Mike's Minute: This week gives me hope

The Government has had a pretty good week. The nine public service targets make sense. They give us a purpose and an idea of direction and, importantly, they come with markers and reports that tell us where we are. The truancy plan is more common sense. I'm not convinced it's quite the answer, all the lights and fines. But an increased focus on what is a shameful embarrassment and crisis needs all the help it can get. Winston Peters has had a good week. Say whatever you want about Nazi Germany or the Ku Klux Klan clan, when Peters is on the world stage he is a solid, if not a class ac. He represents us well, is connected, serious and reminds us what a monumental load of nonsense Nanaia Mahuta and her appointment was. Probably most importantly in the big picture is the advisory group for fast tracking infrastructure. These are not household names but names from business who will help the Government potentially pull off one of the most critical jobs they have - getting this country moving through actually getting major stuff done. Fast tracking is the only answer, in terms of infrastructure, to a process that virtually everyone agrees has become captured, and by being captured, has failed us all. The usual hand wringers worried about the power of ministers to make too bold a decision. There's not enough consultation and democracy, they said. These are the very people who should look at themselves long and hard in the mirror and realise it is their obsession with stalling everything through courts and lawyers and tribunals and protests that has led to so little actually getting done and us being, as a country, in the precarious state we are. Also this week was the Prime Minister's unrelenting message around getting this place off its knees. The greatest lesson of all over the past six years is just how easy it has been to lose momentum and to watch laziness and procrastination and excuse fill the void. Once true leadership got replaced with vacuous thought bubbles and nonsensical virtue signalling. Trust, success, dedication and runs on the board are hard to get and easy to lose. So the battle is on. We need more weeks like this, more decisions like this and more attitude like this. This week gives me real hope.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.