Damien O’Connor Criticises Budget 2026 as ‘Miserable’ for Rural New Zealand
A miserable budget that didn’t deliver much for anyone.
It appears, to this old mutt, that the press pack who attended this trip, along with the PM and Trade Minister Damien O’Connor (whose sole purpose seems to have been to carry Ms Ardern’s handbag), seemed to have over-imbibed on the Government Kool-Aid after three years of closed borders and over-egged just how much of big a deal this overseas junket actually was.
The facts were that, of the 50 people on the week-long jaunt, only 12 were real business people – with three of these failing to make it to Japan due to that country’s strict Covid test regime.
The other 38 were just a bunch of politicians, bureaucrats, media and government spin doctors – making it more a glorified junket for officials and hangers-on than some earth-shattering trade delegation!
