The Triumph and Tragedy of Andrew Little
There are few MPs I respect, Andrew Little is one of them.
His humour, his intelligence and his intellect mark him as a remarkable leader. I certainly haven’t agreed with all his calls and I have disagreed vigorously on many, but I always respected him.
His decision to step down and allow Jacinda the Leadership because he knew she could do it and he couldn’t was one of the most selfless acts in politics I’ve ever witnessed.
He saw through his own ego and did what was best for the Party and the Country and it turned into one of the political master strokes of the Labour movement.
Malcolm Evans at the time saw it like this, Andrew being left at Dunkirk while allowing Labour to escape destruction…
…that was the Triumph of Andrew Little. A leader who had no problems curtailing his now ambition for the greater good. It is rare to find such true integrity.
The Tragedy of Andrew Little however is in his inability to reform the Secret Intelligence apparatus and the delaying tactics used mean there are all the tools for a vastly pumped up Police State that the Deep State can quickly assemble under any new Minister.
Andrew didn’t protect us from the possibility of the State to overstep and overreach and has left on the table all the means for an authoritarian to bring together extreme unchecked powers.
The fear is that someone like Mark Mitchell will gain this portfolio and have in front of him a vast shiny array of new capacities with very little oversight.
He also over-rode a bipartisan select committee to impose secrecy to protect NZDF war crimes.
The triumph of Andrew Little is that he could see beyond his ego for the greater good.
Th tragedy of Andrew Little is that he didn’t protect us from the State he stood for.
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To me he failed in his role of moving fast to plug the gap with overseas nurses after covid .He did not listen to those on the front line which was surprising considering his union background.
Yeah, I suppose so, that makes some sort of distorted sense, because the neoliberal NZ that you champion has long ago ceased to produce anything domestically, its economy runs on sugar highs of second-hand and/or cheap imports of goods, expertise and capital.
Name a new Minister or Prime Minister that has not been in thrall to the NZSIS, GCSB and other “dear old chaps” of the deep state that rolls over which ever Government is in office. Hard to resist the wood panelled offices and all the “just between us…” type chatter emanating from the Five Eyes set up.
Andrew was genuine, but a genuine conservative when it came down to it. He was horrendous on Cannabis reform, and I suspect if the narrow vote had gone the other way he would have found a way to negate it.
He was not good on the original TPP either, but his view no doubt suited many in Labour anyway.
But he gave it a good go, and is not hanging around just to collect his pay like some of the Parliamentary pie eaters.
His surname sums up the Labour achievements. This unelected surname lurked around in the shadows of the intelligence community doing god knows what.
Yeah Labour didn’t do much while they were in power, but they did:
• Introduce free lunches in schools
• Increased minimum wage
• Secured/upgraded 7 free trade agreements
• Introduced Matariki observance
• Boosted pharmac funding
• Introduced winter warmth support
• Removed prescription costs
• Increased Police numbers substantially
• Removed GST from fruit and veges
• Reduced cost of public transport
• Successfully saved thousands of lives in the Covid-19 response
• Built 13000 new public houses
• Increased funding for Health and Education
• Reformed Health system into a single server system to improve efficiency and free up more health funding for health rather than admin services
• Increased teacher wages substantially
• Initiated pay-equity for a number of professions dominated by women and therefore generally substantially underpaid
• Increased funding for Family Support
• Increased funding for ECE hours
Yeah, they didn’t do much eh?
In comparison watch what National/ACT/Winston First will do:
Repeal almost all the progressive and successful changes made by the previous administration.
Thats it – oh yeah – tax cuts for the precious wee “strained middle”
Boo effen hoo.
Some good runs on the board but note 87000 hoses short of the 2017 promise .Free lunches became more needed as inflation bite into family incomes.
Minimum wage increases without any increase in productivity caused much of the dreaded inflation.
Teachers and nurses had to strike to get pay increases and therecare still grumbles from many who missed out due to where they work.
Police numbers have not kept pace with crime and both parties said we need 300 more to replace those leaving.
GST removal was a misguided promise that showed how desperate Chippy was to have a good will policy to push.
Free prescriptions for all was a case of supporting all when not all need help
There was not much Labour could claim which is why they lost
Pike River.
Another talent gone to early. The cupboard is bare for Labour now. He is right time for a re fresh Or else the green s will over take them.
Has any uni researcher looked at the effect that people’s names have on their lives? Now if he had been called Ziggy Stardust…?
‘Obviously the reason National intend to do this is to get inflation down so we can all afford to live again.’
And this is the vicious cycle that neo-liberal economics puts us all into. It will never be possible to raise wages because that will always cause inflation.
Thanks Stephen – the economy without its promising wrappings of the seven veils, is not an enticing look at all for anyone but evil-minded perverts of money gathering.
But having a useful bank of ready retorts to questioning is so handy and makes the retorter appear superior and better informed. Saves thinking – go to the neo-bible of uneconomic strictures and structures, as do the neo-religious to their own then pick out the good, useful bits for their own purposes.
I’ll just mention that the evil-minded perverts can look and sound really nice; but when one dismisses others’ difficulties in known difficult times, one joins a phalanx of far too many who have a spectrum of disdain, excuses, blame etc all based on I don’t care, and don’t bother to talk to me about it. So their complexions and affability rarely get marred by frowns and worry lines. Well off people can be charming when it doesn’t cost them too much and they are in the mood.