THE 100 DAY PLAN - WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

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We are already seeing the new PM's weakness - at first skiting about how good a negotiator he is (wrong) and then bleating about how unfair it is that the previous government handed him a crock of shit.

What a loser. He's doing this to kid on that if his wonderful 100 day plan doesn't work it must be the fault of someone else - the Labour Government, ACT, NZ First, Uncle Tom Cobley .... whoever.

He doesn't take any blame himself for his weaselly coalition agreements, his silly 100 day plan, the odious multi-billion dollar gift to speculative landlords, the looming disastrous tax break for the wealthy, a shameful back-pedalling on tobacco legislation etc etc.

Basically, in a matter of days he has done the opposite of 'manning up' to do the job that a lot of people voted him in to do. We don't want an "I told you so" limp dick as PM - we want and need someone who will roll up his sleeves and pitch in and - to take some bloody responsibility. Sheesh!

This is going to be a government floundering in hypocrisy:

• The deal done to drop the foreign-buyer tax means that the promised tax cuts that will favour the wealthy can't be funded unless.... tobacco is still allowed to be sold to provide tax revenue .... which is what they are proposing and it's just a shame that at least 5000 lives a year will continue to be lost to smoking.
• ACT's wish to cut down on public sector jobs is in contradiction to the fact that while preaching  austerity, this new government has increased the number of MPs inside and outside Cabinet. Nearly half of the coalition’s MPs now belong to the Executive with higher salaries, expensive perks and increased numbers of support staff. Give me a break. 
• Crown spending will be decreased on essential services - Police, Education, Health, Social Welfare to support the aforementioned gift bags with little regard to social need, struggling families and increased population.
• An attack on better wages and conditions for hard-strapped workers with promises to repeal the Fair Pay Agreement regime by Christmas 2023, reform health and safety law and regulations and to expand 90-day trials to apply to all businesses.

The 100 day proposals are not all bad by any means but there are enough knee-jerk reaction ones to make me wonder how mature Luxon and National are and whether they are just acting peevishly. Here are the 'actions' and I've highlighted the bad ones.

• Repeal the Clean Car Discount scheme by December 31, 2023.
• Ban the use of cell phones in schools.
• Introduce legislation to remove the Auckland Fuel Tax.
• Repeal Fair Pay Agreement legislation.
• Stop "blanket speed limit reductions" and start work on replacing the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2022.
• Stop central government work on the Auckland Light Rail project.
• Start work to improve the quality of regulation.
• Introduce legislation to repeal the Water Services Entities Act 2022, also known as the Three Waters reforms
• Introduce legislation to ban gang patches, stop gang members gathering in public, and stop known gang offenders from communicating with one another.
• Give police greater powers to search gang members for firearms and make gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing.
• Introduce legislation to disestablish the Māori Health Authority.
• Begin work to repeal the Therapeutics Products Act 2023
• Allow the sale of cold medication containing pseudoephedrine
• Require primary and intermediate schools to teach an hour of reading, writing and maths per day starting in 2024.
• Begin disestablishing Te Pukenga.
• Stop all work on He Puapua.
• Stop work on the Income Insurance Scheme.
• Stop work on Industry Transformation Plans.
• Stop work on the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme.
• Begin efforts to double renewable energy production, including a National Policy Statement on Renewable Electricity Generation.
• Withdraw central government from Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM).
• Meet with councils and communities to establish regional requirements for recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle and other recent major flooding events.
• Make any additional Orders in Council needed to speed up cyclone and flood recovery efforts.
• Start reducing public sector expenditure, including consultant and contractor expenditure.
• Introduce legislation to narrow the Reserve Bank’s mandate to price stability.
• Cancel fuel tax hikes.
• Begin work on a new Government Policy Statement reflecting the new Roads of National Significance and new public transport priorities.
• Introduce legislation to restore 90-day trial periods for all businesses.
• Begin work on a National Infrastructure Agency.
• Repeal the Spatial Planning and Natural and Built Environment Act and introduce a fast-track consenting regime.
• Begin to cease implementation of new Significant Natural Areas and seek advice on the operation of the areas.
• Take policy decisions to amend the Overseas Investment Act 2005 to make it easier for build-to-rent housing to be developed in New Zealand.
• Begin work to enable more houses to be built, by implementing the National Party's Going for Housing Growth policy and making the Medium Density Residential Standards optional for councils.
• Abolish the previous Labour government’s prisoner reduction target.
• Stop taxpayer funding for section 27 cultural reports.
• Introduce legislation to extend eligibility to offence-based rehabilitation programmes to remand prisoners.
• Begin work to crack down on serious youth offending.
• Enable more virtual participation in court proceedings.
• Begin to repeal and replace Part 6 of the Arms Act 1983 relating to clubs and ranges.
• Improve security for the health workforce in hospital emergency departments.
• Sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Waikato University to progress a third medical school.
• By December 1, lodge a reservation against adopting amendments to World Health Organisation health regulations to allow the Government to consider these against a “national interest test”.
• Appoint an Expert Group to redesign the English and maths curricula for primary school students.
• Begin work on delivering better public services and strengthening democracy.
• Set five major targets for health system, including for wait times and cancer treatment.
• Take first steps to extend free breast cancer screening to those aged up to 74.
• Repeal amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations.
• Establish a priority one category on the social housing waitlist to move families out of emergency housing into permanent homes more quickly.
• Commission an independent review into Kāinga Ora’s financial situation, procurement, and asset management.

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I loved the Wellington councillor's 'dick pic' of Luxon and his two coalition partners.

"Councillor Teri O’Neill posted the billstickers with her friends last Friday night and told the Herald she stood by her decision, saying she wanted to “challenge entrenched power structures”."

         NZ Herald