Mitchell had also been clear when media asked him about the different time-frames afterwards and said it was decided to push it out to three years after Police highlighted the practical difficulties of recruiting and training that number.
Mitchell went on the media after Luxon and said he had simply been wrong.
Peters also went into the media and said “some people (yes, Mitchell) have made a mistake.”
As far as Peters is concerned, the biggest sin in this will be Mitchell amending and announcing the timing change, apparently without getting sign off from NZ First. Of course, it remains possible Mitchell thought he had that sign-off.
It also remains possible he had grounds to think that – but those grounds shifted.
There is still some confusion around this. It was apparently discussed with NZ First late last year after the Police sounded caution about the difficulties of it.
It remains unclear what was said at the meeting, or who was in it. However, Mitchell clearly came out of it thinking that either he had approval or at least the leeway to amend the time-frame, given he had done just that.
Whatever happened, Mitchell has clearly now decided to simply take it on the chin for the sake of harmony.
However, if there was ever any chance in getting it pushed out to three years, that opportunity is now lost.
NZ First won’t cave now. If there’s one thing Peters hates it is thinking NZ First has been taken by surprise or left out of decisions, especially when it comes to the party’s own coalition agreement.
Often things also have to be signed off by the NZ First caucus, not just the MP a minister is working with, and the caucus does not always think the same way.
National is perhaps lucky that this was the early test. No long-lasting harm seems to have been done to the coalition relationship, largely because Luxon was quick to side with NZ First and Mitchell was quick to take the blame for it.
Luxon insisted there was no animosity: the wording of the coalition agreement was crystal clear and stood. Luxon will probably even boast that it shows that the coalition management processes are in good working order.
It is an early lesson for ministers to be clear on what is in the coalition agreements – and to consult with the relevant parties when any changes are considered.
As things stand, the promise to train up 500 extra police in two years remains intact – but the palaver has highlighted that the delivery of it is another matter.
Earlier this week, when setting out his reasons for what he described as the “realistic” three-year time-frame, Mitchell pointed to the difficulties in recruiting people even for the usual police training numbers, let alone 500 more of them. That included strong efforts from Australia to poach.
Therein lie the perils of coalition agreements made behind closed doors and without the benefits of officials and experts weighing in: it will be poor old Police Commissioner Andrew Coster who has the job of delivering on this commitment.
That might explain why Coster was apparently at such pains to emphasise to Mitchell that it wasn’t a matter of muttering a wish three times and it will happen. Regardless of whether the Government provides the money to recruit and train, it also requires enough willing people.
The first pothole in the coalition relationship was quickly patched up.
However, some in Labour were smirking on Wednesday morning, having ridden on the NZ First coalition roller coaster themselves.
There are some similarities to Labour’s own first pothole in coalition with NZ First, when then Justice Minister Andrew Little announced the repeal of the three strikes law, thinking NZ First supported it after an assurance from one of them, only to discover that they did not. It wasn’t long before another similar instance came along in abortion reforms. It then wasn’t long before yet another came along, in the form of the capital gains tax.
So they are betting it won’t be long before National’s new potholes squad cannot keep up with the demand on their services.
