Andrew Dickens: Was Luxon right to rule out TOP?
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So, Christopher Luxon has ruled out working with TOP.
There's some speculation that the decision was made on the fly and might not have been fully thought out.
He didn't seem so certain about himself as he walked away from the press cameras.
But it's no surpise as TOP is not a natural bedfellow of the right.
But the perception has got about that they're what you call Teals. A Blue Green centre party.
They're certainly not that. their policies are quite radical.
The Universal Benefit and land taxes.
And National is a party that have simplified their stance down to no spending and no taxes.
And behind the scenes they have some interesting staff.
Names like Iain Lees-Galloway, who is the General Manager.
His business partner is Toni Grace, Chris Hipkins' partner.
Their number 3 candidate is Kayla Kingdom-Bedd, an author of the He Puapua report.
She has worked with James Shaw, the ousted leader from the Green Party at the Worldwide fund for Nature.
Many speculate it's a left-wing party in disguise.
So maybe Christopher Luxon was right to follow his gut.
But at the same time the statement validates the chances of a party who have never cracked the threshold and are only commanding attention right now because they're new, and not part of the old elite and trending up.
And people are sick of the old tried and true for not being very true.
But personally, I won't give them the time of day.
They've got a long way to go before they prove they're here for the long haul and really have something to offer.
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