Kate Hawkesby: Where did National Party leader Todd Muller go?

National Party Leader Todd Muller was seen at the Apata Kiwifruit packing shed in Katikati on May 28. Perhaps the visi-vest helped him stand out. Photo / George Novak

COMMENT

Todd Muller said he wouldn't bark at every passing car, and that he wanted to be a more measured opposition. But really? Is this it? Is invisible the goal?

A very obvious and easy hit this week was the blatant breach of Level 2 with the protest marches around the country, and the hypocrisy of the government turning a blind eye.

But who was left to point that out?

Act's David Seymour.

Who chimed in behind him?

Well, no, not as you'd expect, Todd Muller, but Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.

The PM's very own wingman, inside her very own Cabinet, speaking out against the slackness of the Government in allowing protests to go ahead - despite churches, funerals and weddings still being limited. While livelihoods are being lost, businesses struggling, people obeying to the letter every rule laid out for us under these levels. Only to have it all flung back in our face and flouted, while the Government produced nothing more than deafening silence.

And as for the PM's cheerleading squad of Siouxsie Wiles and Co suggesting that everyone who marched go self isolate for 14 days - you are kidding, that's never going to happen.

The PM, when asked about whether she condoned the marches, muffled a barely audible "no" by way of reply.

That's a very skilled technique of a communicator who knows how to avoid a soundbite. One-word answers are not usable, barely audible ones especially so. There are no headlines to be gained from one-word answers. Her hope in answering that way is that the story dies and goes away. Because God forbid she get offside. She's into popularity and has been enjoying a swathe of it; this all looked a bit shabby and hypocritical so she tried to hose it down as a non-issue.

But it was an obvious issue and a glaring example of why we need to be at Level 1, something the opposition should be championing from the rooftops, especially given Muller is the self proclaimed voice of small business.

So why is he silent then?

Worse than that. He's indecisive.

He said he "would not be drawn on whether New Zealand should move to Level 1" he wanted to "see advice first". Sound familiar?

Kate Hawkesby. Photo / Michael Craig

His one job right now surely, is to expose the weakness of this Government - a government more interested in being popular and getting re-elected than it is in getting us to Level 1.

Todd Muller needs to wake up.

He may not want to bark at every passing car, but this was a double decker bus driving right past him.