Heather du Plessis-Allan: My winner of the week

Winner of the week has got to be NZ First. 

In the latest Taxpayer's Union Curia poll, they are the third biggest party now, overtaking Act and the Greens. 

If you’ve been watching the polls lately that’s not a surprise. This has been coming for a while. 

National has been up and down, Act has been pretty flat, but NZ First has just been heading up most of the year. 

There are a bunch of reasons for this. 

Winston is very statesman-like. He manages to disagree with his coalition partners without being quite as bratty as David Seymour can sometimes be. 

NZ First are choosing their battles. They stayed out of the pay equity kerfuffle, so they didn’t cop the blowback. 

But mainly, it’s because they’re being refreshingly blunt. 

Shane Jones doesn’t care if the lizard-lovers get upset that he wants to dig a mine where the lizards are. He just says it. 

Winston doesn’t care if Grey Lynn and Aro Valley are offended that he wants transwomen kept out of women’s sport. He just says it. 

He doesn't care if wool carpets into state houses is likely a bad financial decision. He got it done. 

This party is unashamedly appealing to a group of voters no one else really is, which is working class New Zealanders – people who see things simply and often more correctly than elites would care to imagine. 

It’s the same thing playing out in the UK with the rise of the Reform Party. It’s the same reason Trump is back in the White House. 

Of the three coalition parties NZ First is the only one hitting the same vein of voters. 

Now, we’re still only talking about 10% and 10% doesn’t a major party make. 

But it’s only been headed in one direction lately, and that tells you something. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The winner of the week has absolutely got to be
New Zealand First, doesn't it third biggest party now overtaking
Act in the Greens in the latest Taxpayers Union Curier poll.
If you've been watching the polls lately, that is not
a surprise. This has been coming for a while. The
Nats have been up and down. Act has actually been
pretty flat. New Zealand First has just been heading up
for most of this year now. There are a bunch

(00:20):
of reasons for that. Winston is very statesman like. He
manages to disagree with his coalition partners without being quite
as bratty as David Seymour can sometimes come off as.
New Zealand First are choosing their battles quite well. They
stayed out of the pay equity kerfuffle so they didn't
cop the blowback like the others did. But mainly I
think what's going on here is they are being blunt
and refreshingly blunted. That Shane Jones does not care if

(00:42):
the lizard lovers get upset that he wants to dig
a mine where the lizards are. He just says it.
Winston doesn't care if Grayland and Aravali are offended, that
he wants trans women kept out of women's sport. He
just says it. He doesn't care if woll carpets and
if forcing wool carpets into state houses is probably a
bad financial decision. He just got it done. This party
is unashamedly, I think, appealing to a group of voters
that no one else is, which is working class New Zealand,

(01:05):
people who I think see things quite simply and often
more correctly than elites would care to imagine. It is
the same thing that is playing out in the UK
with the rise of reform. It is the same thing
that has put Trump back in the White House again.
Of the three coalition parties, New Zealand First is the
only one hitting the same vein of voters, and I
would say the same rich vein of voters. Now we're

(01:27):
still only talking about ten percent, and ten percent doesn't
a major party make, but it has only been headed
in one direction lately for New Zealand First, and that
is up. And I think that tells you something. For
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