She who shall not be named
It is a ploy sometimes used by opponents of the All Blacks.
Talk about the men in black, sure. Talk about New Zealanders’ prowess on the footy field, no worries. Just avoid uttering the ABs’ name.
National Party leader Todd Muller employed a similar tactic when discussing the Labour-led Government’s track record during a talk to business leaders in Hamilton yesterday.
Muller did not hold back in criticising the Government’s alleged mismanagement of the country’s borders or its ‘‘industrial style spending regime’’.
But in his 45-minute talk, Muller avoided mentioning Jacinda Ardern by name – even once.
When referring to MP David Clark’s recent resignation as health minister, Muller willingly reeled off names of other Labour MPs who had erred during the past three years but stopped short of referencing Ardern by name.
‘‘This Government and this prime minister really struggle with accountability until it is almost too late,’’ Muller said.
In discussing his focus on small business, Muller said past prime ministers typically took on an area of interest. Helen Clark’s was the arts. John Key championed tourism.
‘‘This prime minister’s [focus] is child poverty. Well [there] is actually 10,000 more people, young kids, in poverty now than there was three years ago,’’ he said.
Muller said the Labour-led Government measured success by how much money it spends but also hinted at his own party’s willingness to spend.
‘‘We will bring the largest infrastructure spend that the National Party has ever committed to, to the table,’’ he told the Waikato Chamber of Commerce gathering.
‘‘I come under huge pressure from the media, saying: tell us your plan today.
‘‘Well, we will tell you the plan when we think it makes sense. We have got 80 days to go [and] if you go too early in these things, all that happens is the Government decides to spend some of their $20 billion that they haven’t allocated yet, to counter.’’
Fielding questions from the floor, Muller was asked by Hamilton property developer Matt Stark how he intends to combat the perception among young voters that National is boring.
‘‘You sound like my daughter,’’ Muller quipped, before adding that social media would play a key role in delivering National’s election message.
If Labour and the Greens form the next Government, anyone with aspirations or achievements will be taxed heavily, Muller warned, before speculating on possible coalition partners for National.
‘‘It is a perennially difficult one, right, because everyone says you are not going to work with Labour, you are not going to work with the Greens. I mean, I could work with the Greens if it was just [Green co-leader] James [Shaw] but he has got all his bad friends.’’
Muller said the National caucus’ view was that it could not work with NZ First but then offered a clarification.
‘‘I will make final statements before we kick off the campaign proper because there is a number that have either been in Parliament, want to get back into Parliament, or who are in Parliament and want to stay, and we will hold a view on that.’’