Allowance-gate: Did Mr Luxon take a biblical parable literally?
And will he complete his 49 pieces of homework?
You may have heard of the Matthew principle.
“To everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from the one that does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” Matthew 25:29
Divine judgement would be harsh for those who squander the gift of life – but rewards would be plentiful for the godly folk who work hard, save up and give back. But Mr Luxon seems to have taken the parable literally when he helped himself to an accommodation allowance of $52,000 per annum (in addition to his salary of $471,000) to live in a place he owns outright.
For a while he tried to defend this, using words that are destined not to be forgotten:
“I’m entitled to the entitlements that everyone else has.”
He said he hadn’t broken any rule, as he’s not obliged to reside (for free) in Premier House – which is much in need of renovations. But, in the politicians’ PR Bible, one of the Ten Commandments is: “Thou shalt not say out loud how much thou art entitled”. God knows it reeks of arrogance and, well, a sense of entitlement. And it’s hypocritical when “everyone else” in the public service is under pressure from the prime minister to reduce costs.
By “everyone else”, to whom was he referring anyway? It certainly wasn’t you, dear reader. If you’re on a low income with dependent children, the maximum accommodation supplement is $305 per week. That’s well short of the PM’s $1,000 per week.
Later that same day, Luxon did a U-turn and confirmed (in a radio interview) that he’ll cancel his accommodation allowance and pay back the amount received thus far. By doing so, the PM at least mitigated any “Allowance-gate” scandal that might gain traction.
It was another rookie error, however, by an inexperienced PM. Even National supporters have reason to feel disappointed in him, given the pledge to reduce public expenditure. For followers of Australian politics, it looks like we have another Scomo.
Getting back, then, to Mr Luxon’s mission to cure the country of Labour’s six-year-long addiction to wasteful spending…
How are Luxon & Co doing on the 100-day plan?
The deadline is Friday this week, 8 March. And parliament is sitting this week, so there’s still time to introduce a Bill or two.
I was interviewed on Newstalk ZB on Sunday morning about this.
In an earlier post, two weeks ago, I reckoned that 16 of the 49 goals set down in the 100-day plan had yet to be ticked off. So, the list below updates progress on those items.
4. Begin efforts to double renewable energy production, including a NPS on Renewable Electricity. No sign of progress.
7. Make any additional Orders in Council needed to speed up cyclone and flood recovery efforts. I can’t see any new OICs under new government, but there’s evidence of needs not being addressed, and there has been an ongoing review of the OICs. A funding boost of $63 million was announced on 11 Feb.
10. Introduce legislation to remove the Auckland Fuel Tax. DONE. Bill Introduced.
12. Begin work on a new GPS reflecting the new Roads of National Significance and new public transport priorities. No info online about this work, see Election Policy.
19. Begin work on a National Infrastructure Agency. No sign of work, although it may have ‘begun’.
21. Repeal the Spatial Planning and Natural and Built Environment Act and introduce a fast-track consenting regime. DONE.
24. Begin work to enable more houses to be built, by implementing the Going for Housing Growth policy and making the Medium Density Residential Standards optional for councils. DONE/work underway.
26. Introduce legislation to ban gang patches, stop gang members gathering in public, and stop known gang offenders from communicating with one another. Bill on the way.
27. Give Police greater powers to search gang members for firearms and make gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing. Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Amendment Bill introduced.
28. Stop taxpayer funding for section 27 cultural reports. A bill will be introduced. But legal aid hasn’t been ‘stopped’ yet.
31. Enable more virtual participation in court proceedings. No sign of work.
32. Begin to repeal and replace Part 6 of the Arms Act 1983 relating to clubs and ranges. Work begun.
42. Set five major targets for health system, including for wait times and cancer treatment. Not finalised.
43. Introduce legislation to disestablish the Māori Health Authority. DONE. Bill passed under urgency.
47. Begin work to repeal the Therapeutics Products Act 2023. Work may have begun, but no sign of a repeal bill.
48. Establish a priority one category on the social housing waitlist to move families out of emergency housing into permanent homes more quickly. Not done yet.
By my count, there are 7 goals towards which there appears to be no progress, as of Sunday 3 March.
It’s a pity that the new government didn’t add a fiftieth goal to their 100-day plan: Commence renovations to Premier House while it’s unoccupied.
Feels like the majority of these policies are aimed at securing inequality for future generations, rather than attempting to reduce it.
Maybe we can introduce a bill to have greater search powers on bankers, land or otherwise and have being a National party member be an aggravating factor in court.