MEDIA WATCH: Is Simon Bridges about to be rolled?

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
60
4147

It’s the B Team on Breakfast this morning which doesn’t include John Campbell so I don’t bother watching it because it’s like a private school glee club without him so I flick over to the AM Show who are running a line that there is a spill aimed at Simon Bridges leadership…

Simon Bridges fends off leadership coup rumours, says focus is on COVID-19

The AM Show understands that rumours are swirling about a leadership coup, with a potential challenge from MP Mark Mitchell and deputy National Party leader Paula Bennett. That follows a flood of negative comments aimed at Bridges’ response to the Government’s decision to leave lockdown next Monday.

…the fall out from Simon’s Facebook post was a terrible blunder. He utterly misjudged that New Zealander’s saw their shared sacrifice as something that should be celebrated, not belittled. We wanted to be told we had done a great job abiding by the rules, instead Simon diminished that shared experience.

The resulting backlash was entirely predictable and it’s same the reason why the Death Cult Capitalists aren’t making any headway. They just don’t ‘get’ that the vast majority of Kiwis understood and accepted their obligations as citizens during a pandemic.

Bridges blunder could be forgivable by the Right, after all they don’t give two shits about the weakest and most vulnerable amongst us and want the slaves back to work but it’s Farrar’s internal polling that shows an enormous slump in National’s vote with a large split now going to ACT that terrifies National.

With National polling internally at such low numbers, lots of the current crop of MPs would no longer be in Parliament.

Self interest drives National MPs like nothing else, so the next public poll due shortly will be the decider as to whether or not there is a move against Simon.

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If the TVNZ and TV3 Polls reflect the internal polling, Simon will be gone before Breakfast.

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60 COMMENTS

  1. KEEP DREAMING!
    Labour did not do a good job with covid-19. THEY let it into the country!
    So did those ‘woke’ uni students claiming shutting our borders would be “racist”…..
    Soyman may lack a backbone….but Labour…..have now created an absolute economic disaster which is unfolding right before our eyes. Many of you…..won’t survive

    • Heh, a “sell sword” Iraq mercenary as National leader? National’s fetish for ex coppers is certainly persistent.

      • Tiger -He was just a police dog handler – then he got rich on the dogs of war.

        One of the obnoxious aspects of Mitchell was an interview he gave to a Fairfax woman – outing him as the next John Key – which focused on finding a lost dog in Iraq, re-uniting the dog with its owner- and warm fuzzies all around; the reality of the hell of life in post-war Iraq didn’t really feature.

        I thought it fairly insulting PR from someone who seemingly assumed that we’re all simple enough to be impressed with his kind canine stunt, and oblivious of the heart-breaking backdrop in which it was carried out. No so.

        The interviewer was just as bad, the pair of them presenting a dumb thick sort of potage with a clearly connived purpose – but it could be a sow’s ear issue.

    • +1 RosieLee

      A Mercenary by all definitions. How apt for their leader.

      mer•ce•na•ry mûr′sə-nĕr″ē►
      adj. Motivated solely by a desire for monetary or material gain.
      adj. Hired for service in a foreign army.
      n. One who serves or works merely for monetary gain; a hireling.

    • But he was a foreign occupier and murderer in Iraq.
      Mark Mitchell not only went freely and willingly to fight in an illegal war of aggression, but he made a profit out of it. It is disgusting.”

      “More than a million people are dead in Iraq because of the US’s war. Mark Mitchell was one of thousands who went to occupy and repress the local people on behalf of the US.”

      A despicable low life form who will help cement our NZ into USA’s criminal global program of war.
      Another plant like johnky and douglarse.

    • The question to ask of the man every single time was ‘what was he paid for the body count’ as a mercenary!

  4. So the rumblings might have begun….again. Either way it will be “out of the frying pan and into the fire”

  5. Well, placeholder Bridges has to go sooner or later. No surprises there.
    But (some) Nat supporters have woken up to something deeper. Something that must be scaring the hell out of the mandarins of the Right.
    They’ve seen what a scam trickledown economics is. It has to be bailed out on a regular basis by public money.
    Their money! And it suddenly hurts. No job…..joining the dole queue…..only increases the pain of the lesson.

    And those votes are all looking for a new home.

    • +1 Good points Jase. We will see. It could go either way and I’m not sure the current Greens nor Labour are any the wiser to the mood of the nation. They are all out of touch.

