Damien Grant on Hipkins

Damien Grant writes:

In his maiden speech, the 30-year-old Chris Hipkinsreached across the Pacific for inspiration, quoting former US vice-president Hubert Humphrey: “…the moral test of a government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick and the needy.” 

Consider those words and recall that it was the same gentlemen whoplayed politics with Charlotte Bellis as she languished in Afghanistan, pregnant and abandoned by her government. 

Consider those words and recall Hipkins was Minister of Covid 19 Response when hundreds of citizens were denied the chance to see their dying relatives in an ultimately futile attempt to prevent the virus entering our shores.

Consider those words and recall that under his tenure as Minister of Education, the short experiment of charter schools was scrapped, because Hipkins placed placating teacher unions ahead of the needs of the mostly poor and disadvantaged students who were thriving under this regime. 

Consider these words and recall that, in 2021, Hipkins inaccurately accused two women of using “false information” to obtain travel documents to visit Northland, and stuck to his position long after it was no longer tenable. 

Hipkins fails on his own moral test. 

Grant continues:

Some 5.8% of students were turning up less than 70% of the timewhen he took over, but 12.4% when he left the portfolio. The data for Māori is worse; 10% were hitting the 70% or less figure in 2017, more than 20% by 2022. 

A report in March 2022 by the Education Hub revealed that literacy rates had declined to the point that a third of 15-year-olds struggle to read and write. And this under the guidance of a politician who, in his maiden speech, declared, “if we are to realise our full potential as a nation in the coming decades, education will be critical”.

Having one in five Maori kids basically not at school in a meaningful way is a problem that will have dire consequences in years to come.

Hipkins had achieved almost nothing by the time he entered Parliament, and in the 15 years since has left nought but a trail of mistakes and missed opportunities.

That is very harsh. He was a student union president, and then a senior advisor to Trevor Mallard and Helen Clark.

Even if you believe in the policies of this government, it is impossible to credibly believe that they have the competence to implement anything other than a campaign to encourage the poor to have shorter showers because the electricity infrastructure has deteriorated to the point that rolling blackouts are a real prospect. 

Luxon isn’t my first choice for prime minister, but he has the managerial competence and intellectual curiosity to actually govern. 

There has been too much focus on whether Luxon can win the election when we should be asking if he has the skills to competently perform the duties of the office, because it appears evident that the incumbent cannot.

This is the question that should be asked – competence.