So, Chris Hipkins has performed a reverse ferret of sorts on some key policies. But there hasn’t been any indication of any willingness to abandon other important policies, yet. But are the reversals really reversals, or have they just parked the policies hoping for a win in October and then they’ll all be back on the agenda?
Well, I think it is the latter. Chris Hipkins announced what the media termed as four U-turns.
- RNZ/TVNZ merger – scrapped
- Compulsory Unemployment Insurance – delayed
- Biofuels mandate – scrapped
- Hate speech laws – referred to Law Commission.
That isn’t four U-turns, that is two U-turns and two delays or treading water on those policies. There is still no decision yet on two big ticket items and perhaps the most contentious, Three Waters and Auckland Light Rail.
The RNZ/TVNZ merger was a sitter for being scrapped. Several ministers have tried and failed to make that work. But there was no sound business rationale for the merger and, at best, idealistic reasons for the merger. This was an obnoxious policy platform that essentially sought to create a Kiwi version of Pravda, a massive state-funded propaganda outfit, under the direct control of the government of the day. It was supposed to combine a public broadcaster and a commercial broadcaster into an entity which would be neither, and inevitably do both things badly.
Contrary to statements from various ministers, notably from Willie Jackson, the merger was likely to reduce media diversity not increase it. Sensible business-focused ministers would have privatised both, and put in place legislative safeguards for access to the networks in times of emergency. It would have cost almost nothing to do that and earned the Crown some dollars from the sale. The costs of the project were massive, a reported cost of $3 billion over thirty years. That was never going to be sustainable.
The Biofuels mandate was ridiculous and expensive virtue signalling in the extreme. We are already suffering grain shortages worldwide and in New Zealand, and to divert enough grain so that it could be turned into biofuels would remove enough grain from the market to feed 1.9 billion people for a year. These sorts of policies have failed everywhere in the world and have achieved even less.
This now brings us to the two policies that are not reversals; they are simply parked until Labour wins the next election.
The Compulsory Unemployment Insurance is an ideological burp from Labour, but one that they are wedded to. They really, really want to implement this but have acknowledged that right now it is electoral poison. It would have seen the largest tax increase in a generation at $3.5 billion annually. It would have reduced family incomes by almost 3% with take home pay for some couples dropping $70 a week. Not a good policy to take into an election during a cost of living crisis. It, as planned, is highly regressive, giving four times as much money to high income earners as someone on the median wage and would pay people up to $400 a day for six months to not get a job. But make no mistake, they will do this given half a chance.
Contrary to the claims by the grifters at the Free Speech Union, the Hate Speech Laws have not been axed, they’ve been sent to the wombles at the Law Commission so they can keep the policy in the warming drawer to be pulled out after the election, should Chris Hipkins perform a miracle. This policy was anathema to free speech and very extreme. It would have criminalised legitimate criticism of religions, treated people’s religious beliefs (something people choose to have) the same as innate characteristics such as race, colour and sex. Plus it would have had a chilling effect on speech as activists would use the law to try and get Police investigations of people they disagree with, just like what has happened in every jurisdiction that has implemented such draconian policies. This policy is sitting there waiting for Labour to win then it is all back on.
The hate speech law reversal is the one I am most disappointed and annoyed with. I was looking forward to nailing the Greens for antisemitism. It would have been awesome to show them how stupid they are. They don’t think hate speech applies to them.
As you can see only two of these are reversals. Two are on hold until Labour and their fellow travellers on the hard left get another go at them.
It is up to us to ensure they don’t.
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