Even Tracy Watkins has joined the chorus of ridicule on National’s health and safety mess:
National’s health and safety legislation its lightbulb moment
It no longer matters whether it is true or not that school playgrounds will have to close thanks to the Government’s health and safety laws. Or whether it is true that school camps will be banned, outdoor games are under threat, or that people will have to wear a harness while using a ladder. It’s enough that people believe it.
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The health and safety legislation was borne out of the best of intentions in the wake of the Pike River mining disaster. But politics have intervened. National was the first and worst offender – under pressure from its provincial MPs, its efforts to placate powerful lobbies like farming have turned the legislation into a laughing stock.
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John Key’s increasingly lacklustre defence of the shambles consists of answers that sound more like satire by the day.
Ouch. I’ll take issue with Watkins framing of this piece however:
National’s health and safety legislation has turned into a running gag and political liability on the scale of Labour’s fart tax, and lightbulb ban.
The difference being that the research levy and energy saving lightbulbs were sound and sensible policies that an unprincipled opposition and giddy media turned into major beatups. Whereas the health and safety policy is incoherent, politically expedient, likely to cost lives, and a mess entirely of National’s making.
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