Bridges’ bottom line: PM should stay home
National Party leader Simon Bridges has attacked Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for visiting Tokelau during a sitting week of Parliament, describing her as a ‘‘part-time prime minister’’.
He told media on his way into caucus yesterday morning that Ardern should be at home dealing with issues for ‘‘everyday New Zealanders’’ like the protest at Ihuma¯ tao in Auckland.
Ardern is visiting New Zealand’s last colony of Tokelau, home to 1300 New Zealand citizens. Because Tokelau has no airstrip getting there requires a day-long boat trip from Samoa, and Ardern will not return to New Zealand until tomorrow.
This is the first prime ministerial trip to Tokelau in 15 years.
Bridges said it was unacceptable for the Prime Minister to take such an extended trip during a Parliamentary sitting week, especially as Parliament had just returned from a three-week recess.
‘‘When you’ve got an economy stalling, when you’ve got the first Ma¯ori land occupation you’ve seen in a long time, it beggars belief that the Prime Minister right now is in Tokelau,’’ Bridges said. ‘‘We’ve just had a threeweek recess, we have Parliament on, and she’s decided to spend days getting to a place where every member of Parliament in this House has more people on particular streets than live there.
‘‘My bottom line is you: Everyday New Zealanders who are struggling because of what this Government is doing to the economy.’’
Asked if Tokelau’s New Zealand citizens where not ‘‘everyday New Zealanders’’ he said they were, there just weren’t very many of them.
‘‘I’m not saying no ifs no buts people shouldn’t be going to Tokelau or the Chathams or other Pacific Islands. Of course there’s a role for that, but right now, when she’s just had a three-week recess, when she’s got so many issues at home that everyday New Zealanders are focused on?
‘‘We’re just not seeing the focus from a part-time Prime Minister and Government.’’
Acting Prime Minister Kelvin Davis defended the trip, saying international visits took a lot of preparation and could not simply ‘‘be turned on or off’’.
Bridges specifically attacked Ardern for getting involved in the Ihuma¯tao dispute before leaving, saying she had made the issue more contentious before leaving the country.
He himself backed the mandate of the iwi and its deal with Fletchers over the protesters.
Newshub reported that the Prime Minister’s media team had asked journalists on the trip not to ask about Ihuma¯tao as she would not have up to date information. Ardern was asked, and said there was a ‘‘great team’’ working on the issue back home.