Polls show support holding for Govt

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

After a tough week at the office, the good news for the Government is that the controversies so far — particularly the upswell of opposition to its proposed Treaty Principles Bill — do not appear to have done the coalition partners serious damage.

The latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll covering the period February 1 -7 has National on 39.6 percent support, a 1.6 point rise on a Roy Morgan poll in January but down slightly from a very high 41 percent result in the last Curia poll in early January.

Act, the party responsible for the Treaty Principles Bill, was up a remarkable 6 points on both January polls to 13.7 percent support, while NZ First dipped slightly from 6.0 and 5.6 percent results in those January polls to 5 percent support.

Labour was down 0.5 points on the last Curia poll to 27.9 percent (much better than its 22 percent result in both the last two Roy Morgan polls), as were the Greens on 9.0 percent.

In the context of a new Government that has just started its three-year term — and is the country’s first three-way coalition — the poll in itself was probably not significant. The encouraging thing for National, Act and NZ First is that together, they are maintaining clear majority support.

The message seems to be that while the Government is taking some knocks, its support is holding — especially for National and Act.

Throughout last week the Government was busy carrying out some of the promises it had made for its first 100 days, which cynics said was to divert attention from the Treaty principles legislation.

There was a focus on law and order — always popular in conservative quarters — stopping funding for cultural reports used as part of sentencing, and excising Labour’s policy of reducing the prison population by 30 percent.

The clean car discount has gone along with Auckland’s regional petrol tax, leaving the city’s mayor Wayne Brown warning of projects that will no longer happen as planned.

Still to come are the scrapping of the Māori Health Authority, downgrading the use of te reo and Māori names for government agencies, and an attempt to reform the Waitangi Tribunal.

As last week drew to a close, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was in Hawke’s Bay announcing a $63 million funding boost for silt and woody debris removal in that district and Tairāwhiti on the eve of the first anniversary of the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle.

It was Luxon’s second visit to Hawke’s Bay since taking office; hopefully he will visit Gisborne soon to see and hear first-hand what this region’s post-cyclone priorities are.

There is a long way to go this term, but the polls suggest it is “so far so good” for the Government.