Claire Trevett, if her article in the Weekend Herald is anything to go by, seems to think Labour are still in the game. I hate to give her the bad news re Chippie, but the chips are down and the man and his party are gone-burgers. She says the days of Ardern’s relentless positivity are gone. I don’t recall relentless positivity but I do recall relentless lies. Claire says the PM is not afraid to make going negative a positive. In which case he no doubt thinks the CTU ads are a positive.
The reality is he can be as negative or as positive as he likes as it’s not going to affect the outcome of the election. The man is toast and will be burnt on October 14. The element of surprise, trying to extract votes using teeth, didn’t work out well. Even the reaction from those on the left was akin to telling him to wash his mouth out. Most people are now focusing on what the new government will look like.
The old saying from the 1500s that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, is very applicable in this election. It’s a stark choice. A bunch of wombles wombling around Molesworth Street or a government that can get the country out of the economic mess it finds itself in. The truth is the current lot should never have been in power. They lost the 2017 election in terms of the number of votes cast and in 2020 they got re-elected by different means. That was Ardern threatening not just death but death by a thousand cuts if her lies weren’t followed. Tell me of any positives in that.
There’s a landslide coming taking the rubble down with it. The economic wreckage and debris won’t be cleared overnight but at least the right machinery (a National/ACT coalition) will be in place to start the cleanup process. Claire says Hipkins has made his strategy obvious: he will boast about what Labour has done (like what?) and remind people of the situations it had to deal with (but failed), despite National’s attempts to pretend Covid-19 and the floods never happened. Eh?
Where did she get that idea from? National are well aware they happened and are also aware decisive action will be needed to help people who, months later, have had little or no assistance. Claire commented on Hipkins announcing he would not be picking up that long spoon to sup with the devil again and ruled out any governing arrangement with NZ First. Like most of this government’s attempts to look like they were doing something of note, it was a pointless exercise as Winston had already ruled him out.
According to the latest Roy Morgan poll, Claire’s scribbling was in vain. It has Labour on just 24%. Hipkins has been in government from the start and in some pretty influential positions, including Covid Minister. Despite his now saying a jab was optional, I don’t recall that being so at the time. Bribes were offered, and I think there was a threat of people being ‘hunted down’. He has overseen the bloating of the Public Service when Minister and, as Police Minister, he oversaw an unprecedented increase in crime. In his time as Minister of Education barely half the students were at school.
Hipkins has proved himself to be a multi-pronged disaster. He came in as PM and his first act was to reduce a lot of Ardern’s policies to cinders by lighting a bonfire. I’m not sure what happened to it but maybe all the rain lately put it out. It was a lame attempt to look like a new broom, but the only result is his broom will be used to sweep him out of office. He will be bristling at the result.
Claire can do her best to keep the Labour home fires burning but the reality is the majority of voters didn’t come down in the last shower. That said, they will be raining on Labour’s parade on October 14th. For those of us on the winning side, the fireworks start at 7 pm on the night. Let’s hope the popcorn doesn’t run out.
