More welcome u-turns

Stuff reports:

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is jettisoning a swathe of Government projects and bills which were once heralded as important Labour policies, many relating to the environment and transport.

During his post-Cabinet news conference on Monday, Hipkins announced a large list of policies the Government once said would be hugely important for New Zealand to reach its climate targets and to reduce waste.

Hipkins denied the cuts would significantly increase emissions.

“The climate policies that we’re talking about today, would’ve made a very small contribution to our overall emissions reductions targets,” he said.

The policies were bad policies. They were hugely costly and would have basically zero impact on on greenhouse gas emissions. So it is good they have been scrapped.

But they have always been bad policies. Labour are now scrapping them because they are bad policies, but because they are unpopular ones that impose costs on Kiwis. The only reason they are backing down is because this is a bad time for them to increase costs on Kiwis. But beyond doubt they will try again, if they get the chance.