The last week in New Zealand politics has been extraordinary. But there’s one political party in particular that appears to be missing in action… the National party.The unelected PM Bill English has failed to gain any real traction in the polls over Metiria Turei leaving the Green party. He’s also failed to properly counter the Labour party’s resurgence and policy announcements.
Instead, tired old Bill English has resorted to pandering to the tough on crime crowd by re-announcing boot camps for the youth, a scheme that was tried and failed way back in 2008.
Today, Stuff reported:
PM: There's no evidence boot camps for young serious offenders will work
A suggestion from Bill English that teenage murderers sent to boot camps could have access to firearms has been ruled out by his office.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said serious youth offenders sent to Waiouru Army base would not be around guns while at an Academy for the country's most "hardened" young criminals.
The PM should really know what the policy plan is before announcing it ad hock. Instead, National doesn’t know its ass from its elbow.
In an interview with Breakfast English dismissed international evidence and his own science advisor Sir Peter Gluckman's comments that boot camps have little to no effect on reoffending, because he said this approach was untested.
Even English’s science advisor doesn’t think it’s a good idea, so National’s knee jerk reaction will probably go down like a led balloon with some of National’s more thoughtful supporters, well the ones who live in the real world that is.
The Prime Minister is also trying to distance himself from Peter Dunne after a disastrous Colmar Brunton poll (PDF) for United Future put him well short of Labour’s Greg O’Connor.
Q+A Colmar Brunton poll Ōhāriu: O'Connor 48%, Dunne 34%, Hudson 14%, Hammond Doube 2%, Moore 1% #nzpol— Colmar Brunton (@ColmarBruntonNZ) August 12, 2017
This isn’t good news for the right, especially after English had personally written to the Ōhāriu electorate to request that they vote for Dunne, effectively campaigning for another political party using taxpayer’s money.
It’s not just Dunne who’s feeling the political pinch either. David Seymour is frantically paddling to stay afloat by using up some of the political capital he’s accrued previously by supporting National.
Last month English openly encouraged National supporters in Auckland's Epsom electorate to give their electorate vote to Seymour. However, National’s finance Minister, Steven Joyce, yesterday claimed that the Act candidate was likely behind in Epsom as well, so the conservative electorate obviously haven’t heeded the PM’s advice.
Seymour didn’t take the inference that he would be the last Rogernome in parliament very well, and went on the attack.
Yesterday, Scoop reported:
National are the worst re-offenders in youth crime
The worst re-offenders in youth crime policy are the National Party, who are once again re-heating their decade old tried-and-failed “boot camp” slogan for young offenders, ACT leader David Seymour says.
The rift between the right and hard right appears to be growing.
“If National can’t even break their own cycle of behaviour, how can they hope to break the cycle of failed families and youth offenders who cause so much damage to New Zealand society?
English is getting attacked from both sides and looking rather insipid in his campaigning. The Todd Barclay scandal is likely to be still having some effect while his dishonesty concerning the oil industry and the governments illegal spying on Greenpeace NZ looks set to be further undermining to English’s credibility.
The Maori party, perhaps sensing a change in government, was declared an opposition party in the latest Reid Research polling report, which doesn’t bode well for National especially if the Act party and Peter Dunne are gone.
The last right wing government relied on its coalition partners to pass their detrimental legislation, and without them the National party is nothing but a sad pack of bumbling old men bereft of ideas.
