A few weeks ago, while the coalition was still negotiating, I wrote about the "measure of success" that the government would need to achieve. After its formation I started work on tracking their commitments. I've got 2 items marked off as complete on my tracker and 38 more in progress. That number will grow as I make some further updates over the weekend.
Winston Peter's first speech was a good start: he attacked "the experts" right out of the gate. That's a commitment from 1/3rd of the coalition to treat "the experts" (i.e. the managers) with hefty scepticism and seek to roll back their power. That's almost word-for-word what I asked for. Great to see Winston's speechwriter on the same wavelengths as I am.
The "leak" of the cabinet paper against Van Welden also works well for us: the bureaucracy isn't trying to suck new ministers into a false sense of security or offering olive branches. I say "leak" because we can be fairly certain the author of the paper sent it to the press after Van Welden put the "official advice" from "the experts" straight in the trash. Having them go to war with her means that MPs will become more determined to push through with the official coalition commitments.
Winston Peters playing bulldog for Christopher Luxon against the media is also marvellous. It warms my heart to see Luxon sit there with a smile as Winston eviscerates the enemies of the people.
At the opening of Parliament there was also a great contrast between the authentic Maori nationalism of NZ First and the globohomo (global/homogenised) showmanship of Te Pati Maori. American-style racial grievance politics comes across as pathetic when directly contrasted with the statesmanship of NZ First's Maori ministers. Playing the part of unrefined savages for international cameras is unbecoming of TPM.
The "good starts" have kept on coming with Simeon Brown renaming the NZTA back to the NZTA—which wasn't even in the 100-day plan. Mark Mitchell set out his expectations of the Police in an open letter. The radically left-wing "neutral public service" is being brought to heel. Whether they can be kept on a tight leash remains to be seen.
The 100-day plan itself is also a brilliant idea with dozens of concrete line-items transparently available for voters to track. Some things that I suggested are missing, notably the need to start the charter school scheme and begin the process of converting dozens of schools over to the model in its first three years.
Other things in the coalition agreement aren't that great: it is noticeably weak on immigration and unimaginative on crime. Remember that Labour will inevitably be back, so simply "put more criminals in prison" is something that is too easy for them to revert in the future. On immigration, ACT's donors also want more cheap labour, as do National's—but there are even good signs we can stop that with Nat-ACT insider Matthew Hooton now openly calling for much lower immigration.
As we head into the Christmas Season and a New Year, the signs and portends of a stable and long-lived right-wing government are good. It's up to us to keep them honest, make them deliver on the good, and punish them if they try to implement the bad.