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The legacy media is in full panic mode this week. Two coordinated hit pieces on the coalition’s fuel response landed on the same day – one from the Spinoff, one from the Post. Both missed the point entirely. Here’s why.
📌 Key Points
- 📰 Simon Wilson at the Spinoff published “The many ways our government is failing in its response to the fuel crisis” – a laundry list of statist “solutions” that would cost billions and solve nothing
- 📰 Janet Wilson at the Post published “Luxon parades his lack of political instincts” – a personal attack dressed up as analysis
- 🔴 Simon Wilson’s proposed interventions are textbook central planning – impractical, unfunded and disconnected from how energy markets actually work
- 🔴 Janet Wilson was formerly the media trainer for National MPs – a commission she lost some time ago. Her “analysis” reads like a grudge, not journalism
- ⛽ The fuel crisis stems from the Strait of Hormuz blockade – a global supply shock, not a domestic policy failure
- 🏛️ Luxon and Willis have cautioned that economic effects will continue even with a ceasefire – responsible messaging, not a “lack of instincts”
- 📊 The latest TPU-Curia poll shows the coalition comfortably placed to form government – the “crisis” narrative doesn’t match the data
🎯 What It Means
- ✅ The media is trying to pin a global energy shock on a government that’s been in office for two years – ignoring Labour’s decade of failure on energy resilience
- ✅ Simon Wilson’s “solutions” would require massive state intervention in energy markets – the same approach that created the problem in the first place
- ✅ Janet Wilson’s piece reveals more about her personal bitterness than Luxon’s political skills – she’s channelling Helen Clark’s post-PM resentment
- ✅ Neither piece offers a single credible, costed alternative – it’s pure attack with zero substance
🔥 Why It’s Important
- This is a coordinated media play to shift blame for a global crisis onto the coalition – and voters can see through it
- Simon Wilson represents the ivory-tower left: theoretical solutions from people who’ve never had to balance a budget or run a supply chain
- Janet Wilson represents the discarded insider class: former operatives who lost their access and now weaponise their media platforms to settle scores
- Both are relics of a bygone media era – trying to manufacture relevance in a landscape that has moved on
- The public is increasingly choosing independent media over legacy outlets for exactly this reason
⏭️ What Next
- Watch for more coordinated attacks as the November 7 election approaches – the media knows its narrative window is closing
- The ceasefire between the US and Iran is fragile – if it holds, fuel prices drop and the coalition’s ‘steady hand’ messaging is vindicated
- If it collapses, the structural resilience question becomes even more critical – and Labour’s record of zero investment in energy security becomes the real story
- Keep an eye on whether mainstream outlets pick up Wilson’s framing – that’s the ‘trading up the chain’ play in action
📎 Sources
The Spinoff – Simon Wilson · The Post – Janet Wilson · RNZ – Luxon/Willis on ceasefire
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