Christopher Luxon
National Party leader
You may have seen on the news this week that there was a protest at Parliament which, while far shorter and more orderly than the occupation earlier this year, had similarly ill-defined aims.
After the protest, I was asked by the media about National forming a government with the support of any of the parties at the protest. In response, I made one key point that I also want to make absolutely explicit to everyone who wants to see an end to this Labour Government whose legacy will be lots of spin and no delivery, wasteful spending, centralisation and control, divisive identity politics and outcomes going backwards. That was: if you want to change the government at the next election, party vote National.
No message can be clearer than that and you’ll get sick of hearing it from me in 2023! We don’t need complicated theories about strategic voting. Two ticks blue. It couldn’t be simpler.
While visiting Timaru, I met about 40 students from Roncalli College, Timaru Boys’ High and Geraldine High. We talked about leadership, careers and politics and I was delighted by the lovely waiata from these Roncalli pupils when they welcomed me to their school.
It’s far too soon to be talking about ruling people in or out – even if I disagree with much of what they say. We don’t even have an election date!
National’s MPs are busy talking about Labour’s failure to deliver, and about National’s policies to take the country forward. My only interest in talking about election outcomes is that New Zealand can’t afford to have another term of Labour. (See above!)
Right now, what’s more important is the day-to-day failures of the Labour government. In 2017, Jacinda Ardern campaigned vigorously on health, education, housing and homelessness, especially children living in cars. And after five years in power, it’s clearer by the day that the Government was then, and is now, all spin and no delivery.
So how are they tracking on their promises?
Our education system is failing too many Kiwi kids. Less than half of all children are attending school regularly, and just a third of those who took a new NCEA literacy and numeracy assessment last year passed. It’s an appalling failure. Given this, it is astonishing Labour is now considering cutting funding to support 3,000 senior teaching roles (despite adding more than 10,000 bureaucrats!). You can hear more from Erica Stanford on this, here.
In health, Dr Shane Reti’s questioning of Health Minister Andrew Little revealed that more than 540 people have been forced to wait more than 24 hours in hospital emergency departments – in just one month. Labour is wasting billions of dollars on a mass-centralisation of our health system, while Kiwis are being denied healthcare.
You know all about Labour’s promise to build 100,000 KiwiBuild homes in 10 years. (You get the impression Labour liked choosing a 100,000 target because it sounded big and round, even if it bore no relationship to their ability to realistically achieve it.) They’ve built 1.4 per cent of those houses in five years.
Finally, there is the problem of kids living in cars and here is a short video of Jacinda Ardern who said this would not be acceptable under her watch, combined with a One News report from just last week about the fourfold increase of kids now living in cars under a Labour Government.
Naturally, I take no delight in poverty getting worse, but National’s job is to hold the Government to account, and that’s what we’re doing.
National is more ambitious for our young people – we’ll back them and give them the help they need to make the most of their lives. I’ve made a short video talking about our Welfare that Works policy which targets support to young people on a benefit, but also ends the free ride for those that don’t take active steps towards getting a job. It’s here.
My weeks involve regular media appearances, not all of them as much fun as being with Hilary and Fitzy on The Breeze in Christchurch. Fitzy and I went to school in Christchurch.
In other news, National supported the election this week of Adrian Rurawhe as the 31st Speaker of Parliament. He’s already made clear his commitment to ensuring Parliament’s debating chamber is a place where the Government is held to account for its actions. I hope the chamber once again becomes a place of vigorous debate that, at the very least, will keep awake those of you who follow it!
Wishing you all a great weekend,
Christopher
