> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Money Does Not Grow On Trees and nor Does Experience - URL: https://goodoil.news/money-does-not-grow-on-trees-and-nor-does-experience/ - Published: 2026-11-02T21:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-02T21:00:04.000Z - Description: You must also grow the basket if you want an economy that provides both structural and social stability. - Author: Guest Post - Tags: NZ Politics, Election 2026 **LilBaP** Christopher Luxon ran Air New Zealand and, before that, part of Unilever. A solid record, though the conditions were favourable. He still talks as if he is running a company. Managing cabinet, coalition partners and a public service is a different job. Many have suggested he simply ignores other ideas, lacks stage presence or basic dignity for the job. You cannot do that when you are prime minister. Political experience takes a while. Anyone who has read my articles knows I’m not an advocate for the India FTA, UNDRIP, Waitangi Tribunal or climate cultism so I’m definitely not pushing for Luxon or National. However, even with these negatives, compared with the Greens and the Opportunity Party, he is already streets ahead. Maybe he could pick up a trick or two from the wily old fox Winston Peters, who has spent decades inside the actual system of government. Winston Peters has the longest track record of senior government roles. He has been treasurer, foreign affairs minister and deputy prime minister more than once. That is real executive experience inside the system that actually has to be run. He did manual work and practised law earlier in life but the bulk of his career has been politics. It is still not the same as running a commercial enterprise with external capital and a profit test. In this term, though, NZ First has built a more capable team behind him. That is a start. David Seymour trained as an engineer and spent time in policy research before entering parliament. He now holds significant ministerial roles, including regulation and deputy prime minister. That combination of technical background and government responsibility is more relevant than pure activism. He knows the data and the stats. Their fiscal policies suggest restraint – still that is not the same as running a major commercial business. In recent times he does seem to be more at ease in fronting to the public – that comes from experience. Nicola Willis worked in management roles at Fonterra before becoming finance minister. That gives her more private-sector exposure than most of her colleagues. The results since she took the finance portfolio have been less flattering: recession, unemployment rising from 3.9 per cent to 5.6 per cent and large operating deficits. A role at a multi-billion-dollar company is still not the same as running a country already in debt and her Fonterra positions were not in finance. Chris Hipkins has spent almost his entire career inside government. He held major portfolios including education, police and the Covid response, then became prime minister. The outcomes during his time in those roles were all poor. Under his watch regular school attendance fell. On Covid vaccinations for under-17s he was the minister responsible while the risk-benefit questions were already being raised. Years later he said he had been completely unaware of the concerns and that the decision had been made by someone else. He has also denied that his government mandated vaccinations for workers. That denial is on public record. Readers can judge for themselves whether his version matches reality. Again a long time in the system is not the same as a strong track record. Barbara Edmonds worked in tax policy at Inland Revenue and advised ministers from both major parties. She had brief stints as a minister in 2023\. Her background is public administration and policy. There is little evidence of commercial management at any scale. Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi of Te Pāti Māori have held iwi and community roles. Ngarewa-Packer has had executive positions in iwi organisations and local government. Waititi’s documented work is mainly in education, Whānau Ora and relationship management. Public records do not show large-scale commercial results or accountability that comes with a profit-and-loss statement. Then there are the Greens and the Opportunity Party. Chlöe Swarbrick started a clothing label while at university. It operated for a few years and then closed. She was also involved in a café and gallery and worked in venue marketing. These were small commercial ventures. There is no public evidence of sustained profitability, material employee numbers or lasting commercial success. A clothing label that closed is not the same as a balance sheet that stays open. She has her eyes on becoming finance minister. The recent exchange on government debt interest rates raises questions about how prepared she is for that role. Marama Davidson’s path is further from any commercial test. She worked at the Human Rights Commission and chaired panels on family violence before entering parliament. As a minister she had responsibility for the prevention of family and sexual violence and for homelessness as associate housing minister. The auditor-general criticised the slow progress and poor coordination of the family-violence strategy. The public-housing waiting list ballooned during her time. Davidson herself said her associate role lacked the authority to do more. That is a record of ministerial time with weak results, not of organisational leadership under external pressure. Qiulae Wong of the Opportunity Party co-founded a small fashion-industry platform. Companies’ filings show the business averaged five to seven employees, including directors. She later led a nonprofit and worked as a KPMG associate director on sustainability. She became party leader after the vacancy was advertised on Seek. There is no evidence of running or keeping a significant organisation profitable. Opportunity’s five bottom lines look moderate enough to sound electable. Their larger platform – land tax, Citizen’s Income, compulsory higher KiwiSaver and Citizens’ Assemblies – remain on the shelf. That is a chameleon act: they show a milder version in public while keeping the radical version ready for later. It is harder to spot than open activism but it is the difference between what is said and what is actually intended. Some political actors are easy to read. Others are harder – especially when the language is mild, the smile is convincing and the other agendas stay off centre stage. The Greens, Opportunity and Te Pāti Māori come from activism, small ventures and radical policy work. They produce plenty of ‘word salads’ about sharing benefits and green work and the likes. Experience does help, but it is not the only prerequisite. The alternative is to keep treating politics as an extension of activism or policy seminars and hope the numbers look after themselves – they will not. The majority of a party’s policies should fit with your beliefs – there is unlikely to be any one party that meets you on every issue. The decision at the ballot box is not just about the personalities. This time it is also about which coalition you are choosing – one that sits on the right or one that sits on the left. The people in those coalitions bring vastly different records and agendas with them. You will decide which matters to you. For me, the practical path is the one that already has some of the pieces in place: the wily old fox who knows how the system actually works and is building a stronger team, the engineer who has practical reasoning and statistical nous and someone who has managed to keep these partners together without too much fuss – at least until electioneering began. Not perfect by any means. Maybe NZ First’s Craig Stobo in a finance position could be a successful balance alongside Seymour’s fiscal restraint. That sounds a whole lot better than what has been offered in recent times. Money does not grow on trees but, along with not letting the fruit go to waste, you must also grow the basket if you want an economy that provides both structural and social stability.