Tough Choices & Tough Love.
This will hurt you a lot more than them.
I've been trying to hurt you
I've been holding you tight
I've been learning to love you
Am I doing it right?
How are you still breathing
With my hands all over your heart?
How do we start healing
If we can't keep out the dark?
Yesterday the Prime Minister delivered his State of the Nation, for no apparent reason. Presumably to wrestle the narrative back from those who’ve been critical of his government. Understandably he preferred a speech to dialogue.
As if to further emphasise the hellscape that he wants us to believe Aotearoa has become he gave the speech from a Mt Wellington Conference Centre.
You’d probably say that would just be an opportunity for the Prime Minister to rant about how the sky is falling, how awful Labour were, the “progress” they’ve made by cancelling things, while providing no details about what they’re going to do, other than vague threats that we’re probably not going to like it very much.
To which I’d say - uncanny, were you there? But let’s look at just a little more detail. Luxon began…
Thank you for coming to a speech where I don't just get to talk about what we want to do. But a speech about what we will do, and what we are doing - right now - to get New Zealand Back on Track.
<SPOILER> I’d like to warn readers of a more sensitive nature, those who think that when someone says they’ll do something they actually might, that there’s no “what we will do” contained anywhere in his speech.
You can find the whole of it here.
Luxon began by telling us about the people he’s met. Frustrated farmers in Gore, Laser-focussed teachers in Auckland, Hawkes Bay rebuilders, and Northland battlers. Yes, Christopher has been everywhere, man.
He announced that “New Zealand is the best Country on Earth”, which was an odd thing to say for someone who mostly goes on and on about how terrible everything is. I put it down to too much American TV. It reminded me of this great clip, which is worth a watch even if you’ve seen it before:
I wondered what reasons Luxon would offer for his assessment that NZ is the best.
He said it wasn’t because of our beaches, which I thought was a bit sad. I mean if you’re after shiny white caribbean sands and turquoise waters then sure. But I reckon some of our beaches are as beautiful, as spectacular as any anywhere in the world.
It also wasn’t our mountains. Which I thought was a bit crap, some people think we’ve got some pretty nice ones down south. Heck look at the Mount, a beach/mountain combo that’s hard to beat. For me Mt Ngongotaha in Rotorua is pretty special, it’s nothing world beating I guess, but it always tells me I’m home. I don’t think Luxon would understand that.
According to Christopher the thing that makes us the best country is our people.
“We're a country with a glint in our eye and fire in our soul. We reach for the stars even while we stay close to our roots.”
Normally I think of a fire in one’s belly. Flaming souls sounded a bit concerning, still maybe he was just warming us up for what was to come?
“We climbed Everest.”
Look I don’t want to paraphrase Stanhope too much but - we did? Seems that perhaps old Ed was carrying us all in his backpack. Or maybe Christopher is just the sort of fellow that likes to take credit for the work of others?
“We split the atom”
Sorry, what? I don’t really understand how that works, let alone wish to claim it as an achievement. How many of you think Mr Luxon could give us a clear, simple explanation of the empty space within atoms? Hmm, for some reason images of his caucus come to mind, especially Maureen Pugh.
“We charted waka across the ocean to come here, and we're blasting off to space to compete with the best in the world.”
That was an odd choice of words, I think I’d have gone with navigated but I suppose chartering is what Luxon thinks you do with boats. As for blasting off the Minister for Space seemed to be enjoying the event along with Mrs Luxon.
“Not everyone will like it, but I think Kiwis need a Prime Minister that levels with them, and is straight up about the state of the nation and where we're at,” he continued. Alluding to unpleasantness on the road ahead of us.
Unfortunately he spent much of the remainder of his speech telling us what he was observing in the rear view mirror. He never told us what was coming, he was clear we weren’t going to like it, but it remained a mystery.
I had my suspicions. I’m pretty sure he was talking about the budget, that it will be terrifying to many.
You know I might be making jokes about this but there is a growing pit in my stomach. Where a few years ago that might’ve been caused by drinking beer now it’s the creeping realisation that what this new government is going to deliver in the next few months is going to really hurt some people in this country. In a way that those impacted will remember decades from now.
This was the Prime Minister softening us up in preparation. Telling the faithful that some will fall by the wayside but that we must remain steadfast and resolute in our determination to get Back on Track, even if sacrifices have to be made.
“Kiwis are a resilient bunch. But the last government treated us like a country that had lost its mojo. And because of that, we did.”
The way he put it didn’t sound very resilient. It made us sound like we gave up at the first opportunity, rather than getting on and making the best of things. Which is actually what we did, what Kiwis do, unlike Luxon’s lost mojo - whatever that is. Maybe he could take a pill for it?
“We were badly let down by a broken and distracted government.”
Seriously dude? You told us that a hundred times on the campaign trail - but you’re in charge now, what are you going to do?
“I have to level with you New Zealand and say - the state of the nation is fragile.”
Dude.
We get it. We know the world has been through some tough times, we know the government had to spend money during Covid, but fragile? Yeah Nah. We’re actually looking pretty good compared to most places, but I don’t imagine that narrative sets us up for the bad stuff to come. Hence the worst team talk of all time.
I've been feeding you fear
You've been keeping me thin
I've been trying my best to feel you near
Without me disappearing
How do you still see me
With my hands all over your eyes?
When your friends come calling
Do they ask you with a sigh?
He told us education was bad - “kids learn less than their parents”, healthcare - unreliable, welfare - catastrophic. It was all pretty grim, but there was no need to panic. Luxon said, “I'm telling you, we're going to fix that.”