      There was an incredible speech by Metiria Turei – I just wish the Greens had implemented the values in her speech when they did eventually get into parliament.

      The speech also has good advice for COL – people are losing everything and NZ government constantly propping up big international share holders is starting to bite, see how Simon Bridges went down, people are tired of being lied to and belittled and no new ideas in this country. (apart from import in more people with existing money, tax the middle class more and give tax breaks to big business, only listen to big business migrant lobby groups (labour politicians always good for a mingle after the ‘charity’ auctions https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11712664).

      Metiria Turei’s excellent speech.

      Tēnā koutou katoa

      I te tuatahi ka mihi au ki ngā mana whenua o tēnei rohe, āra, ko Te Ātiawa, ko
      Taranaki Whānui, ko Ngāti Toarangatira hoki. Kia ora koutou katoa mō tō
      manaakitanga.

      Ki a koutou kua tae mai i tēnei ahiahi, te whanau a Pāti Kākāriki, me ngā
      manuhiri, koutou katoa, tēnā koutou.

      Ka tu manahau ahau mo tenei korerorero kia a koutou kia matatika ai te ao
      torangapu ma tatou katoa.

      He tino harikoa ahau ki te kite i a koutou i a koutou katoa.
      Ko Metiria Turei ahau, te kaiārahi takirua o Te Rōpū Kākāriki.
      Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

      There’s this story about Michael Joseph Savage before he became the first
      Labour Prime Minister. He was an opposition MP for a very long time, and during
      the 1920s he used to tour the country building support for his new party. And he
      warned people that the economic system was broken. That it was unfair. And
      that it had corrupted the political process. That the system was rigged in ways
      that were dangerous and unstable. And he talked about the role of government
      in fixing these problems. Preventing collapse. Making things fair again.

      And one day, the story goes, he asked a farmer at one of these meetings, ‘Do I
      have your vote, sir?’ And this farmer said, ‘Well, you’ve got a lot of big ideas.
      Some of them sound right. But you and your party have never been in
      government. And I’ve learned on the farm that you never let a man watch your
      stock unless they’ve done it before. So you do not have my vote.’

      Years later, in the mid-1930s, Labour still had never been in government. By
      then New Zealand was in the depth of the depression. The agricultural sector
      was the backbone of the economy and it had collapsed. There was mass
      unemployment. Mass farm bankruptcies. Riots. During the election campaign in
      1935 Savage was by then the leader of the opposition. He went back to this
      province and saw the same farmer and said, ‘Do I have your vote yet? Are you
      going to let me look after your stock?’ And the farmer replied, ‘I don’t have any
      stock anymore and that’s why you have my vote.’

      I’ve been in parliament nearly fourteen years. I’ve been an opposition leader for
      almost seven of those. One of my goals and the aim of the Green Party is to try
      and stop history from repeating itself. To prevent yet another systemic collapse
      like the one that Savage warned about. The depression he warned about, and
      ended up leading New Zealand out of, was economic. The problems we’re talking
      about today and that we’re trying to avert are both economic and
      environmental. They’re going to be harder to recover from if we let them
      happen.

      And I hear the same doubts expressed about the Greens as they said to Savage.
      We like you. We like your ideas. We’re worried about the future. But you’ve
      never been in government before, so how can we trust you with our vote? It’s a
      Catch-22.

      So today I want to talk about these reservations people have about us and tell
      you why you can trust us with your vote and with the responsibility of helping to
      govern the country. And I hope to convince you that you should do this now.
      Because it’s a lot easier to not make a mess in the first place than it is to clean
      one up.

      The first thing I want to talk about is this idea that the Greens are too radical.
      Too outlandish. We have all these audacious ideas that won’t work in the real
      world.

      We are the party of new ideas. We make no apology for that. It’s very easy in
      politics to focus on day-to-day trivia. Rather than on what really matters.
      The Green Party has taken pride in unashamedly talking about serious issues.
      We don’t shy away from the hard stuff.

      We look at pollution and see a world’s worth of risks. And so we challenge the
      damage to our rivers caused by dairying, the use of toxics that put the bee
      population at risk, the pollution that puts our very planet at risk. We tackle these
      hard issues because we know the solutions are opportunities, not burdens.
      We see a future where all our families can go swimming in New Zealand’s rivers
      and lakes, where our native birds and forests are humming and we have
      certainty in a great future for all our kids.

