Can't stop believin' I'm the greatest
Hearts breaking 'til I know I made it
I'll never know what second place is
No pain, no doubt
'Til the lights go out
Matariki feels like such a positive event. People around the country enjoying time with whānau and friends, trying new things or just relaxing and reflecting. I hope this long weekend finds you well and enjoying our beautiful, and lucky country - together.
Together. That was the theme of Sharon Murdoch’s latest fabulous creation yesterday. A theme that harked back to other days, not in a mournful way but in a celebration that the same spirit of togetherness is still there, despite the change in government.
That although we had a government who was all about kindness and inclusion and we now have one who seeks success via playing people off against each other, with a mentality of winners and losers, we can still celebrate our Kiwi togetherness.
Or perhaps Sharon just thought it was nice to think of people coming together in celebration. I guess that’s the beauty of the cartoonist’s work, that it can inspire different thoughts.
People have celebrated in all sorts of special ways. With fabulous food to share, an emphasis on Māori kai. A friend’s photos making fry bread had me drooling last night.
There was an emphasis on sharing food from our Governor General too, with this post from the official Facebook account:
Mānawatia a Matariki - In the spirit of this year’s theme - Matariki heri kai - Dame Cindy and Dr Davies welcomed some of The Auckland City Mission’s street whānau and staff to Government House Auckland to share a hāngī lunch, and to enjoy a concert by the Harmonic Resonators.
The Auckland City Mission – Te Tāpui Atawhai has provided wrap-around support for Aucklanders in need for over 100 years, working towards ending food insecurity, enabling access to housing, administering very low-cost healthcare, and providing drug and alcohol detox and mental health support to people and families of greatest need. Last year, they provided over 50,000 food parcels, 20,000 low-cost health consultations and 480 housing solutions for people when they need it most.
The government were in Queenstown to celebrate Matariki. Which I thought was an odd choice. Certainly it’s a very beautiful place and renowned as a tourist attraction, but it doesn’t exactly come to mind when you think about celebrating Māori tradition.
Still fair play to the National Party who made lots of enthusiastic posts about the day, Christopher Luxon even boldly having some Te Reo visible on his shirt. Hope that doesn’t breach his coalition agreement.
For some reason the main photo they shared had a car park as a backdrop so I’ve updated it a bit to reflect the impact of the coalition, and the Prime Minister’s “Isn’t It Great?” attitude to all things.
What the Prime Minister and his deputy weren’t highlighting yesterday was that they’re cutting funding for Matariki celebrations, so that the money can be given to landlords instead.
To be fair it’s not much, but every little bit helps. With the housing crisis in Queenstown leaving workers unable to afford anywhere to live the sooner that property owners start passing on that money in the form of rent reductions the better.
On the one hand it does sound incredibly small minded and petty, on the other hand… Hmm, I’m not sure there is any other way to look at it. But yes, in the latest budget the coalition cut funding in support of our newest public holiday by a whopping 45%.
“We're going through some tough times, we have to make some tough choices across the whole of government spending,” said the Prime Minister when asked about the cut. I don’t want to harp on too much about old news, but can we not forget that this man who says we have to make hard choices is the same bloke who expected to be paid $1,000 per week by the taxpayer to live in his own mortgage free apartment because the official mansion wasn’t up to his standard?
Of course the coalition would never cut funding to some other public holidays. Can you imagine if they announced they were reducing funding in support of ANZAC Day commemorations? People would lose their minds - like this guy who replied to Nicola Willis’ post on Matariki:
Gee Steve, you’re not really supposed to “celebrate” ANZAC day, although I see a growing association of nationalism with that day rather than it being about commemorating an event that must never happen again. But that’s the mentality of people like Steve isn’t it? Why enjoy this Māori thing? “Celebrating” should be for other things.
Well, many of us disagree Steve. Yes we should absolutely recognise the tragedy of the first war and the sacrifices of those who were killed so senselessly. But why now, more than a century after that conflict, do some like Steve want to celebrate the military failures of a dead empire rather than the “togetherness” of modern Aotearoa and a celebration of a thriving Māori culture? That, to me, is an event worth celebrating.
Mind you Luxon does look like he has this PM lark down, as he showed when speaking to Corin Dann this week. His approach apparently being to just keep repeating “isn't it great?” until the end of time.
Nice work here from @StrayDogNZ:
Luxon must have had to say “Isn’t It Great?” even more forcefully, and meaninglessly, this week when the latest poll was released. Things were still largely ok for the government, with the snapshot showing they still have a slight lead, give or take a margin of error, but they are well down on election night.
The bad news for the Prime Minister was his own personal approval rating, which was significantly far from being great. Almost nine months after the election it’s fair to say that the more NZ gets to know Christopher Luxon, the less we like him.
Those are some pretty not-great numbers. Especially when you consider the poll comes relatively soon after the budget which delivered the much vaunted tax cuts that people had elected them for.
They say that being the leader of the opposition is the hardest job in politics, so it’s extraordinary that Chris Hipkins, who has to battle for each piece of media coverage, has better approval numbers than the Prime Minister, who receives constant coverage.
The chaps at BHN had some thoughts on the matter earlier this week:
These are worrying times for the coalition. They wouldn’t admit it publicly of course but they must be wondering if the only direction from here is down. Until recently, when people complained about all the cuts they were making, they could at least make noises about tax cuts coming and prudent financial management.
Well we’ve seen the tax cuts, and the resulting borrowing to pay for them - which puts a lie to any claims of fiscal discipline. So what now? Where is the next bump in the polls going to come from?
They’ll be aware that as their funding cuts hit, as more services fall over, and as people realise that the promise of more money in their pockets hasn’t materialised in any real way, their popularity will fall. So what then? As the poll numbers inevitably fall further, and the Prime Minister intones his mantra - “Isn’t It Great?”
This weekend my offer of 10% off the first year of a monthly or annual paid subscription finishes. So if you’re enjoying this kōrero and you’re considering subscribing today would be the perfect day to do so. 🙂
As I mentioned earlier in the month, from July I’ll be doing less posting of my newsletters to social media, although still writing just as much. So even if you’re not looking at a paid subscription it would be a good idea to opt for a free one to receive my newsletter directly in your email.
So what are they going to do?
I don’t know what the answer is, it kind of seems like a nice problem to have. Not for the coalition obviously, but for those of us who simply can’t wait to see the back of them.
It’ll probably mean they ratchet up the division, playing their supporters off against the rest of us. Focussing on the 51% they need and seeing the rest as surplus to requirements. A warning to the “winners” and a promise that they’ll ensure they don’t become “losers”.
Because what I would say to you, when all is said and done, if you’re a winner, rather than a loser - “Isn’t it great?”
The Greatest…
Matariki was great. King Charles sent a totally appropriate greeting (https://gg.govt.nz/publications/matariki-message-his-majesty-king-charles-iii), obviously he gets the whole thing. Doesn’t sound like a king that would want to spend time with Luxon?
‘What I say to You’ Nick another great Korero. Particular praise for this descriptive piece - ‘……want to celebrate the military failures of a dead empire rather than the “togetherness” of modern Aotearoa and a celebration of a thriving Māori culture?’