I was going to ask what you like about his foreign policy work, but I’m not sure I even know what politicians do for foreign policy stuff. Do you have some good examples? Bonus points if they are good things Winston has done.
But in Foriegn Affairs I have liked how active and informed he is, and in my experience his office is always better to correspond with than many other ministers because it seems to always be across whatever obscure foriegn policy thing I’m talking about rather than giving me off-topic form letters.
I guess an example of this side of Winston is this speech at the UN. I of course often wish our foriegn policy stances went a lot further, but he gave a speech that was much better than I would expect given our current centre-right leadership and it balanced our need to remain on good terms with the US with our independent voice.
When UNRWA was accused of terrorism, and many western allies suspended funding to it, NZ only followed suit temporarily while Foriegn Affairs looked into the veracity of those claims. Our payments resumed when it was disproved - and in the interim, we funded humanitarian relief in other ways.
This) is another Winston UN speech on our stance that I liked.
Those are two nice speeches. Presumably he does not write them himself but some team of people is likely involved. Does he get the opportunity to speak freely in this sort of thing (e.g. interviews) or is being the foreign affairs guy just about showing up and reading the speech someone else has written (or at least reviewed)?
I was going to ask what you like about his foreign policy work, but I’m not sure I even know what politicians do for foreign policy stuff. Do you have some good examples? Bonus points if they are good things Winston has done.
Domestically, I feel like he is a troll.
But in Foriegn Affairs I have liked how active and informed he is, and in my experience his office is always better to correspond with than many other ministers because it seems to always be across whatever obscure foriegn policy thing I’m talking about rather than giving me off-topic form letters.
I guess an example of this side of Winston is this speech at the UN. I of course often wish our foriegn policy stances went a lot further, but he gave a speech that was much better than I would expect given our current centre-right leadership and it balanced our need to remain on good terms with the US with our independent voice.
When UNRWA was accused of terrorism, and many western allies suspended funding to it, NZ only followed suit temporarily while Foriegn Affairs looked into the veracity of those claims. Our payments resumed when it was disproved - and in the interim, we funded humanitarian relief in other ways.
This) is another Winston UN speech on our stance that I liked.
Those are two nice speeches. Presumably he does not write them himself but some team of people is likely involved. Does he get the opportunity to speak freely in this sort of thing (e.g. interviews) or is being the foreign affairs guy just about showing up and reading the speech someone else has written (or at least reviewed)?