Luxon: "Holding power for the sake of holding power."

"I asked people of all political hues what they saw as the two biggest missteps of this government.
    "The responses were all quite similar - they didn't know why ... the Luxon-led ... Government would do A, but then also do B, when A and B seemed incongruous with one another.
    "People who were opposed to ACT's Treaty Principles Bill were annoyed it had been supported to its first reading - saying it had created a highly divisive national debate, only to avoid blame by abandoning it - and weren't later won back when Luxon's National decided to not support it beyond the first reading.
    "People who supported ACT's Treaty Principles Bill were annoyed it had only been supported to its first reading - saying it had started a productive national debate, only to abandon it before anything could be resolved - and felt betrayed when Luxon's National decided to not support it beyond the first reading.
    "Both sides saw it as cynical politics over a principled stance. ...

"Last Wednesday Prime Minister Luxon told councils they must stick to their knitting. No frivolous spending.] On Thursday afternoon Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee announced the government would stump up $750,000 from its major events fund to go towards the inaugural World Dance Crew Championship in Auckland next year. ...

"This is a government that thinks beneficiaries need scrutiny and suspicion, but poorly-run media enterprises deserve government support and favourable legislative changes. ... Can you stand in judgement of beneficiaries while also coddling an entitled media sector? ...

"[This all] speaks to a lack of philosophy or ideology.
    "When you combine this with recent concerns about a lack of clear vision for what New Zealand should be, this creates a picture of a man without non-negotiables.
    "Luxon is the ... type of politician ... [who] isn't ideologically driven, nor are they practical 'here's-what-we-want-the-country-to-be, but-we're-flexible-about-how-to-get-there' pragmatists.
    "They are something more base, someone just happy to be elected in the first place. Holding power for the sake of holding power."

~ Haimona Gray, from his post 'Christopher Luxon - A PM without conviction'