If the next 6 months are economically harsher, beyond a Tax cut agenda he can’t articulate, will Chris Luxon shine as brightly as Guyon Espiner’s weirdly flirty column in RNZ suggests?
I’m loving the rapture of Christopher Luxon, it’s crypto eyes full of orange fire stuff right now as he breathlessly tells everyone who will listen that he won’t cut benefits and won’t sell assets!
Here’s why Christopher’s promises are so empty.
He can hand on heart tell God that he meant every promise, but in order to be the Government he has to cut a deal with ACT and David Seymour is in this to win this.
People don’t appreciate nor understand how romper stomper ACTs position is comparative to National and people forget Seymour TURNED DOWN a Ministerial position to ensure the Euthanasia Bill got through.
Politicians NEVER turn down power.
He did.
Dave’s not for turning folks.
So Christopher can make as many promises as he likes to you, the one thing Guyon’s glistening review revealed is that Luxon is strategic enough as a boofhead to ensure management of talent while understanding the market. He knows he can safely promise the world and that all changes the second he needs ACT agreement.
He understands the process enough to know he can make these promises and they can all change in the blink of an eye.
He’s slick, and talented at ordering subordinates in a way that is corporate woke minus the class ideology.
The boil down is that the latest ROY MORGAN Poll points out what we’ve been saying for some time, an ACT-National Government would be very hard right no matter what Christopher is saying right now.
Add in the real possibility of Winston hitting the 5% threshold and the enormity of how far Right the country would need to lurch to appease David Seymour’s philosophical obligation to mutilate the State will spook voters towards Winston and draw back Labour Left from Greens.
A Parliament post 2023 with ACT, National, NZF, Labour, Greens and Māori Party will reflect the splintering of the political spectrum. Expect a lot of wasted sub 5% threshold vote this election as the extremism of the increasing fringes builds political resentment.
This doesn’t end well.
The centre Christopher is promising won’t exist by the end of next year when people are voting.
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Funny how Luxon is saying he wont drop benefits when he is also saying it is too early for policy we have to wait and see what the NZ public want. He can’t have it all his way he is going to have to make some major trade offs and these may consists of cuts to something. The loss of tax revenue if he cuts taxes has to be found somewhere. And for him to say Poto Williams is out of her depth the same could be said about him as he often backtracks.
Funny how Luxon is saying he wont drop benefits when he is also saying it is too early for policy we have to wait and see what the NZ public want. He can’t have it all his way he is going to have to make some major trade offs and these may consists of cuts to something. The loss of tax revenue if he cuts taxes has to be found somewhere. And for him to say Poto Williams is out of her depth the same could be said about him as he often backtracks.
Labours Roger Douglas’s love child Act are possibly about to pick up from where he left off.
A weak Labour party gives way to a mediocre opposition.
They couldnt have made it any easier for Act and the Nats could they?
You would of thought that with the leader of the LINO party receiving a Doctorate, this would of improved her polling numbers as well as her virtue IQ/EI?
With such a low poll number in the 30’s, the dead man walking zone. They’ll be thinking about who will take over from her now and if they’re looking for a new leader already because this one sucks!
Who will stab her in the back I wonder!?
This could be the most exciting period in labours reign of terror since 2017!
Amene.
@ Tane etc.
Well, it wasn’t Labour back when Big roger became King though really, was it? No. Not the Labour we older humanoids have come to know of it as being anyway.
The dear old Labour we knew of was a kindly old thing. It was all social-ist and sort of ‘the poorest people first-ish’. Old Labour was about fair taxation to be pooled together to fund proper social-ist services and amenities and the like to working people who would otherwise slave to save to pay, or die in the gutter. A bit like today, really. Keep the oiks poor so they’re more easily exploited thus Ka Ching, aye boys? The really interesting thing about Old Labour was that it worked really, really well. And in many ways, it was a world first in its approach to the conundrum of poorer people getting previously rich-people-only access to health, dental, housing, transportation etc. Old Labour worked so well, in fact, that it attracted the likes of the Big roger and his money sniffers. Not to be confused with Amyl and the Sniffers. https://youtu.be/Bg8lQEyL_C4
Wee, Big roger went up labour and, like the parasite he is, ate it from the inside out. Think Trojan Horse, only not with a horse nor a Trojan. Just a few crusty old crooks desperately trying to keep the lid on a litany of lies, treachery and farmer-money laundering skullduggery.
Big strong roger and his moustache new only too well how much free money was floating about, being a Labour minister of finance and all that so he’d a hatched a plan to wade into it in his wee budgie smugglers. Plenty of room in there to secret away other people’s money though, aye Big roger? Heaps of room around your little budgie.
