Over nine-thousand punters turned up for the Crusaders open training session at One New Zealand Stadium on Thursday evening.

John MacDonald also went along and spoke with a few fans at the final test event before next week's Super Round.

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After hearing Chris Bishop on Newstalk ZB this morning, there are two things about the National Party and its leader that I am in no doubt about.

I am in absolutely no doubt that Christopher Luxon has to stand down before he’s pushed.

I’m also in no doubt that, if that happens, National will be toast in this year’s election.

But, when you weigh it up, there’s no way this speculation and doubt about the prime minister of our country can continue.

And that’s the key point here. We’re not just talking about a party leader. We’re talking about the prime minister.
And how can we take a government seriously when its own MPs don’t take their leader seriously?

NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan is reporting today that Christopher Luxon is expected to face the most difficult two weeks of his leadership when Parliament returns next week.

He’s reporting that Luxon is up to his old trick of covering his ears and not listening to what people are saying.
With National’s Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith, who is also National’s party whip, unable to reach Luxon in the week before Easter to tell him about ructions in the National Party caucus.

Being the party whip, Stuart Smith is obliged to tell the party leader if drums are beating and MPs aren’t happy with their leader.

But he couldn’t reach Luxon. Or, more to the point, Luxon didn’t want to hear from him.

Because, as Thomas Coughlan is reporting, if the two had spoken, it would have likely led to a caucus meeting, which could have led to a change in leader.

So Christopher Luxon was avoiding Stuart Smith to stop a certain chain of events from happening.
Which Chris Bishop kind-of denied when he spoke to Mike Hosking, but he was a million miles away from being anything close to convincing.

Bishop is due to front again with Jack Tame on TV this weekend. His boss will be hoping for a more ringing endorsement than this morning’s failed attempt.

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National's Matt Doocey and Labour's Tracey McLellan joined John MacDonald for Politics Friday this week.

They covered some of the biggest topics from the week from Christopher Luxon's leadership, the new warrant of fitness changes coming this year, and their thoughts on The Crusaders losing the pre-match horses at One NZ Stadium.

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I’ve never had a problem with the chlorine that’s been in Christchurch's water.

Which is why I'm not at all upset at the news that it’s going to be in the water forever.

What’s happened, is city councillors have been told that - even if they spent $1.5 billion on infrastructure upgrades over the next 20 years - the chlorine would most likely still be needed.

That’s because of all the hoops that have to be jumped through to get a chlorine exemption.

On top of that, rates would have to go up to pay for ongoing maintenance.

Nevertheless, i think the council needs to bite the bullet and spend the money. Because, for me, this isn’t just about chlorine.

But what i see potentially happening, is councillors using the chlorine bit as an out. As an excuse for not spending money on infrastructure upgrades. When that is the last thing, they should be doing.

City Councillor Yani Johanson seems to be on the same page as me. He reckons that, despite the $1.5 billion price tag, it’s still worth looking into and he wants the public to have a say.

But Mayor Phil Mauger says it would be nothing other than a waste of money.

He says: “it’s all very well saying you can throw a shedload of money at every contractor in the country, digging up every road that we’ve got. But it’s not worth it.”

Phil’s got some alternative ideas, which I'll get to.

But what he’s advocating for is a continuation of what pretty much every local body politician in this country has done and continues to do. Kicking cans down the road. They’re experts at it.

Whereas, what Christchurch should be doing is seeing this as a critical piece of infrastructure spending that is needed in New Zealand's second-largest city.

Especially when you consider the alternatives ideas floating around.

Instead of the big spend-up on new pipes, Phil Mauger reckons it would be better for the council to do things like buying filtration systems for people to have at home and setting-up chlorine-free water stations around town.

Picture that. The council sending out filtration kits in the mail - the way it sent out those portable toilets after the earthquakes.

And the council running water station around town where people could go to get chlorine-free water. Really?

People bang on about the city needing to look less like a disaster zone. What do you think the council distributing filtering systems and running water pick-up points would look like?

And, all the while, crossing its finger and hoping that the underground infrastructure doesn't pack a sad.

It makes no sense.

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Do we need more taxes?

There are two ways we can look at it. Does The Government need more tax revenue? Yes, I think it does. Which is why those tax cuts after the last election have backfired so badly.

And do we want to pay more tax? When push comes to shove, probably not. But that’s human nature, isn’t it?

But, if we look beyond human nature - beyond gut reactions to the tax question - maybe, one day, enough people will accept that we’re just going to have to pay more tax. Like it or not.

Which is exactly what a tax lobby group is saying today.

Tax Justice Aotearoa is saying New Zealand needs a capital gains tax, an inheritance tax and a wealth tax. For several reasons.

First of all, the fuel crisis and climate change. They say the government needs more revenue to cope with these kinds of things.

The other reason it wants a capital gains tax, an inheritance tax and a wealth tax is to shift the tax burden. To get high income earners paying more tax and to get low-income earners paying less.

Tax Justice Aotearoa also says our deficits are the problem. And the problem isn’t going to be fixed until we all start paying more tax.

It says deficits limit what we can do about the fuel crisis. As The Government has said, the $50-a-week tax credits for low-to-middle income earners are as much as it can afford.

And deficits mean The Government is limited in what it can do in response to climate change.

Example: no payouts for people who have to pack up and move because of things like sea level rise.

