Winston’s week
Claire Trevett looks at Winston’s week so far. Not impressive:
- Missed his slot on the AM show for the second week in a row
- Confused over the winter payments for superannuitants being opt out
- Accidentally pledged that in future people on the living wage will be able to afford to buy a house
And tried to plead poverty:
It remains unclear whether Peters will or will not opt out – despite his $335,000 salary, his superannuation payments, and the taxpayer footing the power bills for his ministerial house in Wellington Peters insisted the cost of power (and possibly his legal bills) was so high he had to think twice before turning on a heater.
Yep Winston is going to claim his winter power payment because his salary is so low he thinks twice before turning on a heater.
The heater did go on at Question Time when Peters was asked by National leader Simon Bridges about the ever-increasing number of strikes either underway or being threatened by different worker groups.
After some to-ing and fro-ing, there was another game of “Grant Says” again in which Grant Robertson provides handy hints on how Peters might answer a question.
Confronted with questions from National’s Simon Bridges, Robertson was seen saying “bus” to Peters and Peters stood and reprised his bus analogy from the day before.
That analogy likened workers to passengers turning up at the bus stop for the bus of pay increases under the Labour-led Government because they knew the bus would turn up. By comparison, none had bothered to do so under National because they knew the bus was not coming.
Bridges had already worked out an effective analogy-queller: “How will the bus turn up at the bus stop when all the drivers are on strike?”
Having been outwitted, all Peters could respond with was that Bridges had come to “a duel of wits” unarmed.
The Peters of 2018 is not the Peters of old. How embarrassing to have to have Grant Robertson whisper answers to you.