Dear John,
Goldsmith Update-Summer Scramble
The political message from Chris Luxon at our two day caucus retreat was it is ‘Game on’. If we are a united and disciplined team that proposes good policy, while opposing where Labour is going off-track, and we focus on the issues that matter to New Zealanders – such as the thief in their pocket that is inflation – we’ll make progress.
New Zealanders face a government that has lost its way. We have a Prime Minister that is in the mind-set of declaring white is black, because I say so, and expecting everyone just to accept it.
She ‘absolutely refutes’ the idea that her government’s massive spending stimulus is contributing to record high inflation. She can refute it all she likes, but it is blindingly obvious to everyone. Inflation is rising globally, but among high income countries it is rising fastest here and in the United States, both places where misguided governments are over-cooking the government fiscal stimulus. All it means is more struggles for families to make ends meet and a bigger crunch down the line when the Reserve Bank has no choice but to hike interest rates.
Our caucus retreat was in Queenstown, ground-zero for the economic and social consequences of Covid restrictions. This is a town based on tourism, facing its third year with very few tourists. We met with local business owners and their stories were heartrending. A lifetime’s work, one bewildered man told me, draining away, month after month, as costs carry on but the cash has stopped flowing.
Labour’s Covid scramble
When you strip it all away, Ardern and Labour’s Covid strategy since March 2020 has been to buy time. They have imposed heavy restrictions and closed the border to buy time to prepare the health system and the country to deal with the disease, when it finally arrives.
It arguably made sense at the start. But, boy, did they ‘buy’ time. It is an incredible stat from the OECD that New Zealand has had the second highest Covid spending per capita amongst its members. Even though as an isolated, sparsely populated country, we were the best placed to get through it well, we’ve thrown much more money than most countries at the problem – mostly to provide subsidies to cover for the lockdowns. But the truth is much of the Covid spending has been poor quality and unrelated to Covid.
And yet, as we all know, having bought the time, they didn’t use it. The government totally failed to prepare the health system better – no more ICU beds, no more trained staff. The vaccine rollout was six months late, because ‘other countries needed them more than us’. And rapid testing kits were banned and not bought.
This lack of preparation led them to impose the second crushing lockdown in Auckland last year, and to ongoing restrictions with Omicron.
Eventually, they will have no choice but to remove restrictions. It’s inexcusable that two years later, after so many billions have been spent, the health system is no better prepared to deal with a surge in demand.
Chris Luxon pointed to a few things they could do tomorrow to help – such as approving for use all the rapid testing kits that have been approved in Australia. It’s beyond me what unique wisdom our local regulators have that they need to fluff around approving things that have been approved for use in the US, UK or other similar jurisdictions.
New Zealand will get through the challenges we face. We’ll have a legacy of debt and a weak economy, and plenty of work to do on all the other areas where progress hasn’t been made – housing affordability, better transport, the reassertion of law and order, better education outcomes.
One thing is clear, under Chris Luxon’s leadership the National Party caucus is focused on the task ahead and determined in 2022 to offer New Zealanders a clear alternative and some hope.
Paul Goldsmith
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National Party Epsom - New Zealand
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