I can scarcely believe many of you, indeed most of you, if not all of you, that you can’t yet fully, or even partially comprehend what actually went on during the insipid, bloodless neoliberal’s early days. What with Big roger towering over an agog and aghast tax paying, working class population taken by surprise only to realise that suddenly, their beautiful AO/NZ was gone. Big roger and his mighty budgie had flown the coup to become a fiscal goose stepper who was more right wing than a mutant, Chernobyl chicken.
luxon is a common fellow barely worth a mention. He’s another yawn behind a blue tie. It’s the splay footed alien, the budgie fondling roger gnome above we should be wary of. seymour has all the gleeful intent of a psychopath who’s just found the key to the gun shop next door to the orphanage. His arse wriggling over confidence is a clue to his conscience free motives. And behind it, there’s Big roger and his budgie. Still there, reaching up from his crypt like Svengali. Manipulating the weak minded and the lazy.
A base line against which to judge politicians is to ask yourself of their actions: Would I do this to my bestie? Would I do what they do to my lover? Would I be comfortable with what they’re doing, to my kids, my whanau, neighbours and friends?
Am I happy with the way they’re arranging my future? Now that you know it’ll be in their best interests, not yours.
Tell us more CB.
Sounds interesting!
Amene/Not Awomene to you two/too @Tane/Male/Man not Female/Woman/Thinker.
ACT Trojan Horsed Labour for 6 years
Wikipedia : Roger Douglas Some Labour Party supporters regarded Douglas’s economic policies as a betrayal of Labour’s left-wing policy-platform, and the moves became deeply unpopular with the public and with ordinary party members. His supporters defended the reforms as necessary to revive the economy, which had been tightly regulated under National’s Muldoon (Minister of Finance from 1975 to 1984). As a result of his flat tax proposal, Douglas came into conflict with Prime Minister David Lange, and he eventually resigned as Finance Minister; when Douglas was re-elected to Cabinet in 1989 Lange himself resigned as Prime Minister, signalling the demise of the Labour government.
In 1993 Douglas and Derek Quigley founded the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (the forerunner of the ACT New Zealand party) as a means to further his policy ideas. Douglas returned to Parliament as an ACT backbencher in 2008 before retiring in 2011.
So, Labour stupidly allowed neoliberal ACT into their midst for 6 years, until cup-of-tea’d in 1987 and then diched in 1990. Obviously, neoliberals could not infiltrate Rob Muldoon’s National party 1976 to 1984
ACT goes back to its traditional right-wing roots with National for over 30 years
Since then, for over 30 years, ACT always had, and will always have more in common with National than Labour. If not, why hasn’t Labour had a coalition between themselves and ACT, since neoliberalism was rejected in 1990. John Banks National 1981-1999: ACT 2011 to 2014.
Don Brash National 2002-2007; ACT 2011
Even a rudimentary search through Wikipedia will let you know that brash alliance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Brash
“At the 17 September 2005 general election, National under Brash’s leadership made major gains and achieved what was at the time the party’s best result since the institution of the mixed-member proportional electoral system in 1993 – recovering from its worst ever result in 2002. Final results placed National two seats behind the incumbent New Zealand Labour Party, with National unable to secure a majority from the minor parties to form a governing coalition.
On 27 November 2006, Brash resigned as National Party Leader. He subsequently retired from Parliament in February 2007. In October 2008, he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Banking in the Business School at the Auckland University of Technology,[2] and an adjunct professor in the School of Economics and Finance at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
On 28 April 2011, Brash was elected the Leader of ACT (a minor libertarian party) after his bid for its leadership was accepted and he was confirmed by the ACT caucus and board.[3] He resigned later that year on 26 November 2011 due to ACT’s poor showing in the election, and its failure to gain any seats apart from its electorate strong-hold of Epsom.
It’s even the most basic of Wikipedia searches @Tane/Male/Man not Female/Woman/Thinker. Have a little judgement in your comments.
Te Reo is a woke corporate so A LOT of his policies will be center left on the social side. Economically he appears firmly right again aligning with Woke corporate values. There appears none of the political common sense or ‘everyday man’ that John ‘rugby’ Key has therefore in 2023 the leaning curve will be steep. Will he adapt – only his god would know.
On the left there seems to be hope that Winston will ride in on his white horse. A couple of things that make that unlikely:
1). Post covid the government has moved hard left on social policy – indeed praying from the temple of woke on everything from hate speech, law and order and health. NZ First socially is more conservative than both National and Act.
2). Mallard and Jackson have personally insulted him on the dumb lives matter protest and He Puapua respectively. Ask National – Peters is the most vindictive parliamentarian since Muldoon. Te Reo and his woketard gang weren’t the same National party that went to war with him.
If Labour is relying on Peters then you know they are fucking toast.
How many more ‘trips’ will our Glorious Leader make before Grunter asks her to leave stage door left?
