The Pied Piper of Hamilton West
Name calling Nicola, Bishop's tantrum, Luxon's mana, and National go soft on crime.
Come on, babe
Can't you see
I'm the Pied Piper
Trust in me
I'm the Pied Piper
And I'll show you where it's at
Song by Crispian St. Peters
This morning a bit of a wrap of the week, or in other words, making light of terrible things to somehow endure them.
When you look at this government sometimes the only thing to do is laugh, at least it’s better than the alternative. Assuming, that is, you haven’t opted for the head in the sand approach favoured by many of their supporters.
Where are the kids Tama?
On Wednesday Stuff reported that the Social Housing Minister, the Bo Peep figure of Tama Potaka, had lost his flock of homeless children and it wasn’t so much that he didn’t know where to find them as that he simply wasn’t interested.
This might seem callous to some although it’ll be familiar to those of us who remember the Key era approach to social problems - don’t ask, don’t tell.
That government found it simpler to turn a blind eye to poverty than deal with the fact they were causing it. When it came to numbers it was best simply not to count and instead rely on “anonymous” anecdotes to show things weren’t so bad after all.
Still having a Minister come right out and say, “No, I’m not worried that some are now homeless,” isn’t great, anyway you look at it. In fact it was such a rotten thing to say that Potaka soon realised the error of his ways and looked more circumspect.
I’m kidding, he grinned like he couldn’t care less. The only way he could’ve appeared more crass and uncaring would’ve been if he’d given a Luxon style thumbs up and said we were getting the kids back on track. Fortunately it was too cold for him to get his hands out of his pockets.
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So how many kids are we talking? Well Potaka proudly said there were 1,000 fewer children in emergency accommodation. So that sounds good right? Obviously depending on where they’ve all gone.
The Minister said about half had gone into state housing, which is certainly better than them growing up in a motel. Another 30% had gone into private rentals, leaving just 20% unaccounted for. So to be fair we’re only talking about 200 children that Potaka has lost, and lacks the curiosity to find.
Two hundred children. I imagine when they’re sitting around the caucus room discussing progress that’s simply referred to as a rounding error. I’m kidding of course, I’m sure it never comes up.
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