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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Opinion: Missed deadline keeps country waiting

Kelly Makiha
By Kelly Makiha
Multimedia Journalist·Rotorua Daily Post·
17 Oct, 2017 12:24 AM2 mins to read

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Winston Peters needs to hurry up. Photo / File

Winston Peters needs to hurry up. Photo / File

If I missed my deadline getting today's paper together there would be consequences.

Firstly, you'd probably have a big empty space right now in front of you instead of interesting stories and photographs.

Secondly, I'd probably have a pretty big "please explain" session with the boss.

But for New Zealand First leader Winston Peters there's no real consequence for missing his deadline last Thursday of enlightening the country on who his coalition partner or partners will be.

In fact, what's the bet none of the political party leaders is even the slightest bit angry with him.

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They're too busy sucking up to the "kingmaker", hoping they will get picked to be on his team.

Meanwhile, the excitement of the election has well and truly worn off.

Admittedly in my job I have more interest in politics than most, but the campaign period was damned exciting.

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Love her or hate her, Jacinda-mania brought a freshness to the campaign we hadn't seen for many years.

It seemed everyone was suddenly talking about politics - and that's how it should be. Choosing the leaders of our country is a very important job and most voters took it seriously.

As new polls were released and the race became anyone's, the countdown to election night was almost like waiting for Christmas (I said almost).

In our office, we had staff volunteering to work the Saturday night because it was anyone's game and we all wanted to be part of it.

Then no one really won and it was all a bit of an anti-climax.

Politics stopped being the news leads as there were no fresh angles to pursue.

Peters is grinning like a Cheshire Cat, in between snipping at the media like a grumpy old man.

It's wearing thin.

Now Peters tells us he needs time for his board to consider the decision. He's four days over his deadline.

I only hope the delay is for the right reasons, to truly ensure he is getting the best deal for the country, not for himself.

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