𝔸𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕪 '𝕓𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕠𝕞 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤?'

𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕖 𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕪 𝕠𝕗 '𝕤𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕤' 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕓𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕟 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕘𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥. ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝕞𝕦𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕣𝕞 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕤 𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕟 𝕧𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤. ℕ𝕠𝕨 𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕠𝕣 𝕒𝕣𝕖 '𝔹𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕠𝕞 𝔽𝕖𝕖𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤'. 𝕃𝕆𝕋𝕆 𝕃𝕦𝕩𝕠𝕟 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕞𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕣𝕦𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕟 𝕒 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕕𝕖.

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here are two words National leader Christopher Luxon probably regrets saying this week, and those words are “bottom feeding”.

Luxon was giving a radio station interview when he returned to one of his familiar pitches, an argument that New Zealand has become negative and fearful, lacking in ambition and positivity.

It’s not an unusual political message, and it’s not an unappealing one either. We would all benefit from having a sunnier outlook and more get up and go, if we can manage it. But not all of us can, which is why a welfare safety net exists. 

But it is how Luxon chose to phrase the message that created problems.

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“We don’t just do bottom feeding and just focus on the bottom,” he said. Instead, “we focus on people who want to be positive and ambitious, aspirational and confident”. 

BREAKING NEWS

Luxon surprised by backlash at bottom feeding comment. Says everyone he knows uses it all time

— 🇺🇦Lying ex tobacco lobbyist🇺🇦 (@rugbyintel) March 25, 2022

We should not expect to hear someone who wishes to be prime minister for all New Zealanders writing off a minority of them as bottom feeders who lack drive and don’t contribute to the greater good. It is close to the ugly word “bludger” and reeks of a disdain for beneficiaries, the working poor and others who find it hard to lift themselves out of difficult situations. 

Those situations have been getting especially difficult lately, as Luxon well knows, given his party’s successful focus on the cost of living crisis.

Some observers heard Luxon’s words as a throwback to a more ruthless time in right-wing politics. In New Zealand and elsewhere in the 1980s and 90s, benefits were cut and the poor were expected to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. 

As that implies, the ideology had a moral dimension, equating poverty and benefit dependence with laziness. It saw unemployment as a problem for unmotivated individuals, not society. 

More recent National governments have softened their thinking, and a form of compassionate conservatism became common under former prime ministers John Key and Bill English. 

In fairness, Luxon probably sees himself in that compassionate tradition, and he has admitted he could have found a better term than the awkward phrase “bottom feeding”. 

Are the poor merely 'bottom feeders?' https://t.co/yZbLiYsFWt Luxon definitely thinks so and directly contradicts his State of Nation statement "That’s why I’m proud to lead National as we work relentlessly to build a society of opportunity FOR ALL? New Zealanders

— Elephant in the room (@LetsGetPfizered) March 24, 2022

Critics will still suspect Luxon was merely saying the quiet part out loud in a rare deviation from his standard political script. Inexperience may also play a part. The “bottom feeding” comment is the second gaffe for Luxon after his claim that abortion is murder, which cemented a negative impression for some women voters. 

In two further interviews, Luxon attempted to clarify what he meant by bottom feeders. He didn’t mean the ordinary New Zealanders who are “doing it tough”, as he likes to say, but those who are abusing the system. He harked back to a point made 15 minutes earlier in the original interview, about Kainga Ora tenants who have not paid rent. 

Under its “sustaining tenancies” policy, Kainga Ora has avoided evicting tenants and making them even more vulnerable. As former Housing Minister Phil Twyford said in 2018, “We know that stable housing is one of the most important things for the well-being of children”.

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However, unpaid rents soared to $9 million last year. 

National’s deputy, Nicola Willis, has criticised the approach as “this idea that we’ve got to be nice to people otherwise they might end up in difficult situations”. 

But this isn’t a case of a Labour government being a soft touch. “Sustaining tenancies” was introduced under the last National government in 2017. 

In the meantime, voters will be watching Luxon to see just how much compassion there is in his conservatism.

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