John MacDonald: Briscoes boss has buyer's remorse and I can see why

When the Prime Minister is doing all the shake and howdy at the investment summit in Auckland, I bet he’ll be feeling like a harassed parent who —despite all the chaos behind the scenes— somehow manages to arrive at a family wedding with the kids in tow looking cool, calm and very happy to be there.  

Even though one of the kids had been refusing to leave the house and you all had a big bust-up in the car on the way to the church.  

“But we’re here now guys - smile everyone”. I bet you that’s how Christopher Luxon is feeling.  

And what will be making it worse is the fresh criticism coming from Briscoes Group managing director Rod Duke who’s telling Luxon and his government to “get their A into gear” and “actually do something” to help the economy. And I agree with him.   

Because are you really doing any better than you were a year or 18 months ago?  

This isn’t the first time Rod Duke has made these kinds of comments. I remember him saying a while back that he was prepared to give the Government until this month to deliver some results and, if he didn't see results, he’d be putting a rocket under them.  

And that’s what he’s doing now.   

He’s obviously had a gutsful of the Government blaming everything on the last government and he wants more action.  

He says: “I think they’re of the view that up until now they’ve been able to blame the prior government, which is typical of a lot of governments I guess. But you know, the time has just about come where you’re going to have to make your own mark.  

“You’ve had enough time to study, to tighten, to understand what the books look like, and now you’ve got to put some policies into place.”  

He says everyone’s aware of the situation Luxon and Co. inherited from the previous government, but they’ve had enough time and should be able to show more for their efforts of the past 15 or so months. 

Duke doesn’t seem to be doing what Luxon would probably ask him to do. You know, the line CEOs like to use about not going to them with problems but going to them with solutions.  

But I think Rod Duke is right. The Government hasn’t delivered when it comes to the economy and it does need to get its “A into G”.   

The problem is though, the Government has fallen into the trap that pretty much every government falls into – especially first-term governments. The trap of trying to do too much.  

When you're in opposition, it’s very easy to sit there and have all these big ideas. Because when you’re in opposition, that’s all you have to do.  

Different story when you get into government, though. For starters, you realise that the things you promised to do aren’t quite so easy to do in reality. So it takes way longer to achieve something.  

And when you get into government, you have to deal with all the stuff that blows up in your face on a daily basis. You can lurch from one crisis to another and see your quarterly plan targets disappearing in front of your eyes.  

So if Christopher Luxon said to me: “Don't come to me with problems, come to me with solutions” - here’s what I’d tell him.  

I’d tell him to decide what his government is actually going to focus on and to stick with it. If it’s the economy, then make that your priority between now and the election.  

And be honest about it, this laser-like focus that the Prime Minister talks about can't go in all directions.   

I’d tell the PM to be upfront with us and say that if we want better health services and better education facilities and everything else that governments get lost in —as this government has— I’d tell the PM to be courageous and tell us that we’re going to have to wait for all those other things.  

Because for now, it’s the economy and only the economy we’re going to worry about.  

That might sound simplistic, but unless the Government ditches this idea that it’s going to fix everything ASAP, then it’s going to fail in all of them.  

And people like Rod Duke won’t just be telling the Government to get its A into gear, he'll be telling it to get its A out of here. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerry Wood of morning's podcast from
News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
He'd be, you know, when the Prime Minister is doing
all that shake and hardy at the investment summit today
and tomorrow, I bet he will be feeling like an
harassed parent who despide all the chaos behind the scenes.
Somehow manages to arrive at a family wedding with the
kids in toe, looking cool, calm and very happy to

(00:30):
be there, even though one of the kids had been
refusing to leave the house and you all had a
big bust up in the car on the way to
the church. Were here now, guys, Smile everybody. I bet
you that's how Christopher Luxen is feeling right now. And
what will be making it worse for him internally is

(00:51):
the fresh criticism coming today from the Briscoes Group Managing
director Rod Duke, who's telling Luxon and the rest of
his government to quote get their a n to gear,
get your a int g and quote actually do something
to help the economy. And I agree with Rod Duke,
because here's a question, are you really doing any better

(01:12):
now than you were were a year or eighteen months ago.
Bet you're not. And this isn't the first time Rod
Duke has made these kinds of comments. I remember him
telling Mike would have been a few weeks ago that
he was prepared to give the government until this month
to deliver some results, and if he didn't see results,
he'd be putting a rocket under them. And that's what

(01:33):
he's doing today. Talk about timing first day of the
investment summit. He's obviously had a guts full of the
government blaming everything on the last government and he wants
more action. Let me give you a couple of quotes
from Rod Duke. He says, quote, I think they're of
a view that up until now they've been able to
blame the prior government, which is typical of a lot
of governments, I guess. But you know, the time has

(01:55):
just come where you're going to have to make your
own mark. That's what Rod Duke is saying to the government.
He goes on to say, you've had enough time to
study to Titan to understand what the books look like,
and now you've got to put some policies into place.
I'm with them. He says that everyone's aware of the
situation the current government inherited from the previous government, But

(02:18):
they've had enough time and they should be able to
show more for the efforts of the past fifteen or
so months. Of course they should. Now Rod Duke doesn't
seem to be doing what Luxen would probably want them
to do. You know, the old CEO thing, don't come
to me with problems, come to me with solutions. But
I think Rod Duke is right. The government hasn't delivered
when it comes to the economy, and it does need

(02:40):
to get its a into gear. Problem is, though, and
this is how I say it, problem is the government.
It's fallen into the trap that pretty much every government
falls into, especially first term governments. It's fallen into the
trap of trying to do too much. You know, when
you're in opposition, it's very easier to sit there and
have all these big ideas because when you're in opposition,

(03:01):
that's all you have to do, to set around all
day come up with big ideas. Different story when you
get into government though, Now for starters, you realize that
the things you promised to do well not quite so
easy to do in reality, so it's going to take
way longer to achieve them. And also when you get
into government you have to deal with all the stuff

(03:22):
that blows up in your face on a daily basis.
You know, you can be lurching. You can find yourself
lurching from one crisis to another, and while you're doing that,
you see all your quarterly planned targets disappearing in front
of your eyes. So if Christopher lux And said to me,
all right, don't come to me with problems, come to
me with solutions, and here's what I would tell him.

(03:43):
I tell him to decide what his government is actually
going to focus on and stick with it. If it's
the economy, like Briscoe's guy Rod Duke obviously thinks it
should be, then make that your priority between now and
the election, and be honest about it. This laser like
focus that the Prime Minister likes to talk about all

(04:03):
the time, you can't be laser like in all directions.
And so I tell the PM to be upfront with
us and say that if we want better health services
and better education facilities and everything else that governments get
lost in, as this government has, I would tell the
PM to be courageous and tell us that we're going
to have to wait for all of those other things,
because for now, it's the economy and only the economy

(04:28):
that we're going to worry about. Now. That might sound simplistic,
I might sound like those opposition politicians I talked about before,
And it probably is simplistic. Well, hold on, it definitely
is simplistic. But unless the government ditches this idea that
it's going to fix everything asap, then it's going to
fail in all of them. And the signs are there,

(04:51):
and people like Rod Duke won't just be telling the
government to get its aim to gear, he'll be telling
it to get its a out of here. But what
do you think? Do you agree with Rod Duke's view
that the government is floundering and needs to get itself
sorted and start delivering solutions.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
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