Ex-political reporter Patrick Gower has been let down by the Coalition government which has not delivered all the change it had promised and that he had predicted they would deliver.
Former Newshub political editor Patrick Gower has revealed the worst call he has ever made in his career.
On October 19, 2017, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters announced, as the election’s king-maker, that he would form a Government with Labour – ending National’s nine years in power.
Peters said keeping National on top would have meant a “modified status quo” versus creating “change” with Labour, who would give capitalism back “its human face”.
Gower, Newshub’s political editor at the time, said the new Government could be summed up with one word: “Change”.
“Change – complete change. The new Government will totally change New Zealand’s politics and its economy,” Gower wrote in an opinion piece.
But Gower, who admitted he was “excited and hopeful” at the time, has now revealed that that call was the “worst” he has ever made.
[…] “I apologise to everyone who saw it and read it, because we see it is patently not true.”
Gower then goes on to list the promised changes that never eventuated.
- Drastic immigration cut by up to 30,000,
- The government building 100,000 homes
- Foreign buyers being banned from obtaining homes and farms
What New Zealand got instead, immigration-wise, was a net gain of 70,700 compared to October 2016. As for building 100,000 homes, so far the grand total is only 119 which is 881 short of the promised 1000 homes meant to have been built by July 1st.
A capital gains tax was also ruled out – something supporters of the Government believed would dramatically change New Zealand’s tax system.
Newshub
