Quit Driving?

She'll be right vs a reality check.

But look at us now, (Quit driving)
Some things hurt more, much more than cars and girls
Just look at us now, (Start counting)
What adds up the way it did when we were young?
Just look at us now, (Quit driving)
Some things hurt more much more than cars and girls

Songwriters: Paddy McAlonan.

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The government.

As it becomes clearer that this oil crisis will last some time, with the possibility of US ground attacks or of shipping routes through the Red Sea also being impacted, our Prime Minister finally decided he was a Kiwi and essentially said, “She’ll be right”.

Around the world, governments have been taking action in response to the oil crisis, lowering fuel taxes, subsidising or making public transport free, encouraging or mandating working from home, and even looking at rationing; meanwhile, with our government… It’s tumble weeds.

Katie commented, “That’s exactly what was going through my mind - why aren’t we doing anything?!”

Debbie suggested it was like watching Boris Johnson dealing with Covid in the UK. There certainly seemed to be a jellyfish-like flim-flam going on.

Watching the government yesterday certainly provided another insight into how things would’ve been had they been in charge during Covid. As other countries moved to introduce restrictions, we would have taken a wait-and-see approach before admitting to the population that all of a sudden things were really bad, and now we had to jump up a couple of stages in the colour-coded plan, and bury a lot of bodies.

While Luxon had his head in the sand, to put it politely, Nicola Willis was getting right on board, declaring that inflation is going to get really bad, and the main thing to remember is it’s not her fault.

Mind you, although Willis might’ve been happy to say things are going to be really bad, she was refusing to say just how bad they might get.

Until a few weeks ago, it was all Labour’s fault, but now that tired old excuse has moved well past its “use by” date, and Willis can point forward rather than backwards, blaming events on the Middle East instead. The main thing to remember is that it’s never her fault, no matter how many of her policies fail.

“In the latest scenarios – in which they take into account a longer conflict with deeper disruption to supply chains – they have inflation peaking higher than I've previously presented to you,” said Willis of the most recent estimates from Treasury, despite telling us a couple of weeks ago that the worst-case scenario would see inflation peak at 3.7%

“We know that this conflict will likely push up inflation and slow growth, so we cannot afford to do anything that will make it even worse,” said Willis, offering an insight into why the government’s support has been so modest while other countries have been doing much more to assist people and manage the situation proactively.

As for Mr She’ll be right, he had such a shocker on Morning television yesterday that I posted…

Good grief, is that gibbering idiot from Breakfast who calls himself a CEO our actual Prime Minister? Surely not.

Luxon claimed in the interview that they were working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that he wasn’t, in fact, the PM but was the CEO running things.

It was farcical, and Andy commented, “He told Tova he works 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. Does he think we are that gullible, or is he just a habitual liar?”

Tova and Luxon.Image: TVNZ.

The opposition.

This morning, it was Chris Hipkins's turn to appear on Breakfast, and Tova started by asking him whether it was time for public servants to begin working from home.

Chippy was positive about more flexible working hours and locations, including working from home. Where he said there was no point in having people sitting at desks for the sake of it, the coalition seems to believe that inner-city businesses have a right to have customers delivered to them in the CBD. Even if that fails to align with the goal of reducing travel to conserve petrol and help people cope with fuel costs.

I haven’t missed Tova’s style of journalism, which is essentially looking for gotchas rather than informing an audience. She asked about MPs from outside of Auckland travelling to parliament and whether it was justified, which was a bit weird considering eliminating that travel would be much further down the line and just a drop in the ocean.

Chippy said he had asked his MPs to look into any non-essential travel, while Tova stared like the image from a straight-to-VHS 80s horror film.

Tova O’Brien. Image: TVNZ.

She asked if, given that Australia is moving up the levels, NZ should also be doing so.

Chippy was diplomatic, saying the government needs to aim for the best while preparing for the worst, and that at yesterday’s press conference, it was clear that they are aiming for the best by working hard, although he didn’t use the phrase “20 hours a day, seven days a week”, to secure supply.

Hipkins also said that Kiwis need some idea of what a worst-case scenario would look like if further regulations were required. Things like how rationing will work and who will be affected by it, so people can plan accordingly.

Chris Hipkins. Image: TVNZ.

Tova asked Hipkins if he were the PM, what would be one thing he would do right now to help New Zealanders? One “captain’s call”, she said, which is not a phrase that I’ve missed.

Chippy listed three things: clarity around rationing, more support for public transport, and further financial support for those who have not been helped by the government. He made a lot of sense.

When asked about home care support workers struggling with rising travel costs, the Labour leader said they needed their mileage rates increased, but they also deserved better pay. He criticised the government over the cancelled fair-pay agreements, which have only worsened the situation for such workers.

Next, Tova played a game she called “Dead or Alive”, asking about positions from previous elections. As if Chippy was going to start announcing his policies for the next election during her interview.

Free dental policy from the last election, as was obvious, the response was that it hadn’t yet been decided.

The LNG terminal, if it has been contracted, which seemed a bit pointless with Luxon essentially having ruled it out yesterday. Chippy said the terminal was a bad idea, but cancelling it would ultimately depend on the costs of breaking a contract, you know, like you might consider when canning existing Ferry orders. A debacle that Chippy said he didn’t want to repeat.

Move on orders, Chippy said there would likely be change as criminalising the homeless isn’t the answer here. God, it felt good to hear a politician talk about those sleeping rough as if they were human beings, unlike the government.

Working with Winston, Chippy had a good laugh at that one, saying Mr Peters has made it clear that should he hold the balance of power, then Christopher Luxon will still be the PM. It was a good point and one that should be made repeatedly, that a vote for Winston is a vote for Luxon.

Chris Hipkins. Image: TVNZ.

That was the end of the interview, and it’s probably a good place to leave it. We have less than eight months until the election, and the difference between a Labour/Greens government and another term of this coalition could not be greater.

Have a good Tuesday, and take care, all you lovely people.

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

To end today, the hugely underrated Prefab Sprout with Cars and Girls.