John MacDonald: Still confident in and patient with the Government?

My confidence is shot and my patience is wearing thin.

That’s my answer to the question I’ve got for you. Which is: How would you rate your level of confidence in and patience with the Government?

After yesterday’s GDP result, the knives are well-and-truly out. We’ve got former Finance Minister Sir Roger Douglas saying Nicola Willis isn’t up to the job and should resign. Add to that a new poll result which says that 55% of us think the country is on the wrong track and 45% of us think the current government is worse than the previous Labour government.

Sir John Key isn’t having a bar of resignation talk about Nicola Willis, though.

He says out of anyone in the current government, she is far and away the best person to be Finance Minister and Economic Growth Minister. He thinks she has the goods to deliver better economic days – but what else was a former National prime minister going to say?

Two people I was talking to last night who voted for National at the last election weren’t as generous as Sir John. And they, like I do, think Sir Roger is right – Nicola Willis isn’t up to the job. Which is why my confidence has gone.

As for my patience wearing thin, what I’m saying there is that I’m prepared to give the Government a little bit more time to show that it’s listening. Proof of that would be moving Nicola Willis on and giving Chris Bishop the job.

He’s the only person in this Government who I think would be better than Nicola Willis. But just because the pickings are slim, it doesn’t mean changes shouldn’t be made.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
And my patience is wearing thin. A confidence is shot
and my patience is wearing thin. That's my answer to
the question I'm going to put to you this morning,
question being how would you rate your level of confidence
in and your patients with the government. And for me,

(00:38):
the confidence is gone and the patience is way for thin.
And I don't think I'm alone. After yesterday's GDP result.
The knives are well and truly up for the government,
aren't they. We've got former Finance Minister Sir Roger Douglas
saying Nichola Willis isn't up to the job and should resign.

(00:59):
Add to that, a new poll reside out this morning
which says that fifty five percent of us think the
country is on the right on track, fifty five percent
and forty five percent of us think the current government
is worse than the previous labor government. Now, Sir John Key,
he's not having a bar of that. He's not having
a bar of the resignation. Talk about Nikola Willis, he

(01:22):
was on with Mike this morning saying that out of
everyone in the current government. She is far and away
the best person to be Finance Minister and Economic Growth minister. Reckon,
that's the same as saying that she's the best of
a bad munch. Do you think although he did say
that from his time working with her that he thinks
she has the goods to deliver better economic days. But then,

(01:45):
let's be honest day, what else was he going to say?
What else was a former National prime minister going to say?
Two people I was talking to you last night who
voted for National at the last election weren't as generous
as Sir John was being when he was on the
radio this morning. And I think he's wrong, and I

(02:06):
think Sir Roger Douglas is right. Nikola Willis isn't up
to the job, which is why my confidence is gone.
And Chris Bishop he should be the Finance minister. As
for my patients wearing thin, what I'm saying there is
that I'm prepared to give the government a little bit
more time to show that it's listening, and one piece

(02:31):
of evidence that it is listening would be moving Nichola
Willis on and giving Chris Bishop the job. He is
the only person in my view he is the only
person in this government who I think would be better
than Nichola Willis. But just because the pickings are slim,
it doesn't mean that changes shouldn't be made. And while

(02:53):
Sir john Key was talking up to Nichola Willis this morning,
don't forget that Ruth Richardson was doing the exact opposite
a few weeks back, and she spoke with Heather and
listening to the Finance Minister. Since yesterday GDP result which
shows that we are going backwards. I've kept coming back
to a line that you might have heard me use before,

(03:14):
which is this, people don't care what you know until
they know that you care. They don't care what you
know until they know that your care and as has
become has become standard for Nicholas, hasn't it. She failed
on that front big time again when she was on

(03:34):
with Mike this morning. I mean to have listened to
her response to this question from Mike, talk about being
in denial and living in la la land. And here
we are at the latter part of Q three. Manufacturing,
one of the things that led us down so badly
in Q two, is still in contraction. Could we be
heading for a recession?

Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, there are some very good signs. You've got electronic
card transactions values up, you've got retail spending up. You're
seeing that job ads are up the most significantly in
many years. You've got migration and data starting to improve.
And most significantly, Mike, over the next six months, we're
looking at around half of mortgages going on to lower rates,

(04:17):
and that means that there will be more cash flowing
into the economy.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Lah la la, la, la la la. It's just it's
just noise, isn't it. More importantly, though, people don't care
what you know, Minister, until they know that you care.
You know, why couldn't Why couldn't you have just said this, Minister,
Why couldn't you have just said to Mike, Yep, it's crap,
it's crap. We're worried about it, just like everybody else's.

(04:43):
But here are the reasons to have confidence that things
are going to get better. What would have been so
hard about that? And more and more people are losing
confidence in your minister by the day because they don't
care what you know. They don't care what you know
because they don't think that you care. Because of the
drivel you dished out this morning, and that's why Michael,

(05:06):
confidence is shot and why my patience is wearing thin.
But my patients will disappear too soon if the government
doesn't have the fortitude to admit that what it's doing
and who's doing it isn't working. But how would you
rate your level of confidence in the government and your
patients with the government.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
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