What a loss for National, and the country. Chris Penk is one of the better politicians of our times. The final nail in National”s coffin in regard to my party vote.
Might have been a good MP, but lost contact with people in his electorate.
This became most pronounced with his complete lack of interest in engaging with people angry and frustrated with Auck Council's massive rates increase for CRL, that many (most) of his constituents will never see, let alone use.
AND it looks like the CRL is budgetted to run at a c$200M pa loss!!!
Thanks Ani. I am pleased you have spoken well of Chris. He has been a dedicated worker for his electorate and I, for one, am very sorry that his parliamentary career has ended in this way. It shouldn’t have happened. I wish him well in his future endeavours.
Well thought and written as usual Ani. Chris Penk has always struck me as what I call a "clean" politician. And with the state of the idiotic mainstream media constantly publishing mere opinions, ideologies or outright lies, we can't trust most stories out there. I hope the media's rigging of the election in favour of TOP (and Labour and Greens and Te Pati Maori) will speed their demise.
I also thought that public explanation beggared belief, given what I'd seen of Penk, but it's always hard to tell from the outside. Glad to know my instincts weren't crazy.
Ani...thank you for that kind and gracious summation for Chris Penk....It is an unfortunate Christian moniker...and how come he fell on his sword but Erica did not? We noted she was literally hiding behind Luxon in the post caucus photo-shoot...probably with good reason too.
Somehow I don’t think that anyone in the National Caucus had a good day yesterday…. Losers all round thanks to one selfish unknown MP who blabbed to the press…. A spill was never on…. And now we have lost a very capable and well respected MP… rarer than hen’s teeth in many respects….
Sad to lose such a good MP. He obviously was a an achiever and future star. Your theory makes sense - I think he acted for the good of the party not out of personal ego. Politics is a dirty business. It doesn't attract enough good people. When it does it deprives them of any real voice.
The villian in this story isn't Penk or Luxon - it's the idiot MP(s) who leak these things to the Press. Luxon should be firing them. Hopefully the voters will on election day.
Luxon is performing poorly. He's hopeless as a front man. The fact he wouldn't resign and let a team more qualified to fight an election take over raises questions over Luxons judgement ( or ego).
National has already lost my vote - not simply because of Luxon. He's a symptom of deeper issues in the party. Maybe Penk understood National needed to change. I'd resign if I was a National MP.
The only justification to keep them in power is the alternative Left wing coalition is much much worse.
National are " people pleasers" unwilling to stand up for what many centre right voters believe are important issues. They and their coalition partners are in power as much to protect the vested interests ( banks, cartels , big business and large property owners) that fund them as they are to look after the voters. As such they are simply overseeing a " managed decline " of our country.
It's sad when you know your vote is supporting a coalition that won't do the reforms that are really needed.
Luxon/Nationals refusal to stand up for equal rights/Maori activism , failure to stand up to Climate zealots on Net Zero carbon goals impact on agriculture and failure to rid our institutions of ideological overreach show they either don't think these actions are wrong or don't consider them important.
They can't blame their coalition partners , " the numpties " at the Cabinet Table. The failure is 100% Nationals.
John Key sewed the seeds of many of the issues now threatening us. So maybe National ( like NZF) is the real path to Maori sovereignty, unaffordable housing and quietly selling out the nation to UN ideology - while letting its voters think otherwise.
It's almost tempting to vote Green - let them destroy NZ , give us instantly what National is slowly enabling. Let them quickly make us the Cuba or Congo of the south seas.
In 6 years we might then get a government that will do the structural reform needed - if there's anything left to save. History shows us that real reform is most likely going to come from a Labour government ( certainly not Hipkins one). Maybe after 2 terms in a coalition government TOP will rise to the occasion.
Nationals skill appears to be in overseeing our slow decline as a nation - and making ill judged leaks to the press.
I believe there is something very rotten in the National party. Luxon has been able to quell the infighting for a short while but it will not last. There are far too many wimps in the party with very few morals, clearly running with the hare and the hounds. If National succeeds in regaining the treasury benches I suspect there will be a more concerted effort to take Luxon's scalp and bring National back to its right of centre roots.
Penk was one of those and may not have been crucified in vain.
All the leaking doesn't help. Penk had other options so it's probably good for him to get out now. National have been all over the place. Can't believe they are pushing through unpopular changes in local government right before the election.
