Sepuloni 1 Luxon 0

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, June 28th, 2023 - 12 comments
Categories: Carmel Sepuloni, Christopher Luxon, Economy, nicola willis, Parliament, uncategorized - Tags:

Christopher Luxon struggles in Parliament.  There is the need to think on your feet, be precise, and make incisive comments on important issues.

Luxon has none of these skills.  He has spent too long being the king pin where underlings have to decipher the crap that came out of his mouth and dress them up as pearls of wisdom.

But in Parliament the interactions are raw and pointed.  There is no room for extended pontification.

Clearly Luxon and National thought yesterday that they would ambush Carmel Sepuloni.

Normally Chris Hipkins dances around Luxon’s questions.  Luxon lacks the ability to listen to the question and adjust.  All he can do is look at National’s prepared list of questions.  Hipkins is really good at seeing in which direction National wants to go to and completely avoiding their wish.

National clearly thought that with Carmel they would have a greater chance of causing mayhem.  They did not worry about the optics of beating up on a Pasifeka woman.

The first question was the most general of general questions.

For the uninitiated the first question sets the parameters,  Subsequent questions have to relate to the primary question.  If you ask “[d]oes she stand by all of her Government’s statements and actions?” then everything is at stake.

Staff prepare the Prime Minister and Ministers every day with likely question topics and possible answers but I am not sure that they would have predicted National engaging in a general knowledge quiz.

Carmel has great strengths and abilities but she is not normally involved in economic issues.

So she struggled with some of the questions such as “[w]hat is the current account deficit, and why does it matter so much to the credit agencies?”

But she neatly skewered Luxon near the end in this passage:

Christopher Luxon: Isn’t it embarrassing that, having set out to do things so differently, she’s got the same failed approach to the economy, the same failed Minister of Finance, and the same failing results?

Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: No; what’s embarrassing is when someone says they supported the Crusaders since they were a child when they were 26 years old when the Crusaders were actually formed.

Throughout the event National’s MPs howled with derision.  Except Nicola Willis who was remarkably quiet.  I wonder why?

Audrey Young concluded from the interchange that one of them failed, and it was not Carmel.

Here is the video.  Judge for yourselves.

The next time National tries on this sort of stunt can I suggest that Carmel uses the response of Australian Green Politician Adam Bandt.

12 comments on “Sepuloni 1 Luxon 0 ”

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  1. Reality 1
    28 June 2023 at 9:15 am

    Luxon repeatedly blurts out anything that he thinks will connect him with Joe and Joan Public, even if it makes no sense or has to be clarified later. He is embarrassingly unlikable.

    • Christopher Randal 1.1
      29 June 2023 at 8:51 am

      He is incapable of connecting with Joe and Joan. He thinks that they are bottom feeders and that, because he used to run an airline, he is important. And don't mention the 7 houses because Joe and Joan own none

  2. Nic the NZer 2
    28 June 2023 at 9:54 am

    Kindly leave football out of this one. The appropriate score line seems to be Sepuloni 7 National 0 (I'm assuming Nicola Willis failed to block the conversion in the sporting analogy).

    • Tony Veitch 2.1
      28 June 2023 at 4:19 pm

      Sepuloni 2, Luxon 0 – or, to satisfy Nic, Sepuloni 14, Luxon 0 – after QT in the House today.

      • Nic the NZer 2.1.1
        28 June 2023 at 6:22 pm

        Just for reference, what is the Crusaders biggest score without conceeding? I'm sure a life time supporter will know anyway.

        • Tony Veitch 2.1.1.1
          29 June 2023 at 6:10 am

          You should ask Christopher – he's been a Crusaders supporter since he was a little boy (aged 26!)

  3. Corey 3
    28 June 2023 at 11:54 am

    I like a good burn as much as the next but an acting pm can't answer a question in parliament, from LOTO, by saying "google it" lol

    Theyd be ordered by the speaker to stand back up and answer the question properly.

    Outside the house though….

  4. Patricia Bremner 4
    28 June 2023 at 11:59 am

    Carmel is worth ten of him. End of. He is all about him. imo.

  5. Mike the Lefty 5
    28 June 2023 at 1:48 pm

    I have sometimes wondered what would happen if a minister said no to the default opposition question about standing by statements and then went on to say it was when they were asked what the winning lotto numbers would be.

  6. Phillip ure 6
    28 June 2023 at 7:51 pm

    That clip from the aussie green is a must-watch…

    It is feckin' epic…he just nails it..

    And I loved the responses from the assembled journos..

  7. James Simpson 7
    29 June 2023 at 12:16 pm

    Doesn't the example you have given just demonstrate how churlish parliament is and how much of a complete waste of time question time is.

    How on earth are we being served by Luxon asking such a childish question, and Sepuloni responding with an equally immature response.

    None of this is new, so its not surprising, but it still seriously depressing that people celebrate this kind of bullshit from both sides. Like really you are keeping score on this?

    Twitter, parliament, and Donald Trump press conferences seem to be the only places that people who have graduated from primary school behave like this. Like seriously, imagine going into a work meeting on negotiation and dealing with each other like this.

    • Hanswurst 7.1
      30 June 2023 at 11:34 am

      Like really you are keeping score on this?

      No. I assume people just think Luxon made an ass of himself, which he did.

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