How Much a Fortnight?

Nicola saves face, but who counts the cost.

I was supposed to be sent away
But they forgot to come and get me
I was a functioning alcoholic
'Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic
All of this to say I hope you're okay
But you're the reason
And no one here's to blame
But what about your quiet treason?

Those first lines resonate, having done my time as a, mostly, functioning alcoholic, followed by a clarity, a new appreciation of the world. The second could pertain to the attacks on Ti Tiriti, or to the budget.

Is treason overstating it?

Would it have been treasonous if Nicola Willis had broken her promise to the people of this country? If she’d failed to deliver her tax cuts? Or is what she has done, commiting out country to austerity for years to come, the greater act of treason?

Yesterday Nicola kept her promise. She’d told us she’d resign if she failed to deliver tax cuts and so cut taxes she has. Tax cuts delivered, promise met, face saved, job done.

Except there was no regard for whether it was the right thing to do or not.

Nicola may have been telling us 24/7 that Labour has left us in the most calamitous of storms. A batten down the hatches on the scale of just how bad things are. Yet she declared full steam ahead. She’d promised voters it would be full sail and by goodness full sail was what they’d get.

It would be odd to have steam and sail on the same ship, but one of the lesser known stipulations in the National-NZ First Coalition Agreement is that all vessels powered by renewable energy must have a secondary, fossil powered, supply of energy.

You know, so if the wind gets a bit light you can just fire up the boilers with some nice clean kiwi coal, courtesy of your old mate Jonesy.

Photo: Newshub.

That isn’t real obviously. Mind you if it were it wouldn’t have been anywhere near the stupidest thing announced in the budget yesterday.

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The day began with people gathering around the country in towns large and small. I think many who took part in the protests, or supported them even if not in person, will have been moved by the scenes of defiance in the face of attacks on things that many of us hold dear. I certainly was.

It might sound odd to some, but I was proud to see so many pakeha at events around the country, standing alongside Māori, saying this is our fight too.

I can’t speak for others but the reason I was protesting wasn’t necessarily about the Treaty, although honouring it is important and shouldn’t even be up for debate - that’s not how contracts work. It was about things it represents, things that are right regardless of a document.

Fairness, equality, decency, and treating our environment with respect. That’s what this is about to me, those things matter, and they’re under attack from this coalition.

Some question that, if Twitter is any gauge, there were many mocking yesterday’s protest, those who saw no point or need. Mind you if Twitter were in fact any measure of our humanity I think I’d say just push the red buttons now, we failed, it’s over. To be honest I barely even read the responses to my tweets, even less often respond, when I do I mostly just end up blocking people.

There is a limit for stupidity and hatred beyond which I don’t feel at all compelled to listen. Whether some are bots, who knows, but there’s no mistaking some of them as human.

We have no shortage of racists, but it isn’t the ignorant, talkback radio, variety I’m concerned with. The equivalent of dumb white folks we see portrayed in the south of the US. My worry is those with power and privilege, those who decide who to give a promotion to, who to rent a house to.

As a pakeha I’m not subjected to racism myself but boy have I heard it when there are no Māori in the room. Hearing someone with tremendous privilege and power, someone you thought you respected, say what they think about Māori because there are none in the room is far more shocking than the ignorance of a thousand ZB callers.

When I worked in senior roles I’d often think to myself, and sometimes say, that we were setting people up for failure then blaming them when they did. Giving teams unachievable goals and deadlines and then getting angry when they surprise surprise didn’t achieve the impossible. That’s what we do with Māori in this country.

All of the negative statistics, it’s not a culture or the colour of someone’s skin. It’s about poverty and disadvantage, and things that come with that including issues with drugs and alcohol. That’s what causes crime in this country, whether someone has enough, has opportunities, or is struggling with addiction. Not their race. We are setting people up for failure and then blaming them when they do.

The moves by this government against Māori initiatives, and Nicola Willis’ budget yesterday, will not only fail to address those issues, but will make them worse.

The reason the protests were important to me were about fairness and equality, about respecting and acknowledging the role of Tangata Whenua in this country. Not least of which is a critical, leading role as guardian’s of our environment. We could learn much from the way that indigenous people view and treat nature around our world.

Photo: Lawrence Smith/Stuff.

Apologies if I got a bit off track there, your fellow reader Darien put thing more succinctly with the following:

The mobilisation is unprecedented. We are not "one people" as Winston Peters and his cronies assert. We are the dispossessed, the left behind, the blamed, the front line and back office workers, the factory, and the never ever ending grizzles from those who resist paying a Living Wage, the generation who face a burning planet. Who want to have a say, but are forgotten in the discourse and arrogance of the coalition.

So then the second half of the day, let’s talk about that budget.

It is a budget of the squeezed middle, one for potential swing voters, who receive most of the benefit. On the other hand the tax changes do little for those on the lowest incomes. Coincidentally, people unlikely to vote for National or ACT.

Reader Carol wrote, “At what cost have we gained this miserable “tax relief”? Reinstated bus fares for students & young people, prescription charges, thousands of job cuts, reduced support to the disabled, eroded essential services, elimination of a boost for first home buyers - all heartless stuff. What good is my $2.50 a week if health services etc are continuing to be limited. 600 extra prison beds & no extra hospital beds - just crazy.”