Crusher threatens Nicky Hager

Crusher Collins - National Party Leader

Everybody should know by now that Judith (Crusher) Collins is a very malicious person. She is perhaps the most vindictive MP ever to disgrace our halls of power.

Some of her unprecedented nastiness over the decades has been well documented in the book Dirty Politics: How attack politics is poisoning New Zealand's political environment, which is a great expose on how the National Party generally operates to undermine its opponents. It's worth getting yourself a copy if you haven’t already.

But just in case you needed anymore evidence that Crusher is a terribly spiteful person, today she openly threatened the author of that entirely accurate book, Nicky Hager, saying he needs “to meet his maker” because of the truthful things he's written about her.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Collins crushes any idea of her going soft

"Disgraceful." "Stupid behaviour." Nicky Hager has to "meet his maker".

Judith Collins quashed any notion of a softer image on the campaign trail in Nelson yesterday following a poll that showed National with a steep hill to climb.

 

This article is really the once over lightly. A more complete picture evolves of the threat against Nicky Hager when you see Crusher’s quote in context:

Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer political leaders who don't wish death on people who displease them. pic.twitter.com/J27XieyGUo

— Clint Smith (@ClintVSmith) September 28, 2020

If not to endanger his life, why else would Crusher come out and openly say Nicky Hager needs to die? Because that’s essentially what the current National Party leader has done by saying Hager has to meet his maker. She has indirectly threatened him and by doing so endangered his life.

Of course the Police won’t do anything about Collins' death threat, because they’re obviously biased against the investigative journalist as well. The way Police mistreated Hager and his family after Dirty Politics was published is testament to that.

National behind the times

When Todd Muller resigned as leader of the National Party and allowed for Judith Collins to assume command, you could tell the blue “team” was desperate and in search of past glories. After all, Crusher is towards the end of her political career and from a bygone era where dirty politics once reigned supreme.

Judith (Crusher) Collins - National Party leader

In the new age of the Internet however, where the sharing of information is instantaneous and fact checking widespread, Crusher’s outdated brand of campaigning on disinformation is failing to gain traction. In fact National is showing that they’re entirely out of step with the vast majority of Kiwis, including organisations that would normally align with National's questionable set of values.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Election 2020: Group letter calls on National to back Healthy Homes standards

Auckland's largest real estate company has called on National to halt plans to scrap new Healthy Homes standards if elected.

Barfoot & Thompson said cold and damp rental homes had been linked to the gruelling battle with respiratory disease that affected 700,000 New Zealanders and cost billions of dollars each year.

It has co-signed a letter with the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, doctors and other non-profit groups urging National leader Judith Collins to change course and back the new standards.

Crusher won’t do this of course. She believes that appealing to landlords who continue to profit from other people’s misery with cold and damp rentals is a vote winner. It’s another sign that National, who've stagnated in the polls, is desperate to retain their core supporters at any cost.

Instead of doing the right thing, Crusher is trying to appeal to a few voters who’re also wilfully ignorant of the benefits Healthy Homes Standards will provide. 

It’s now patently obvious that National’s decision to repeal the policy in the unlikely event that they’re the elected Government is going to back fire. Labour has made a good fist of why the standards should be implemented and many from within the real estate industry also agree that they’re a good idea.

Combine this with the fact that most Kiwis have to rent and will therefore also support the improvements, and it’s crystal clear that National under Crusher Collins has made another misstep while limping along their beleaguered and shambolic campaign trail.

When will Goldsmith resign?

The National Party’s campaign has gone from bad to worse with a further two large miscalculations being uncovered in their alternative fiscal plan. Firstly, National’s economic spokesperson and list MP, Paul Goldsmith, used May's Budget figures instead of last week's PREFU numbers, and came up with a whopping $4.3 billion miscalculation.

Then a further $88 million error was uncovered because Goldsmith made the same mistake with capital allowances. But if all that wasn’t bad enough, National bungled for a third time when Goldsmith tried to use $3.9 billion of infrastructure funding that had already been reallocated.

Paul Goldsmith - National Party MP

Yesterday, Stuff reported:

Election 2020: Grant Robertson tells Paul Goldsmith to 'rip up' National's economic plan and start again

Labour’s Grant Robertson says National’s economic plan is so riddled with errors the party needs to rip it up and start again.

The claim comes as the economist who vetted National’s numbers was forced to issue a statement asserting they added up, although he wouldn’t tell Stuff precisely how, referring those questions to National’s Paul Goldsmith.

“National’s economic costings are in tatters. Each day new mistakes are revealed, leading to $8 billion in errors,” Robertson said.

“It’s time for Judith Collins to tell Paul Goldsmith to rip up the plan and start again.”

I would go further than that. These very large mistakes clearly show that Goldsmith isn’t fit to be National’s economic spokesperson, let alone any part of a future Government.

On Tuesday, Stuff revealed the party appeared to have made another mistake, by effectively raiding a fund that no longer existed.

National’s budget from last Friday hit up the NZ Upgrade Programme – a $12b infrastructure scheme set up by the Government in January – for $3.9b.

But that fund no longer exists. The Government rolled the $4b left over from what it spent in January into another funding pool, the multi-year capital allowance, in the May budget.

The problem for National is that it’s spent the multi-year capital allowance as well, meaning the money appears to have been double counted.

