The new Parliament brings old debates, as Judith Collins and Jacinda Ardern fail to change the dial on the first day of return

OPINION: It is a completely new Parliament. Dozens of new MPs, the return of the Maori Party and the departure of NZ First.

But it could hardly be said during the first big debate in the House, with Labor and national leaders making the same arguments they made during the election campaign last year and in previous years.

Judith Collins said the Labor Party had failed in its goals, much as it has been saying since it became leader. He went back to the more traditional national lines of attack against Labor, saying the government was “soft on crime” and that the police felt “powerless and disrespectful.” And he attacked the debt path that Labor was on, saying “lax spending” was weighing on future generations.

Jacinda Ardern, for her part, spoke mainly about the Covid-19 response, something the country has heard her talk about almost daily since March. She also pulled out a few other old lines, taking offense at National attacking her for the home.

Ardern took the opportunity to enjoy the electoral victory, noting that he would hear cheers from his group every time he mentioned many parts of the country, and to upset a National Party that was still licking its wounds, the kind of treatment he would remember well from. the three Labor elections she lost while deputy.

READ MORE:
* Election 2020: a lesson in trust in democracy
* Election 2020: a little swearing but no sausage rolls thrown
* Election 2020: What happens after the historic Labor victory?
* Election 2020: ‘We will be back’: National’s tumultuous period in Opposition ends with Judith Collins parting words
* The last day of the coalition: Parliament concludes with brutal jokes and moments of gratitude

Collins had noted in her speech that she was part of a small entry of national MPs in 2002, much like the small entry of 2020, but three of that entry had finally become leaders: John Key, Don Brash and herself.

This opened an opportunity for Ardern to raise the possibility that one of the new national MPs, former Air NZ CEO Chris Luxon, would soon replace Collins as leader.

His response speech followed a speech from the throne that basically repeated the Labor Party manifesto, which in itself is not a complete program.

More money would be spent on infrastructure and training incentives, the minimum wage would be increased and Fair Pay Agreements would be introduced, and the Resource Management Law would be repealed and replaced.

The throne speech was so devoid of surprises that most of the media captioned with a small snippet of new information: that the Covid-19 vaccine would be free. This was new, yes, but also quite obvious for a country like New Zealand.

The sharpest lines for Collins and Ardern came in relation to housing.

She took a line of attack that Phil Twyford, notoriously absent from the House, once used well in the Opposition: that houses were making more money than paid workers. (This is true, as is the fact that Collins and Ardern have waived taxing that increase.)

“In the three years since Labor was elected, the median house price has risen by more than $ 200,000, and in that same period, a worker with the median income had made about $ 160,000, that’s a shame. It’s a sad situation and it needs to be fixed right now, ”Collins said.

Ardern responded in his speech by pointing to the actions of the last national government on housing.

“I will always find it irritating to be lectured by the Opposition Leader who left us with a housing crisis, denied it was a housing crisis and, I have to say, whose main response to that housing crisis – his main response to the housing crisis. housing – it was selling state houses, cutting the public housing waiting list, and the one thing that would apparently make a difference, planning, they did absolutely nothing. “

Simon Bridges, still on the front bench after all this time, gave Ardern some helpful advice during the section on housing.

“Just stop talking! Avoid the topic! This is not going to go well for the next three years! “

Unfortunately, a technicality meant that the only new party in Parliament in this period, the Maori Party, was unable to speak during their speech debates in response as leaders.

This could have been remedied with a motion, but again a procedural problem, understandable to a new deputy, caused both members to leave the Chamber.

Fortunately, the House received some fresh voices in the form of moving keynote speeches from new Labor MPs Ibrahim Omer and Arena Williams. One hopes that they can bring some new lines of debate to the rest of the parliamentary year.