I agree that Luxon had no choice but to sack Penk. However, Luxon is still a fool. Luxon has left the other unnamed coup plotters remaining around the cabinet table.
New Zealand has lost a promising defence minister in bizarre circumstances. The plotters behind that coup attempt were unwilling to pull the trigger. It would be harder to find a worse case of personnel and political cowardice and misjudgements.
Luxon was becoming even more of a liability. A Bishop-Penk ticket could have saved the day. But Luxon obviously knew how to browbeat the weaklings somehow. I wonder who is going to be gifted with Penk’s safe seat?
Geez, Luxon comes out of this looking like a savvy political operator. My estimation of Erica Stanford has dropped after this and the revelations regarding her gender-woo views.
Huge loss. Running numbers in the background is part of any political party process. Shouldn’t it be the leaker to the media that should take the fall?
You're forgetting that apparently Penk wasn't just a number runner "in the background" for nothing but the best interests of his party. He stood to leapfrog into deputy leader status.
Interesting take thanks Ani. I’m kinda sad to see Luxon still there, although with Luxo showing some actual chutzpah, it may help their polling? Who knows. I naively thought Luxflakes was deliberately taking the centrist line and leaving the likes of Boris to ACT or NZF (NZF being an option not a serious choice…). But no, it seems he’s just a weak & cowardly politician who shames himself before media due to his lack of conviction.
If Luxon is the “weak & cowardly & without conviction ”, he would hardly have exposed himself, for a second time, before a media relentlessly baying for his blood. It is precisely because he is a man of conviction, focused on the job of governance, getting legislation into the House, rather than entertaining the media circus & their speculation, which encourages me. The dissent from within is understandable in a precarious polling situation. But what is needed in such circumstances is calm, considered judgment. Whoever the supposed coup plotters are/were, lacked that judgment, given the recent polling.
What a loss for National, and the country. Chris Penk is one of the better politicians of our times. The final nail in National”s coffin in regard to my party vote.
Might have been a good MP, but lost contact with people in his electorate.
This became most pronounced with his complete lack of interest in engaging with people angry and frustrated with Auck Council's massive rates increase for CRL, that many (most) of his constituents will never see, let alone use.
AND it looks like the CRL is budgetted to run at a c$200M pa loss!!!
Thanks Ani. I am pleased you have spoken well of Chris. He has been a dedicated worker for his electorate and I, for one, am very sorry that his parliamentary career has ended in this way. It shouldn’t have happened. I wish him well in his future endeavours.
"He has been a dedicated worker for his electorate"
Once was.....
Not this year in my experience, and a lot of others in FB posts....
Well thought and written as usual Ani. Chris Penk has always struck me as what I call a "clean" politician. And with the state of the idiotic mainstream media constantly publishing mere opinions, ideologies or outright lies, we can't trust most stories out there. I hope the media's rigging of the election in favour of TOP (and Labour and Greens and Te Pati Maori) will speed their demise.
If Luxon loses this year (appears likely), then resigns in disgrace, then Penk could run for 2029 and will have not have lost much
He'd be a great addition to the NZ First team would he not!
If NZF were willing to take a gamble on a clown like Stuart Nash they should be willing to make an offer to Penk
I think it would be complicated by having Penk and Ron Mark in the same cabinet, but of course Mark could likely only come back for one term.
I also thought that public explanation beggared belief, given what I'd seen of Penk, but it's always hard to tell from the outside. Glad to know my instincts weren't crazy.
Ani...thank you for that kind and gracious summation for Chris Penk....It is an unfortunate Christian moniker...and how come he fell on his sword but Erica did not? We noted she was literally hiding behind Luxon in the post caucus photo-shoot...probably with good reason too.
Somehow I don’t think that anyone in the National Caucus had a good day yesterday…. Losers all round thanks to one selfish unknown MP who blabbed to the press…. A spill was never on…. And now we have lost a very capable and well respected MP… rarer than hen’s teeth in many respects….
Chris Penk is one of the best in the House. He is the last person I would have picked as a casualty today.
Sad to lose such a good MP. He obviously was a an achiever and future star. Your theory makes sense - I think he acted for the good of the party not out of personal ego. Politics is a dirty business. It doesn't attract enough good people. When it does it deprives them of any real voice.
The villian in this story isn't Penk or Luxon - it's the idiot MP(s) who leak these things to the Press. Luxon should be firing them. Hopefully the voters will on election day.
