Chippy's Turn

The day will come, like the morning sun.

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

Songwriters: Bernard Sumner / Gillian Lesley Gilbert / Peter Hook / Stephen Eric Hague / Stephen Paul David Morris.

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Until the end of January, which is Saturday, you can get 20% off a subscription with my “Nick’s Ditch the Pricks in 26” special, bringing the price to $64 for a year, or $6.40 per month, rather than the usual $80 or $8. Come on in. It’s going to be a big year.

Chris Chang announced that today, more than a month after Christmas, parliament is finally resuming with party caucuses this morning, and a reconvening of the house at 2 pm for the first session of the year.

Labour leader, Chris Hipkins, was back for his first Tuesday slot, with Luxon appearing on a Monday as per yesterday’s newsletter, and it’s tough luck basically if you’re one of the third of Kiwis who support a party other than National and Labour.

Chang asked Chippy about the disaster efforts we’ve seen in recent days, a hard question to field first up. No doubt there are criticisms to be made, not least of which our climate change inaction and planning for such emergencies, but at the same time, he wouldn’t want to appear anything other than supportive of the work going on in the Bay of Plenty.

Hipkins was asked to assess the preparation and response, and he replied somewhat surprisingly, “Mark Twain once said that history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. This time three years ago, we were dealing with the floods in Auckland, and shortly to deal with Cyclone Gabrielle, which caused huge devastation across the East Coast, and now three years on, we’re back dealing with the consequences of extreme weather events. What were once in a lifetime events are now happening regularly, they’re going to be happening more regularly, and we need to be better prepared, and we need to do more to make sure NZ is ready and able to cope with these weather events.”

I could’ve hugged him. That’s where we’re at; even acknowledging the nature of the problem seemed like a huge step forward compared to the PM’s answers yesterday. Chippy’s speaking style is friendly and authentic - he actually sounds like a leader.

Chang naturally wanted more and so drilled down, asking the Labour leader what his assessment was of these particular events.

I thought if this had been the other way around, a National opposition would’ve gone on the attack, saying Labour this and Labour that, and making it sound like they were personally responsible, but Chippy showed professionalism and maturity.

He said there needed to be a review of how well prepared we were, what went right and what went wrong, and whether the information was acted on quickly enough.

That does seem to be a major issue. The fact that someone saw slips hours before the one that hit the campground, called 111, with FENZ notifying the Council, and then it seemingly fell into a black hole, which must only cause more anguish to those who have lost loved ones.

My gut feeling is that FENZ, as the party that is used to responding to emergencies, should have stayed involved, as I don’t imagine councils have the same systems and processes in place.

I mean, you wouldn’t call the council in the event of a life-threatening emergency and just leave it with them, would you? A review is certainly called for.

Chippy said he wouldn’t rush to judgment and that we owed it to those who had lost their lives to make sure there is a thorough process in place, and an independent government inquiry should be the minimum.

Chris Chang and Chris Hipkins. Image: TVNZ.

Chang moved to reviews undertaken following the storms in 2023, with the results in 2024 indicating that we were underprepared for such events and asked what Labour would do to improve our preparation and response. Chippy listed them off:

• Before the election, Labour had a bill to improve emergency response, the current government left that on the shelf for two years, and it only had its first reading before Christmas.

• They set up a $6b Climate Resistance Fund (CERF) to recognise that our infrastructure couldn’t cope with such events, and Nicola Willis cut that.

• A lot of the progress that could’ve been made over the last two years has been cancelled or put on hold by this government.

These are just facts, and Christopher Luxon can make a concerned face, say we’ll do all we can, and even sit on the grass in his suit to show support, but the fact of the matter is, our readiness to respond to such emergencies, like so many other things, is worse because of his government.

Chris Chang. Image: TVNZ.

Chang asked whether Labour would commit to providing more funding to NEMA (the National Emergency Management Agency).

Chippy said we’ve got to get used to the fact that this is a regular occurrence, that people need to be supported, and that there is a lot we’ve learned from Cyclone Gabrielle that hasn’t been acted on. He said there would need to be more funding across the board, which is why they set up the $6b fund.

Chang then moved to this morning’s Labour caucus meeting and asked if they’d be discussing the India FTA, which, as you might recall, was jeopardised by Winston Peters prior to Christmas when he pulled his party’s support, presumably because with less than a year to go, he’s more interested in anti-immigrant rhetoric than trade deals.

Chippy said that Labour supports free trade and opening up trading opportunities with India, and he was positive about the benefits to NZ of the FTA as it has been negotiated. He said there were some questions around immigration and the requirement on us to invest in India, but otherwise was positive and non-partisan, showing a maturity that I could not imagine from Peters, Luxon, or Seymour.

Chris Hipkins. Image: 1 News.

Chang moved to the election and National’s slogan of “Fixing the Basics, Building the Future”, and asked Hipkins if he’d be discussing slogans at Labour’s caucus.

Chippy smiled and said I think Kiwis deserve more than a slogan. He said, National are very good at slogans but not so good on the substance.

Which was quite a burn for this time of the morning, although I don’t agree, I think National are terrible at slogans, I mean, how can you go into your third year saying your focus is on fixing the basics? What have you been doing for the last two years?

Then Hipkins really let them have it:

“When it comes to fixing the basics, they said they’d fix the economy, and the economy has shrunk. They said they were going to fix the cost of living, and the cost of living is going up. They said they were going to tackle interest rates, and while they came down, they’re going up again. All of these things that National say they’re going to fix, and they’re getting worse under their leadership.”

To be honest, I thought he let them off lightly. What about the health system, unemployment, or record numbers of Kiwis voting with their feet?

They asked Chippy who the new All Blacks coach should be, which was a clear sign that the interview was over. It was a silly end, but in my view, Chris Chang has become quite a good interviewer, at least for Breakfast Television.

The other thing that is clear to me is that we have a Prime Minister who is all about himself, how he looks, what he can take credit for and blame he can avoid, whereas in the red corner we have a leader focused on people, who speaks honestly about the challenges we face, and who continues to impress me as the mature leader we need.

Take care, all of you lovely people, and have a good Tuesday. 🙂

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

To end today, here is New Order with True Faith. Keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who co-wrote this song, is 65 today.