Still a chance for Labour
BY WILLIE JACKSON
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Opinion
OPINION: The polls don't confirm this yet but maybe John Key's honeymoon is coming to an end.
He’s still smiling – and so he should be – because you can cram a lot of fun into a honeymoon that lasts 15 months.
But the grin will be more forced over the next year unless he’s sharp and strong enough to deal with the dodgy bits of his National Party operation.
Dodgy bits?
How about his well-paid ministers fiddling expenses or his deputy Bill English being up to no good with his housing arrangements, or Phil Heatley with his hands in the till.
It’s not a good look.
And it doesn’t look a whole lot better even if you can point to ministers from other governments who’ve got up to similar mischief – or if you argue that Kiwi ministerial corruption is small-fry compared to overseas.
Other problems? Act for one.
Or maybe we should zero in only on Rodney Hide.
He’s too toxic an ally for any government to have if it’s to present itself to voters as a thoughtful, wholesome management group.
Maybe we could overlook the perks he awarded his girlfriend. But there’s no way you can justify his obstinate resistance to a guarantee of a genuine Maori voice in Auckland’s supercity. His stance on that is either brainless, racist or both.
That brings us on to Mr Key’s heralded wooing of the Maori Party.
There’s no doubt that tactically it’s been a smart move and a sincere effort to be more responsive to Maori needs. But he’s still got a bunch of ministers who’re clueless about Maori issues and unwilling to offend equally clueless redneck voters by being seen as too friendly to the Bros.
So there’s a good chance that, when the next election rolls around, the Nats will have a modest checklist of pro-Maori initiatives.
Add that kind of a record to JK’s gormless thumbs-up to knighthoods, his wimpy handling of the growing Kiwi appetite for a worthwhile flag, and his tendency to help the country’s fat cats get fatter by way of tax cuts and you’d still have to give Labour a chance of putting him out of business.
- © Fairfax NZ News
