Well, not in those exact words. What he did say in the headline to his opinion piece in the Weekend Herald was “Full credit to the Labour team – they deserve it”. A more appropriate headline might have been ‘No credit to the Labour team – they didn’t deserve it’. They deserved what they got, which was a good old-fashioned ‘first past the post’ spanking. The electorate scoreboard reads something like National 45, Labour 17. They were well and truly penalised for being offside with the voters.
Mike points out that it is entirely predictable what the incoming government will initially talk about. It will take the form of ‘What a neglectful and wasteful lot they were; they had years to get on top of these problems; they’ve been sitting on their hands and we’ve been left with a big fix-up job, but thank goodness we’re up for it.’ How right he is. It’s just a pity he doesn’t believe it himself.
Mike talks about how much has been recounted re the scale of the defeat and references the-wise-after-the-event brigade who can see clearly now the election is done and dusted. He doesn’t acknowledge the-before-the-event brigade such as Sir Bob Jones and others who predicted this outcome a year ago. Evidently the government had wins (Mike has the grace to say some were modest) and the incoming government will benefit. What planet is dear old Mike on?
First up on Mike’s list is the economy, which, unbeknown to most of us, has turned a corner. He thinks Christopher Luxon might get lucky with a soft landing. Not according to the article I received from the United States that said inflation is set to dog the global economy through 2024. Never mind, supposedly the economy is in good shape and we have avoided a recession and that is all down to one man: the CEO of Robbo’s Removals, Grant Robertson.
Mike lauds his efforts with the public purse spending billions supporting us through Covid and the after effects of Cyclone Gabrielle. The reality is Grant’s spending created his own economic cyclone, and used the Covid pandemic as the excuse. By contrast he was very slow to react to assisting with the aftermath of the weather event. Mike says even the health sector gets a “doing better” verdict. I’ll just say that’s a sick plaudit and leave it at that.
Despite James Shaw’s frustrations over slow progress with climate change, Mike implies this is another win for Labour, with emissions down. In the next breath he says how much credit the government can take is a moot point as electricity generators accounted for most of the reductions. He talks about the passing of the Zero Carbon Act and introducing the Emissions Reduction Plan. What he omits to say is how Labour did their best to eliminate the rural sector by imposing ridiculous regulations on it.
Mike mentions the free trade agreements with the UK and the EU. He says the UK one is gold standard but fails to elucidate the fact the EU one is a dog. Housing is another win to be chalked up. Mike thinks National can build on Labour’s efforts and says wouldn’t it be ironic if a National Minister of Housing is invited to cut the ribbon on the 5000th KiwiBuild home. Nothing like trying to take the credit for your own failure. All of this is such pathetic pitiful tosh.
And finally, what about the kindest epitaph for the defeated government? Mike thinks the fair-pay measure might’ve been the most true-to-Labour thing they did. Even if it is short lived, he laments. A truer epitaph might be – Labour 2017–2023: the worst government in our lifetime. Avoided accountability and hard work. Transparent liars, bullies, cowards, racists, dividers, incompetents and economic destroyers. Received their just desserts, courtesy of a profound public posterial punishment from the voters.
RIP – Redundant In Parliament.