      Imagine if the Government stopped seeing state homes, and the people who live
      in them as a burden, a problem better shifted out of sight so out of mind.
      Imagine if we had a Government instead that worked with the people that lived
      in those communities to design beautiful new homes and neighbourhoods that
      people actually want to live in. Michael Joseph Savage made that real once
      before. We see a future where all New Zealanders live in warm, dry affordable
      homes. Where children are no longer at risk of dying simply because of the
      home they live in.

      And we see a New Zealand where our people and our sovereignty are our
      priority. Not international companies and their profit margins. Not trade deals
      with countries who execute their citizens. But a green economy built on fairness,
      pay equity, on the new global opportunities that sit just within our reach. If we
      are willing to lean forward to take them.

      However, under National we are falling far short of this vision. Rather than
      leaning forward to take these opportunities, the National Government has sat
      back and let things get worse.

      Harmful pollution under this Government: Up.
      Kids living in poverty: Also up.
      New Zealanders unemployed: Up.
      House unaffordability: Way up.

      That is the record of this National Government.

      Our record is pretty good for a party that’s never been in Government. We’ve
      had agreements with both Labour and National and through these, we’ve
      delivered significant wins for New Zealanders.

      Our MoU with National meant over 235,000 New Zealand homes had insulation
      installed as part of the Warm Up New Zealand scheme. Not only did this mean
      there were 235,000 homes worth of warmer Kiwis, but $1.2 billion worth of
      health benefits came from the scheme. Our MoU has delivered more value to
      New Zealand than from policies brought about by National’s actual coalition
      partners in fact.

      We weren’t in coalition with Labour in 2005 but we were still able to secure the
      electrification of Auckland rail, we won a commitment to increase the minimum
      wage, and two Green MPs were the Government spokespeople on energy
      efficiency and Buy Kiwi Made.

      In just the last 12 months we supported the Feed the Kids campaign that has led
      to hundreds of local initiatives to feed hungry children at school. We launched
      the ‘Yes We can’ climate emission reduction plan to show how we can meet a 40
      percent reduction by 2030 by being ambitious for New Zealand. We announced
      our intention for a gender balanced Cabinet so that half of all Green Ministers
      will be men [because they have a place too] and challenged our future coalition
      partners to do the same. We launched the Kids Kiwisaver Scheme to combat
      growing wealth inequality and give all our kids some savings for their future. We
      led the walkout of women MPs from Parliament to show that rape is not and
      should never be a political weapon.

      These wins, these solutions, this leadership, shows we are capable of governing.
      Our goal is to effect meaningful change. And sometimes when you challenge
      conventional wisdom people feel threatened, and they call you ludicrous. For the
      past few years we’ve been questioning the Government’s reliance on dairy to
      prop up the economy. And we got told we were foolish, many many times right
      up until the price of milk solids collapsed last year. We argued that we needed
      more diversification, more investment in science and innovation, and John Key
      used to tell us we were, quote, away with the fairies, unquote, for suggesting
      this. Now some of his press releases about science and diversification read like
      the Green Party election manifesto.

      We were the first to talk about climate change. Outrageous. Last year National
      signed the Paris agreement. Capital gains tax. Ridiculous, until suddenly we got
      a version of one in last year’s budget. Inequality. Foolish. Energy efficient
      homes. Weird. Cycling and public transport. Bill English told us for many years
      that we were completely wrong for suggesting he invest more in cycling and
      public transport. Now, National and the Greens are working together on building
      a nationwide cycle trail. And we’ve heard that tomorrow his boss, the Prime
      Minister, is finally going to announce funding on the Auckland central rail link.
      Oh, that’s another good idea we campaigned for.

      There are two lessons here. The first is that ideas that are attacked as radical
      when the Greens propose them become conventional, sensible solutions very
      quickly when other parties adopt them. That tells us something about the gap
      between perception and reality when it comes to the Green Party.

      The second is that if you still think Green ideas are too radical for government
      then you have a problem. Because no matter which party you vote for, a lot of
      the new ideas and new solutions still come from us.

      The difference is that the solutions we propose are thought through. They flow
      from our values. They’re designed to complement each other. And when the
      other parties cherry pick them it’s usually out of a motivation to be seen to be
      doing something, while the solution itself is diluted.

