Bennett a hidden saviour for city?
Who’d be a politician? What motivates anyone to take the political baton while having their personal demons exposed to public view?
If the past month has revealed anything to the voting public it is that we have a collection of opposition individuals not suited to public office.
The USA may have Trump’s ego-driven bungling but we have the National Party opposition in freefall. It is a stumbling bumbling collection of also ran politicians after the main job.
The Jami-Lee Ross saga has pulled back the political shower curtain to reveal the sights no one wants to see – politicians playing people with mental health issues for political gain.
National Party leader Simon Bridges’ rhetoric has been about holding the government accountable. It’s the stuff of easyspeak political platitudes and it’s not helping when National Party rank and file actually believe the narrative.
No one cares about politicians holding others accountable when they can’t hold themselves above the moral ethical waterline.
It has to be said; Opposition leader Simon Bridges comes across as being a bit dim. His mastery of the media is totally absent and his political nous is worse; who really gave a damn about the travel expenses or the leak?
Politics should be about the contest of ideas; the best politicians are those who can separate out party politics from the needs of the country. Politicians of this makeup are few and far between, but their credibility rises when ideas or observations are levelled that provide a degree of insight into solutions to national problems. The National Party desperately needs talented politicians like this.
We need less political grandstanding and more work done on the ground that benefits constituents.
I gave up on any political aspirations decades ago when I realised I actually believed I could make a difference. It was that moment of recognising my own self delusion that immediately ruled me out of being an effective representative of the people.
Sadly people still believe they can make a difference and many will run for local government in a year’s time and others will be lining up for a shot at a seat in parliament all the while believing politics is about our best interests. It’s not.
The money go round of political party funding has to end. Why does anyone ‘donate’ money to political parties? Because they have something to gain from the purchase of political favours. It is about their interests.
Right now national politics is the mindless fluff of reality television. We’ve now placed mental illness, marital affairs and politicians’ media scrums as score card entertainment.
Simon Bridges is my MP. He lost my vote when we contacted him about our leaky home.
The house was eight years old and was now set to be landfill. We were advised to demolish it and start over.
We asked Simon Bridges to visit the house to see what we were going through. We hoped he might advocate for others who had found their major investment was crumbling to the ground in a sodden mess of Mediterranean style cladding and poor design.
Bridges didn’t show at our place. He fobbed us off to minister Maurice Williamson and washed his hands of our story and the plight of others who would also lose their equity in their home.
It was the moment I realised representation from MPs is a myth. Their interests are not our interests; their interests are all their own.
And so it comes as a surprise to find a hero in this political story of angst and political disengagement.
And it came from an unlikely source. I had earlier written a brutal column about MP David Bennett, exposing his ‘26 socialisms speech’ in the House.
To my embarrassment (and secret glee), that column became the focus of Press Club founder and ringmaster Steve Braunias.
The column was used as the head stocks for Bennett while he was largely satirically humiliated at Press Club…David David David…
It was a bit of a hard watch. But a discussion with David Bennett followed after we had kissed and made up following the public Press Club mauling.
And Bennett’s astute observations of Hamilton city development described to me were a wake-up call. It was the most insightful discussion on Hamilton’s future I had heard from any sitting MP. It was genius observation and informed opinion.
Bennett has little faith in Hamilton City Council and he is right to hold this view.
He said the Peacocke’s development is not going to work. It is an infrastructure and social disaster waiting to happen.
It’s worth hearing Bennett out – in his view the changes coming to the south of the city are going to make Cambridge a star in the Waikato – not Hamilton.
Those moving into the Peacocke’s subdivision are not going to want to send their children to low decile state high schools. They will move to Cambridge. Shopping will too.
The infrastructure needs are substantial and there is the likelihood of Hamilton being pulled south following another new Base development to accommodate the new arrivals.
Hamilton CBD will then suffer as the city is pulled north and south with a hole in the middle (becoming a donut city).
Bennett is on to something. I hope he details the full tragic story of city development to the Waikato Times.
We need a National Party hero. Ironically, it might just be David Bennett.
‘‘We’ve now placed mental illness, marital affairs and politicians’ media scrums as score card entertainment’’.