Chris v Chris
Both Chrises wandered off to London for the coronation, but that does not get them out of being judged for Chris of the week.
PM Chris Hipkins got a doggy bag of custom-made sausage rolls from the King at Buckingham Palace and a start
Beehive Diaries: Chris Hipkins and Chris Luxon go to London, Meka Whaitiri goes to Te Pāti Māori and the MP who said he was a fox
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Opinion by Claire Trevett &Adam Pearse
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Hipkins left for the UK a few days before Christopher Luxon and while Hipkins was away, the mouse did play – Luxon took his turn having the Press Gallery journos up for drinks and pizza with National MPs (Hipkins had done the same a month ago).
They were the first such drinks with National since Simon Bridges was leader.
Luxon also delivered a pretty decent policy for nurses- but sullied it with shonky data to try to illustrate the scale of the nursing shortage. We all know there’s a shortage – you didn’t need to use shonky numbers. So a boo for that: bad.
However, at least all Luxon’s MPs are still returning his phone calls so Christopher Luxon wins the week.
Showdown of the memes
‘Tis the season when the political parties up their meme game as the election draws nearer. The best of this week included Act’s clever mock-up of the Edmond’s Baking Powder “Sure to Rise” logo, with the words “Taxes Under Labour. Sure to rise.”
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Meanwhile, Labour’s comms team has been boosted by the services of Auckland Minister Michael Wood’s old press sec, Travis Mills. Mills is one in a long line of pun lovers to have worked in Wood’s office – and on his very first day in the new job, Mills delivered - a meme attacking National’s Shane Reti for his shonky use of data on nurse numbers. “Caught fudging the numbers. Shane on you.”
A more cryptic offering emerged from National. It has taken on the services of social media whiz no-longer-kids Topham Guerin again (TG stayed well out of it in 2020). They put out a video of Luxon charming the voters – including one clip in which former PM Jacinda Ardern could clearly be seen beaming out from a Labour election hoarding in the background. Was it an accident? Or some mind-trick subliminal messages voodoo?
What does the fox say?
MPs on the Justice Select Committee had to think on their feet when a submitter began his 10 minutes speaking about youth crime trends by asking them what animal they would be.
The off-topic question came from David Graham, chief executive of the Billy Graham Youth Foundation and a would-be penguin. National’s Mark Mitchell predictably said he would be a german shepherd dog - a nod to his former life as a police dog handler (his current schnauzers Molly and Arthur, take note).
The others were a bit less predictable – we’re looking at you Paul The Fox Goldsmith.
The rest were largely split between safari and ocean themes. Vanushi Walters (Labour) went for an elephant and Dr Anae Neru Leavasa (Labour) chose lion. David Clark (Labour) picked dolphin and Anahila Lose Kanongata’a-Suisuiki (Labour) decided on a whale.
Act’s Nicole McKee chose eagle while Dr Emily Henderson (Labour) went for horse.
The committee was left wondering what animal National’s Simon O’Connor would be. He’d plugged in via Zoom but escaped by the time the question was asked.
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Mekxit songs
Other MPs had a bit of a field day with Meka Whatiri’s exit from Labour, especially her claim that by leaving Labour she was casting off the shackles. Shane Reti came up with a bit of Engelbert Humperdinck, changing Please Release Me to “please release Meka Whaitiri … and let her love again”.
The final word goes to Labour MP Kelvin Davis, who summed up his views on Mekxit as “haere mai haere: thank you, next”.