      So if you like our ideas but want them done properly then you really need to get
      us into government.

      The other thing I want to say about this notion that we’re too radical is that
      when it comes to environmental and social and economic issues we’re actually a
      fairly conservative party. We think that the economic experiment imposed on
      our country over the last thirty years is radical. We think that doubling the
      number of dairy cows and the increasing pollution killing our rivers and streams
      is radical. We think a government that wants to mine our national parks is
      fanatical. We think the steep rise in child poverty and poverty related child death
      is radically irresponsible.

      It’s not radical to stand against the disintegration of our environment and our
      society. It would be radical not to do so.

      One of the core strengths of the Green Party is to think long-term. I talked about
      Michael Joseph Savage and the first Labour Government. A lot of their reforms
      are still with us today, eighty years later. State housing. Free hospital care. Free
      secondary education. And yes, some of those policies have been chipped away
      at, but their essence remains.

      We want our accomplishments to have the same sustained popular support as
      those first Labour reforms all those years ago.

      The progressive green change that we want to make happen has the potential to
      be the potent idea mix that fixes the big problems of the early 21st century and
      steers a course to great prosperity. But change isn’t the easy route. This
      Government likes the easy route. It likes to make minimal changes. They like to
      do just enough so we feel like something is happening. But real meaningful
      change is much harder.

      Over this summer break, I’ve been home in Dunedin, reconnecting as you do,
      with family and friends and thinking about my personal contribution to this work,
      whether I can still make a difference, whether I’m still useful to the Green
      kaupapa.

      And the time I spent out of the beltway, doing ordinary things away from politics
      I thought about why I’m a Green and it’s that we take on the big problems. We
      talk about the hard issues that the other parties prefer to ignore, climate,
      environment, poverty, kids. And that’s because we remember who we really
      belong to. And who we answer to.

      I remembered ka whawhai tonu mātou: that the struggle for justice and equality
      is the struggle without end. And that it is a great privilege and a great
      responsibility to take up that struggle and rise to be a leader in it.
      I’m in politics because I believe in the transformational power of government.
      And a Government with the Greens in it will be transformational. But we don’t
      want to make change that abandons people, or communities. We’ve had enough
      of that kind of change in my lifetime, and we know what it does to our loved
      ones.

      We want to make change that will still be helping people for the next eighty
      years, and we can’t do that if that change is chaotic or unpopular, and the
      subsequent Government just sweeps it all away again. The Greens are
      committed to change that endures.

      So how are we going to do that? We’ll be talking about our major policies over
      the next 12 months. But part of the philosophy of the Green Party is to look for
      small changes you can make that will have a big outcome. And the policy I want
      to talk about today is a small change to our political process that will have a big
      impact on our democracy.

      During election campaigns there’s always a lot of conflict and shouting between
      politicians about whose policy costs what, and where the money will come from.
      Which party is going to get us into surplus ten minutes faster than the others,
      and so on.

      We get criticised a lot for the supposed cost of our policies. But we do extensive
      work costing all of our policies before each election. We release fiscal
      statements. We get them audited.

      National doesn’t do that. They don’t because there’s a perception that they’re
      sensible and trustworthy on economic issues. So the reality is they get to make
      it up as they go along. Money appears out of thin air and no one even blinks.
      The asset sales are a good example. John Key pitched it as freeing up $7-10
      billion. They got $4.7 billion. Then Bill English promised to spend that money
      many times over, in completely different ways depending on who he was talking
      to. We got scammed. And no-even even blinked.

      So what I’m here to announce today is a measure designed to bring a little more
      transparency and accountability into New Zealand politics. Today, the Green
      Party has sent a letter to each party leader, asking for support from across the
      House to establish an independent unit in the Treasury to cost policy promises.
      Political parties could submit their policies for costing to this independent unit,
      which would then produce a report with information on both the fiscal and wider
      economic implications of the policy.

      Instead of New Zealanders making their decisions based on spin and who can
      shout the loudest, they will have meaningful, independently verified information
      instead.

