PM has the tactical advantage

At the moment the Prime Minister seems to hold all the cards.
There are 19 disgruntled MPs who can’t dislodge him and while they are arguing over who should govern, the PM has taken public opinion with him by announcing he will get serious about political reform. How serious? Well he has appointed Tata Crocombe and Iaveta Short to get the ball rolling.
If the 19 MPs opposed to the PM’s rule do not get aboard the reform vaka, they will be left behind and politically, that would be a tactical blunder.
The public are now of a mind to focus on reform rather than descend into costly legal squabbles that only seek to maintain the old order.
The old order resisted change and fostered a culture of extravagance and favoritism. The public no longer wants that. The public do not want to see wasteful expenditure on overseas trips that accrue no economic benefit to the country (there is still no report issued or justification offered for the trip to Tanzania led by Mama Ngai Tupa). They do not want to see extravagant expenditure on cars and vehicles when these should be reduced in number. They certainly do not want a sixth minister if five will save costs.
If the 19 MPs are not careful, the PM will make political reform an election issue and the closer the election looms the harder it is going to be for those 19 MPs to attract public support especially if they do not start articulating their position on reform and do that soon.
On Thursday the Prime Minister’s Office released this statement regarding reform:
“The Prime Minister has engaged Iaveta Short and Tata Crocombe in moving ahead with a number of political reform issues. He held talks this morning with both Short and Crocombe who will conduct consultations with the Ministers over the next couple of days. The prime Minister is preparing the ground work for a reform process, which Cabinet will discuss next Tuesday.”
On the issue of governance, constitutional lawyer Alex Frame, who is based in Auckland, has delivered an opinion to the Solicitor General to the effect that the Queen’s Representative can only call parliament on the advice of the PM or the Cabinet. The full text of the opinion received is set out on pages 6 & 7.
Frame states that the position is clear as a strict matter of law. He also draws attention to an observation by the 19th century British Prime Minister Gladstone concerning the operation of Westminster style constitutions (see copy of opinion on page 7) regarding Prime Ministers and the holding of a majority in parliament.
It should be noted that Gladstone’s observation is just that. An observation and not law.

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