Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Honestly, I did not expect Nanaia Mahuta to pull the trigger.Opposition to the Three Waters reforms has exploded in the last few months. That bit isn’t a major surprise. Anything that involves the future of water assets and the belief in some circles that Māori are getting a special deal is always going to stir people up. Upon reflection, the Government’s multimillion-dollar TV advertising campaign might have done more to galvanise opposition than to offset it.Facing widespread scorn and criticism, and pushback from mayors around Aotearoa (including those of Christchurch and Auckland, who just happen to be former Labour Ministers), I thought it most likely Nanaia Mahuta would gently back down from pursuing her agenda.But she didn’t. The Minister is planning to mandate. Can you think of any other time in the last four years that Jacinda Ardern’s Government has forged ahead with such an unpopular policy?At the end of the last term, the Government was criticised by its supporters as not having pursued a bold age