Heather du Plessis-Allan thinks Grant Robertson was a great bloke, but a poor Finance Minister. I’m not sure he was what I’d call a great bloke, but she’s right, he was a poor finance minister.
Commentators find it difficult to criticise Grant Robertson. It’s because pretty much everyone likes him.
So let’s get that out of the way. Grant Robertson is a great bloke. He is fiercely funny, generous and loyal to his mates. He’s the kind of guy you enjoy having a beer with. He will never again have a beer with me after this column, I suspect.
NZ Herald
I’m not one of those commentators. I have never liked him. I always thought he believed, (falsely it turns out), that he was the epitome of Machiavellian politicians. Except he wasn’t. Sure, he thought he was all that and a bag of chips, but in reality he was lazy and not particularly bright. He was just slightly brighter than the average dolt inside Labour.
He’s also a very canny politician. Possibly one of the smartest of his generation. He’s enough down to earth to be liked by voters from the other side, enough of a populist to know what wins elections, the kind of rare strategic thinker to know exactly how to pull off a stunt, and the kind of brilliant debater who strikes devastating blows on the other team.
NZ Herald
Yeah, Nah. You know how I know he’s not smart? His little games never actually worked and his strategies to ascend to leader always failed. I remember once a Labour snitch telling me it was him who set up David Shearer to appear in parliament holding up two dead fish. It was all part of Grant’s plan to become leader. He is said to have propped his feet up on the desk and exclaimed that all he had to do to become leader after that cunning stunt was to sit back and wait. Well, he’s still waiting.
But he was a terrible Finance Minister.
Robertson took the Government’s net debt from $5 billion in 2019 to a projected $93b this year.
Taking on that debt wasn’t his crime, because debt itself isn’t a bad thing.
His crime was he frittered those billions away on nothing.
A fraction of it he spent admirably, on saving businesses and jobs during Covid. But those Covid payments cost us a total of only $20b. That accounts for only 23 per cent of the debt he racked up. What did he spend the remaining 77 per cent on?
What can we point to and say ‘Grant paid for that’?
His response to Covid was fine but no more. He pumped out money, fast. That’s not hard. It also wasn’t novel. It was an orthodox response. Australia announced its Covid support payments nearly a week before ours. Canada did it. The UK did it. South Korea did it, etc.
Pointing to the ratings agencies as a measure of Grant’s success as a Finance Minister — as Chris Hipkins has this week — is silly. Part of what the ratings agencies measure is our debt levels. That’s what keeps them happy. Even now that Grant has blown our debt out, it’s still low by global comparisons because previous finance ministers, who were actually good at their jobs, kept it low.
Again, the crime is not that our debt went up, it’s that he blew it out with nothing to show for it. Having a moderately sized mortgage isn’t bad, as long as you have a house to show for it. We don’t have a house.
Some have tried to blame Grant’s Cabinet colleagues for the profligate spending of the sixth Labour Government. Nup. It’s still his fault. Every Finance Minister in history has had colleagues demanding dollars. Bad finance ministers say yes. Good ones say no. Robertson said yes.
He said yes to Michael Wood’s bike bridge, which is the perfect example of wasteful spending. It was a stupid idea. It cost us more than $51m in consultants and rented office space. Then it was canned. We spent money and we have nothing to show for it.
The implications are serious. We now don’t have enough money to pay the nurses their backpay or the police the pay rise they’re due. Or the GPs.
Robertson has the ignominy this week of commentators on the right asking “Who was the worst Finance Minister: Grant Robertson or Sir Robert Muldoon”?
That’s unfair to Muldoon. At least we got something for the vast amounts of money he spent. The Clyde dam, the expansion of Marsden Point, the synthetic petrol plant at Motunui.
At least we can point to an actual structure and say Muldoon bought that.
Grant left nothing. Not even an idea.
NZ Herald
And now Grant Robertson has gone from the best job anyone in Labour has ever had, except the Prime Ministership, and gone to the best job he will EVER have, getting paid more than the Prime Minister, to lead a debt-ridden, poorly performing university.
I shudder to think what his prescription for success will look like on the university’s books by the time he finishes up that sinecure position.
Grant Robertson was way worse than Muldoon because at least Muldoon left a legacy which, ironically for all those who opposed his Think Big projects, now powers their electric smug-mobiles.
I suspect many commentators like Grant Robertson too much to truly call it. He wasn’t a great Finance Minister. Not even close.
NZ Herald
Yep, I was saying that the day he quit…and for months before. He was a bad Finance Minister and an economic saboteur.
Help Keep The BFD Alive
Expenses are growing, ad revenue is shrinking. Things have to change otherwise we will need to cut services. We don’t want to have to do that. It’s really up to you.
- For security reasons, credit card donations require Javascript. Please enable Javascript in your browser before continuing.
Your Donation
Your Recurring Donation
Donation Period *
Your One-Time Donation
Details First Name * Last Name * Email * Address Address 2 City State Postcode Country Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belau Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo (Brazzaville) Congo (Kinshasa) Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba CuraÇao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Republic of Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Pakistan Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Martin (Dutch part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia/Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom (UK) United States (US) Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican Venezuela Vietnam Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Western Samoa Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Phone Number Payment Name on Card * .StripeElement { border: 1px solid #ccc; padding: 1em; } #charitable_stripe_card_errors { color: #eb1c26; font-size: .8em; margin: .5em 0 0 0; } Credit/Debit Card Donate
Please share this article so others can discover The BFD.
