divisive as ever and entirely in keeping with his one and only method of becoming PM.

    It was the most inappropriate time for beneficiary bashing in NZ…..but for Bridges and his trolls, it was the perfect opportunity. What a sad sad man. He leads his trolls in the most selfish, divisive, contemptuous way. They gleefully follow his lead.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oArDFU_IESQ

    If Bridges had boxed smart he would have acknowledged the enormity of the package yesterday and what was behind it. He could have discreetly spoken about middle NZ appearing to get less than others in the package via his 100% faux concern. Bridges couldn’t help himself.

    My wife and I pay around $1100 a week between us in income tax. It’s bloody frustrating but we love our country and most of the people within it so accept we are just paying our share. There was little in the package for us but that was to be expected. Others need it far more than us.

    Bridges may have been a decent enough guy in the past. I never knew him at that time so can’t comment. The man I see now is a vile divisive individual totally unsuited to leading our country. National got a few things right in their 9 years but got the big things that matter most horrendously wrong. I grew up in an inclusive NZ where we all gave a shit about each other. That dramatically changed under National and most of us saw the results of that daily. Money mattered most. Selfish greed was promoted like it was Manuka honey. Divisive hatred and contempt for the enemy was promoted both in policy and the narrative. Who was the enemy? Anyone doing it hard. Anyone who wasn’t a National Party voter. They saw the housing crisis unfolding for example and actually encouraged it to worsen as there was huge money to be made by them and their supporters. They happily denied there even was a housing crisis despite the devastating impact it was having on so many kiwi’s, especially young Kiwi’s. Those people were unlikely to vote National where as all those making a fortune off their misery were without doubt life long National Party supporters.

    Also no coincidence in that around 9 out of every 10 Chinese that came to NZ under Key are National Party voters. Many of those same people own multiple homes in Auckland.

    I sincerely believe that Bridges is even more divisive than any other National Party leader they’ve had. If we think their previous 9 years was shocking, you can very confidently wager that under Bridges those 9 years will seem like a tea party. Our beautiful country and it’s people just can’t afford that.

    • +1 JacindaFan.

      You can see now by the stripping of the supermarket shelves (starting in the North Shore) what sort of country we have become. My elderly Dad went in during that time and couldn’t believe what he witnessed going on, he said people were shoving and ramming trolleys everywhere and buying everything, he had to leave without buying anything. Luckily it was localised on the North Shore by the sounds of it, but sounds like the strippers have created a trend and now more of the country is being stripped of food and medicines and hoarded.

      Like the baby milk powder, who knows if it’s being sent around the world to be sold by people profiting. (Although maybe they have to, because maybe it aint all sweetness and roses in Asia and the containment might be leading to starvation or just another opportunity to make $$$$). Who knows!

  21. I work in a large organization with a lot of people. In our smoko room yesterday afternoon there was many comments and moans and groans about beneficiaries getting more money when they were in no danger of losing the jobs they didnt have. Yes it is lunacy and spiteful but dont be too quick to right off Bridges just yet. Many kiwis feel how he does about beneficiaries. Rightly or wrongly.

    • Many kiwis feel how he does

      Well they don’t seem to be on twitter today. I stumbled there by accident and don’t know how to link to the entire thread, but if anyone does a search for twitter – trending – simon bridges, it should be all there. 99 out of 100 echo thoughts expressed here today (which alleviates some of my own anger).

      • 99 votes for Greens, Yippee! Sarcasm. Look where the elite woke are not on, and you’ll see a different picture! Just delete yourself, bro.

        But I guess that is how Greens who could have been on 20% if they concentrated on environment for every race, by now are in fact hoping to make 5% voters.

        • Greens who could have been on 20% if they concentrated on environment for every race

          Probably more than 20% by now.
          As long as they had followed through on that, and did what they said they would do. Sage has been a big disappointment 🙁

          • The whole Green party has been a disappointment compared to Greens who started the party, and those who ran it up to recently.

            Sadly the rest of the government is just as bad, maybe that is why Natz is so solid with support, people who believe in killing the environment, capitalism and cronyism are not let down by the Natz.

            Labour made a u turn on what they stood for in 1884 and NZ First did a u turn in the last few years possibly influence by developer donations.

    • I wouldn’t agree with much of your comments normally, but this one-“Many kiwis feel how he does about beneficiaries. Rightly or wrongly.” Unfortunately you are dead right MickeyBoyle. My smoko room experience also. Fuckwits, the lot of them. These people are despicable, that’s my opinion. I have often commented that the Natzi party are only as bad as there voters/supporters. They are representing their followers, or seen to be leading them if you like. But they’re not leading as such, they are just stirring up this hatred on TV and other media. And there’s a shit load of them out there.

    • Your smoko room must be full of a load of selfish idiots. If you work for a wage you could find yourself a WINZ any time! And tell your moaners to try to live on $200 a week. And will you are on the job explain the meaning of empathy to them.

    • You should ask the muppets that populate your smoko room to follow that train of thought to its inevitable conclusion. If people aren’t provided for in a time of crisis, they will resort to desperate measures to survive. What’s worse? Topping up the benefits of those at the bottom of the heap… or letting things deteriorate to such an extent that people are being mugged in the street and their homes broken into because it’s the only way for people to acquire the necessities of life.

