Duncan Garner: Coalition Government least effective in 25 years

OPINION: Remember when Labour promised to lower the number of immigrants coming into the country?

It was Andrew Little, then the messenger changed to Jacinda Ardern - but the message was the same.

The message to cut immigration numbers sat alongside other grandiose brain dribbles that would never happen. I recall 100,000 homes to be built, world-class cancer treatment centres, and a halving of the 70,000 immigrants that enter NZ every year.

But, the truth is, Labour told you a bunch of utter garbage, they told you what you wanted to hear - dog whistle politics to keep up with Winston Peters. But the truth is they have done diddly squat to get there.

We are back to rubber stamping immigrants into New Zealand to take the jobs in construction or whatever it is that they do and frankly, that we need.

There were 55,000 new immigrants to the year ending April 2019. We need these people, clearly.

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway's ideas to cut immigration can fit on the world's smallest post-it note. In other words, he's still hiding under his desk from the last debacle, scared to come out in case the PM is reminded how utterly useless he is.

When it comes to immigration, expect nothing to be done until Winston and his mates enter the next election period.

Challenge them, call them out - they misled you on immigration.

I've watched politics closely for 25 years and this government is the least effective of them all, by some margin.

Duncan Garner is host of The AM Show.