Sorry Frank but Jacinda is still the best thing Labour have going for them .Who is there to take over there is not another minister waiting in the wing. Kerry Alan is the only one that stand out but she is too grounded for many.
Allan will be flat out holding what is essentially a rural seat. Depending on high how she is on the list might still get in. Our “Glorious Leader” is more and more resembling Trump – loved by the base but despised by almost everyone else. Elections are won in the middle and the middle (especially those with penises) are turning away from “Be Kind” as they see the economic and social damage being inflicted on the country.
Next off the rank is Grunter however get feeling is he will be just as despised as our “Glorious Leader” shortly given the economic carnage about to rain down on the country. Following that it is a race being the Tainui Princess and ‘rivers of filth’ Wood – neither will appeal to the sheeple.
If Te Reo loses it from here he truly is a numpty of the highest order
Allan will hold her seat and
improve her vote, Mahuta and Woods are a shoe in.
Last election Wods won with a majority of 13,853, good luck turning that around as Parmjeet Parmer is a wet blanket.
Mahuta won with a majority of 9660.
I know you Frankie, it is wishful thinking on your behalf at best.
The economy issue is worldwide, it won’t disappear with a right wing government and in fact we’ve seen in the past they’ve made things worse.
Jacinda is the ONLY thing Labour has going. The rest are milquetoast bougies of what ever gender they can find to make themselves relevant but with no brains, no guts and no heart, and as unelectable as Cunliffe and Little.
Did you actually mean ‘bourgeois’?
yep, might have spellt it correctly though 🙂
‘Boujee’ is an intentional misspelling of ‘bougie,’ which is slang for bourgeois, and refers to the materialism of society’s middle class.”30/06/2017
Hundreds of years ago, “bourgeois” meant “middle class,” but today the word and its slangy clipped form, “bougie,” can mean something more negative: fancy, pretentious, and so on.
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/what-does-bougie-mean-does-it-come-from-bourgeois
Or Collins or Bridges×2 or Muller or Luxon etc etc etc. Now the dead wood, all guts Brownlee, the mysterious homeless man Woodhouse, dodgy Hipango, useless Pugh(Nationals own words) etc etc etc, which only leaves Shane Reti of any substance.( clearly in the wrong party as he won’t lower himself to the no brains scum of the other National party dirty politics clan)
I know many visitors to this always interesting blog will find the idea of a ACT + National government at the very least problematic if not outright terrifying but isn’t it great that at last there’s a party and a politician that actually have a plan and ideas about what NZ needs to do to be the best place to live on earth.
It’s been so long since we’ve really had a contest of ideas in NZ and like or loathe ACT, I think we will at least have a chance to examine what the others have to offer which at the moment is just more beige boring incrementalism as far as I can see.
Roll on the election!
Sorry ! …I must have missed something …can you please remind me again of National and Act’s transformative ideas ?
It could take a while Grant…?
Luxon has got a pretty cushy number.
Every time Ardern or one of her minsters open their mouths, more votes are lost for Labour. Absolute train wreck of a government blinded by their own hubris
All Uncle Fester has to do is steer the National ship on a steady middle of the road course, have some sensible solutions to simple problems facing the average person, and he will win the election
Labour seem more interested in pushing identity politics and dividing the nation along bloodlines rather than helping the average kiwi worker
So clearly not an election voted on policy if you are putting up an alternative that relies on a low wage economy, enhancing the top 1% and a leader who opens his mouth and only guff comes out. The very definition of Hubris.
Yes a simple person has simple solutions but what of big problems and big solutions ? What will he do to address these for the average XXX?
<35yr old white collar females – all Te Reo needs to do is catch 25% of this market. The rest will take care of itself.
Not sure his “looks” will capture <35 white collar females or even a small percentage so that takes care of that.
Cut everything linked to Maori and Women (anathemas to NACT)
Cut anything linked to “alleged climate change” (anathemas to NACT)
Raise taxes for rich and allow wealth to “trickle down”.
Sell schools and hospitals to the private sector and have voucher system.
GST up to 20% and flat tax of 20%
Did I miss any other “transformative” NACT policies bert?
Methinks you can edit Winston First out of your scenario. Once name suppression is lifted (as it should be) I suspect the two defendants NZF electoral fraud case will be outed as close, close confidants of WRP. Follow the money … and in that respect one could ask were any of the ‘donations’ siphoned off by way of a ‘finders fee’ and, if so, how much and to whom and was the pymt declared to RD.
So many questions, so few answers.
Great, so the Nats under Luxation are a progressive neoliberal party.
Like we needed another one of those.
Well if the American people are stupid enough to give the Republicans a majority in the midterms which is looking likely then the dimwitted hobbitts will re elect the nasties just in time to steal christmas and consign many of their fellow New Zealanders into more depraved grinding poverty as the market directs they should.
