The Tip of the Iceberg

The PM continues her arrogant refusal to meet protesters and to show the leadership that goes with her position.  She is a coward, and supercilious with it.  Sadly, she is not alone.  Chris Luxon, as leader of the opposition, should surely be an opposing voice?  Is his agreement with the PM’s stance going to win or lose him support?  Will the Party faithful agree with him, or will he lose votes as a result of being, as some have suggested in Facebook comments, spineless?  Has a numbers man made a miscalculation?

“National leader Christopher Luxon has backed the prime minister’s decision to avoid protesters outside Parliament, saying he too would not negotiate with them.    Luxon said the matter was further complicated by the diverse range of groups and interests involved and the lack of defined leadership.”

“Luxon told media it was difficult to engage with the group given their “anti-social, abusive” behaviour.”

“They range from white supremacists to Maori separatists and everything in-between … anti-authority through to anti-vaccination to anti-mandate.”  

Christopher Luxon supports Jacinda Ardern’s refusal to meet with Parliament protesters (msn.com)

Surely this is the very point? It is a protest of many faces and they are not all anti-anything but pro many things denied to them, like jobs and the freedom to have a coffee or take the kids for a swim at the local pool.  That Christopher Luxon sees it as a single issue for a distinct group is beyond comprehension.

There is no one group of people who feel disenfranchised, but a broad cross-section of the New Zealand public who are concerned enough to forgo personal comfort and camp in a soggy, difficult environment made worse by the very people who have been elected to represent them and their interests.

How the arrogance of the entire group of elected representatives can continue to accept and endorse a political stand-off is inexcusable.  They are literally hiding behind the PM’s skirts.  This is not why we elected them; this is not what we expect of them.

“National’s Covid-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop [this morning] told reporters the full caucus had agreed not to meet or engage with the protesters.”

“Look out the window: You can see signs in chalk that say ‘hang ’em high’,” Bishop said.

“I don’t seriously understand how [protesters] can expect MPs to go and engage with people who want to lynch us.”

Christopher Luxon supports Jacinda Ardern’s refusal to meet with Parliament protesters (msn.com)

So where are those signs?  People, who want to lynch you?  Show us?  Otherwise, we simply don’t believe you.  There have been dozens upon dozens of images of peaceful protesters, some with banners of peaceful words, not one that wants to hang anyone high as Chris Bishop attests, or as the PM said, “There are signs down there calling for the death of politicians.”

Neither the PM’s nor Christopher Luxon’s nor Chris Bishop’s comments are backed up by any evidence.  Wouldn’t you take a pic or two of those, if they existed, and post them –  if they were, in fact, real and not trumped up?

The protest is not confined to those brave souls in Wellington with their peaceful signs.  There have been tens of thousands who lined the highways and overpass bridges in support.

It is the support for the protesters with resources of all kinds, of food and clothes and hot showers and so much more.  It is the support taking place in many other ways in many other places and not just by gatherings but by personal choices.  I received a copy of an email message to a local National Party Branch from a long-time member resigning his membership.

“Dear Robert* and Jean* (not their real names)

I am sincerely disappointed with the very poor and gutless leadership shown by Chris Luxon and his team during this current fight for some basic rights and freedom.

I have decided, that despite 50 years of National Party support and membership, to tender my resignation as a member of the party.

Right now, I should be considered a floating voter with no love for the labour lite party that I have always so vehemently defended.

I regret having to take this decision and it is done after much soul searching.

I wish you well

Thanks and regards.

John*”

And another from Frances*.

“Someone should be talking to the protesters because they are 1) demonstrating dissatisfaction with Govt, 2) are entitled to protest, and 3) are voters.  I am so pissed off with Luxon’s apparent sympathy with the co-governance/ Te Tiriti bullshit – I’m about to send them my cut-up membership card.”

Party faithfuls’, lost to the Party – and who will their votes go to?  They are not alone, as other comments made to me endorse these statements.

ACT lost support some time ago when David Seymour too became a Labour Party supporter and is now making ridiculous calls for conditions to be met before dialogue can take place.

And therein lies the problem – how do John* and Frances* vote, in the absence of a Party to vote for? There is a party vacuum that has been created by naïve and reckless political behaviours.  The still wet-behind-the-ears leader of the National Party is going to have to do some significant remedial work if he is to recover from this.  Clearly, he considers it the right path to take, but the pick-a-path choices were right there for him, and he simply followed Jacinda into the wilderness of refusal and arrogance.

A former Northland MP, the brave and intelligent Matt King, is on the ground talking to protesters.  He does care.  He too has resigned from the National Party, a move that significantly changes his life.  He was a committed, extremely hard-working and unfailingly available MP in the years 2017 to 2020 and remains as available and hard-working today.  He is greatly missed.

Matt King is a man of integrity, of honour and has the courage to stand by his convictions.  He is the sole voice of reason from a political quarter, and it is ironic that although no longer an MP, he is still regarded by many as having huge political dynamism.  The National Party and his Northland electorate are all much worse off without him.  And there he is, in the quagmire of ducky’s pond, talking and reasoning, and promoting peaceful, non-violent behaviour.  The PM could bring Matt in as a mediator and do herself a favour.  But she won’t, of course.  She is blinded by hubris.

Will the National Party behaviour gain or lose it voter support?  Despite the loss of John and Frances and many like them, the latest poll does show Christopher Luxon pulling ahead of Labour and so it may work for him over time.

“Ardern rose one point in the preferred prime minister ranking, to 39 percent, while Chris Luxon rose 11 points to 29 per cent.  A new political poll has the gap between the Left and Right blocs narrowing, with both Labour and National at the expense of the Greens and Act.”

“The poll also has Jacinda Ardern as the country’s preferred Prime Minister, however National’s Christopher Luxon has narrowed the gap significantly.  The Curia poll for February has Labour – up 1 percentage point – t 42 per cent, just four points ahead of National on 38 per cent.  National gained 5 percentage points on January.”  

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/curia-political-poll-national-closes-gap-to-labour-with-minor-parties-losing-ground/

However Christopher Luxon’s statement “National leader Christopher Luxon has backed the prime minister’s decision to avoid protesters outside Parliament, saying he too would not negotiate with them” will be remembered by many who may reconsider their support for his tone-deaf refusal to act like a leader, to choose to support the people and to be an effective and meaningful opposition.