One year of the coalition Government: The highs, lows and long road ahead - The Front Page

The coalition Government spearheaded by NZ First leader Winston Peters (left), National leader Christopher Luxon and Act leader David Seymour has been in power for a year. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Today marks a year since the coalition Government of National, Act and New Zealand First took office.

The coalition hit the ground running by reversing the previous Labour Government’s agenda in a “policy bonfire”, slimming down the public service, and reverting many Crown organisations to their English names.

This, and the scrapping of the Māori Health Authority, kicked off tensions between this Government and Māoridom – with backlash on the Treaty Principles Bill only adding fuel to the flames earlier this month.

But with wins around tax cuts, family benefits, more regional investment, and new laws to tackle crime, there’s plenty for the Government to celebrate.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said this week he is “aspirational” for New Zealanders’ and “energised” for the next two years.

Victoria University politics lecturer Bryce Edwards told The Front Page this government lacks a bold or strong vision for where it’s going.

“This government still hasn’t really stamped its mark to say what they’re about. We still don’t really have any great kind of ideological underpinnings, branding or vision of what this government’s going to achieve.

“We hear Nicola Willis in the next budget is going to deal with economic growth, they’re going to bring in a lot more social investment. It’s yet to be seen whether that’s going to resonate with people,” he said.

On the coalition’s collaboration, Edwards said there hasn’t been any sign of any kind of meltdown that its opponents and critics were forecasting.

“I’m not so surprised about that because I always thought that a lot of the beef and arguments between the likes of Winston Peters and David Seymour were more about politicking.”

Edwards thinks Casey Costello’s handling of tobacco reforms has hurt the Government the most.

The repeal of Labour’s “smokefree generation” legislation as well as NZ First’s links to members within the tobacco industry had led to Costello copping criticism from public health officials and Opposition politicians, who alleged she was working on behalf of tobacco companies.

“It brings up this idea of the Government perhaps being in the pocket of the tobacco industry, lobbyists of vested interests.

“I think people have been quite surprised to see the Government rolling back reforms on smoking and vaping... I think there’s a public feeling that Casey Costello certainly isn’t one of the strongest Cabinet performers and she’s been lucky to survive, largely because she’s not a National Party minister and so Luxon hasn’t had the ability to demote her,” he said.

No evidence of formal links between Costello and members of the tobacco industry had emerged. Costello had repeatedly denied any contact with industry players.

Edwards said the coalition Government faces a number of challenges in the next couple of years – including adversaries in the public services and academia.

“But, they don’t really seem to be leading the resistance. In the end, it turned out to be iwi and te ao Māori in general [who are] the main focus for challenging the Government.”

Listen to the full episode to hear more about the political year that was.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

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