Luxon’s alleged obsession with donuts and leftovers

OPINION: A booming Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi sounded victory for the Black Ferns on Saturday but the track for this weekend is Fika Mai Le Pese.

Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio has been amping up for the weekend, singing and dancing around the halls of power with the flag of Samoa draped across his shoulders.

In the early hours of tomorrow morning, Samoa will compete against Australia in the final of the Rugby League World Cup in England.

Toa Samoa fans across the world have been celebrating for weeks, with nightly flag parades through South Auckland proving to be both a mighty show of pride and remarkable feat against sleep.

It wasn’t just Sio dancing.

Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi filmed themselves dancing like Captain Jack Sparrow on their way to cannonball National’s latest law and order policy.

National careened into the week with its sights set on crime but ended up in a series of U-turns that the Government was intent on calling ‘‘donuts’’.

We are unsure whether Thursday’s Donut Day at Parliament’s cafe influenced the choice of name.

Leader Christopher Luxon told the AM Show that National supported the clean car discount scheme, which his party had branded a ‘‘ute tax’’.

National once released a TV advertisement with ‘‘ute tax’’ arrows hitting farmers in the behind.

But later that day, Luxon told reporters he misspoke and meant the clean car standard (designed to encourage the industry to bring cleaner cars into the country), which National also used to oppose. Luxon found himself in a bit of a truancy tangle, with educators not impressed with his views, while Labour and Green MPs took aim at National’s policy to target youth crime. Luxon promised to bring back military-style boot camps and put child repeat offenders as young as 10 in ankle bracelets. Back when John Key was prime minister, National did put young offenders into military boot camps – but the policy was ended after repeated reports from officials and the prime minister’s chief science adviser said it was not working.

The Greens slammed the policy’s return as ‘‘racist’’ and ‘‘dehumanising’’, while Labour said the proposal smelt like ‘‘Bill English’s leftovers’’.

The second part of the policy, in ankle bracelets, sounded strangely familiar too.

In September, ACT said it would put offenders aged 11 in ankle bracelets. Back then, Luxon said he would not support it while National’s Erica Stanford last month said the idea ‘‘breaks her heart’’.

On a lighter note, Luxon revealed this week his favourite MP from across the House is Labour’s associate whip Barbara Edmonds, describing her as thoughtful, smart and intelligent.

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, Clare O’Neil, visited New Zealand this week. She held a public talk on cybersecurity, touching on immigration issues, called: Australia and New Zealand: We’re Not Just Friends, We’re Family.

Unfortunately, family ties were not extended to media keen to ask about Australia’s work on the controversial 501 deportee policy.

Reporters were asked to not participate in the Q&A and wait until the end, at which point they were then told the minister had a flight to catch while she was taking photos and talking to guests.

O’Neil herself also told media she did not have time for a 30-second question, which could have been completed in the time it took her to tell media she would not answer questions.