Judith’s last stand?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:04 am, August 4th, 2021 - 43 comments
Categories: david seymour, Judith Collins, national, same old national, uncategorized - Tags:

So yesterday as news of a rather large drop in Labour’s support washed through Judith Collins and National put their thinking caps on. What issue could they raise to really sock it to Labour and prove to the electorate that National is indeed born to rule.

Judith had been fending off allegations that she had said that some people wanted to bottle Police Minister Poto Williams. I don’t know why anyone would think that. Poto is one of the most decent and dedicated politicians I have ever met. Using clumsy language that could be interpreted as a suggestion that violence should be used against her is not something that any politician should ever do.

But Judith and National decided to go full culture war on it and allege there has been this conspiracy to rename Aotearoa New Zealand Aotearoa New Zealand. The response on Twitter was swift and brutal. It was highlighted that under the last National Government the use of “Aotearoa” had occurred regularly.

Of course back then they relied on the Maori Party for confidence and supply. So it was Aotearoa this, Aotearoa that. Even from the Minister of Ethnic Affairs who happened to be Judith Collins used the phrase.

And if you want to see how widespread the use was just check your passport.

But now it is an example of left wing woke identity politics and a woke justice purge of all European names. Better that we name our country after a small Northern Hemisphere country which happened to be the birth place of one of the sailors who “discovered” the South Pacific many centuries after it was actually discovered by Pasifeka than use a descriptive name rooted in history.

I could not believe the timing. Because this week seems to be a really bad week to diss Te Ao Maori.

Te Ao Maori is becoming so ingrained in what we do, how we interact, and how we celebrate.

Collins and the National Party are stuck in a time warp thinking that Don Brash’s 2004 racist Orewa Speech will again swing the electorate back behind them and return them to the dominant position. They do not understand that the country has moved on.

The other weird aspect of this matter is that National is demanding a debate to ban a word that is in wide usage. These free speech warriors who have gone all cancel culture on it.

If David Seymour wants to make a name for himself he should adopt policy to support Aotearoa being one of the country’s official names and give his party a Maori name. National’s liberal wing, whatever is left of them, would start to dissolve his way.

Judith’s grumpy reactionary approach to politics is failing big time. She has shown herself to be rooted in the past when the country is looking to the future and for leadership. I hope she remains leader for a long time. But somehow I don’t think so and her days as leader must be numbered.

43 comments on “Judith’s last stand? ”

Comments are now closed

Incognito 1

4 August 2021 at 8:24 am

The only issues that matter to Judith and National are wedge issues. It is the exact same with David Seymour and ACT on his whistle-stop tour of Aotearoa-New Zealand where he uses sentiments from one meeting as talking points at the next. Judith wants the ‘debate’ that David is manufacturing.

What is “demand the debate” translated into Te Reo?
- AB 1.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 10:30 am
  
  Yep – MS is right to point out the inconsistency in the Nats' earlier embrace of the word 'Aotearoa' and their current dark hints about it replacing 'New Zealand'. But to expect consistency from Nat/ACT is to completely misunderstand them. They don't operate from coherent principles – their purpose is power, and once they have it, they use it to grease the path of private sector profitability and the upwards transfer of wealth. And it may be that these little culture war skirmishes don't resonate like they did in the days of the Don, but they also don't alienate anyone who might consider voting for them.
Stephen D 2

4 August 2021 at 8:32 am

They demand free speech. English speech.
Ad 3

4 August 2021 at 8:36 am

"The Queen's English was good enough for Jesus Christ, and it's good enough for me."

– Quoted by Don McGlashan
- Patricia Bremner 3.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 5:46 pm
Tiger Mountain 4

4 August 2021 at 8:41 am

Micky is correct that Aotearoa/NZ is moving on, but perhaps not definitively “has” just yet.

With every boomer funeral–stereotypes notwithstanding–the generational replacement voters grow in number. Will the 50% that own just 2% of the wealth, and generations rent and student loan, and school kids into climate action really support her view of the world in 2023 and 2026?

