It is early days yet but, maybe, just maybe, someone somewhere within the National Ranks has got in PM Luxon’s ear and told to give a simple, straight answer to questions after the debacle with Mike Hosking over Andrew Bayly’s resignation from Cabinet a week ago.
I am unsure but, it may be an indication of a change in approach from the Prime Minister. I will watch with interest to see:
- If he continues this approach in future interviews.
- How the change of approach is received around the traps.
- I expect the media to continue to denigrate the Government school lunch programme – as per this piss poor photo which appeared on the Stuff front page within an hour or the statement being made.
As a precurser to this post I saw the following Post by Rodney Hyde at the BBH under the heading:
RODNEY HIDE: Chris Luxon is done
Included in his post Rodney says this:
`Chris Luxon is done. He staggers on but he no longer has the command or respect a Prime Minister needs. He’s proved middle management at best. His policies are Jacinda’s. His social media posts appear like skits. His media interviews are train wrecks.’
And this:
A caring pre-school teacher emailed the PM concerned:
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦. 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠? 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑣𝑒 — 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 — 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 “𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦/𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, ℎ𝑒/𝑠ℎ𝑒”. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑣𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑛𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑇𝑉 𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠? 𝐼 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑.”
The reply from his staff is gob-smacking:
Kia ora ——–
Thank you for your email to the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Christopher Luxon.
Christopher is a proud supporter of the LGBTQI+ community and wants New Zealand to be a country that celebrates and supports diversity, including our rainbow community.
Nga mihi nui
I agree with Rodney Hyde the above reply is appalling and not becoming of a Prime Minister Of New Zealand.
Here is a link to the full post which includes additional comments and elaboration on the email I have highlighted.
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/rodney-hide-chris-luxon-is-done
No Minister 
Fuck it. I’m just going to build a series of compounds out in the country, with clear lines of fire, because we’re done. Apart from GPD growth and tax cuts – very small tax cuts – but the ethno-state will get those.
Jesus H Christ. That was the official response from fucking Luxon’s staff?
That’s the sort of response you expect from a leftist politician, not a fucking National Prime Minister, even if you take into account that you don’t hate National enough. I can’t imagine Holyoake or Marshall or Muldoon or Bolger or Shipley responding that way. Unbelievable.
As for the marmite comment, I’ll state again that if the State wants to kidnap my kids for six hours a day, they’d better bloody feed them while they’ve got them. And feed them properly. Don’t whine about personal responsibility if you’re the one with the responsibility. The marmite comment is (once again) Luxon not taking responsibility. It’s not him growing balls at all, quite the opposite. The Government whined about implementing this programme, implemented a shitty programme, and now is telling people if you don’t like it, make a marmite sandwich?! As a parent, I say Luxon can get fucked. This is your job. Start doing it.