Sometimes I think the Prime Minister runs her Cabinet like those cowboys who set themselves up as building companies after the Christchurch earthquakes. 
I remember one of them started work on a house and the first thing they did was fix up the damaged wall linings before jacking up the piles and fixing the foundations. 
The idea behind that was to keep all the workers busy. The fact that fixing split gib wasn’t a priority and definitely not the thing to be doing before trying to get the house level didn’t matter – it was all about keeping people busy. 
And time and time again, that’s how the Prime Minister appears to be running things. 
There are many examples. Getting rid of health boards and restructuring the health system during a pandemic. Not a priority. 
Seizing all the water infrastructure assets from 67 local councils because one of them stuffed things up a few years ago. Not a priority. 
Merging two public media companies when both seem to be running ok. Not a priority.  
The latest one came yesterday when the Government announced it wants to set-up a buy-back scheme for empty bottles. 
When I first heard about it, I thought, ‘nice idea’, and it reminded me of when I was a kid. 
But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it just seemed to be another one of those things the Prime Minister does to keep Cabinet Ministers busy. Just like someone running a crew of tradies. 
I mean, after a week of the Government being goaded by anyone and everyone to admit there is a “cost-of-living crisis” – which National has been talking about at length since Christopher Luxon’s State of the Nation speech – is a bottle buy-back scheme really what the country needs to hear about from the Government? 
I’m happy for you to correct me, but I suspect it’s the last thing people are interested in hearing. And that’s why I think the Government has shown yet again that its priorities are way out of touch with reality. 
Don’t think for a minute that I’m anti recycling. I’m not. And, as I say, when I first heard about this scheme, I thought it was a good thing. Because anything that means fewer recyclables going into landfills has to be good. 
But is it a priority for the Government? Is it really a priority? I don’t think it is.

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