Demanding a a debate gets attention
Demanding what one already has is a surefire way of getting it. National Party Leader Judith Collins has been leading a campaign to “demand the debate” around important decisions the Opposition claims New Zealanders are being “left out of ”.
It’s true that this Labour Government has used its mandate to govern and is acting in a manner that previous coalitions could only dream of. But Collins says the Government’s parliamentary majority is not a mandate for Labour to promote its ideological wish list. Would National not also govern, if it had such a majority?
National’s current job is to challenge the Government, but accusations of a runaway, disregarding and arrogant administration appear to be a stretch. The overriding claim is that these examples prove the Government is rolling out the principles of a discussion document, He Puapua —a claim Labour has repeatedly denied.
On Māori Wards, National states Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta progressed legislation under urgency in Parliament, and against official advice, “to establish Māori wards”. Mahuta hasn’t established wards, she has removed obstacles at local government level which were preventing them.
With the plan to set up a Māori Health Authority, National says Health Minister Andrew Little has begun work on restructuring the health sector to create a two-tier system based on race. In fact, the Māori Health Authority is being set up to work alongside, not apart from, the Ministry of Health.
On the education curriculum, Education Minister Chris Hipkins is accused of rewriting the compulsory history curriculum to reflect Māori history, colonisation and the effects of power. This was announced as Labour policy a full year before the general election and has been hotly discussed ever since.
National says the Labour Government “established” Te Mana o Te Wai, resource management reform that provides a role for Māori in decision-making, and work on Māori rights and interests in freshwater. Te Mana o Te Wai was begun in 2014 as a National/Maori Party initiative, in which Māori involvement was already prescribed. Labour has fine-tuned the concept and provided more detail on how it should be applied.
And on land, National says the Department of Conservation is consulting on proposals to transfer public conservation land, reform conservation governance to reflect Treaty Partnership at all levels, and provide for the delegation, transfer and devolution of functions and powers within the conservation system to tangata whenua. The key word is “consulting”, a debate is invited.
As well, in infrastructure, Mahuta is said to be working to establish four
Collins says the Government’s parliamentary majority is not a mandate for Labour to promote its ideological wish list. Would National not also govern, if it had such a majority?
new super entities to manage drinking water and wastewater. There has already been some very robust debate, particularly from local government leaders on this.
In the recent call for a referendum on the name of our nation, National has bemused even it’s most aligned cohorts in the Act Party.
In all of these issues, substantial debate has already been taking place, not least in letters to the editors of newspapers and some very busy online forums. Opposition parties also have allotted question times in Parliament, something Act Party leader David Seymour seems to have little trouble exploiting.
National, then, can claim some success in getting a debate — albeit a debate already heartily in play.
The latest political polling gave National a slight lift, although this came after spreading concern about the vaccination rollout, immigration, managed isolation and quarantine issues. The Government has also faced strong public opinion on reforms announced recently, nurses’ pay and conditions, and the clean car feebate with proposed fees for new utes to discount electric vehicles. The latter was part of a protest from farmers across the country.
Has “demand the debate” played a part? Given Collins’ rise to 8.2 per cent as preferred prime minister she may hope so, but falling behind Act leader David Seymour on 8.6 per cent suggests perhaps not.