My next thought was, I wonder how Grant Robertson will be received as the 41st Prime Minister of New Zealand? That thought did not linger long.
Knowing I was 30 minutes away from digital darkness for the next three-and-a-bit days, I hurriedly called my political contacts for the inside oil and watched Ardern’s press conference on the Herald app.
WTF? Robertson is not standing. Surely that leaves the door open for the trusty Minister of Everything, Chris “Chippy” Hipkins, to be promoted to open the batting? Or does it?
Our walking group of 50 comprised, as you’d expect, a diverse cross-section of New Zealand society including a healthy dose of Southland farmers and a good group of Wellington civil servants.
It would be the understatement of the year to say those respective groups reacted with polar opposite views on Ardern’s resignation.
Some interesting conversations and hypothesising happened on the track. Chippy was always going to be PM once Robertson pulled the pin. But who would be his deputy? I reckoned the affable Kiri Allan was a handy long shot. Others went for Megan Woods. Interestingly, no one mentioned Carmel Sepuloni. And, just like in Parliament, everyone ignored Kelvin Davis.
Others on the track asked me about the possibility of Damien O’Connor or Stuart Nash? Would the latter emulate his great-grandfather, Walter Nash, our 27th Prime Minister, and ascend to the throne? Had Labour forgiven O’Connor for his 2011 comments, saying the party’s list selection is run by “self-serving unionists and a gaggle of gays”?
What about up-and-comer Michael Wood as an outside shot for leader? Someone looking for a good argument even suggested a Nanaia Mahuta/Willie Jackson leadership quinella! We knew it was time for bed.
All up we spent a wonderful four days and three nights on the Milford Track in digital no-man’s-land. It was only when our boat driver met us at Sandfly Point to take us to Milford Sound that we learned Hipkins had the top job.
The polls tell us “Chippy” has made a relatively good start. Early days, but again, if you’re to believe the polls, he appears also to be more likeable than the other Chris.
However, likeability only takes you so far. Labour now finds itself going out of the Covid frying pan and into the Gabrielle fire.
How Hipkins handles the cyclone recovery - physically and financially, tax or borrow - on top of the existing cost-of-living crisis, will go a long way to determining his re-electability on October 14.
For all the horror and devastation of Gabrielle, it has presented this country with the opportunity of a great reset. To build a climate-resistant infrastructure and economy. To concentrate on the things that are really important. Not mindless media mergers, co-governance muddying our (three) waters, the hypocrisy of carbon farming, boundless bureaucracy, or venturing down ideological, hare-brained rabbit holes to save the planet.
One of the great orators of our time, Bill Clinton (courtesy of his political adviser, James Carville), said in 1992: “It’s the economy, stupid”.
And despite the likeability of the “Boy from the Hutt”, who cheerfully told us all during Covid to get out and “spread our legs”, you’d be stupid to think this election is not going to be all about the economy.
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