I am a 4th gen pākehā New Zealander and my son has one close Euro friend, the rest are Korean, Tongan and Māori. He saw the “Tractor/Ute” protest as an absolute joke and hypocritical.

Judith’s husband got away with some nasty innuendo too…have omitted the grubbier meme he posted.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/judith-collins-husband-david-wong-tung-criticised-for-sharing-anti-jacinda-ardern-memes/EIGJ33E7PWHOLN4CA4KER6QRQ4/

Judith’s tide is going out.
- Maurice 4.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 9:18 am
  
  The fact of the matter is that everyones tide is going out.
  
  On a long enough time line all survival trends to zero … apparently even the sun
  - Tiger Mountain 4.1.1
    
    4 August 2021 at 9:22 am
    
    and the defeatist, existentially tinged, comment of the day so far award goes to…
RobbieWgtn 5

4 August 2021 at 8:44 am

"If David Seymour wants to make a name for himself he should adopt policy to support Aotearoa being one of the country’s official names and give his party a Maori name. "

ACT Party Principle (a)
All people should be equal before the law as guaranteed in Article III of the Treaty of Waitangi, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion or political belief.

ACT Party Policy
Remove the Māori seats. The seats are an anachronism and offensive to the principle of equal citizenship. Māori New Zealanders have shown they can be elected to Parliament in general electorates or on party lists without assistance.
- Sacha 5.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 10:59 am
  
  Just don't mention Article 2, ok.
- Simbit 5.2
  
  4 August 2021 at 2:14 pm
  
  Cherry duly picked…
- Gypsy 5.3
  
  4 August 2021 at 3:35 pm
  
  At the risk of being accused of being an ACT supporter (I am not), I thought David Seymour gave both Collins and the government a clever serve with this comment:
  
  "Personally, I say New Zealand, I'm not interested in going out and policing what other people say, and I know a lot of young people out there who say look, you can call it Timbuktu if you like, so long as I can afford a house there. I just think there are some bigger issues for most people." Seymour said the more important issue is solving the housing crisis.
gsays 6

4 August 2021 at 8:52 am

Don't just take Mickey's word for it, here she is, in the flesh.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018806750

Complete with the mangling (crushing?) of Are-te-rower.
- bwaghorn 6.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 10:07 am
  
  Jumping on people because they cant nail pronunciation is the biggest barrier to people using Maori , to most of us Maori is a akin to a foreign language.
  
  If I attacked an asian immigrant for not pronouncing english perfectly I'd be slayed on this blog , ( quite rightly)
  
  Dont let perfect be the enemy of the good .
  - gsays 6.1.1
    
    4 August 2021 at 10:48 am
    
    IMO, it is not a matter of can't nail the pronunciation, more a matter of being disinclined.
    
    Collins aspires to leadership in Aotearoa, that is all of Aotearoa, not just the red necks.
    
    Picking on a migrant and criticizing Collins are two totally different things.
    
    Punching up for example
    - bwaghorn 6.1.1.1
      
      4 August 2021 at 1:33 pm
      
      Na your wrong, any second language not learnt when young would be difficult and time consuming to master , and harder the older one gets. Of all collins faults this is petty..
      
      Take a chill pill on this you pedants, encourage all use if you want the language to thrive .,otherwise itll be a musty old thing like latin.
      - Incognito 6.1.1.1.1
        
        4 August 2021 at 2:16 pm
        
        Funny that, Latin lives on in many languages, including English.
        
        bwaghorn 6.1.1.1.1.1
        
        4 August 2021 at 5:53 pm
        
        Hmm I wonder if a 2000 year old latin speaker would recognize the pronunciation of today's latin words on any to day use.
        
        Incognito …
        
        4 August 2021 at 5:58 pm
        
        No, unlikely, but reading and recognising many words, yes, likely.
- McFlock 6.2
  
  4 August 2021 at 3:07 pm
  
  jeez, from what I heard of that she was really pushing the "rurals are rednecks" approach.
Enough is Enough 7

4 August 2021 at 8:54 am

ACT is more extreme than National on these matters. It is the natural home of the Don Brash era 'kiwi iwi' folk. Act's rise to outright thrird is the polls is spooking National. That is why they are going after that vote.
mpledger 8

4 August 2021 at 9:03 am

Māori and NZ sign language are official languages of NZ, alongside English. There is no need to have any kind of vote or referendum, it was all done and dusted with the 1987 Maori Language Act.
- James Thrace 8.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 10:49 am
  
  English is not an official language.
  
