"National governments don’t actually oppose Labour policies… They just want to manage them" [updated]

"It simply isn’t good enough to paint a red Government blue, and then pretend it’s all fixed by endlessly promising to just ‘get things done’....
    "Every time I hear Chris Luxon say that the Labour ‘doesn’t get things done’, it terrifies me… Could he seriously want them to do more? ... We don’t need a Government that gets things done, we need a Government that does a lot less so that you can get things done....
    "The truth is, Labour won’t dump their own policy agenda.... A more likely scenario is that another Prime Minister Chris gets the chance to dump Labour’s destructive policies, in just 249 days’ time.
    "But even then, let’s be absolutely clear: A reversal is not guaranteed. If you doubt that, let history be your guide.
    "Five times National has vigorously opposed Labour’s policies from opposition and five times it has come to office and bedded them in.
    "That’s part of the reason we’re in this mess - National governments don’t actually oppose Labour policies… They just want to manage them..."

~ David Seymour from his speech 'The Road to Real Change'

UPDATE:

Tom Hunter points you to these three related posts on No Minister:

The Precious Midpoint
National is not going to be rewarded by simply saying that it will do the same as Labour but with better management.... That approach just won’t cut it anymore with Centre-Right parties.  Real, practical solutions based around giving incentives to individuals – in education, healthcare and other areas – are what is required. Certainly not something that “‘we’, the clever ones, are going to impose upon ‘them’, the Lower Orders“, from the hearts of wealthy suburbs sporting myriad electric cars.
    The midpoint is there to be moved, not just accommodated while others move it.

Advice from the Peanut Gallery
One of the classic quotes from Thatcher on "ratchet socialism", plus all the twits in the GOP circa 1980 screaming about how Reagan's "extremism" would doom them.

This Sounds Familiar
When it matters, Republicans look around and say, “Oh no we can’t do that, we’d lose a man. The Democrats would take seats.” They are virtually a majority for the sake of being a majority. They just want to polish it up, put it on the shelf, and look at it....
    To put it simply, Republicans approach politics like America fights wars: They don’t want to lose a single man. Democrats, on the other hand? They look at politics like the Russians looked at Stalingrad: The congressman in front votes now; when they fall the next man gets elected and he will vote too.