It has been a good week for National's deputy leader Nicola Willis and leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell
It has been a good week for National's deputy leader Nicola Willis and leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Opinion by Claire Trevett &Thomas Coughlan
Chris of the Week
Let’s not bother beating around the bush – the winner is National Party leader Chris Luxon and he barely had to lift a finger, although his deputy Nicola Willis left it in no doubt.
The only good thing in Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ week was ahot chocolate with Australian PM Anthony Albanese.
Otherwise he had to contend with Kiri Allan’s resignation and the fallout of the car crash and police charges, a shell-shocked caucus and a leak from someone in that caucus. There was the umpteenth reshuffle he’d had to do – including of the revenue portfolio after David Parker told Hipkins he wanted to be rid of the revenue role after Hipkins killed off the wealth tax.
He is now down to a Cabinet of 18 instead of 20 and has had to do so many mini-reshuffles that he couldn’t remember who his Customs Minister was.
To cap it off on Thursday came a glorious coup for National’s Nicola Willis, who announced she had discovered Labour was about to announce policy to cut GST off fruit and vegetables – and announced it for them.
Labour has done nothing to deny it.
Is it good form to spoil another party’s policy announcement? Maybe not, but it was certainly good fun and good politics.
Despite a hard week or 20, Labour MPs were putting on a good front of insisting they still had a good chance of winning the election as they walked into caucus on Tuesday.
Racing Minister and former bookie Kieran McAnulty was even willing to put odds on it. “I’m a betting man, I’d still put my money on Labour. I reckon we’re going to win. It won’t be by much, but I reckon we’re gonna do it.”
He said he had a pretty good track record in successful bets on sports.
“I was a bookmaker by trade and I know what’s a good bet and what isn’t and I’d price this at $1.87 the pair I reckon. It’s on a knife edge.”
From rugs to balloons: Andrew Little immortalised in balloon form
Labour’s Rachel Boyack, MP for Nelson, had a recent fundraiser with MPs Naisi Chen, Andrew Little and Kieran McAnulty and came up with a novel way to thank them: balloon sculptures.
Local “balloon artist” Felicity Pallesen made balloon sculptures depicting the MPs in blow-up form.
Labour MP Andrew Little with a balloon sculpture made in his likeness.
Little’s affable balloon persona is certainly more family-friendly than his last famous artistic depiction, a rug created by Whanganui artist Mark Rayner that depicted an impressively endowed then-Labour leader.
Asked if the proportions of the balloon sculpture were accurate, Little said the ears possibly were. However, he was not so sure about the hair: “I don’t have much grey hair so I am regarding the thing on my head as a cycle helmet.”
Pallesen told Beehive Diaries it took six hours to make four sculptures, and the most important thing was to work out how to personalise them, including facial length, hairstyle, facial hair and style of clothing, skin tone and glasses.
“I’m always amazed at how it is possible to indicate persona in such simple ways. I guess it shows we are more alike than different but that little nuances can alter perception,” she said.
Hipkins’ wee sledge for Albanese
Meeting Australian PM Anthony Albanese this week, Hipkins started with a bit of league banter, knowing Albanese’s love of his team the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during their joint press conference at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
After the usual stuff about the two countries being family etc, Hipkins noted the Warriors’ win last weekend and then added his sledge about the Rabbitohs’ place somewhat further down the table: “Prime Minister, I’m not sure the top of the table match-ups help your Rabbitohs all that much at this part of the season.”
A good enough sledge – but what was more amusing was that Hipkins is not an avid league fan, and barely knows his Rabbitohs from his Raiders. He was clearly concerned he’d bungle his terminology, so read the joke closely from the script in front of him.
