Kerre Woodham: Good on Labour for being more National than National is right now

It was a busy day of announcements for the National Party, with news of a second Auckland harbour crossing being fast tracked and a $200 million nationwide plan to improve the safety of police officers.

Oh, sorry no, I've got that wrong.

It was the Labour government who announced this. But really, they're being more National than National. 

Close your eyes, if you hadn't heard which party it was, a harbour crossing for all vehicles being fast tracked. A $200 million plan being rolled out to make our police safer. Who would have been responsible for that in the past?

Surely it would have been National, but this is Labour trying to show, hey, we can be centrist too. Vote for us, we like being in power, do it again. We can be pragmatic; we can be useful as a Government instead of ideological pie in the sky dreamers who haven't got a clue! Look at us! 

And while I am pleased that a second crossing is being planned sooner rather than later, I can’t help but rue all the missed opportunities. Why didn't we get cracking during Covid times? I mean, obviously not in the first three months, but you know then the year after, when it became obvious that Covid could be managed and people could be managed and work could continue.

Why didn't we use that opportunity to build projects of national significance in the same way we, and so many other countries, did during the depression? To reignite the economy, to keep people in jobs rather than just printing money. And why, when it came to harbour crossings, was so much ideology attached to Labour's initial plans?  

Honestly, when you think of a second crossing, we need to get cracking.

I can rue all the missed opportunities I like. We can all scream at the amount of money that has been spent on nothing, on pie in the sky, airy fairy ideas, but it needs to happen. And it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

So good on Labour for announcing that it’s going to fast-track it. And good on Labour for being more National than National is right now. 

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