  It is a defacto language being the predominant language.
  
  Māori and NZSL are the only two official languages with legislative status.
DukeEll 9

4 August 2021 at 9:09 am

Putting aside the fact that Judith is racist dog whistling, “the response on Twitter was swift and brutish”

as if National give a flying fuck about the Twitter mob calling out racism.

I seem to recall the support on Twitter for the cycle bridge being strong and unstoppable.

snapshot politics doesn’t offer much insight to the general populace’s feelings on a matter.
- Sacha 9.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 11:01 am
  
  Neither do single political polls, yet look at the assumptions..
In Vino 10

4 August 2021 at 9:50 am

I am beginning to wonder if National are employing a cunning tactic: leave Judith Collins there as long as possible with current unpopular style, then, closer to election time, introduce new leader whoever-it-is with a fanfare of new, friendlier attitudes, etc – something that our news media (friendly to the Right) will willingly propagate. Our sheeple are so easily influenced by such tricks..

This is the only way I can make sense of the current situation, unless National really are as bereft of intelligence and talent as they seem. (Labour seem to be starting to compete with them in this area, sad to say..)
- roy catrtland 10.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 9:57 am
  
  Well, that was their whole strategy with Simon Bridges, if you remember back to the start of his term. It was always supposed to be a suicide mission. Then he started to believe his own bullshit, which was the first mistake…
  
  It could work, but only if JC sticks to that plan. Didn't go so well last time. Quite the opposite.
  
  (mods: oops sorry about username, will amend)
Muttonbird 11

4 August 2021 at 9:57 am

Others are feeling 'left out' of the debate.

– Judith Collins

Welcome to the world of the bottom 50% since forever, you poisonous old Tory.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/08/feelings-are-hurt-judith-collins-insists-she-s-fine-with-aotearoa-but-others-are-feeling-left-out.html
- roy cartland 11.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 10:21 am
  
  Wow. Now she's trying the Key trope:
  
  Judith Collins says she is "very happy" calling the country Aotearoa and personally, is relaxed about the name.
aom 12

4 August 2021 at 10:28 am

Collins was stuffed the moment she disingenuously said, "People are saying …." Time she moved on, well away from Parliament.
Muttonbird 13

4 August 2021 at 10:35 am

Judith Collins says people are being 'malicious and nasty' after she said people 'want to bottle' Police Minister Poto Williams

You reap what you sow.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/08/judith-collins-says-people-are-being-malicious-and-nasty-after-she-said-people-want-to-bottle-police-minister-poto-williams.html
coreyjhumm 14

4 August 2021 at 3:38 pm

Agree the aotearoa thing is hilariously dumb even though a lot of labour voters are slightly irritated by it. A true national opposition would be focusing on the debt, housing and failures in health and mental health but this opposition is busy trying to start a us style culture war

However "the response on twitter was swift and brutal" and here lies the problem with the left. Twitter isnt the public. Twitter is the opposite of public opinion it's used by 3% of kiwis most of them extremely left or liberal and in art,media, political arenas

If you go in twitter you'd think there's been some kind of public reawakening and that the left are in assention around the world. There hasn't been and it's not. Labour won 2020 because of its exceptional handling of covid and had Winston gone with national and national done as well with covid we'd be in a fifth term of national.

If you listen to twitter the bike bridge is insanely popular. 81% of the country despise it.

If you listen to twitter act is not some libertarian neoliberal hodge podge it's a fascist party and the labour voters drifting to act over hate speech are Nazis

Forget twitter go to a working class pub and see how people feel and you'll get a true grasp of the electorate.

Media and politicals need to stop pretending twitter is anything other than a medium for people in the in club to share their views with people who agree with them.

