Francesca Rudkin: It's been a busy 12 months for the new Government

Tomorrow marks 12 months since the election which saw the country take a step to the to the right, with Christopher Luxon’s coalition coming into power.

During the week, I've read numerous opinion pieces reflecting on politics in NZ under both Hipkins and Luxon’s leadership.

We know it has taken the Prime Minister time to grasp the nuances of politics - but credit where credit’s due, he’s rip-roaring through his to do list. So, it seems odd there’s chat about how long he will last in the job, or who else should be leader. That these topics keep popping up suggests the leadership of both National and Labour isn't quite hitting the mark.

Peter Dunne wrote a piece on Newsroom titled Why Luxon Won’t Outstay his Welcome, sharing his thoughts on why Christopher Luxon is unlikely to be a long-term Prime Minister. He also points out the pros and cons of having non-career politicians in power.

Dunne wrote - “The positive aspect of this non-careerist approach is politicians who are focused on achieving the policy goals dear to them, and not outstaying their public welcome”. He went on to say, “The counter is that the value of political experience in resolving awkward situations is insufficiently appreciated.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from news Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Tomorrow marks twelve months since the election, which saw the
country take a step to the right with Christopher Luckson's
coalition coming into power. During the week, I've read numerous
opinion pieces reflecting on politics in New Zealand under both
Hipkins and Luxon's leadership. We know it has taken the
Prime minister time to grasp the nuances of politics, but
credit where credit's due. He's rip roaring through his to

(00:35):
do list, so it seems odd that therese chat about
how long he will last in the job or who
else should be the leader. That these topics keep popping
up suggests the leadership of both National and Labor isn't
quite hitting the mark. Peter Dunn wrote a piece in
Newsroom titled Why Luxon Won't outstay his Welcome, sharing his
thoughts on why Christopher Luxon is unlikely to be a

(00:56):
long term prime minister. He also points out the pros
and cons of having non career politicians in power. Dunn
wrote the positive aspect of this non careerist approach, which
is politicians who were focused on achieving the policy goals
dear to them and not outstanding their public welcome. But
I went on to say that the counter is that
the value of political experiences in resolving awkward situations is

(01:19):
insufficiently appreciated. Off the back of the mood of the
Boardroom survey, which ranked Luxon's sixth in the rankings of
Cabinet Minister's KPIs Matthew Horton, writing in The Heralds suggesting
some alternative leadership names. He wrote that neither Luxen nor
Hip can seem up to the leadership required, but he
was impressed with the seriousness shown by Nationals Nicola Willis

(01:42):
and Labour's Barbara Edmonds in their portfolios. Looking back on
the political year, it has been fast and furious. It
takes some effort to keep up with what has been repealed, paused,
fast tracked or implemented. We've had tax cuts, inflation drop,
the returner roads, changes to the smoke free policy, benefit reform,
public service cuts, the fast track approvals bill, law and

(02:04):
order legislation, replacement of the budget blowouts at House New Zealand,
a reset for education and more. Besides, if you had
to describe the last twelve months, I'd call it busy.
The coalition has done a good job of identifying the
core issues facing the country, but whether their approaches to
fixing these problems will be successful, only time will tell.
The Taxpayer's Union Curio poll released on Friday showed support

(02:27):
for National and Luxe and dropping. I tend to take
polls with a grain of salt, but it's another indication
New Zealanders aren't entirely convinced of National's leadership.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
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