NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was Australia’s best politician since Paul Keating and the cross-party sadness at her resignation said everything about her calibre and public support.
Keating left school at 14 but was hugely intelligent and pragmatic, characteristics shared by Berejiklian.
Sadly they are absent in our government which ever since it took office four years back, has constantly demonstrated spectacular incompetence in a host of areas.
Faced with Covid it has relied on fear-mongering and found an initial receptive but now rapidly dwindling audience.
Labour politicians come from safe risk avoidance backgrounds; of school-teaching, the public service and such-like. Their strength lies in ideas; their weakness in management. The latter always involves accepting risks for the greater good outcome but their underlying nature is driven by risk avoidance at all costs. They are thus hopeless in dealing with crises.
John Key is 100% correct. We must learn to live with Covid, just as the rest of the world mostly is doing.
The mood of the nation increasingly reminds me of 1983 when the public’s unwavering faith in Rob Muldoon finally turned to despair. Jacindamania was nothing compared with the Muldoonmania of the mid-1970s.
The 1983 despair lay in the then negative view of the alternative Labour Party, similar to the current view of the National Party. Despite that, two years later the government was swept out of office, exactly as will happen in two years time.
10 Comments
Interesting prediction. Surely that will depend on an acceptable alternative. Unless National do something sensible about appointing a new leader, and do it soon, Jacinda and her lot will simply win the next election by default.
Keep the name Erica Stanford in mind.
Labour depends on the highly risk averse female vote which massively supports the same risk averse politicians and bureaucrats you describe.
The same constituency demands and delivers equal pay or greater for unequal risk taking and is least harmed and most benefited by Labour/Green blundering.
I’m not confident that support will easily erode.
I tend to agree with you Alan.
In fact, the education system; call it social engineering if you will, has been taken over by the same risk averse culture which has now perpetrated in wider society; too dominated by females when balance is required.
My daughters take more risks than most of their male friends, which says it all. And its not a quick fix.
People who don’t have their own business have very little idea on risk; which is the masses, and sadly without business we will become Africa in no time.
Here in lays the problem with most politicians; who use to be retired business people, and the poor decisions they make.
Likely to make an excellent documentary on where NZ has gone worry; because it starts at the top.
Muldoon intentions were good, however the mistake he made was taking on too much debt, in an attempt to achieve self sufficiency. The morale of the story is never trust a banker.
I agree Keating was a great finance minister but lacked Bob hawks charisma as a prime minister. He did set up the economy for John Howard, to have the most successful period in Australia’s history
That’s when NZ was left behind economically and we saw a mass exodus of our bright and best young people to a more prosperous neighbour
I sincerely hop Bob you are correct that there will be a change of government in two years The Covid situation will be mostly gone by then and that’s been a big winner for the government
I truthfully believe that only a collapse in our economy will rid us of this very dangerous government There is a lot of cheap money around , and it seems to be working in keeping us with low unemployment and in modest growth
I’m not an economist, but it appears we are in a bubble, and bubbles eventually burst one day
… if Ardern continues to front up at 1 p.m. daily , and to talk down to us as if we’re errant primary school children , the Gnats should be a shoe in to win the next election …. if …. if they’ve replaced Collins & Reti …. Gnats + ACT can easily do it … the trend of the polls is showing a slide away from support of this government … forcing through of their 3 waters reform ought to be the nail in their coffin ….
Totally agree. This Labour government is well past its used by date. Its popularity is sinking like a stone, It is even hard to find someone to admit even voting for labour.
You are so right Bob, when you say this country has never been so divided. I will be very surprised if Labour lasts until the next election. There is already an on-line petition running on social media for Jacinda to resign.
I recall the NZ Party played a role in splitting the blue vote and ousting Muldoon and allowing Lange to win.
We don’t seem to have anyone willing to take on Cindy on the left who could do the same now. And no one of Lange’s stature appears right now on the right
Todays announcement that these comrades are wanting a 4yr term ( probably a good idea ) and lowering voting age to 16 also leads its demise to a certainty. They would rely on children to love Cindy at ballot box but Mum and Dad know children who cant be allowed to drive on our roads should grow up before voting.
They need to be sure and sweep away the huge foul pile from labour/greens messes and put ‘under-the-carpet’, at the same time as sweeping into power.