      It will also ensure that policy promises are stable and durable because parties
      won’t be able to promise the earth unless they have the earth to give.
      So we are going to work with the other political parties in Parliament to try and
      make this a reality for the 2017 election. And it’s going to be very interesting to
      see which parties support it and who opposes it. Hopefully everyone will support
      it. It won’t cost much. It’s good for our democracy. It’s good for New Zealand.
      Political power can transform the country for the better, and make a positive
      difference to the lives of generations to come, if that power is exercised with
      responsibility and caution. So the first things we should ask of those who seek to
      wield that power is what they’re going to do, how they’re going to do it, and
      what it’s going to cost.

      So we call on the other political parties to welcome this idea and to work with us
      to make next year’s election more accountable and democratic. To close this gap
      we have between perception and reality, the gap between what political leaders
      say and what we actually do.

      The role of Government is not to provide entertainment or sideshows. The role
      of Government is to lead the country; to fix the problems that need fixing. The
      Green Party has been developing solutions for two decades now, two decades
      where our solutions have been adopted by other parties because we get it right.
      The future can be scary to think about but it doesn’t have to be. We will make
      enduring Green change that keeps children and families at the heart of our work.
      The solutions to the problems we face are not radical, or outlandish, the
      solutions are transformative.

      So I want you to take away this key point, this one thing about the Green Party
      and our political system: while change is not easy and meaningful change takes
      hard work; the Green Party is ready for that job.

      Together we are heading towards a beautiful tomorrow.

      • And we see a New Zealand where our people and our sovereignty are our
        priority.
        Not international companies and their profit margins.
        Not trade deals with countries who execute their citizens.
        But a green economy built on fairness, pay equity,
        on the new global opportunities that sit just within our reach.
        If we are willing to lean forward to take them.

        Every bit as relevant now as it was then – Even more so.
        (Thanks, SaveNZ)

  6. Unlikely, but if he performs poorly in the general election then he will surely be replaced.

    Before you back-slap over the performance of the government during the virus lock-down, you need to remember this thing is far from over. We may face an economic wasteland once we’re out of this and voters attitudes may be far sourer in September than the present.
    Other countries are performing similarly in terms of death rate per capita (eg Aussie) yet haven’t stopped key parts of their economies like we have.

    • Andrew ; We will hold you to that.

      We think that Simon is such a dieapointment to the manderins of National that a removal will come quick and fast as Jacinda’s lockdown was – so why do we believe this???

      Because National saw how jacinda did a great job using “stelth” to shock everyone to get on board with a radical move, so National now has knowledge of how to succesfully change these political events so quickly and get public support using “Stealth”.

  9. The obvious choice would be Niki Kaye but theyre too thick to see that so I guess, roll out the ‘Crusher’ just for a laugh! That’ll piss Pullah Benefit off!

    • DennyPaoa,

      Nikki Kaye is a very good MP. She has an excellent record against Jacinda and her style etc is appealing to many people across the board for many reasons. It would also send a compelling message to voters, especially female voters who don’t want a bar of Bridges. If National elected her as leader, the Government would be uncomfortable very quickly…..but they won’t. She’s not stroppy enough for Labour haters, she’s female…..and she’s not Christopher Luxon.

  10. Re the photo – it must be immediately after Simon’s election to leadership. I can see J-L Ross there but where is the heir-apparent, Mark Mitchell? Was he even in Parliament then? He’s an undeserving rookie (so, go the Nats and elect him your leader!).

    All smiles then, but look closer and you’ll see how many of those smiles were through very clenched teeth (notably from the person just behind Simon, who is wearing the yellow shirt – yellow?).

  11. I put it to you lefties that Soyman is actually also a lefty.
    My evidence? Well, i watch those Epidemic Committee conferences on a daily basis and Soyman appears to be quite “chummy” with all those Labour MP’s…
    Maybe he’s just a nice cordial guy? Who knows….. or maybe the conference only goes to demonstrate that we actually only have a choice at election time of the Dumb Party or…..the even Dumber Party?

    • Sumwun prolly told Soyman to be nice to his colleagues from labour when he’s not performing in front of the media. Or maybe he even skim read “How to win friends and influence people” by himself.

  12. Paula Bennett ” Can’t believe a tweet from a known stirring leftee is getting any pickup, move on we back Simon we have a heath crisis and an economy to fix”

    We have seen how Bennett operates . Throw the marginals under the bus, the beneficiaries etc. We lnow her involvement in the leaked Winston Peter’s saga. And we also know that without Bridges she has minimal caucus support. So of course she has his back, her future depends on it.
    The most important issue here is that Simon just doesn’t get the pulse of the nation. He is too ideological.

