Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking is threatening to move to Australia if New Zealand doesn’t reject the Government’s “left-leaning progressive thinking”, garnering mixed reactions on social media.
Hosking called the Government an “ideological outlier” in a column for the NZ Herald on Thursday morning, ahead of Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s Budget announcement at 2pm.Â
“The world isn’t rejecting left-leaning progressive thinking for no reason, they’re rejecting it because it doesn’t work,” Hosking wrote for the Herald.
“We’ll get there, next year or at the next election. If we don’t, I’m off to Australia.”
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Analysis - A benefit-boosting Budget with a narrow focus written by a majority Labour government has shown up the differences between political parties, writes [Peter Wilson]
It s not a competition. But, he began, to laughs. It is interesting to compare oneself with our neighbours across the ditch. What you see is that almost every indicator, New Zealand is going to be outperforming Australia across this period.
Your playlist will load after this ad The PM added that the increases in benefits in today’s Budget will undo the harm of previous generations. Robertson broke up his presentation on the budget with slides directly slowing the comparison to Australia, using statistics prepared by his Treasury but referencing Australia s budget forecasts. Australia s GDP is predicted to rise higher than New Zealand next year - 4.3 per cent to 3.2 per cent in real terms - but over the four-year forecast, NZ wins out 3.5 per cent to 2.9 per cent.
This Labour Government was elected with what I believe was the largest majority of any Government in my lifetime. That result came on the back of a style New Zealanders warmed to, and a very comprehensive and competent reaction to the challenges Covid-19 presented. I suppose the question now is will that substantial majority translate into actions and polices we warm to? As always, only time will tell. Can one Budget satisfy everybody and deliver something for everyone? Absolutely not. In my view, when we are picking through the pages of the Budget, we need to be asking ourselves whether the right leavers have been oiled enough to give people confidence that we as a nation are on the right track.