Two articles in the Weekend Herald caught my attention. One was written by Mike Munro, a former chief of staff for Jacinda Ardern and press secretary for Helen Clark. The other was by Bruce Cotterill, a company director and advisor to business leaders.
The articles unsurprisingly, were Chalk and Cheese. They were both written with reference to the Labour Party but from different perspectives. They were both worth keeping but for different reasons. Cotterill’s was so good it demanded a second read whereas Munro’s was fit only for an emergency when you’ve run out of Purex.
Munro’s contribution was all about getting down and dirty in an election year. You know, rolling around in the brown stuff Wayne Brown is desperately trying to extricate Auckland from. He says: that’s politics, folks. It certainly is when it comes to the tactics of the left. That’s all they know. It’s disgusting and shows up these people for who they are. Fighting dirty, unintelligent, less than honest and obsessed with control.
Munro’s article, as I’ve intimated above, shows the true colours of the left’s win-at-all-costs mentality. There was some balance with reference to that other unwarranted award recipient Nicky Hager and his grubby exposing of John Key and SIS documents released to Cameron Slater.
He talked about Mike Williams and his fruitless flight to Melbourne to dig up dirt on John Key. That just illustrates to what lengths they’re prepared to go. It’s reminiscent of what‘s happening with the left in America. Get Trump at all costs. He referenced that Megan Woods had read The Handmaid’s Tale, which she then used incorrectly to smear a National policy plank.
By contrast, Cotterill bemoans the lack of talent on the government benches, particularly in the ministerial ranks, with a mention of Michael Wood and Jan Tinetti. In both cases, he questions their capability and judgement. He says these are the reasons, along with lack of experience, that the government has no answers to the swathe of problems the country is now facing including policing, education, health, mental health, transport, infrastructure and financial stability.
Cotterill makes the point that under first-past-the-post a person had to win an electorate to get into Parliament. Now you only need to find favour within a comparatively small group of people: the hierarchy of your preferred political party. If your personal ‘admin skills’ are up to managing relationships with such people, your prize will be a high place on the party list and your entry into Parliament is thereafter largely a given, regardless of your capability or judgment.
The Beehive website informs us that the new acting Transport Minister has been a volunteer firefighter, a Work and Income case manager and a bookie at the TAB. Coterill says that must be why he’s Minister of Racing. However, he notes, that doesn’t equip you for the multibillion-dollar transport portfolio. He would like us to aspire to be better.
Bruce Cotterill would like a Minister of Health who has run a major hospital. A Minister of Defence who led troops in Iraq. A Minister of Education who has run the country’s best school. A Minister of Finance with strong economic and accounting fundamentals. A Minister of Transport who has made billion-dollar decisions in an earlier career.
But he opines: THE CUPBOARD IS BARE.
Indeed it is. The current crop of indolent no-hopers is incapable of fulfilling Cotterill’s wishes. I am aware that, in Denmark, when there is no one is suitable for a particular role they bring in an outside person with no voting rights. However, I doubt they’ve ever had to replace an entire Cabinet!
Cotterill had a good idea – halve the number of MPs and pay twice as much. He has a point because nobody with great talent is going to waste time in the circus tent that is Parliament, unless you’re a Key or a Luxon and want to give something back to the country. Having said that, there are people with ability in the National/ACT ranks.
The prize example of utter incompetence appeared on the Mike Hosking breakfast show on Tuesday in the form of the king of sausage rolls, the frequenter of Cossie Clubs, the boy from the Hutt, PM Chris Hipkins. Having been given a list of topics to be discussed, he knew nothing about anything. Like his lame Dame predecessor, he had failed to do his homework. The financial numbers he was asked to provide, Luxon would have reeled off without hesitation.
As Cotterill noted, perhaps it’s time for an election.
