Summarised by Centrist
Dr Muriel Newman argues that the Coalition government is struggling to undo the “radical” legacy of Jacinda Ardern’s administration.
“All too often their policy changes fall on deaf ears. They are battling a State Sector that is largely hostile to anything that threatens their deeply rooted commitment to the agenda put in place by the Ardern Government,” she writes.
Newman continues: “With too many Ministers not following through to ensure the changes they have introduced are being enacted as proposed, there are now claims that the Coalition is ‘in Government, but not in power.’”
Newman blames the state-media’s perceived lack of balance, particularly TVNZ, as a major stumbling block.
She asks: “Why they haven’t been brought into line more than a year after the election is a good question. Is it time to replace the Board? Or do management and senior staff need to go as well?”
Pointing out He Puapua’s continued influence in government, Newman writes: “Yet New Zealanders were under the impression that when the Coalition pledged to ‘Stop all work on He Puapua’, the Treaty of Waitangi would no longer be a consideration in the governing of our country – except in Treaty settlements.”
“Labour’s dangerous agenda needs to be purged,” Newman says.
Citing Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei as an example, she writes:
“Whilst his country still faces major challenges, and his approach is too confronting for most weak-kneed career-focused politicians, the progress he has made in only a year is undeniable.”
