One year on: How has NZ’s three-way coalition government shaped up? – The Cover

Additional 1News polling showed National on 37% support and Labor on 29%, both down a point since the last poll in August.

The Green Party was on 12%, Acte on 8%, NZ First on 5% and Te Pāti Māori on 4%.

Political commentator, Ben Thomas said The Cover this compared to how people would have expected Christopher Luxon, David Seymour and Winston Peters to work together; would you say it has been a “huge success”.

“It’s almost like an HR team-building exercise that Christopher Luxon might have done at Air New Zealand, the kind of brainstorming sessions where there are no bad ideas.

Thomas said if there was a coalition loser so far, it would be National.

“I guess the prime minister himself has a situation where he doesn’t quite get a sort of lead as the top dog type in the same way that we’ve seen in the past. There’s a lot of that kind of government of equals .It is the first among equals with David Seymour and Winston Peters.

“So he hasn’t necessarily been able to brand the kind of authority in that role,” he said.

Early in its government, the coalition government was criticized for taking a “slash and burn” approach, denying some works that Labor had spent years building.

“I think they would see it as a kind of controlled burning of the undergrowth in the bush. This feeds nutrients into the soil and creates a climate where there can be new growth,” Thomas said.

The backlash towards this government came quite quickly, with Maoridom protesting nationally about a week after the government was sworn in.

Nor has it been without controversy. Ministers such as Melissa Lee and Penny Simmonds had their portfolios stripped, Luxon was forced to pay his allowance and controversial bills such as fast track and the rollback of smoke-free initiatives brought intense opposition.

But Thomas said the government’s first year had been relatively, and comparatively, light on scandal.

“I think you usually block the first real scandal that’s going to take a year to 18 months to resign. So they’re doing quite well. Certainly some of the newer ministers may not be as skilled or as confident as some of their more experienced colleagues.

“But at the same time, there haven’t been any real smoking guns that have come out that kind of end the race,” he said.

Listen to the full episode which ministers have been highlighted in the last year, what could the Government look like in the future and what happens with these annoying polls?

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen every weekday from 5am. The podcast is hosted by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with experience in global news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

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