It was weird to see the Prime Minister muse about a four-day week recently.
She is encouraging businesses to think about it.
The Prime Minister has also mused this week about more public holidays.
These are not small changes to our society.
Unfortunately the government released its budget just last week and there was no mention of either of these ideas, or indeed of labour reform barely at all.
This is despite Minister of Finance Grant Robertson putting an awful lot of thought and study into the future of work over the last four years.
A wee bit of evidence wouldn’t have killed them before big ideas get floated. Maybe even a bit of plan-like context.
The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance need to get their story straight. Sure there will be plenty of balloon-type ideas to float in the coming year. And of course there’s a Labour election manifesto to put the idealistic stuff into. Lots of red balloons floating about.
But seriously. They’re in government.
If they want to change the Holidays Act, they should just propose it.
If they want us to have a four day week like France, they should actually propose it.
The economy and indeed our whole society is going into such an incredibly parlous state that we need the government to continue as it started in March: communicate a clear plan, and execute it. Not hot air balloons.
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