A global conflict has put the spotlight on a prime minister in conflict with himself.<\/p>\n
The thunder rolled in early in the week, with New Zealanders waking up on Sunday to the news that a US-Israeli bombardment on Iran had killed the country\u2019s supreme leader. It\u2019s the kind of geopolitical turbulence that tests even the strongest steadying hands of world leaders, but prime minister Christopher Luxon had found a novel approach. He\u2019d learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.<\/p>\n
The Beehive theatrette, of 1pm Covid update fame, hadn\u2019t seen a post-cabinet press conference like it in Luxon\u2019s entire term. Here was the leader of New Zealand, resolutely backing anything that would stop Iran from getting its mitts on a nuclear weapon and \u201ckilling their own people\u201d. He said that \u201cany action\u201d would be a good thing.<\/p>\n
OK, so does that mean we\u2019re pro-carpet bombing? Should we call for an attack on North Korea? Shall we just come out and say that killing more than 160 school children is worth it, in the grand scheme of things? Well, Luxon replied, we can\u2019t possibly know the US and Israel\u2019s reasoning for their actions as we\u2019re obviously not privy to their private conversations, but we won\u2019t be bothering to find out what those talks covered, either. Stumbling and increasingly agitated, Luxon couldn\u2019t believe the message wasn\u2019t resonating with the crowd.<\/p>\n
Members of the press gallery were flummoxed. The only person who seemed to be on Luxon\u2019s side was The Platform\u2019s Sean Plunket, who groaned and muttered expletives under his breath any time some wokester in the lamestream media had the gall to question Aotearoa\u2019s blind faith in the US. No fighting in here, please, gentlemen and journalists; don\u2019t you realise this is the war room?<\/p>\n
Luxon gives a statement on Iran in the House.<\/p>\n
The Middle East was centre stage again preceding Tuesday\u2019s question time, but this time around, Luxon dropped \u201cany action\u201d from his lexicon. With foreign affairs minister Winston Peters away in Argentina, it was Luxon\u2019s show to lead, and he had backup in the form of NZ First minister Shane Jones barking through the opposition\u2019s speeches. Act Party leader David Seymour pined for the opportunity for Iranians like Mahsa Amini<\/a>, who was beaten to death by state police in 2022, to finally live in freedom. \u201cSadly, not her,\u201d he said. Nor the school girls who have lost their lives already, but someone, somewhere in Iran.<\/p>\n Luxon\u2019s speech included a pledge to a blanket extension on visas for those in New Zealand whose home country is Iran. And during oral questions, Greens co-leader Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick got Luxon to double down on a visa extension like that which was granted in the wake of the Ukraine war (\u201cI understand that we are doing that\u201d) \u2013 until the prime minister had to come back into the House around 9pm on Tuesday and set the record straight. Actually, it\u2019s less of an extension, and more like Immigration NZ taking a \u201cpragmatic approach\u201d on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n Not all hope was lost for democracy that day in the debating chamber. After question time, final speeches were given for the first reading of the English Language Bill, which would finally make speaking English legal<\/a>. But despite Labour MP Kieran McAnulty describing the bill as \u201cnonsense\u201d, Labour left their left-block mates in the Greens in the lurch by failing to lend their voice to a party vote. So the bill passed its first reading and will move on to the select committee, with the Greens being the only party to register their opposition.<\/p>\nDespite strong words from Kieran McAnulty, Labour ended up supporting the English Language Bill.<\/p>\n