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# What a Mouth They’ve Got
- URL: https://goodoil.news/what-a-mouth-theyve-got/
- Published: 2026-11-12T20:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-12T19:59:59.000Z
- Description: Make of these comments what you will.
- Author: JC
- Tags: NZ Politics, Election 2026

Since the election, politicians and other political commentators have given their verdicts. These come from both the left and the right. Those from the right, bar a few exceptions, show they have a very good understanding of how MMP is supposed to work. Those from the left are dripping in irony. Had they won, the comments we are currently hearing would never have been made. We might have had a bit of noise about beating a ‘rigged election’ but mostly they would have been congratulating themselves on a great win. If they win on special votes, will they say, ‘We don’t accept the result because the election was rigged’? No chance.

Here are a couple of inane comments from the left. I’ll start with parliament’s biggest idiot: the joker who proudly has a colonial Western style cowboy hat sitting atop his head. Rawiri Waititi is a prime example of why Erica Stanford was correct when she reintroduced a compulsory hour of reading writing and maths, because Waititi, in his seat calculation for his party had one plus four equals nine. They won five seats, creating and overhang of 4, which he has added on to the five they won. On his first day back in the House he’ll probably be wondering where the missing four MPs are (that’s if he bothers to turn up). He says National “buggered themselves” by employing TPM tactics, not seeming to realise that if he’d won all the Māori electorates Hipkins would now be PM.

Chris Hipkins: “National have lost the party vote. They’re only holding on to the prospect of power because they’ve manipulated the electoral system.” National didn’t manipulate the system, at all. How is continually calling for ‘two ticks blue’ a manipulation of the system? When asked on Tuesday, Hipkins told the *Herald* “That’s not what I said.” He said if it wasn’t for the overhang National would be gone. Has he thought about how the overhang was created? If he didn’t want a right overhang he should have won more electorates. On that count he failed miserably. Labour is led by a clown.

Now a couple of equally inane ones from the right. First up, the Banks Peninsula MP who lost her seat, Vanessa Weenink. She is a good example of why National’s selection process might need revisiting.

Her departing remarks prove she was in the wrong party in the first place. According to her, people in the electorate “hated National because it had gone too far right”. She said National “absolutely” needed people like her in swing electorates. Then came the icing on the cake: saying she’d been offered the chance to run for the Opportunity party. In my view she should have taken up the offer.

Chris Finlayson told an audience in Queenstown that “the MMP model is stuffed. I find it profoundly disturbing that a couple of rich billionaires can decide they want to destroy the system”. They did no such thing. Talking to the ABC in Australia, Finlayson predicted a four-way coalition of National, ACT, Opportunity and NZ First: “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil… and evil.” Takes one to know one.

Now for some more accurate comments:

Verity Johnson (writing on Stuff). “Both National and Labour got their sorry asses dumped. Both parties polled on variations of 29 per cent, a bar so low that even the most elastic-boned gymnast couldn’t do the limbo under it. And the minor parties were the most eligible bachelor/ettes at the ball.”

Richard Prebble. “The worst campaign ever: boring. We learnt nothing from the debates. The two Chrises have to go. Polls show the majority of Labour supporters don’t want Chris and the majority of National supporters don’t want Chris. There’s never a good time to change a leader but now is a good time.” Richard says we’ll be back at the ballot box within a year due to a very unstable government.

Don Brash. “The majority of New Zealanders have clearly voiced their preference for a centre-right coalition.” Brash says both ACT and NZ First have taken firm clear stances on abolishing race-based seats, disestablishing the Waitangi Tribunal and ensuring there is no racial divide. He says Hobson’s Pledge will hold them to their promises. He went on to say that this election showed democracy at work.

Make of those comments what you will.