As much as I despise Trump, his mastery of stunts and political theatre is second to none. Suddenly the Democratic Debate is off the news headlines because all we can talk about is Trump’s extraordinary decision to turn up at the DMZ to not only shake Kim’s hand but to enter North Korea.
Just when you thought there was no actual point to ever watch The Nation, it turns up the biggest political surprise of 2019. Jacinda Ardern, our Prime Minister, a new mother no less, has not even bothered watching the horror of her Governments own agents attempting to steal a baby.
The Nashy urgently needs to be grilling Police top brass that they actually have the Australian gang threat clearly defined and in hand before it erupts because frontline cops and domestic organised crime bosses are saying the top brass are telling Nashy what he wants to hear.
The reshuffle reeks of a group of individuals who are still barely in control of their Ministries and with such an enormous lack of experience, Jacinda is forced to make incremental changes rather than anything even remotely close to transformational.
You get the feeling that the Ministry of Vulnerable Children’s name change to Oranga Tamariki was a brown washing exercise to gloss over the much more violent reality of what this new agency would be doing.
While it’s great to see so many Baby Boomer MPs calling for the right to kill their parents, the reality is that the ‘suffering from a grievous and irremediable medical condition’ part of the Euthanasia Bill creates a loophole you could drive a stretch limo hearse through.
I’m not sure ‘we are greedy pricks with an obscene lust for cash but we’d never offend the gays’ is much of an ethical high horse for ANZ to ride in on – I mean your average Edge Radio Listener will buy it, but shouldn’t a bank aim higher than a breakfast Radio Show standards?
This was always about Treasury incompetence and their jaw dropping ability to claim it was a hack to hide their incompetence.
Much of the counter argument to criticism of Oranga Tamariki’s child stealing policy is ‘these babies need to be rescued because the parents are shit’.
Grant Robertson’s promise however to make sure the Banking Oligarch’s perverse grip on predatory loans & price gouging fees will be more stable than ever is hardly cheery.