Sir Fresh3001 sits down with Mike Hosking to talk about Gaedheal and the Waikato by-election.

Today, National Party leader Sir Fresh3001 appeared on Mike Hosking Breakfast for a lengthy interview around the Waikato by-election.

Mike Hosking: “...and the Air New Zealand engineers who were threatening strike action around the Christmas holidays have apparently settled with the airline, and have ended the strike notice which put a lot of stress on Kiwi families. Now, I’m joined by the former Prime Minister and current National Party leader & Leader of the Opposition, Sir Fresh3001. He’s here to talk with me about the state of the government, the Waikato by-election and Gaedheal, and National’s plans for the future. Always a pleasure to have you on, Fresh - what do you think about this whole Air New Zealand business?”

Sir Fresh3001: “Well, isn’t it exactly how militant unions held the country to ransom back in the 1970s? Used to be the Cook Strait Ferry Unions but these days it’s the Aviation Union. Honestly, I’m pretty jaw-dropped at how this militant behaviour in 2018 is calculated to cause distress to fellow Kiwis - y’know, it put a lot of stress on families who were looking to vacation over the holiday period, and posed a serious threat to our tourism industry. I’m just very glad that things have been resolved in the way that they have, props to the Air NZ management for handling this very professionally.”

Hosking: “Absolutely, I couldn’t have said it better myself. These militant unions really are becoming more and more of a problem, very sad. Now, speaking of very sad, how about the budget recently passed by the Greens government?”

Fresh3001: “Well, it’s absolutely what you would expect from this shambolic coalition of chaos. It’s a budget that really doesn’t deliver for ordinary New Zealanders, in contrast to the two brought forward by toastinrussian and myself. You know, I spoke about it in length in the House and I had five main points that I was able to summarise it as: porkbarrel politics, superfluous spending, socialism by stealth, a bleeding-heart benefit bonanza, and plain bad policy.

“Porkbarrel politics mainly being the penchant of United Future, with their bribes for Northland and Wairarapa. Just very strange targets for investment where you wouldn’t think they’d be necessary, all the while regions like the Waikato suffer and get nothing. A Bay of Islands airport, a Kawakawa tourism hub, Northland rail, yet bugger all else for the rest of the regions. And perhaps most egregiously, the Greens went ahead with their ‘Ruahine Runner’ project despite the fact that the Mayor of Napier Bill Dalton doubted there was demand, and former Labour MP for Napier Stuart Nash called the economics of the whole thing ‘very, very tenuous.’

“Superfluous spending was in all honestly the most prevalent issue with this Green budget - wherever I looked they were throwing money in places that it really doesn’t need to be going. They increased the nurse salary, we’d done that in the previous term; they end voluntary school donations, basically subsidising the education of the rich and wealthy; they established an organic food certification programme, yet this is already done by the AsureQuality SOE; they implemented real time donation reporting with no real justification, in what is basically just a gimmick.

“Socialism by stealth was actually relatively measured in what is a Greens budget, and for that I have to give credit to the centrist parties in the coalition. Now, as I’ve displayed above the influence of TOP and UF in the budget is far from perfect but I’m happy to give them credit where they deserve it. What is an issue for me is this water tax implemented by the Greens and Labour, which effectively forces people to pay to use their own private property for no reason other than to raise a bit of revenue. And y’know, the increase in oil royalties certainly has noble intentions but it raises the question of whether it will actually have an impact on lowering global carbon emissions or not.

“The TOP changes to income tax - honestly, I could have accepted them if they’d gone with the plan originally envisioned by Gareth Morgan in the party’s first iteration. They’re trying to create a fairer system without creating economic uncertainty, but they’ve thrown that out the window by ignoring the second part of the whole plan - a general decrease in all income taxation rates. Now, I made great headway with this during my time in government but the income tax rates really aren’t low enough for this change to be fair, or for it to be economically efficient. I spoke to the Minister of Finance about what effect this would have on private investment in the economy, or whether it’d create a ‘lock-in effect’ and I really was not content with his answers.

