Doing a lot or doing little

Prime Minister John Key presented his statement to parliament yesterday.

It included a list of the government’s achievements to date and plans for the next three years.

The PM doesn’t have to stick to that script in the House:

Prime Minister John Key kicked off the debate by taking aim at Labour leader Andrew Little. He had counted his calendar and discovered Mr Little had now been leader for 84 days. “In 1873, Jules Verne thought he could get around the world in 80 days. Well, in 84 days, Andrew Little hasn’t even got around his caucus. He hasn’t even got around the four people who voted for him.” He announced Mr Little had had the grand total of two ideas in that time: Maori sovereignty and the Future of Work Commission. “He’s going to hold a workshop about what a job is. That is a novel concept for a Labour MP, I’m prepared to admit that.”

“He isn’t Andrew Little. He’s Dr Do-Little,” Key crowed, clearly quite stoked with his own wit. . .

That’s the difficulty an Opposition faces.

The government can put its plan and put its plan into action. The Opposition can plan lots but do little and most of what it does do is negative – opposing what the government’s doing.

So while Labour and the others on the opposition benches carp about house prices, will they support the government’s plans to reform the RMA to reduce the time and cost of building new dwellings?

Of course not.

While the government is acting, the opposition is left doing little.