Ryan Bridge: It's three strikes for Chippy

Politics is all about perception and the perception of his last time on the ninth floor was bad for three reasons. 

Crime - they were too soft. 

Spending - too much waste.

And debt - too much with nothing to show for it.

All of this fed into the cost-of-living crisis.

Basically, Labour was too loose on the purse strings and the gangs, too harsh on businesses and middle New Zealand. 

Yesterday, Hipkins stood up in the Parliament and argued for shorter sentences for some MPs after gun-gesture-gate. 

Arguing for a reduced sentence from 21 days to 1 day was ill-advised. 

No matter where you sit on the actual debate, politically for Chippy in the eyes of the middle voter, it was a bad move. 

Arguing for a 95% discount on sentencing just plays into a narrative they ought to avoid like the plague. 

That was strike three. 

Strike two came earlier in the day on debt. 

He refused to commit to the debt ceiling of 50% of GDP. 

It's the sacred threshold Treasury warns we shouldn't cross. 

It's the same threshold even Grant Robertson said we shouldn't cross. 

The same threshold even ol' Barb from accounts said we shouldn't cross a day earlier. 

So now National can run around till the election screaming "debt monster" till their blue in the face and won't be wrong until he commits otherwise. 

Strike one came courtesy of the Greens last week. 

The mad-hatter alternative budget... the plan so toxic it'd kill growth like roundup on your weeds. 

Chippy first said he hadn't read it, which nobody believed. Then he said he'd read it and wouldn't rule anything out. So, he might allow some or all of the roundup to be sprayed on our economic prosperity. 

Then he says some of the stuff was bad, some was okay, but not committing to anything. 

Obviously, this is the high tide mark on a Green party negotiating position post-election and most of won't actually happen.

In the same way the privileges committee thing is not that big of a deal to most voters. 

But politics is about perception. And perception is reality.

It's three own goals in a week. Three strikes for Chippy. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three strikes for Old Chippy in the last seven days.
Politics is all about perception, as everyone keeps saying, and
the perception of his last time on the ninth floor
was bad for three reasons. Crime they were too soft, spending,
too much waste and debts, too much of that with
nothing to show for it. All of this fed into
the cost of living crisis right basically, labor was too

(00:21):
loose on the purse strings and the gang's too heart
on business and Middle New Zealand. Yesterday, Hipkins stood up
in Parliament argued for shortest sentences. For some MPs, this
is the gun gesture Gate, the Hucker sideshow, whatever you
want to call it. Arguing for a reduced sentence from
twenty one days to one was probably ill advised no

(00:43):
matter where you sit on the actual debate. Politically, for Chippy,
in the eyes of your average voter, it was a
bad move. Arguing for a ninety five percent discount on
sentencing just plays into a narrative they ought to avoid,
like the plague that was Strike three. Strike two, who
came earlier in the day. On debt, he refused to
commit to the debt ceiling of fifty percent of GDP.

(01:06):
It's the sacred threshold that Treasury warns we just shouldn't cross.
It's the same threshold even Grant Robertson said we shouldn't cross,
the same threshold even Barbed from Accounts said we shouldn't
cross a day earlier. So now National can run around
till the elections screaming debt monster till they're blue in
the face, and they won't be wrong until he commits otherwise.

(01:29):
Strike one, of course, came courtesy of the Greens last week,
the Mad Hatter alternative Budget, the plan so toxic it
had killed growth like round up on your weeds. Chippy
first said he hadn't read it, which no one believed.
Then he said he'd read it and wouldn't rule anything out,
so he might allow some or all of the roundup
to be sprayed on our economic prosperity. Then he says

(01:53):
some of the stuff was bad, some of it was okay,
but still not committing to anything. Obviously, this is going
to be the high time mark on a Green Party
negotiation position post election, and most of it will never
see the light of day and actually happen in the
same way the Privileges Committee thing is not that big
of a deal to most voters and doesn't reflect their

(02:15):
crime and justice policies. But if politics is about perception
and perception is reality, it's three own goals in a week,
three strikes for Chippy. For more from Early Edition with
Ryan Bridge, listen live to news Talks it'd be from
five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.