Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick has let rip at the new Government's priorities this morning, comparing the coalition's policies to "hot takes from your uncle at Christmas".
Swarbrick joined Breakfast today alongside ACT MP and Cabinet minister Brooke van Velden.
Van Velden – now Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety and Minister of Internal Affairs – said she plans to repeal Fair Pay Agreements by Christmas, "to give business owners certainty as employers going into the new year".
She also wants to see the terms of reference for the Covid-19 response inquiry expanded.
"I think what we can see is a government that wants to cut down on the cost of living for New Zealanders, crack down on crime, and make sure that we reduce co-governance," van Velden said.
Swarbrick hit back, criticising the National-ACT-New Zealand First coalition.
"It's definitely not the government of low wage workers, renters, or anybody who sits on the margins of our society," she said. "The priorities of the incoming government should be dealing with the dual crises of inequality and the climate crisis.
"But instead what we have with those two agreements is a grab bag of 200-plus-odd random policies that come across more as hot takes from your uncle at Christmas.
"It's not a vision for the future that New Zealanders deserve.
"I just can't see how we're gonna get anywhere near the issues that really matter."
The pair then talked over each other discussing the Green Party's push to prevent the new Government from repealing New Zealand's ban on exploring for new oil and gas reserves off the coast. They also disagreed over gender education in schools.
"What we have here is a government that's very clear about what our agenda will be, and what we hope to achieve over the next three years," van Velden said. "We can make peoples' lives better.
"We can help with a Budget that will reduce the cost of living and we can also reduce all of that division in our society that's been really anxiety producing for a lot of Kiwis."
Swarbrick said: "It's a pair of scissors, it's not a vision for the future of this country.
"It's nothing to unify people around. It is a grab bag of unhinged hot takes."
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