“And lastly, that bleeding-heart benefit bonanza thrown by the Greens which will really have a negative effect not just on the pockets of the taxpayer, but on the intergenerational cycle of poverty we often see in New Zealand’s worst off. They’re not only increasing benefits by a whole 15% or reversing our planned means-testing, but they’re also abolishing all benefit sanctions. Now, briefly on that means-testing - the Greens really show who they stand for, the champagne socialists who are fans of getting handouts themselves, rather than the money going to the needy. But more importantly, that abolition of benefit sanctions will have massive ramifications. Benefit sanctions penalise those who don’t meet basic requirements like preparing for or finding a job, and the Greens have just sent a message that none of that matters when you’re on the dole. Really damaging stuff here, and I expect that we will see more people on the unemployment benefit and out of the workforce as a result.”

Hosking: “That really is a great summary of this government’s shambolic budget, I agree with a lot of what you’ve said there. Now, onto the current by-elections and especially the one in Waikato - what’s your take on this there?”

Fresh3001: “Well, while National is really only defending one seat in this by-election - Christchurch - I almost feel like we have an obligation to provide Waikato with true blue representation in Parliament. It’s historically been a National supporting area, and the people overwhelmingly support right wing or centrist candidates, but unfortunately the nature of things means that the Green Party candidate has a good chance of winning despite only having the support of about 30% of voters. And, yeah, National is polling at a similar level but we represent more reasonable politics that Waikato typically stands for. Of course, the Greens have parachuted their candidate in there from Auckland - the typical leftist tacting of an urbanite carpetbagger heading off into the regions to try their luck. The only reason the Greens are running UncookedMeatloaf there is name recognition, since it’s the only chance they have at winning things there.

Hosking: “And what about the National Party candidate, Gaedheal? He’s a Waikato man through and through, isn’t he?”

Fresh3001: “Absolutely Mike, we wouldn’t do things any differently. Gaedheal is a true blue Waikato man who represents rural interests and has his head on straight. He’s a conservative Nat who’s down to Earth and willing to stand up to the nonsense spouted by Wellington champagne socialists. As opposed to, as I’ve said before, the parachute candidate in Uncooked Meatloaf, the noncommittal centrist in PM-ME-SPRINKLES or the far-right radical in FatherNigel. He’s an infinitely better candidate than all of those jokers, and one who’ll give Waikato the voice they really deserve in Parliament.”

Hosking: “Now, Sir Fresh3001, what can National do for the Waikato, and for ordinary New Zealanders on the whole? I’m well aware myself, but what sets the National Party apart from the rest of the political sphere?”

Fresh3001: “Well, we represent solid centre right governance which will deliver for New Zealanders. We look to find a balance between the efficiencies of the free market, and the fairness of light-handed regulation, and try to strike a balance there. We treat social policy how the New Zealand people want it, and we stay away from spin and populist politics. It’s a crying shame for the Waikato that the Greens won the previous election because we’ve done great things for the regions and will continue to do so. Of course, the Regional Investment Corporation is a big one, as are our infrastructure plans including Roads of National Significance and Ultra-Fast Broadband.

“I’ve spoken about this in length previously, in a video I uploaded to Facebook, at this point in time National has ensured that 75% of Kiwi households have access to Ultra-Fast Broadband, and by the time of the programmes completion that number will be 89%. We built six Roads of National Significance across the country, including the famed Waikato Expressway. If we were re-elected, we planned to put another $130m into connecting another 60,000 rural households to Ultra-Fast Broadband, and wanted to eliminate gaps in cellphone reception through a $75m investment in the Mobile Black Spot Fund. We wanted to build two new Roads of National Significance in the Waikato, including extending the Waikato Expressway to Tirau, and building one from Piarare to the Kaimai Ranges. We had planned tax cuts for middle income earners to the tune of $780m and would have improved funding for our health services. Of course, a Green government stopped all that.”

Hosking: “Alright, finally, what are National’s plans for the future, after the results of these by-elections?”

Fresh3001: “Well, of course we expect a blue wave in these two by-elections, which’d make us the biggest party in Parliament. But I’m really excited for the general election also, I think we have an opportunity to make #NatNation real. People have realised how little this shambolic government is doing for them, and National is looking to change things up. We have an amazing team with lots of fresh blood, who are energised from holding the government to account. #NatNation is really surging on social media and I think it shows how excited voters are for an opportunity to send Wellington a message. I think it's not unlikely that you'll see me back on the ninth floor.”

Hosking: “Well Sir Fresh3001, always great to have you and good luck in the by-elections!”