      I don’t envy Jacinda’s task at this moment in time. I can only imagine the horror that would unfold were John Key still at the helm. The National Party have a made a number of things clear over the years, and one of those things is that they absolutely don’t give a toss about the less fortunate. They’ll throw you a bone once in a while because it makes for good press in the run-up to an election (ask Aroha Ireland of McGehan Close all about that — I’m sure she’d have nothing but good things to say about John Key), but for the most part they’d much prefer it if you crawled into a hole and died.

      People who hoard food in a time of famine tend to meet an unpleasant end. This is no time to be selfish. We’re all in this together, every man-jack of us. The sooner we realise this and come together the better for all concerned.

    • How can they be so stupid as to not realise they’ll benefit from increase if their jobs go south? …plus in real terms it only takes benefits back to the 1991 cut in benefits.

  22. “money flowing faster into the hands of beneficiaries than the workers and the businesses that will lose their businesses and their jobs”. Where does Simon think the $25 is going to go when the beneficiaries spend it? This $25 will keep the economy and the businesses working normally to some extent as it will pass through many hands. Something economists and politicians often dismiss. This pandemic is different to an economic crisis. You cant increase demand by putting more money into a system where people are isolating themselves from each other and by doing so the businesses they normally frequent. This “helicopter money” is going to be more effective than the wage subsidies or the loans. I would suggest a basic education in economics before you grab the levers of power, Simon.

  23. Simon’s #1 job is to get himself and his mates onto the government benches.
    He will do or say whatever he thinks that will take.

  24. Grant Robertson presented an excellent emergency economic measure yesterday, designed to keep money flowing in the communities of NZ at this extraordinary time in our history. What more could he have done?

    Simon Bridges needs to get over himself and remember we are all in this together and together we will be making individual effort to keep covid-19 at bay the best way we can, while looking out for our fellow Kiwis. Stop politicising Simon. Like the rest of us, do your bit to help NZ get through this.

  25. It has been said that Simon Bridges in a previous life was a prosecutor in the courts system. I have been attending court lately and seen quite a few prosecutors in action. None of them were much to look up to. The last visit there the Judge made a dog’s breakfast of the Defense and Prosecutor telling them that they’d better have dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s and have all the relevant documents in front of them or they would be getting a lashing from him. The Judge didn’t suffer fools gladly, had a droll sense of humour if you could call it that, on this “occasion” and was the star of the show, so to speak. So all this praise about his previous profession and skill – yeh well I am not convinced one jot.

  27. I wonder if COL are still processing visas for more people to come to NZ and import more poverty and their business be propped up by our government paid for with the taxes that quite a few of us paid, not expecting it to be redirected to somebodies underpaid takeaway, fast food restaurant, tourist venture, https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118329341/migrant-worker-speaks-out-against-exploitation-at-rural-reporoa-holiday-park https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12014023 https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/112128450/bakery-owner-to-pay-back-33800-illegally-deducted-from-workers-wages

    While other countries close the borders to protect their people, NZ is still pushing as many people here as possible to be future beneficiaries and now helping exploiters by paying their workers wages, for actually no work here!

    Time to cancel the temp visas as those Ponzi industries don’t need the workers anymore and that is supposedly why NZ felt compelled to issue hundreds of thousands of visas in the first place aka job shortages, which we now don’t have. The visa is invalid due to coronavirus and they should return home, to reduce pressure on housing and everything else like welfare in NZ.

    • No jobs, no housing, no infrastructure, no hospital beds, but our government is thinking of extending temporary visas for thousands of visitors to NZ, who now don’t have that fake or low paid job, they were supposedly given the visa for, instead of asking them to go back home until after the coronavirus recovery before they return back here.

      Nope in NZ competition is the way to go!!!! Get everyone competing for that toilet paper and sanitiser… or if things go bad, that ventilator or ED bed.

      As for those hotels moaning about not being filled, isn’t there a housing crisis and shortage of emergency beds to fill????? Maybe they will have to reduce their hotel rates, like ordinary folks are forced to do with their labour for the last 20 years….

  28. We live in trying times Trev. It seems that words of the prophets are written on the subway walls mate. You reap what you sow, (so) if Big business’ have operated in an equitable manner with employee’s and have encouraged excellence in team performance and shared the wealth with your team on the front line you should stand a better chance of surviving this reset of Globalisation and this Neoliberalist cluster fuck that has your friendly Banker breathing down your spreadsheet.
    If you’ve managed your employees with some understanding, human compassion and appreciation that show those who serve your interest (your Tax Units) that you value them because you realise they are your best assets, you should be ok and have a workforce that will do everything they can possibly do to preserve (their) good thing in tough times like these, those (Tax Units) will do whatever necessary to pull the whole collective thru this..
    From the sound of your pomposity (both now and in past posts), this is a concept you have failed to learn. So in your failing to grasp things like appreciation, compassion, generosity and sharing your pot of gold (at risk of disappearing) when the Neoliberalist meritocratic market rolls over and pisses on its tummy for the final death knell, you would have had the slim chance to feel some confidence that when the gates open and the hordes of angry pitchfork wielding huns come screaming from their hovels to the castle gate, you probably won’t be asking for your handouts in such a loud croakie voice like Simon is using. You will reap what you SOW! Have a nice day… Tick tock…Mirror mirror on the wall mate… Officially, EVERYONE is a beneficiary today, slip on those jandals and go to the back of the cue and humbly wait your turn…

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