Unlike Mike Munro, who has Chris Hipkins as the PM for the next four years with the election in the bag, Bruce Cotterill in his article asks whether he is a man of action or a man of words. Bruce describes Hipkins as a good communicator, sharp, witty and likeable. He notes these qualities are already influencing the first political polls giving the Government a much-needed bounce. According to Bruce, those communication skills and public relations skills will be needed because he has a hell of a mess to clean up and some explaining to do.
I agree. Bruce writes that Chippy carries on the tradition of his predecessor, in that, despite the inadequacy of his track record, he is now the PM. Bruce goes on to say that as Minister of Police Hipkins oversaw a level of public lawlessness that is new to us. His big idea was fog cannons and having announced it he then realised we didn’t have enough of them. Bruce says instead of playing hardball with the crims, our solution is to wait until they start robbing the store and then blow smoke in their faces.
This announcing before ordering has been done before, Bruce says. As Covid Minister, Hipkins told the country we were first in the queue for vaccines when we weren’t.
We should also not forget his harsh and heartless treatment of people like pregnant Charlotte Bellis and others who were not allowed to see dying family members. Bruce notes that while Hipkins was Minister of Education we learned that almost half of our children weren’t going to school regularly and our educational achievements are worse than ever.
Bruce goes on to talk about the current unpopular policies he might scrap. He mentions the media merger which has subsequently been scrapped. Quite rightly, Bruce is critical of the outrageous sums of money spent on projects, $70 million on the business case for light rail alone and $52 million of consulting fees on the bike bridge. Bruce says this is spending that many well-qualified people suggested was neither necessary nor justified in the first instance.
As taxpayers, Bruce says, many, but by no means all of us, contribute between 20 and 39 per cent of our income to enable these people to run the country. He says it is downright disrespectful to those taxpayers to spend a whole lot of money, many tens of millions in these cases, only to put politically indigestible policies on hold in an election year.
He notes that Labour’s desire to splash the cash means we borrow a billion dollars weekly.
Bruce quotes the Finance Minister as repeatedly saying our books are no worse than those of other countries. The answer from Bruce is: “That doesn’t make it right.” He says, simply put, it’s like not worrying about your $1 million dollar mortgage because your neighbour owes $1.5m. Bruce also notes the war chest has been emptied, its contents largely spent over the last five years by the sixth Labour Government on Covid-19 and a range of unnecessary projects. He says Hipkins has been one of the architects of that miserable outcome.
Two contrasting opinions on the same topic. The first fanciful, the second factual. They amply illustrate the mental processes of the left and right, especially on economic policy. The left is driven by ideology and a lack of economic understanding, while the right takes a more realistic approach, having a better grasp of the subject at hand.
On that basis, from my perspective, where to put your vote is not that difficult.