Luxon is performing poorly. He's hopeless as a front man. The fact he wouldn't resign and let a team more qualified to fight an election take over raises questions over Luxons judgement ( or ego).
National has already lost my vote - not simply because of Luxon. He's a symptom of deeper issues in the party. Maybe Penk understood National needed to change. I'd resign if I was a National MP.
The only justification to keep them in power is the alternative Left wing coalition is much much worse.
National are " people pleasers" unwilling to stand up for what many centre right voters believe are important issues. They and their coalition partners are in power as much to protect the vested interests ( banks, cartels , big business and large property owners) that fund them as they are to look after the voters. As such they are simply overseeing a " managed decline " of our country.
It's sad when you know your vote is supporting a coalition that won't do the reforms that are really needed.
Luxon/Nationals refusal to stand up for equal rights/Maori activism , failure to stand up to Climate zealots on Net Zero carbon goals impact on agriculture and failure to rid our institutions of ideological overreach show they either don't think these actions are wrong or don't consider them important.
They can't blame their coalition partners , " the numpties " at the Cabinet Table. The failure is 100% Nationals.
John Key sewed the seeds of many of the issues now threatening us. So maybe National ( like NZF) is the real path to Maori sovereignty, unaffordable housing and quietly selling out the nation to UN ideology - while letting its voters think otherwise.
It's almost tempting to vote Green - let them destroy NZ , give us instantly what National is slowly enabling. Let them quickly make us the Cuba or Congo of the south seas.
In 6 years we might then get a government that will do the structural reform needed - if there's anything left to save. History shows us that real reform is most likely going to come from a Labour government ( certainly not Hipkins one). Maybe after 2 terms in a coalition government TOP will rise to the occasion.
Nationals skill appears to be in overseeing our slow decline as a nation - and making ill judged leaks to the press.
I believe there is something very rotten in the National party. Luxon has been able to quell the infighting for a short while but it will not last. There are far too many wimps in the party with very few morals, clearly running with the hare and the hounds. If National succeeds in regaining the treasury benches I suspect there will be a more concerted effort to take Luxon's scalp and bring National back to its right of centre roots.
Penk was one of those and may not have been crucified in vain.
All the leaking doesn't help. Penk had other options so it's probably good for him to get out now. National have been all over the place. Can't believe they are pushing through unpopular changes in local government right before the election.
I agree that Luxon had no choice but to sack Penk. However, Luxon is still a fool. Luxon has left the other unnamed coup plotters remaining around the cabinet table.
New Zealand has lost a promising defence minister in bizarre circumstances. The plotters behind that coup attempt were unwilling to pull the trigger. It would be harder to find a worse case of personnel and political cowardice and misjudgements.
Thank you Ani. There is very little that I could add beyond Chris Penk is a loss to National and his electorate.
Luxon was becoming even more of a liability. A Bishop-Penk ticket could have saved the day. But Luxon obviously knew how to browbeat the weaklings somehow. I wonder who is going to be gifted with Penk’s safe seat?
Whoever it is won't get Penk's votes as he was popular in his own right. A strong NZF or ACT person could take the seat from National.
Geez, Luxon comes out of this looking like a savvy political operator. My estimation of Erica Stanford has dropped after this and the revelations regarding her gender-woo views.
Huge loss. Running numbers in the background is part of any political party process. Shouldn’t it be the leaker to the media that should take the fall?
You're forgetting that apparently Penk wasn't just a number runner "in the background" for nothing but the best interests of his party. He stood to leapfrog into deputy leader status.
Interesting take thanks Ani. I’m kinda sad to see Luxon still there, although with Luxo showing some actual chutzpah, it may help their polling? Who knows. I naively thought Luxflakes was deliberately taking the centrist line and leaving the likes of Boris to ACT or NZF (NZF being an option not a serious choice…). But no, it seems he’s just a weak & cowardly politician who shames himself before media due to his lack of conviction.
If Luxon is the “weak & cowardly & without conviction ”, he would hardly have exposed himself, for a second time, before a media relentlessly baying for his blood. It is precisely because he is a man of conviction, focused on the job of governance, getting legislation into the House, rather than entertaining the media circus & their speculation, which encourages me. The dissent from within is understandable in a precarious polling situation. But what is needed in such circumstances is calm, considered judgment. Whoever the supposed coup plotters are/were, lacked that judgment, given the recent polling.