  13. Fingers crossed….even he must be exhausted barking at every passing car in his sole quest in life to “score hits” against the Government.

    All Bridges does is make a complete arsehole of himself and highlight just how fortunate we are that he isn’t the Prime Minister. He has to go. It’s just a matter of when and who will replace him. My very strong feeling is he will ride it out until the election is done…and then be replaced By National’s new God and Saviour “in waiting” Christopher Luxon…aka John Key part 2.

    • Less than 24 hours after my message above about Christopher Luxon aka John Key Part 2…..this article appears.

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121200135/john-key-describes-what-chris-luxon-would-be-like-as-prime-minister?fbclid=IwAR2YRw2jK4ZetTJtLN8lkjRyDDM0Bibj6VNvEbmV6tGBqCjMk7L8_-2nBkg

      As National reels from the negative fallout of Simon Bridges’ comments on lifting the lockdown, former Prime Minister John Key has showered praise on Bridges’ potential successor, Christopher Luxon.

      ​Key even briefly described what Luxon would be like as prime minister.

      “If Chris was the prime minister, I think what you would see is a very strong emphasis on the economy,” Key said, referencing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who he believed was focused on things other than the economy.

      “To me the number one thing the Government of the day does is to provide hardworking New Zealanders, whatever ethnicity they come from, to get ahead and progress in their lives and do well,” Key said.

      The remarks came in an interview conduced over Zoom by Skykiwi, a Chinese-language news site.

      The interview was uploaded onto the site’s Facebook page on Monday.

      Luxon, the former chief executive of Air New Zealand, is now running as National’s candidate in the Botany electorate, currently held by Jami-Lee Ross.

      Luxon is already tipped as a future leader and his business background has drawn comparisons between himself and Key.

      “Whoever the prime minister of the day is, ultimately we’ll get through Covid-19, but the challenge it represents on the economic side are going to be very significant and with us for quite a long time,” Key said.

      Drawing comparisons between himself and Luxon, Key said “to me that’s where the main similarities are: both of us know that unless you know there is a strong economy in the end people don’t have the confidence and choices to look after themselves and their family”.

      One of the show’s hosts, Ping Chen, joked about the similarities between Luxon and Key.

      “Today I’m honoured to have both Sir John Key Mark I and in Chris as John Key Mark II on the show,” she said.

      Neither rebuffed the comparison.

      Chen recalled an earlier conversation between herself and Luxon: “Chris used to tell me Mark I was cuter but Mark II is more handsome”.

      Key disagreed. “You just have to look at your screen. Clearly I win on both counts,” he said.

      Key’s lavishing praise on Luxon comes at a time when Bridges, the incumbent National leader, has faced criticism for a poorly timed and poorly toned response to the lifting of the level 4 lockdown.

      He’s spent the week fending off suggestions of a leadership coup.

      Luxon and Key discussed aspects of New Zealand’s diplomatic and economic relationship with China, including the ban on the sale of residential housing to non-resident, foreign buyers.

      “I never agreed with the foreign buyers ban. I always thought it was more about the politics of envy than it was about good economics,” Key said.

      He said the number of houses sold to foreign buyers was overstated and that many foreign buyers also brought investment to create jobs.

  14. What? Just when you think you’ve got rid of a terrible virus? Mark Mitchell comes thundering in to town?

    • @Jacindafan

      Just bidding their time till they can get rid of the fucking useless ones.

      JLR: Two Chinese would be more valuable than two Indians, I have to say.

      SB: Which is what we’ve got at the moment, right? Your problem there is you end up in a shit fight because you’ve got a list MP – you’ve got two list MPs – it’s a pretty mercenary cull – sitting MPs, all that shit. And then we’ve got the issue of – we could end up getting rid of some list MPs if we want and bringing in some of those new ones, and if you do that you’re just filling up your list even further with ones that you’ve gotta sort of look after – I mean I reckon there’s two or three of our MPs, not picking up obvious ones like Finlayson or Carter, but actually we just want them to go. You know? Like Maureen Pugh is fucking useless.

      JLR: Yeah, I know. Carter, Finlayson, Nicky Wagner – they don’t really need to hang around.

