Labour’s roading risk

It’s a sign of how much pressure this Government is under that instead of quietly rolling out bad news as everyone headed off on their Easter break, it waited till the holiday was over for maximum impact.

The proposed 9c to 12c a litre rise in fuel tax – a double whammy for Auckland to 20c a litre – will go down like a cup of the proverbial in parts of New Zealand where the Government’s draft 10-year transport plan proposes a big shift in funding away from roads to public transport.

Other changes – like more median strips, passing lanes and rumble lanes to improve road safety – will be more popular, especially after a horror Easter weekend on the roads.

Less popular may be a separate proposal for a 70kmh speed limit on some rural roads, though it is not part of the Government’s clutch of announcements, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has mostly poured cold water on it.

But that could easily be lost in translation, and the Government could wear the backlash from provincial and rural New Zealand.

That’s probably not what Labour had in mind for its rolling maul of initiatives between now and next month’s Budget to wrest back the political initiative.

But, at this stage, it would take any headline that shows it’s getting on with the job over the distractions of recent weeks.

Ardern headed into this week desperately needing to regain her footing after a string of disasters involving Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran, NZ First MPs running amok, and the party’s abysmal handling of Labour youth-camp allegations.

But no sooner had Parliament resumed than Curran had her neck stretched on the chopping block again, this time for unwisely phoning Radio NZ chairman Richard Griffin over his appearance in front of a select committee to talk about a meeting between the minister and a manager at the State broadcaster, Carol Hirschfeld, who had resigned for misleading her RNZ bosses about the nature of that meeting.

Curran left a message on Griffin’s phone suggesting he send a letter to the select committee, rather than answer its recall in person.

It would suit Curran and the Government not to have Griffin front in person to answer questions – which is why Curran should never have made the call.

If the voicemail contradicts her version of events, Ardern will have an excuse to sack her. Quietly cheering her on will probably be Curran’s own colleagues, who might be happy to see Curran sacrificed – if not over Hirschfeld then for throwing Ardern under the bus, yet again, just as the Government was hoping to bury the story.