Heather du Plessis-Allan: Jacinda Ardern's Government as brutal as any

COMMENT:

Just like that, the rainbows and unicorns have vanished.

If you ever really believed that a government could be transformational, transparent and kind, then you can't possibly believe it after the past week.

This must have been one of the most brutal Budget weeks in living memory. And, under pressure, this Government dropped the Mary Poppins act and revealed how it really responds. It plays the same rough and tumble, dirty politics like the rest of them.

Transformational?

If ever there was a chance to transform, it was with the Wellbeing Budget. We were told it was a world-first. The OECD would be watching. It was "different". It was promising "intergenerational change".

And then it arrived and it looked like every other Budget before it. It was printed on paper. It spent money. It gave us the surplus. It measured GDP. Same, same.

That doesn't mean it's a bad Budget. It was a decent Michael Cullen or Bill English Budget. It spent much-needed money on mental health. It promised more generous lifts in benefit levels. It put money into business start-ups.

But it was supposed to be more than a Cullen or English Budget. It was supposed to usher in a New and Amazing and Caring way of looking after our citizens. It sounded like a whoopee cushion instead.

Maybe just saying something is transformational is enough these days. Maybe if enough people believe it, you don't actually have to do it.

Transparent?

This was supposed to be the most open and transparent government in the history of New Zealand. Jacinda Ardern told us that. But it's not.

What's transparent about pretending there was a hack of Budget documents when there wasn't?

You can't tell me Treasury knew there were 2000 attempts without knowing how those attempts were made. You can't tell me they didn't know the 'hack' was really just a website search.

So, why did Treasury boss Gabriel Makhlouf and Finance Minister Grant Robertson both make allegations of a hack when there wasn't one?

Why did Makhlouf waste police time by calling them in?

Why did Robertson publicly suggest criminal behaviour linked to the Opposition? Did he not ask basic questions before pulling the pin on an allegation as big as that? Basic questions like 'what kind of hack'?

Either Robertson knew what he was claiming wasn't true, or he made an error so rookie it's embarrassing. Either he played along with the hack claim to smear the Opposition, or he made a big mistake.

If it's the former, it shreds the idea that this is the most open and transparent government in the history of the world. If it's the latter, Robertson should tell Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf not to bother turning up to work on Tuesday after giving him wrong information.

And, finally, is this Government as kind as the PM keeps telling us it is?

What's kind about Speaker Trevor Mallard accusing a man of rape when the real accusation against him was closer to a hug. An accusation that wasn't even upheld.

It looks a lot like Mallard ran his mouth off about a rapist, freaked people out, realised he was in trouble for grossly exaggerating, and found a convenient way to put it to bed by announcing this guy was stood down from his job. That felt like scape-goating. It felt like Mallard put his job ahead of this man's.

Is that kind? No. It's not even living in the same city as kindness.

This past week has shown us this Government is growing up. The awkward, pimply-faced, "I want to change the world" nonsense has vanished. The unicorns have been shot and eaten for dinner.

In the end, can you blame them? Politics doesn't run on rainbow vapour. It's brutal, ugly, cut-throat real politik.

Turns out this Government is getting pretty good at that kind of politics.

• READ MORE: How a scandal stole the budget from the Government