      Simon: Yeah, but then, we get, yeah, yeah, we don’t want them to go this year though.

      JLR: Oh, no.

      • Poor old Maureen Pugh. National MPs who are fucking useless are the very best kind. They’re far less dangerous and do much less damage.

      • saveNZ,

        100%

        As innocent people are dying around the world in their tens of thousands due to the actions of Chinese citizens and their reprehensible Government, the National Party is in pause mode on standby to complete New Zealand’s mission of morphing into New China.

        Bridges is just a cog in that wheel. He’s been stage managed in a similar way to how Real Estate agents conduct business. They take a buyer to look at potential purchase number 1 (Bridges) knowing it has limited appeal. All the while they have potential purchase number 2 (Luxon) ready to be rolled out and “appear” the new Blue God. Oh yes, i’ll buy that. So much better than the other option you’ve shown me.

        The latrine rodent party are not interested in leadership battles despite knowing Bridges is a festering turd. As long as the party which is all that matters does not take a huge dive in the polls, Bridges is safe… for now. Post election which National will lose, it matters not one jot where Bridges is in the polls. He could be 55% as the most popular to become PM, he’d still be gone. Luxon gave up his previous role for one reason after years of encouragement from National. Luxon knows he will be an absolute shoe in at Botany. The party will then arrange for him to be their leader within days of the election…as promised. The National Party is living for that moment at this time.

        Then, out of the woodwork you will see an army of blue soldier ants pushing the Mk II version of John Key like he is the most magnificent thing ever created by God for NZ. Chinese New Zealanders will put their weight and their money behind Luxon as they know he’s their man for New China.

        The only good news in the above is that more and more New Zealanders are repulsed by the Chinese Government than ever before and know what National are about.

    • Kia ora Jacindafan
      I could hardly find Jian, the only one front and centre for me is Crusher, ohhh Crusher….she glows like a daffodil on a beautiful spring day, I reckon she’s got nipple clamps on Simon and Paula, controlling their every move until she’s ready again, she’s such a turn-on…..

      • Hey Sean,

        Your “confession” about Judith is a little worrying. You didn’t know Peter Plumley-Walker did you? 🙂

  16. Are these the same experts who have been saying Simon is a dead man walking for the last 18 months. He has made some very valid points and it seems to me that the 37000 SME are being allowed to fail as they are not seen as Left supporters and this thinking is backed up by Deborah Powell’s comments.
    Since the COL got into power landlords have been a target and this seems to be carried on with the policies put up to ease the pain showing little help for that sector.
    As the country has a half share in Air NZ why are they not told to be more transparent with regard to the incidents of the virus in their staff .Is this another example of this non transparent government in action

    • Trevor wrote: SME are being allowed to fail and landlords have been a target

      Landlords are the main problem for the SMEs. The high rents by the landlords are exactly what the SMEs say is crippling them.

      You cannot have it both ways. You can’t disparage the govt for trying to curb the ability of the landlords to do that, while at the same time accusing them of harm to SMEs. It is the profit-driven landlords, often from overseas and/ or the corporate world, who are holding the SMEs and AO/ NZ to ransom.

      And those profiteers were empowered and encouraged under the previous govt. That is when premises were sold off to overseas profiteers and that is when rents skyrocketed.

  18. No. Just like all the other times you’ve called it. It’s not like he’ll be simply making it up as he goes along. National will have discussed their strategy and he’ll be implementing it.

    He has to point out over and over the damage to the economy that the COL are doing and point to Australia as a comparison of how we could have approached the situation. Then when the shit does hit the fan in a couple of months and businesses are failing, people are out of work and facing ruin, the tide will inevitably turn in his favour and he’ll be able to point out that he made the call early.

    He just has to hang tough and the situation will come to him. All it requires is balls.

