From his Stuff opinion piece this morning and here is the headline – which Grant may not have written of course.

On macro issues, Luxon’s government is indistinguishable from its predecessors

There is a link to the full article but I agree 100% with Grant when he says:

In his government, if not under his leadership, good things are being done but to understand the nature of the problem we can look to the Education reforms.

Erica Stanford, the National Party Minister of Education, is focused on using the Ministry of Education to make schools function better. Her associate minister of education, David Seymour, wants to disentangle schools from the ministry so those who run them can navigate their own path.

It is a different philosophical approach that, ultimately, will matter. Seymour’s reforms will endure. Stanford’s will be undone by the next government.

My concerns about Luxon relate to two areas.

  1. He is quick to dump on his own people – the demotion of Melissa Lee and Penny Simmonds being two recent examples but you can add in Tim van der Molen and one or two others. He does not always back his people but I do agree he took the right action with David McLeod – time will tell whether that was ignorance or stupidity..
  2. He is watering down or allowing watering down legislation that people voted strongly for. eg 3 Strikes as the most recent. The passing of `Labour Lite' rubbish like the Fair Digitable News bill referred to by Damien is another example then there is his reluctance to challenge Maori.

In short he seems to want to be all things to all people within New Zealand and I think when ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill comes into the house Luxon will come under extreme pressure from both sides of the Bill and how he reacts will quite possibly determine his political future. Does he have the spine to do the hard yards and support controversial legislation.

That is not denying the good work he appears to be doing in promoting New Zealand overseas, supported by Winston Peters and Todd McLay. Has New Zealand ever been stronger in this area?

But, one or two areas of strength do not fully allay the concerns I have about Christopher Luxon as Prime Minister and Damien Grant seems to share my views. Link to his full article follows.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350340700/macro-issues-luxons-government-indistinguishable-its-predecessors