Pope Francis, Trump and the Aussie election: The lessons for Christopher Luxon - Simon Wilson

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is back from the funeral of Pope Francis and what has he learned? Photo / NZ Herald

THREE KEY FACTS

• A new report says women MPs are frequent targets of misogyny, racism and sexual abuse.
• Anti-Trump sentiment appears to have played a key role in elections in Australia and Canada.
• The Government plans to strip voting rights from prisoners serving terms of less than three years.

Here’s a challenge for Christopher Luxon, just back from Rome and full of Christian spirit.

Women MPs have become targets of extraordinary levels of misogyny, racism and sexual abuse.

A report last month, based on in-depth interviews, told us about threats of rape “thrown about all the time”, violence against the women’s families, being followed, “constant death threats” and a barrage of sexualised harassment. Online and in person.

This is not news. We all know it’s happening. In fact, while I used the word “extraordinary”, we barely seem to think of it like that at all. Much of the abuse has been normalised.

And apparently it’s quietened down a little since late 2022, when we had a woman Prime Minister and, by a narrow 60-59 split, more women than men in Parliament. What trigger points they were.

Also, we know this is one part of the misogyny, racism and sexual abuse embedded in wider society. And that, in turn, has elements of the “anti-woke” crusade now infesting our social discourse.

But the hatred of women MPs has its own specific significance: it means women are less likely to stand for Parliament or for public office of any kind. I imagine that’s the point.

And that means we have a group of people who benefit materially from the attacks on women in politics.

Men in politics.

Also last month, a survey by the Helen Clark Foundation revealed that while 81% of respondents “rated democracy as a good way of governing New Zealand”, 32% were open to “having a strong leader who does not have to bother with Parliament and elections”.

The biggest fans of dispensing with democracy were men aged 30-44 (49%) and men aged under 30 (47%). Women were much less keen on forgoing the right to vote (28%), although that’s still a pretty high number.

I’ve said it before, but maybe it’s worth remembering that quite recently we did have a strong leader who dispensed with many democratic freedoms. Quite a few people, possibly including some of those men under 45, ended up not liking it at all.

Maybe strong leaders must be men or they don’t count. Or strong leaders are okay only if they restrict the rights of other people but not yours.

Jacinda Ardern, the wrong kind of strong leader, apparently. Photo / Andrew Matthews/AFP

Anyway, the challenge to Luxon. He’s not to blame, but he is the highest ranking member of the group of politicians (the men) who materially benefit from women being driven away from politics. Therefore, he has an obligation to do something about it.

I’m in awe of people who do politics now. Credible politics, I mean. Politicians who more or less tell the truth, who are trying to make the world a better place and who put in the hard work to create policy and build support for it.

Who know how to be forthright and determined without being a bully. Who build confidence in civic institutions, science and credible sources of information. And, because nobody’s a saint, who apologise when they get it wrong.

Politicians who, despite being up against it, try to focus on what’s important.

It’s a list that includes but is not limited to: cyclical economic collapse, biodiversity collapse, the climate catastrophe, social meltdown, new pandemics, cyber attacks, warfare designed to annihilate cities, nuclear dangers, social media algorithms, AI, the awful gap between need and funding in our social services, the rise of autocrats and their oligarchic mates, our lack of infrastructure and innovation planning, loss of faith in democracy, personal alienation, loss of respect for each other.

I know, it’s frightening. But there is an upside: when the clowns are in charge, they can be entertaining.

Donald Trump held a Cabinet meeting in front of the TV cameras last week, so we could all see the sycophants around him in action.

Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, revealed the White House is facing 200 lawsuits and more than 50 injunctions.

“I think I’m representing every one of you in this room,” she said, as if it’s a good thing the US Government is allegedly breaking so many laws.

US Attorney-General Pam Bondi.

Then she turned to the cameras and said that because of fentanyl seizures during Trump’s first 100 days, the President had already “saved – are you ready for this, media? – 258 million lives”.

I doubt anyone could have been ready. America has 347 million people and last year 74,000 of them died from fentanyl poisoning. That’s genuinely terrible.

But 258 million? I accept my boy maths will be inferior to Bondi maths, but – are you ready for this, readers? – by her reckoning Trump will have eliminated death altogether by the end of this month.

I can’t help but wonder, is Sir John Key embarrassed yet?

He declared last year that he supported Trump because conservatives support each other and he did think Trump would be good for the economy.

He even doubled down at an event yesterday, saying Trump’s tariff chaos was “largely short term”.

He doesn’t know that. The president’s second-term record to date suggests that whatever you think you know, the reality will be worse.

Yesterday was also the day Trump poked a stick right in Key’s eye. He announced a 100% tariff on movies not made there, which will devastate the very industry that Key helped build in this country.

Key says it’s all “negotiation” and “bargaining chips”. It’s chaos is what it is. And every single person who has led a small trade-dependent nation like ours should know how destructive it is.

But what stupendously good news out of Australia and Canada: Trumpism is a vote loser.

It’s not just the economic chaos of a tariff war, it’s also the culture war.

In the two countries perhaps most like our own, we now know that rampaging “anti-wokeness” might appeal on the fringe but it’s a kiss of death for major parties.

Why does our own Prime Minister still struggle with this?

Last week he attended the funeral of Pope Francis, a man who had expressed his faith in the common humanity that binds us all by washing the feet of prisoners.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon attends the funeral of Pope Francis.

Luxon came home and his Government announced it was removing the voting rights of prisoners sentenced to less than three years in jail.

A High Court judge, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have all said this breaches the Bill of Rights and both the Independent Election Review and the Waitangi Tribunal agree.

Asked about this, Luxon was at his most gung ho. “I do not care what anyone else says about it,” he said.

The move will affect about 5000 prisoners. On a global scale it is not a big thing. It will have zero impact on election outcomes and zero impact on everyone else in the country. It isn’t righting a wrong. It doesn’t even address something people feel aggrieved about.

But it does allow National to link its opponents in voters’ minds with criminals. The party was quick to make the point on social media, asking: “Why do Labour/Greens/Te Pāti Māori want prisoners to vote?”

And, the central purpose: it gives the PM a chance to play tough guy. The “right kind” of tough guy, of course. Tough on other people.

Sir Bob Jones, a famously tough guy who once punched out a journalist, has died.

Jones knew the value of entertainment. Although he was often criticised for sexism, he disagreed, arguing that what he said was satire. Often, he got away with it.

Luxon may have been giving entertainment a go himself, when he called Jones “a living legend” and wished “him and his family nothing but the very best”.

Maybe he had other things on his mind. Those elections in Canada and Australia must have given him a lot to think about.