Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra, where Hipkins was fed Coke Zero and sausage rolls. Photo / Samuel Rillstone RNZ
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra, where Hipkins was fed Coke Zero and sausage rolls. Photo / Samuel Rillstone RNZ
Opinion by Claire Trevett
Claire Trevett is the New Zealand Herald’s Political Editor, based at Parliament in Wellington.
PM Chris Hipkins may well come to regret that his fondness for sausage rolls and Coke Zero was so widely publicised as part of his introduction to the job of PM.
It might help his “ordinary guy” credentials but it won’t help him have a balanced diet, especially overseas.
Host countries like to try to make their visitors feel at home – and so check to see what dietary fancies apply to their guests.
Hipkins boarded the RNZAF Boeing – his first time flying on it – and was immediately offered a Coke Zero. It was about 6.30am. In Canberra, his morning tea at the NZ High Commission was a platter of sausage rolls. He then went to Australia’s Parliament, where every meeting room he went into had a supply of Coke Zero carefully arranged on the tables.
He should perhaps just be grateful he isn’t only being served bread and butter everywhere he goes.
Camilla Belich turns 40
On Wednesday, Labour MP Camilla Belich marked her 40th birthday – the same week her husband, Andrew Kirton, started as Hipkins’ chief of staff. Belich is the possible successor to former PM Jacinda Ardern as Labour’s candidate in the Mt Albert electorate. The seat is one of Labour’s safest - which would make a nice change for Belich after she stood in the Epsom electorate in 2020, held by Act’s David Seymour. (She did get more votes than National’s Paul Goldsmith in Epsom, however.) Belich and Helen White - who ran in Auckland Central in 2020 and was beaten by Chloe Swarbrick - are both believed to be eyeing up the seat.
No pressure but the last three MPs in Mt Albert have become Labour’s leader (Helen Clark, David Shearer and Jacinda Ardern) and two of them have become PM.
Belich celebrated her birthday with a dinner in Wellington on Thursday night at Rita – attended by PM Chris Hipkins. She will have a second gathering in Auckland this weekend and it’s a fair bet that the current MP for Mt Albert will attend that one.
Former Speaker Trevor Mallard kicks off his Ireland stint
Yesterday marked a year since the 2022 Parliamentary protests and some of the protesters were back to hold a picnic on the newly laid Parliament lawn. Meanwhile, Mallard, who got into a spot of trouble for his handling of the protests, was more than happy to be far away in a distant land.
He was issuing his first social media videos as the Ambassador to Ireland. He didn’t have Baby Shark playing – but his dog, Violet, made just as much noise during Mallard’s attempt to do a video on social media to mark both St Brigid’s Day in Ireland and Waitangi Day in New Zealand.
Best wishes for St Bridget’s and Waitangi weekends. Important commemorations in Ireland 🇮🇪 and New Zealand 🇨🇰 and a reminder that Violet is not a calm diplo-dog. pic.twitter.com/aDZZXOLDQZ
Nor did it help that in his accompanying tweet, he had used the emoji of the Cook Islands flag instead of the New Zealand flag. Should’ve gone to Specsavers, Trevor.
Drongos to chooks
Wayne Brown’s recent resurrection of the word drongos to describe the media adds to a long line of less-than-flattering descriptions of journalists from politicians. Brown is an amateur compared to NZ First leader Winston Peters, who has also used drongo about the media – as well as “muttering meerkats”, “brainless meerkats” and one a “smart alec, arrogant, quiche-eating, chardonnay-drinking, pinky finger-pointing snobbery, fart blossom”.
One senior minister calls the media “the chooks”, describing the daily bridge run at Parliament (in which ministers are stopped in media scrums on their way into Parliament) as “feeding the chooks”.
It is a phrase allegedly handed down by former PM Helen Clark. (Yes, we know it has another meaning, made famous by Sir John Key, but this is a family publication).
Fair is fair, given the media have been known to call some politicians roosters – and then feather dusters.
