Andrew Dickens Afternoons

It feels like a while since I’ve mentioned the Coalition government. For obvious reasons. As National took the heat for their messy internal problems the Government wisely slunk out the back door and had a beer and kept a low profile. But being the Government, eventually you come back into focus.And every time they’ve come back into focus this week, I’ve realised that my biggest criticism of the Government is not what they have done, but it’s what they haven’t done.Nowhere is that more so that in housing.This week Labour celebrated the first owners of a Kiwibuild house receiving their keys. The young couple will soon graduate as a doctor and a marketer and are now the proud owners of a $650,000 four bedroom. Six Cabinet Ministers turned up in six government limos. This is a government who likes the optics and the six wanted to share the limelight. An austere government might have used a minibus but this is a petty quibble.But the optics have been turning sour all week. Why, in the middle of a housing crisis a