Headless chooks

As Luxon talks up a glorious future, his ministers are introducing disconnected policies while sectors collapse al around them.

- By Danyl McLauchlan

Who is responsible for the terrible economy? It's hard to look past Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis, who promised the nation an economic turnaround, congratulated themselves for every rates reduction delivered by the Reserve Bank and launched the year promising economic growth. They then attacked commentators who pointed out the business failures, dire manufacturing indicators, low construction rates and high outward migration suggesting a deepening of the recession, instead of the green shoots only they could see.

Now that this has been confirmed in the headline statistics - negative 0.9% in the June quarter and the economy contracting by nearly $5 billion since they took office - they're reduced to excuses. We learnt they can deliver incredible economic management only if they inherit a flourishing economy from their predecessors, accompanied by low interest rates and stable geopolitical conditions. The Finance Minister blamed the downturn on Trump's tariffs; Luxon blamed (say it with me) "the previous government".

The nation also heard from former finance ministers Roger Douglas, who called on Willis to resign, and Ruth Richardson, who urged a "hard reset" - by which she meant drastic reductions in public spending. We can imagine Richardson losing her car keys or tripping on a loose floorboard and thundering, "This situation calls for massive cuts to welfare!"

Willis was probably grateful for their suggestions, reminding older voters how dire the alternatives could be. And she was surely appreciative of comments from her old boss, John Key, who endorsed Willis and observed the government "hasn't had a mate in the Reserve Bank", joining a chorus of complaints about the monetary policy committee's decision to pause rate reductions in July.