The Labour caucus would do well to not get too excited about changing their leader, says one reader. Photo / Mark MItchell
Don’t rush change, Labour
I note Shane Te Pou, a left-leaning Herald columnist, is saying Chris Hipkins will have to resign after this election.
I say, “hold your horses” Labour. Poor Hipkins inherited several difficult situations which clearly he didn’t know about before they hit him. However, I’m sure former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern would have known about them and the way they would make her look in a political environment where she was already fast losing her rock star appeal.
To be fair “Chippy” handled these situations as well as he could have after being dropped in it by Ardern.
The Labour caucus would do well to not get too excited about changing their leader. Let the dust settle then evaluate.
Janet Boyle, Orewa.
Blame the media
This was never going to be a close election. Over the last year or two it has been very difficult to find anyone who was happy with the Labour Government.
The election was about Labour’s record and particularly their policies, like co-governance, which was and were ignored by the media.
The media’s political commentators were out of touch with the feeling in the community and either through this, or maybe their bias, regularly said or wrote articles giving Labour hope, saying the election would be close, or writing off or endeavouring to discredit Christopher Luxon.
Ken Graham, Greenlane.
Poll a win for wealth, hate
The country has delivered shameful punishment to a reform Government trying its heart out against appalling odds.
An election victory for wealth, overseas influence, major disinformation, racism and hate. As Luxon and Seymour set out to appease the demands of these influences, we will all be the worse for it.
Peter Beyer, Sandringham.
Kick the kicks to touch
Hello to you all and congratulations Ian Foster and the All Blacks.
What a fantastic game and it could have gone either way, but in the end our mighty All Blacks won.
With three minutes to go, Aaron Smith decided to kick — and we all know what happened after that. Smith could have cost us so we were lucky to come away with the win.
I hope Ian Foster has a good talk to Smith as there is still far too much kicking.
My prediction is that the ABs will play the Springboks in the final, so bring it on.
Gary Stewart, Foxton Beach.
Sin-bin rules need work
Rugby needs to look at how they handle sending players off and should seriously consider the process used by ice hockey, where, if a player is sent to the penalty box for say 10 minutes, they stay there for the full 10 minutes unless the team with the advantage scores. Should this occur, the penalised player returns immediately. The current system gives the team which is not penalised just too much advantage, as they score more often than not and play for 10 minutes with a man advantage.
Perhaps this sort of innovation is too much for rugby’s hierarchy to consider.
Rod Lyons, Kumeu.
Greens not strategic
Amid the self-congratulations of the Green Party, they are too dumb to realise that by taking votes from their partners, the Labour Party, they are in affect voting themselves out of the new government.
A far better strategy for the Greens would be to tone down their rhetoric with National, do a deal to work together and get some policies passed which would grow their party and its membership and its relevance to the average voter.
Talk about dumb, this party has it in droves and is tone deaf to common sense as nothing they say in this term will affect our policies while National leads.
Bruce Woodley, Birkenhead.
Watering down Labour policy
Who will own the water assets under the current Three Waters legislation? Not your local council.
Both National and Act have promised big cuts.
We need to keep the new national water regulator. Taumata Arowai was quick to impose a “Boil Water”notice when Queenstown’s water supply was tested for Cryptosporidium, which is not eliminated by the chlorine in our public water supplies.
But the new Government could start by cutting the Three Waters bureaucracy set up by the Labour Government, which has been poaching staff from local councils. Leaking water and sewage pipes in Auckland and Wellington have been getting worse because councils now lack the skilled workers to fix the problem properly.
The savings from these cuts could be applied to a “Three Waters” Advisory and Capital Works Funding Agency to support struggling local councils like the Wairoa District Council.
Pauline Doyle, Napier.
Nats’ win victory for pollution
The National Party victory looks as though it will also be a victory for the fossil fuels industry, if its proposed scrapping of rail services is anything to go by.
This car-friendly Government will not do much for the transport problem and only lengthen the travel time for work commuters and all other types. It is a known phenomenon that building more motorways and encouraging car use merely increases congestion and the need for further motorways over time.
Adrian Hart, Whanganui.
Captain’s calls proved costly
The election result is not unexpected and the polls were not far out. Although the mood for change was there, Labour made two strategic errors of judgment. The first was ignoring the recommendations of the tax review, the second, co-governance.
They could have gained votes by introducing at least a wealth tax, let alone the obvious rights of a capital gains tax. It doesn’t matter whether co-governance is right or wrong, it just doesn’t sit comfortably with the majority. On the other hand, tax cuts may not be right at this time but the very thought of more money in the end decides whether you have a conscience or not. One can only hope the new PM is as good as his word.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Looking forward to the critics
As a believer in democracy, I accept the result of an election that did not go the way I would have liked. Being in a minority as far as commentators to this paper and its forum go, I would challenge the people who I discussed matters with over the last five years that they hold the incoming Government to the same scrutiny and critical standards they have applied to Labour over the last three.
Garry Bond, Hastings.
Nats must stand up to Act
Fearful of haemorrhaging votes, and focusing upon the short-term aim of election victory, a larger, more established party agrees to the demands of a more radical fringe group. Doing so mainstreams the views of the smaller party, normalises them into political discourse and gives their ideas credibility among a mass audience. This is exactly what happened in the UK with the Conservatives when they gave in to UKIP’s demands for a referendum on EU membership. The result was a deeply polarising vote and then an act of economic suicide.
As the results of New Zealand’s elections come in, it looks like National finds itself in the same position. Eager to govern and needing coalition partners from a limited pool, Act appear to be kingmakers. Just as with UKIP, Act want a referendum — on the Treaty of Waitangi — that has the potential to tear the country’s founding basis apart. Whatever the ambitions of Christopher Luxon’s party may be, and no matter how hardline David Seymour is in negotiations, agreeing to such a referendum in any form must be avoided at all costs.
Let the UK’s disastrous example be a warning to all those seeking power in New Zealand.
Dr Chris Ogden, St Heliers.
Thank goodness that’s over
Fly the flag and ring the bells, at last the news without gerrymandering political candidates making endless false claims, threats and insults to one another.
Who knows, some truths may possibly emerge in the following weeks.
Jackie McCabe, Kaitaia.
TV violence wrong
Is the level of violence on our TV screens considered acceptable?
The usual answer is, simply, don’t watch it. Wrong, normalising so much human carnage to a growing audience is akin to providing another drug.
John Norris, Whangamata.
On coalition call
Will Egghead need to call the Creped Crusader on the batphone to form a coalition? Stay tuned: same bat time, same bat channel.
Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
On election truisms
The election demonstrated some truisms. For Hipkins — that you can fool some of the people some of the time; for Winston — that you can fool some of the people all of the time; and for the Greens — that you can fool all their people all of the time.
Fred Wilson, Devonport.
On ref Barnes
Congratulations to the All Blacks, for their first win against Wayne Barnes in a World Cup quarter-final.
Ian Brady, Titirangi.
On blue-green future
Quite clearly, the best way forward for a stable New Zealand future would be a coalition of National and the Greens, a clear majority and a situation James Shaw did not rule out on Q&A. This would remove the whims of the tricky dickies.
Peter Dodd, Chatswood.
On ABs prediction
A year ago I wrote to this column and stated that the All Blacks would not reach the semifinal matches. Oh me of little faith! I would like to retract that statement and apologise to Fozzie.
They have two more games, go the ABs whatever.
Bruce Kay, Hillsborough.
The circumstances around the death are being treated as unexplained.