I assumed in his head he then added, “but, I’m not telling you how”
“In the Mini Budget last year Nicola delivered more than $7 billion of savings. There will be more where that came from, I can tell you - but it is a massive job to clean up the mess left by the previous government.”
But the problem is Nicola didn’t really deliver anything, you guys just cancelled a bunch of planned spending.
“It is worth being straight with each other about the size of the challenge, because I know we can be so much better than this. I know we can do it. I know we have what it takes.”
When Christopher say he “knows”, I think he really means he “believes”. I’m glad there are things he believes in, and yet I couldn’t help thinking a little evidence might be a good thing. Still, the faithful in Mt Wellington were just fine with belief.
He said “We're fair minded - but competitive. We're resilient - but adaptable.” Then he added, “I'm broke, but I'm happy. I'm poor, but I'm kind. I'm short, but I'm healthy, yeah. I'm high, but I'm grounded, I'm sane, but I'm overwhelmed. I'm lost, but I'm hopeful, baby.”
Oh no, hang on, that second part was Alanis Morissette. But continuing with things that sounded like pop lyrics the PM then said:
“And given the opportunity - we never fail to grasp it with both hands. But we need a new approach to turn this around. We need to get our mojo back.”
Which sounded a little Eminem-esque, although it would have benefited from more of mum’s spaghetti. Switching back to an easy listening station, more to the liking of his audience, the leader ramped things up - “There's so much, so much more that unites us than what divides us.”
Some of the audience wished they had cigarette lighters that could ignite and wave in appreciation. Then he dialled it back to Hip Hop FM…
“I wake up in the morning, I'm ruthlessly focused on” - Boom!
“I'm obsessed with getting stuff done.” - Wackata Wackata Woom!
“Fast.”
“You got that last part right”, yelled an enthusiastic Amanda Luxon from the audience.
“There's always more to do - and we'll keep working hard”, said the PM glaring in her direction. Good to keep the extent of a journey in mind before setting out, I suppose.
“It will mean making tough choices.”
Here we go. Tough choices, with tough consequences no doubt. But not for anyone in that room, other than perhaps the venue staff.
“I will not apologise for tough love”.
At this point I considered what Amanda might yell out in response, but that sort of thing can get you into terrible trouble.
Let’s just say she looked a bit bewildered and slightly manic, as shown in the photo earlier. Note, I’m definitely not suggesting she looked as if she might be on some kind of stimulant. Unlike my friends when I posted that photo on Facebook and Twitter.
The PM talked about there being sanctions, consequences, and responsibilities. Again, obviously not for the people there, they were simply being asked to turn a blind eye to the suffering when it came.
He talked about getting the balance right between “protecting the environment and building for the future”. Which I can only assume means there will be considerably less protecting of the environment in the future. Then he moved on to fast-track consenting saying, “That won't be popular with everyone - I get it”.
Which was modest of him as it’ll no doubt give more Kiwis the opportunity to experience having this sort of feature in their own backyard:
“We're also going to make some tough choices to get government spending back under control - because the current trajectory isn't sustainable… That means a return to the orthodoxy of tight budgets, careful stewardship of public money, and a determined focus to keep or return the books to surplus.”
Ruth Richardson came to mind. I imagined her smiling as she heard those words. How’s that mental image working for you?
“We were not elected to fiddle and tinker and tweak while the big problems go unsolved.” That is true, although four months in it does appear to be the approach they’re taking.
“We were not elected to manage decline.” I assumed he wasn’t referring to the use of te reo, the spending power of those on the minimum wage, or the upcoming impacts on social services about to be caused by their austerity for tax cuts approach.
“We will not sit by and wait for miracles to happen.” That seemed like a good option to rule out, although I did wonder how long they’d considered it for. Mind you it does always pay to have a plan ‘B’, especially if your plan ‘A’, is looking a bit iffy.
“Tough choices aren't cause for pessimism - in fact, exactly the opposite.” I felt my optimism wilting, in contrast to the Prime Minister’s hardening.
“We will deliver the change New Zealanders voted for and the change they were promised. Thank you.”
Just like that it was over. It seemed so quick in hindsight, it was almost as if the Prime Minister had said nothing at all.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson said the speech was a “buffet of buzzwords”. It was certainly a smorgasbord of say-nothing.
She said, “Christopher Luxon is obsessed with cutting, cancelling, and disestablishing things but he has no plan to build, invest, or create a better Aotearoa”.
So what about the things that the Prime Minister didn’t mention?
New Zealand First and ACT, for example, didn’t come up. This despite the fact that he was delivering a State of the Nation, supposedly as the Prime Minister of a coalition government, not as a party political broadcast on behalf of the National Party.
He spoke of the state of our nation, repeatedly saying it was “fragile”, and yet he completely ignored the Treaty, not mentioning it once. The only mention of Māori he made was,“we'll introduce legislation to disestablish the Māori Health Authority” - that’s it!
If the purpose of the speech was to instil confidence it certainly didn’t do so with me. On the other hand if it’s intent was to scare the heck out of people and steel them against what’s coming, then he did pretty well.
Tough choices are being made, if not yet revealed. Tough love is on it’s way.
What did you think of the speech? How’re you feeling about what’s to come?
I feel very much like I did when I first learnt that COVID had reached our country. - the feeling that something unimaginably bad is here and even if it doesn't effect me directly (and there is no guarantee that it won't) it will almost certainly effect someone I know. And I can scream myself hoarse but it won't listen.
What I got from that speech is we are all a bunch of losers and Big Daddy is here, along with his grinning Finance Minister to to treat us all like kids with tough love until we succumb. Oh and it's all Labour's fault.