The next three years is going to be a hoot. Godzone will finally resemble the perfect neo liberal fortress it was destined to be in Roger and Ruth’s dreams.
Maybe we should just do away with voting, install a far left government and tell the plebs to suck on ladydiques?
Mosa….Labour cannot keep printing and spending!
Austerity will happen no matter who gets into Govt. Next year.
NZ has about 100billion of debt for a country of 5million….it’s not sustainable. Yes other countries have a worst debt to population ratio and they too have to tighten belts!
National or Labour have to cut spending whoever wins election…and ACTs cutting of Govt depts is a good start….some are only there as woke window dressing anyhow (Louisa Walls new ‘Dept’ as just one example) with 6figure salaries sprinkled around.
Quantitative easing, as it’s somewhat euphemistically known, has been employed extensively by Western capitalist governments around the world since the economic collapse of 2008.
We achieved that collapse through relentless greedy profit-seeking prompted by the neoliberal economic doctrine pursued by western economies since the early eighties (https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755). The amoral banking and finance ponzi collapsed, destroying many peoples lives and livelihoods.
QE is the monetary policy of last resort (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/imark-listeri-a-beginners-guide-to-quantitative-easing/ET7Y6QFZZWPJPBLUQGUIOHBYYY/), and it’s repeated use in the USA and elsewhere, and now finally NZ, is an indication of the health and viability of our neoliberal capitalist economic system.
In blunt terms – it’s stuffed. A literal zombie. Requiring immense and staggering injections of money created out of thin air to animate.
This is the cost of supporting millinaires and billionaires.
And now, of top of accelerating inequality, a pandemic, a dying planet and endless wars, the many must suffer to keep the few in excessive & lavish comfort, as per the trickledown doctrine.
Attempting to solve the problems created by the neoliberal capitalist policies of Labour and previous administrations by promoting 2 right wing parties which follow that economic doctrine (one with frightening evangelical zeal) is like using a flamethrower to put a fire out.
Not that these parties, or their troll supporters here, would ever want to emphasise that.
As Martyn has argued, ACT will drive economic policy direction in a Nact coalition. They are not “centrist”. They are not “sensible”. They want severe austerity to keep the millionares and billionaires from ever having to part with a fraction of their ill gotten wealth. They want the system to perpetuate.
It will come at workers* expense. (*= the rest of us)
is it just me or does he have a whole forrest gump vibe going on in that picture..?
The only hope Ardern has is to call an early election. Her polling is only going to get worse, so the longer she waits the poorer Labours election night outcome will be.
If she doesn’t do this within the next six months, Labours only other path to victory is for someone to roll her.
I appreciate that you are on a mission to discredit Luxon, but I think you are ignoring some basic aspects of how coalition politics works, whether it is Right or Left.
Both the minor parties in the likely coalitions have no realistic option but to go with their major partner. Act for National, Greens for Labour. They are not crossover parties. That immediately limits their negotiating power.
So neither National nor Labour will have to utterly cave into their minor partner, to become little more than the minor partner’s cypher. In fact the reverse is likely true. The minor partner will get less than their percentage may indicate, simply because they have no other place to go. Even the cross bench option is not that appealing. A minority government, whether Labour or National, will be able to get some support from the opposing major party. At least in things other than confidence and supply. However, the minor party has to support confidence and supply or else there will be an early election.
Either Labour or National, depending on which is in government, will implement the great bulk of their programme. It will be an imperative to do so if they want to get re-elected, since the great bulk of their programme will be aimed at the middle, not at the left or right fringe on their respective edges.
Obviously the minor party will have to get something worthwhile, but it won’t be at the core of the major parties political positioning. The major party can’t take that risk.
In terms of the major concerns of the minor parties, the Greens will get more on climate change and Act will get more on education. Obviously there will be more than that, but it seems to me that these will be the big two issues for the minor parties.
“….. a mission to discredit Luxon…..”????????
Apart from a change in colour from red to blue, Mr Potato Head offers no significant solutions to our problems.
To solve the problems created by a failed economic doctrine, he offers as a solution………more of the failed economic doctrine.
He discredits himself, without any help from Martyn Bradbury, or Potato’s little sidekick Seymour, or the English Literature major he has masquerading as National’s Finance spokesperson.
Martyn
Funny how many articles you are pushing out dissing Luxon. I love when you lefties panic. You should.
Seymour and Luxon are both blunt knives. Truth is the brilliant sharpness of the people. But our Right-wing parties will stop help for the people.
Ahh the right. I actually enjoyed your libertarian love in last week – rather the libertarians than the wishy washy conservatives – at least you know where you stand with libertarians. Conservatives are only concerned about one thing. I wager some form of eco nationalist movement is coming – one wet bulb event and all hell will break loose.