Two months out from the Budget, the Opposition have a golden opportunity to scrutinise and question - but National’s finance spokespeople are nowhere to be seen, writes political editor Jo Moir
In November, National Party leader Judith Collins surprised and confused many when she announced her caucus reshuffle.
Not only did she give her loyal colleague, Andrew Bayly, a huge promotion – she even created a job title for him that doesn’t exist in government so is therefore somewhat redundant in opposition.
Bayly is shadow treasurer and Michael Woodhouse holds the finance role, splitting one job that was previously held by Paul Goldsmith, into two.
Neither Collins, Bayly nor Woodhouse could explain at the time what responsibilities fell into which portfolio, and four months later nobody is any the wiser.
What is clearer is how little the two-man team is doing to put any pressure whatsoever on Finance Minister Grant Robertson.
In the first 12 sitting days of 2020, then-finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith interrogated Robertson in Question Time every single day (albeit in a world before the Covid-19 lockdown and National’s caucus-shrinking election disaster).
Fast forward to this year, and in the first 12 sitting days Bayly has asked just two questions and Woodhouse only one.
Even taking the election result into account, a daily question to the Finance Minister should be a given.
Bayly did ask Robertson two other questions over that period, but both were in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister.
While Bayly has economic credentials, it's the political side of the role he's struggling with.
He was untested going into it, and the few times he’s fronted for press conferences and spoken in the House he’s looked like a possum in the headlights, terrified about what he’ll be asked and what might come out of his mouth in response.
Robertson fronted at Parliament’s finance and expenditure select committee last week, yet National failed to run a question line that pushed the minister in any way. There was no headline to be written, despite a fleet of journalists turning out.
Annual reviews are one of few opportunities to grill ministers on their portfolios for a sustained period of time.
Good opposition MPs find a narrative and prepare a line of questioning to elicit information from a minister on an area that has been a trouble spot for the Government.
With questions around the impact of continued lockdowns on businesses, whether the Government is paying people enough to stay home and self-isolate, and the dumpster fire that is the housing market, it is truly mind-blowing the Opposition couldn’t find something to pressure Robertson on.
Bayly and Woodhouse have ended up in their roles for the most part because of former leader Simon Bridges’ unwillingness to share the finance job.
Bridges is good in opposition, has ministerial experience, gets politics and isn’t afraid to battle – character traits that could not be applied to Bayly.
Woodhouse’s failure to fire is more perplexing given his time in Cabinet under John Key and front-bench status last term, but no less troubling.
With the Budget just around the corner, it’s time for the Opposition to start laying out some expectations and pull together an alternative vision of their own.
It’s hard to see how either of those things will happen and Collins should be worried about that.
Her two best performers, Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop, were never Team Collins but have got on with the job of successfully holding the Government to account and making National look on top of things.
Rewarding loyalty only goes so far, and promotions based on competence are actually far more useful.