    • You just dont get it do you!
      It is not the message(although your message is wrong) it’s the servant giving it. That’s why he polls under 10 %

  19. Sorry Simon is a truly ineffective leader because you know what? As a true opposition leader – he would have to tell the truth. But no, he cannot do that because he would have to point out what absolute whores (not to offend hard working sex workers, but using the term for easy money) all these solipsistic savages in government and media truly are, paying off their pay masters. Funny thing- sticking like glue to an ideological framework that does not fit reality. New Zealanders are not the dumb sheep they think we are. And most of us are not the whores they are, for example, like Mark Mitchell, a contract killer, must be, seriously, one of the most frightening whores to emerge. Stay Simon…
    A true opposition would have been like – “Remember the truly scathing reports that were coming out before the invisible viwus? Remember the ones about babies being illegally uplifted and cops being aggressive. The increase in hunger and homelessness. Remember when nurses and teachers were on strike? Time is a funny thing. And then the hero Ashley Bloomfield – telling parents that children are safe in school but to give the dead dignity of Whanau showing up to mourn when they pass them is not? Seriously, WHAT?” AND
    “Hey, what about how quickly the cops and military can organize to keep people from traveling, and how quickly the borders can be closed- – but they were totally helpless to prevent meth from totally destroying families and killing young people through addiction FOR THE PAST TEN FUCKING YEARS? Yeah what about that? HummHO.”

    • Exactly Angie ! The only positive for me is that this government finally showed that it does have a spine. Now to find some cojones and a brain NOT wedded to neo-liberal economics and end the inverted totalitarianism of the last 35 years. Politics and people before economics FFS!
      First on the agenda end the free trade agreement with China and renegotiate.
      Fund the Health system properly.
      Free Tertiary education fully fund education.
      Remove all state funding from Private Education unless schools are integrated.
      Cease outsourcing the public service .
      Bring in a progressive tax system .
      End GST on all food
      Financial Transaction Tax
      Capital Gains Tax.
      UBI
      And regulate banking.
      Tax Tourists with a carbon tax for flying here based on distance traveled.
      Leave tourism to the ‘market” and let it wither and die.

      • Very clear essential points, Shona.

        They are so basic, so fundamental to dealing with what’s ahead of us…

    • “Hey, what about how quickly the cops and military can organize to keep people from traveling, and how quickly the borders can be closed- – but they were totally helpless to prevent meth from totally destroying families and killing young people through addiction FOR THE PAST TEN FUCKING YEARS?

      Yep. Riddle me that, anyone!!
      Close the borders for this epidemic? No Probs at all.
      End the even more deadly in some ways Meths epidemic? …Uh.. no can do-ee.
      WHY?? WHY???

      • Because it’s easier for the police to bust gangs growing marijuana and keep their crime stats looking good, than it is to do the harder stuff. And they know it. This is where the Minister should step in with a “Please explain” – and the whole issue of KPI’s be revisited in every govt dept throughout the country.

  21. Here’s what I think.
    Are you ready for it?
    Here it is.
    “Meh.”
    Dictionary please ? :
    “informal exclamation:
    exclamation: meh
    expressing a lack of interest or enthusiasm.
    “meh, I’m not impressed so far”
    adjective
    adjective: meh
    uninspiring; unexceptional.
    “a lot of his movies are … meh”

    Discussing politics and debating the in’s and out’s of national versus labour is beneath us all.
    Your time would be better spent by going outside and planting a lettuce. Now, wait until it grows and then you might get a more intelligent conversation from it than what I’ve seen above.
    Having said that….
    national and labour are the same thing. Lets be clear on that?
    bridges was a tactical move to have us believe there was a change a-coming in labour.
    At best? He’d fuck it up and make the natzo’s look like a polished little potato next to aderns shining set of public relations fangs.
    At worst, he’d accidentally make an unforeseen fuck up and look better publicly than adern which would spring the game completely. After all, where would the natzo’s hide once their labour party camouflage was stripped away?
    Trust me. bridges wouldn’t fucking dare look better than adern at this point.
    Here’s my projections for a post AO/NZ election.
    Labour gets back in and we’re fucked.

    • Having said that….
      national and labour are the same thing. Lets be clear on that?

      Absolutely all that anguish about child poverty and then she announced she would half it in 10 years, OMG won’t be her kid!

      • national and labour are the same thing.

        Well I disagree, but apart from that, where are the GREENS?

        This should be their time. There are many links between pandemics, our responses, and the environment. Why aren’t they calling this out?

        Why have the Greens gone silent? …And why, when they do have the odd comment or question, is it delivered in hushed tones, almost with an air of apology.

        If the Greens want a role in a future govt, NOW would be a very good time to speak up and speak out – start shouting about some things. (We’ve just had Earth Day. Where was their voice?)

        If anyone knows how to wake them up, shake them up, … please do so!! They’ve fallen silent and are becoming invisible.

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