Hide on Turei
Rodney Hide writes:
Sadly, there’s a big chunk of voters who think they’re entitled to live off the work of others. They see it as government’s job to make that happen. They vote for handouts.
Nothing signals handouts better than a party leader saying, “Hey, I lived on handouts too – and when I was short I lied to get more.”
Whoa, Turei gets it. It’s exhilarating. She lied and cheated and shows no shame and offers no apology. Imagine her as deputy PM. Wicked. If it’s okay for her, it’s okay for us.
Turei wins the handout vote, hands-down. The other parties don’t come close. They might promise more, but they will expect you to be truthful and live within the rules. The last Labour Government had zero-tolerance for benefit fraud.
Turei’s admission is a smart move for votes. She’s the handout voter’s dream. There will be no crackdown on benefit cheats if she’s in charge.
In fact their policy is to reward cheating. You can form a new relationship and no need to tell WINZ for three years. Yep can live with and have a child with a millionairre and still claim the DPB for a previous child. No need to apply for jobs anymore either – Greens policy is a benefit is a benefit for life with no work testing.
Her admission is also dumb. It has finished her politically.
She’s self-labelled a benefit cheat. That will haunt her. It will be the first thought most people have on hearing her name. It’s not a positive for the great majority of us.
She’s proved she will lie to suit her purpose. And have no remorse in doing so. That’s the very damaging thing: she doesn’t see she’s done wrong.
That is what grates. NZers are very forgiving of people who have made mistakes in their past, so long as they are open about them and express regret. If Turei in her maiden speech has mentioned her welfare fraud and how she regretted it, then it would be of no interest to anyone. But as Hide explains she doesn’t think she is to blame – she thinks we are!
The Greens believe their policies are needed to save the planet. That’s what they keep telling us. There can be nothing more important to them than saving the planet.
If it’s okay to lie to get a few extra dollars, it must be okay to lie to propel the Greens into government. And keep them there. So if it’s okay to lie for dollars, it surely must be okay to lie for Green power, for Green policy, for a Green planet.
Or does Turei think that a few dollars for her then were more necessary than saving the planet now?
If small lies are okay, then what about big lies?
The Greens won’t make it to government this election. In the resulting dust-up Turei will be dumped. There is nothing more certain. She can’t be trusted. We all make mistakes but Turei shows no remorse and offers no apology. It wasn’t a mistake.
Can you imagine Winston Peters allowing Turei to become a Minister if he holds the balance of power? She will get the blame for them being locked out again, and get rolled after the election.