Former Council of Trade Unions Economist Bill Rosenberg is a member of this lobby group and he says: “It’s becoming obvious governments cannot continue to function properly and do the things that people expect of them without more revenue, so it is inevitable we have to debate these things.”

And I agree with him.

But, of course, show me a politician brave enough to stand up and advocate for you and I paying more tax, and they’ll be someone with the shortest political career in history.

Because who is going to vote for that?

Maybe we will, when we realise the inevitability of it.

Yes, it’s easy to bang on about not wanting to pay more taxes because governments waste money, anyway.

But do we want the “smell of an oily rag” set-up we have at the moment?

Or, do we want a country that can afford to deal with things like oil shocks and the climate crisis?

Tax Justice Aotearoa says if that’s what we want, then the government is going to need more revenue. And i agree. Even though I don’t like the idea of paying more tax.

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Labour leader Chris Hipkins says ministers did not receive key advice about myocarditis risks for 12 to 17-year‑olds during the COVID response.

Speaking on Canterbury Mornings, Hipkins was questioned by John MacDonald about the findings from the Royal Commission into COVID‑19, which said expert advice on vaccine mandates for teenagers was delayed in being provided to ministers.

Hipkins said the advice, produced by a technical advisory group, was never passed on to responsible ministers at all.

“The particular report that came from the technical advisory group was never shared with ministers."

They also covered Labours concerns regarding the India free trade agreement, and what he thinks about National MP Rima Nakhle's bill to stop the public funding going to gangs.

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Two questions: what does “woke” mean to you? And are states of emergency “woke”?

The reason I'm asking is that the Mayor of Wairoa thinks they are. Which I think is a load of old nonsense.

Unlike other mayors in other North Island areas - who declared states of emergency in anticipation of Cyclone Vaianu at the weekend - Craig Little didn’t. Because he thought it was all a bit over the top and not necessary.

He went further yesterday, saying that he thinks they’ve become “woke”.

He says: “we’re becoming woke as a country when it comes to states of emergency”.

That’s what he says. And I say: nonsense.

The Prime Minister thinks the same. Hitting back, saying he’s happy to be labelled woke if it means keeping people safe.

Christopher Luxon says: “I'll happily wear a woke label this time if it means we didn't lose anyone's lives.”

He says: “This was a significant event with 10 local states of emergency actioned, and in a number of regions there were road closures, power outages and flooding."

And Christopher Luxon is right. States of emergency aren’t woke and this mayor is just another one of these people who has no idea what woke actually means.

Put simply - and this is my definition - woke means being aware of how things impact people.

The more official definition - courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary - says woke means "alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice".

What that has to do with states of emergency, I’ll never know.

Well, I do know actually. It’s got nothing to do with states of emergency.

And the Mayor of Wairoa is just another one of these people who think calling someone or something “woke” is a way of having a go at them.

But, whether we like it or not, it’s a word that’s been hijacked to the point where some people have no idea what it means, but are happy to bandy it around left, right and centre.

Nevertheless, are states of emergency “woke”?

Last October, when we had those huge winds in canterbury and a state of emergency was declared, one Christchurch business owner got in touch with me, very unhappy about it. Saying they thought it was overkill.

Their takings were down 50 percent, and they were criticising the decision to include Christchurch city in the state of emergency. Because the city wasn’t as badly affected as other parts of the region.

I disagreed with them. Because we had no idea how bad it was going to get, so it made sense to be cautious.

Because - and this is what i say to anyone who thinks we go a bit O.T.T with states of emergency these days - what would you rather have? Be prepared just in case? Or find out too late and deal with the consequences.

Which is why i think this mayor up north not only has no idea what woke means - he’s also wrong thinking states of emergency have become a woke over-reaction.

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After what happened at the weekend, I think Christopher Luxon needs to take a leaf out of Anthony Albanese's book, jump on a plane and head over to South Korea to make sure we don’t run out of fuel.

With negotiations between the U.S. and Iran falling over, President Donald Trump has announced that he’s now in charge of the Strait of Hormuz, with the U.S. Navy blockading the vital trade route.

He’s also talking about stopping any ships that have paid any sort of toll to Iran to sneak through.

Which says to me one thing: this fuel crisis isn’t going to be over anytime soon, and we now need to start doing a little bit more than calming the farm.

Which is where Anthony Albanese comes into it. He’s going to make his second trip in a week to Asia to shore up fuel supplies.

This week he’s off to Brunei and Malaysia. Last week he was in Singapore, where he signed a new agreement - which means Singapore has promised to keep sending fuel to Australia.

The other part of that agreement is that Australia has promised to keep sending gas to Singapore. Which is where Anthony Albanese has more to put on the bargaining table than Christopher Luxon does.

Albanese has been telling countries he’ll give them gas if they give him petrol and diesel.

Christopher Luxon might be thinking he doesn’t need to rush. Because he’s due to travel to Singapore next month, where he’s going to be signing the agreement with Singapore to keep fuel supplies flowing.

Which is fine. But what about South Korea, where we get about half of our fuel from?

That’s why, at the very least, Christopher Luxon should be on a flight to Seoul as soon as he can.

Because one of the things he is extremely good at is getting on with world leaders. He loves nothing more than working a room.

So let’s get him doing what he does best. Because this fuel crisis isn’t going to be over any time soon.

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