Hooton on third termitis
An excellent column by Matthew Hooton on how Governments behave in their third terms.
Matthew starts with his own misdeeds as a Ministerial press secretary announcing in 1998 that New Zealand’s then 76-year-old apple dispute with Australia would be resolved in months, not years, and that every Ministerial office would breathlessly try to portray mundane news as world shattering.
As National limped into Opposition to recover from the disease, the incoming Labour-led government initially seemed immune. Government statements contained the expected spin, but they remained at least partly aligned with reality. Now, after mutating in the Beehive air-conditioning system for nine years, the disease is back, and it has infected Helen Clark’s government with a vengeance.
The “20-hours-free” policy is the signature example. According to the prime minister, this is “visionary and historic” – the “most significant expansion of the education system since the 1930s”. Steve Maharey tells us that, in New Zealand early childhood education, we are seeing The Most Exciting Developments In The World.
Are they so out of touch they don’t understand that Auckland parents paying the same for their toddlers to attend early childhood centres as it would cost to send their teenagers to King’s College, are likely to be offended? Has no one told them that “20-hours-free” has already entered the Kiwi lexicon along with “Yeah Right” – with identical meaning?
The prime minister’s speechwriters set all this off when they slipped the infamous “aspiration” of “carbon neutrality” into her text, despite her government having a worse carbon-emissions record than George Bush, and her climate change minister being so out of his depth that the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet is rumoured to have quietly taken charge of his portfolio in the hope of having something – anything – in place for the start of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period on January 1 next year.
David Cunliffe wants us to believe that his decision to cap this year’s immigration numbers at 50,000, compared with last year’s actual numbers of 47,000, will help reduce inflation, cut interest rates and make housing cheaper for all.
Labour’s hard-man, Trevor Mallard, is far more sophisticated than to talk about “Kiwi Innovation”. He promises “angel investors” to “transform New Zealand into a high wage, high value, innovative and export-led economy”.
The apple issue has even made an appearance, with open access to Australia now “one step closer”, according to the government.
Pete Hodgson says the auditor-general is too busy to investigate serious allegations at Hawke’s Bay District Health Board involving a minister, her husband and $50 million – but the auditor-general and the board itself disagree.
Matthew has absolutely shot a bullseye on this one.