Paul Little: The first week - words into action

Winston Peters and Jacinda Ardern shake hands after signing their coalition agreement at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Among the many outcomes that might have been expected when the portfolio pie was being portioned out to the new members of the Government, the appointment of the prodigiously talented Chloe Swarbrick as Minister of Youth Affairs seemed likely.

But no such ministry. Instead, Jacinda Ardern has put a portfolio where her mouth is, establishing and occupying the position of minister for child poverty reduction. And free counselling for people under 25 is part of the coalition agreement.

I guess if children are going to be fed and clothed and discouraged from killing themselves, then most of what we might wish for on their behalf will occur anyway.

It's certainly a better outcome than if there hadn't been a change of Government. The best youths could have hoped for then was two weeks in a boot camp, a skateboard park on every corner and more funding for blue light discos.

Legislation to prevent waka jumping - politicians changing parties midstream - is all very well but that's only one side of the problem.

The other side has been rangatira taking a patu to one end of the waka and "remodelling" it bit by bit until the occupants are no longer occupying the craft in which they set sail. Which is what occurred when MPs in David Lange's 1984 Labour Party Government found every principle they believed in and on which they had been elected being tipped overboard by the tsunami of Rogernomics.

The Prime Minister, Winston Peters and James Shaw would all earn our confidence if they vowed not to betray the principles that won them enough support to form a Government. Legislation to prevent that would be welcome.

That Gareth Morgan has been very quiet since the election. Hasn't it been lovely?

With all these pretty communists running the country come new opportunities for moral panic.

Lax morals at the top are already having an effect, as we can see in reports groups of "bong-smoking dubsters" are "besieging residents" of Huntsbury Hill in Christchurch.

Expect them to give boy racers, bodgies and milk bar cowboys a run for their money.

The decision in the Eminem copyright case was as good as announced hours before its official release by Steven Joyce, who could be heard on RNZ National loudly distancing himself from the fiasco and making it absolutely clear that - whatever the verdict - National had acted on the best advice from lots of professionals.

Other Nats would have been consoling themselves on a told-you-so basis. It's rumoured Bill English wanted to go with a Boney M soundalike. Paula Bennett had offered to bring her SingStar into Cabinet so everyone could try a few things out. And everyone else wanted something by the Eagles. But unfortunately, the agency won the day.

It would have been a tough call for Counties Manukau Health to decline an offer from Ronald McDonald House Charities NZ to pay for a family facility at Middlemore Hospital.

But it was the right one. For all RMHCNZ's efforts to draw a line between their philanthropy and the junk food the company that funds them peddles, deep in their hearts they must know the former occurs only because it boosts the image of the latter.

In my work, I'm always on the lookout for something that might make a story, and a lot of my time is spent following up promising links that don't pan out.

Over the years you get an instinct for what might be worth following up. For instance, this week, I didn't click on a pop-up encouraging me to "Join the 10 Day Fertility Smoothie Challenge".