Editorial: There’s no need for Christopher Luxon and the Government to hit the panic button just yet

Editorial

Last Friday’s Taxpayer Union-Curia poll had no bearing on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s reshuffle of his Cabinet only two days later.

But, as is the case in politics and show business, timing is everything.

The polls, for the first time since April 2023, showed Labour at 30.9% (up 4 percentage points) and National at 29.6% (falling 4.6 points). Those numbers should come as no real surprise.

Add to that mix the furore whipped by Act Leader David Seymour’s Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill before and since Christmas, and MPs who thought they would ease into 2025 better think again.

NZ First MP Shane Jones at Rātana Pā last year. Photo / Mark Mitchell

This week, MPs from all political parties will make the annual pilgrimage to Rātana and two weeks later to Waitangi, where strong protest by Māori and non-Māori will be voiced loud and long.

Politicians will tell you there’s only one poll that counts – the one on election day – and that is true.

But the Taxpayer’s Union poll, on top of the reshuffle of portfolios – with Shane Reti and Melissa Lee the two biggest losers – could not have come at a worse time (is there any good time for bad news?) for the Government.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins claims Luxon is only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

It’s not as dramatic as that – more musical chairs and who gets the health poison chalice. This time, it’s Simeon Brown’s turn.

Health and the cost of living are the two biggest issues facing New Zealanders today. That’s not a perception, but reality.

Hundreds of so-called “back office” staff have been cut from health as Commissioner Lester Levy tries to look for savings right across this behemoth of a portfolio.

The health system seems no better than when the coalition and Reti took office in November 2023. The waiting lists are still waiting, Dunedin Hospital’s new hospital has been shelved, Māori health aspirations have been dealt a death blow by the killing off of Te Aka Whai Ora – the Māori Health Authority – as the health system flatulates along.

You can’t blame the hard-working nurses, doctors, paramedics, cleaners and hospital volunteers who do their best every day for whoever walks through the hospital doors for what’s happening in health.

But National doesn’t need to hit the panic button just yet. Improve the health system and the cost of living and everything will be coming up roses.