Andrew Dickens: Hipkins is a lame turkey waiting for Christmas

Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Well didn't Kiri Allan throw the cat amongst the pigeons last night.

Driving along Evans Bay parade, the windy road on the East side of the bay that is used as a route out of Wellington, the Justice Minister hit a car. The cops turned up. It turns out she's been drinking. She refuses to accompany a police officer so she's hauled off to the police station to sit on a naughty chair until the early hours of the morning.

She's the Justice Minister. She's been detained by the police. The Number 1 thing not to do in that job.

She had returned a breath test over the legal limit but at a level considered an infringement offence and police will not press charges in relation to that.

She was described as being very distressed

So she quits her ministries and then the Prime Minister starts blaming her mental health. Just a few days after assuring us that her mental health was good enough to continue in her job.

None of this is good. None of this shows an ability to deal with stress and responsibility. All of this smacks of a government just holding on by the skin of it's teeth.

And the whole year has been like this. An inability to handle the basics. All Michael Wood had to do was employ an accountant to sort out his affairs. All Stewart Nash had to do was not email cabinet deliberations. All Kiri had to do was call an Uber.

Simple mistakes by supposedly smart people.

And now we have 5 more parliamentary weeks left and the Labour Party has created a rod for it's own back. 3 years ago they had the most decisive parliamentary win in MMP history. 65 MPs on the government benches and yet the big jobs have been shared amongst a small coterie of politicians. There's been no future planning, there's been no blooding of new talent.

We need a new Justice Minister. we need a new conservation minister, we need a new emergency management Minister in a time when emergencies seem to be coming at us left, right and centre. Who will Hipkins turn to?

And while he doesn't need to should he call an snap election? I mean, things are not going to get any better for this Labour Government. The opposition parties will get their guns in a row and the next 3 months will be a horror show

You can almost hear an echo of the time when Muldoon called a snap election when half cut. When challenged that it didn't give his party time to prepare, Muldoon replied it didn't give his opponents time to prepare either.

Whatever happens Chris Hipkins is a lame turkey right now, waiting for Christmas

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.