Beehive Diaries: Nicola Willis woman of the moment, Māori Party has Te Puke moment

Te Pāti Māori leadership Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. Photo / Whakaata Māori

OPINION:

Poor National Leader Christopher Luxon tested positive for Covid-19 this week, leaving his deputy Nicola Willis to take the helm, which was unfortunate for him as it meant he was nowhere to be seen during one of the Government’s worst weeks since Chris Hipkins took over.

It also put Willis in an awkward position. A creature of Parliament, she’s naturally a far more capable performer in Question Time and with media than Luxon is. She faced the unenviable task of having to do a capable job standing in for Luxon, but not so well as to spark rumours of a leadership change - a task made more difficult on Monday night when a new TVNZ-Kantar poll showed voters are turning off Luxon and onto Hipkins.

Willis made an amusing error on Monday attempting to dispel these rumours, saying “Chris Luxon with his record of experience and delivery is the man for the moment”.

For the moment… not of the moment.

The faux pas drew comparisons with the BBC satire The Thick of It in which another Nicola - the fictional minister Nicola Murray - forced to dispel rumours she was about to roll the prime minister says he is also the “right man for the moment” rather than “of the moment”.

Te Pāti Māori’s Te Puke moment

Te Pāti Māori promised to take the fight to the Government this week.

On Tuesday, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Tweeted: “First day back in the house and we’re answering what we think about the Govt backtracking on climate change policies.

Me: I think it’s disgraceful and rather than protest against himself the Minister of Climate Change should stand down!”

The tweet was accompanied by a photo of Ngarewa-Packer and co-leader Rawiri Waititi striding purposefully into the House, talking to media on the way.

This was news to MPs actually in the House, where Te Pāti Māori were nowhere to be seen. Had they skipped town for Hawaii - like another party leader who claimed on social media to be somewhere where he wasn’t?

Apparently not - another meeting, one more important than Question Time, beckoned.

The plot thickened the next day when once again, Packer and Waititi were nowhere to be seen in the chamber.

Both eventually made it into the House on Thursday, when Ngarewa-Packer was able to ask Shaw why he wasn’t quitting his job. Having teased this question for three days, Shaw came with a very well-prepared answer, which the Greens were so chuffed with they soon plastered it all over their social media accounts - not the sort of thing one usually does after having been asked to resign.

It was a doubly special day for the Greens. They were told by Leader of the House Grant Robertson that the Organic Products Bill, introduced in 2020 and which the Greens have been asking about every sitting week (more or less) since, will finally be progressed next sitting block.

The chamber was so chuffed for the long-suffering Greens, MPs broke into brief applause.

Chris v. Chris v. David v. Nicola

The Weekend Herald’s Chris v. Chris segment has moved to Beehive Diaries this week.

This week’s a tough.

Chris Hipkins has lost his first minister only a couple of months into the job. Hipkins handled the incident well, but the fact remains his new Cabinet, announced in February, lost a minister to a grievous error by March.

Luxon can’t take the credit. Sickness kept him from the field this week.

So for that reason, we’re awarding Chris v. Chris to Act leader David Seymour, who was the first to pick up on Stuart Nash’s sacking offence on Wednesday.

He shares the honour with Willis, who performed excellently as acting Opposition Leader this week.

The woman of the moment, you might say.