John MacDonald: Does the PM have her head in the sand?

The Prime Minister either has her head in the sand, or she is completely out of touch with what life is like for most New Zealanders. 
I’m not giving her the benefit of the doubt. I think her head is well and truly in the sand. 
And I’m starting to get really brassed off about it. This ongoing state of denial when it comes to the cost of living in this country. 
National Party leader Christopher Luxon called it the “cost-of-living crisis” in his state of the nation speech the other day – and it’s what you and I are living with on a daily basis, aren’t we? 
And when I saw that the Prime Minister still can’t bring herself to acknowledge it and say “yes, we are in a crisis situation”, that a lot of New Zealanders are really struggling at the moment, I was dismayed.    
You would think, wouldn’t you, that the leader of the Labour Party – of all people – wouldn’t shy away from the fact that more and more people are moving onto struggle street here in New Zealand. 
Petrol either side of $3 a litre (depending where you are and where you get your petrol), grocery bills through the roof, food banks unable to keep-up with demand. 
But maybe it’s all ideology and no idea with the Labour Party these days. Because that’s the impression I’m getting from the Prime Minister at the moment.  
And, I tell you what, she needs to get her head out of the sand quick smart because – at a time like this – the last thing we need is a government playing politics which, most of the time, is all about denying the bad stuff and rabbiting on about the positive stuff. 
It’s not like we haven’t seen it before, though. Let me take you back to 2016, when John Key was Prime Minister. 
Back then, Key – and everyone else in the National-led government – were falling over themselves to avoid admitting there was any sort of housing crisis. Remember that? 
I remember Key denying it. I remember Bill English denying it. I remember Steven Joyce denying it. I remember all of them denying it – for years. 
The closest that National-led government ever came to admitting there was a crisis, was saying that housing affordability was a “challenge”.  
And, at the time, Labour ripped into them for being in la-la land and not admitting that housing affordability and supply was a major, major problem. 
Which is all a bit rich now, isn’t it, with this Labour government doing exactly what it criticised National for doing back in 2016. 
Six years ago, John Key was saying housing affordability was “a challenge” and refusing to say there was a housing crisis.  
Today, Jacinda Ardern is saying she’s “hugely concerned” about petrol prices but refusing to acknowledge the existence of a cost-of-living crisis. 
Well, it’s not just fuel prices that are hugely concerning. The price of cheese is hugely concerning. The price of cauliflower is hugely concerning. The price of electricity is hugely concerning. The price of renting is hugely concerning. 
The Prime Minister cannot continue to pretend that this doesn't add up to a cost-of-living crisis.

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