As for attacking Poto, that was a disgraceful comment from Judith and as a woman in politics whose had threats of her own safety and a leader of the opposition she should have apologized, politics aside female politicians get loads of hate whatever their ideology and it'd be nice for you know human decency but that's beyond the current national party.

My anti twitter rant isn't about me being anti left it's about me being anti the left thinking twitter is the electorate and pandering to twitter audiences in policy and going well twitter thinks it's ok so we're winning public opinion. No. That's the kinda thinking that loses elections.
swordfish 15

4 August 2021 at 3:54 pm

But now it is an example of left wing woke identity politics

Nothing "left-wing" about the bourgeois Woke Identity Politics of narcissistic Upper-Middle Professionals.
- WeTheBleeple 15.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 5:58 pm
  
  Agreed. It's a tedious load of wank.
peter sim 16

4 August 2021 at 8:50 pm

Collins is reading from PR script written by not very well informed PR writers.

Well within living memory to say some one, some thing ought to be "bottled" was and still could be complimentary. It meant worth keeping, preserving.

Think pickles, fruit, wine, whisky.

As usual the mainstream chattering class have to look for a "shock, horror, headline.

Politically it is a storm in a thimble.

Depressingly it is yet another sign of the media pack's inability to be knowledgeably literate.

Bottle does have to mean thuggery.
Genie is not common NZ parlance.
The defence of the use of “bottle ” is very questionable. Just by chance it gave J Collins the opportunity to assail the Minister of Police.

How very conveniently coincidental.

The media pack fell for it.

Sigh.
Unicus 17

4 August 2021 at 10:03 pm

If you want a name.rooted in human history it doesn’t get better than Zealand

After. holding out against Spanish Catholicism in the eighty years war. Zealand declared itself the first Republic in Monarchist Europe .

Tasman didn’t name our land that was done by the board of the Dutch East India Company in Conjunction with the Dutch government

And as for poetry Sealand matches Land of the long white cloud any day

Our country was named in honour of a hero state and for most of us it still feels that way
- McFlock 17.1
  
  4 August 2021 at 10:31 pm
  
  Our country was named in honour of a hero state and for most of us it still feels that way
  
  Why yes, at the local public house tonight 'twas nothing upon our lips but ale and discussions of Zealand's heroism in the Eighty Years War. /sarc
  
  Have to admit, that's one European war I'm not sure I'd ever heard of before. There'll be loads of others, though.
  
  The name was chosen by a company from the same nation of a dude who didn't even set foot here? I'd thought at least it had been applied by someone who'd actually at least seen the place and thought maybe "wow, that totally reminds me of the island my aunt is from" or something.
  
  Hey, it's nice enough as words go. It's not "fartland" or something. But I've usually thought of myself as a "kiwi" rather than a "New Zealander".
Unicus 18

5 August 2021 at 8:26 am

In reference to M Savages claim Aotearoa is a “descriptive name rooted in history“

Just as New Zealand is

At least you now know why Zealand was famous in Europe in the 16th century
RP Mcmurphy 19

5 August 2021 at 1:58 pm

the fact of the matter is that Aotearoa is a neologism invented by William Pember
Reeves and like other polynesian, melanesian and micronesian pidgin languages te reo will die a natural death sooner or later.
- Unicus 19.1
  
  5 August 2021 at 10:45 pm
  
  Thanks for. this useful post
  
  I was hoping Standard contributors would take the topic of changing our countrys name a little more seriously than simply repeating woke memes as some ;have done
  - RP Mcmurphy 19.1.1
    
    6 August 2021 at 9:37 am
    
    as stalin said the purpose of propaganda is not to change anyones mind but to check on who is toeing the party line
    - Unicus 19.1.1.1
      
      6 August 2021 at 4:18 pm
      
      Quite so
      
      But through their actions the people will judge them
      
      The problem for the govt is that thousands of party supporters – Including myself are either opposing or deserting it – propaganda is partially to blame –
georgecom 20

6 August 2021 at 7:29 pm

The question I am wanting Judith to answer is this, what position would she expect in a David Seymour lead Act/National government. Would she insist of being Deputy PM or would she be realistic and take a mid table cabinet position like small business or veterans affairs.