 

Today, The Spinoff reported:

‘National is a shambles, and their economic plan is a joke’

The Labour Party’s attacks on National’s economic plan are continuing to come thick and fast, with a press release from Grant Robertson this morning titled: “National’s shambolic economic plan going from bad to worse”.

Labour has been quick to attack National’s economic plan, after a $4 billion fiscal hole was discovered – and later doubled.

“Paul Goldsmith is floundering. He’s trying to change his plan quietly in the background so he doesn’t have to own up to his leader for another mistake. He has double counted $4 billion worth of funding, meaning there are now at least $8 billion worth of mistakes in his economic plan,” Robertson said in the release.

“In order to cover over this he is now claiming that he would take that money out of the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) to make up the difference.”

If National forms the next government, the party couldn’t be trusted to run the economy, Robertson said.

“If they were in Government, mistakes like this would have real-life consequences on jobs and infrastructure investment.”

We’re all very lucky that National aren’t in Government at the moment. The Labour Party may not have been able to deliver on all its election promises, but at least they’ve put New Zealand on the right track. National on the other hand is continuing with its outdated and divisive policy ideas. Goldsmith's serious errors in his alternative economic plan clearly show that National must not be allowed anywhere near the books, which would surely result in a prolonged downturn.

Far from being able to rally the troops, Collins has ensured her party is limping along towards what could well be National’s largest election defeat ever. Crusher has been unable to provide any real alternative to what has already been tried and failed under previous National led Governments. But perhaps the worst part of Crusher’s unprofessionalism as party leader is her inability to hold National Party MPs to account.

If a Labour Party politician had made the same mistakes as Paul Goldsmith, National, their media propagandists and right-wing trolls would be demanding a resignation until they got it. But instead we have National attempting to minimise and downplay over $8 billion in financial errors. If Crusher’s arrogance and Goldsmith’s bungling don’t make voters think twice about supporting such a shambles of a party, nothing will.

Crusher’s fiscal malfunction

Crusher Collins - National Party leader

We all know that the National Party is desperate to gain some traction during this election campaign and have been throwing pretty much everything at the Labour Party in order to try and undermine Jacinda Ardern and what the Coalition Government has achieved. But unfortunately for the right wing, very little of Crusher’s criticism is finding its mark, mainly because of National’s inability to get the basics right.

For instance, it was only a month ago that the inept Judith Collins said there would be no tax cuts promised by the National Party. But in the biggest flip-flop during this election campaign so far, National is now promising a lolly scramble of tax cuts predominantly targeted at high-income earners.

It’s a blatant attempt to try and keep the wealthy on board National’s sinking ship, because under Crusher the blue "team" is continuing to poll terribly, which is a clear reflection of National's lack of any clear policy direction and extensive leadership woes over the last few months.

It’s almost as if National don’t actually want to win the Government benches back. Take for instance yesterdays arrogant attempt by Crusher to blame the Prime Minister for National’s $4.3 billion miscalculation in their so-called alternative fiscal and economic plan. Crusher also claimed that four billion dollars is an inconsequential amount and therefore the mistake doesn’t matter. Yeah right!

Yesterday, Newshub reported:

Judith Collins dismisses '$4 billion gap' as 'entirely inconsequential', says Jacinda Ardern should apologise

Judith Collins is dismissing the '$4 billion hole' found in its fiscal and economic plan as "entirely inconsequential" - and says Jacinda Ardern should be the one who apologises.

Earlier on Sunday Labour's finance spokesperson Grant Robertson revealed National had used May's Budget figures instead of last week's Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU) numbers - a difference of $4.3 billion.

So much for National being better economic managers and getting their alternative budget independently costed.

Robertson said the error begs the question of whether there are more mistakes in National's plan.

"Not only is National's proposal irresponsible when New Zealand needs stability and certainty, they are showing they lack the experience to run the economy. There is no John Key or Bill English there anymore. No one who knows how to run a Budget would have made a basic mistake like this."

But speaking after National's campaign launch on Sunday, Collins says the mistake "means very little".

This is such a preposterous argument by Crusher that even some die-hard National supporters will be questioning their unwarranted allegiance to the party.

Of course a few deluded fools have labelled Paul Goldsmith’s napkin scribbles as the mother of all alternative budgets. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Goldsmith is simply proposing a form of austerity that will negatively impact on the economy and the majority of hard working Kiwis, especially those who live in lower socio economic areas. It does however make already rich people even wealthier by borrowing money at the exact time the financial impact from COVID-19 will really start to bite.

Under Collins, there is no sound economic recovery plan or a National led Government in waiting. They have become fractured, indecisive and forgetful, which are all traits that should rule National out of power for the foreseeable future.

Take for instance their previous policy to let foreign students back into the country. Prior to the second COVID lockdown, the National Party claimed that it would even be safe for students to quarantine at universities. Then Crusher comes along and throws months of her fellow MPs campaigning in the bin without any real explanation. Likewise, National’s position on COVID border restrictions seems to be based on how Crusher feels on any given day.

Voters should therefore rule the National Party out this coming election. Because if the largest opposition party has no policy foundation and cannot even do basic maths, they’re obviously incapable of governing New Zealand with any level of competency that will be required over the next three years.