Nine long years.   

That was the rallying cry of Labour MPs and ministers during the last term of Government.  

It seemed anytime Jacinda Ardern and her team ran into an issue, blaming the previous Government was their get-out-of-jail-free card. 

Run down public health care infrastructure?  

“That Government under-funded those services for nine long years, and there are consequences of that,” then Health Minister David Clark told the House in January 2020.  

Dwindling rates of home ownership? Poorer education outcomes?   

“That's what happens when you vote for a coalition Government and you ignore the neglect that National placed on this country over the last nine long years,” Kieran McAnulty said in September 2018.   

It went on and on.   

It became somewhat of a running joke for the Nats – who would parrot the words back to Labour Ministers as they said them in the House.  

Blaming the previous Government was completely acceptable for a period of time.   

But as Labour got deeper into its term, its MPs continued to blame the last lot for issues they should have been taking responsibility for. 

This National Government is not there yet. In fact, it’s nowhere near that point.   

Finance minister Nicola Willis’ campaign to expose the “snakes and snails” left by Labour in the fiscal cupboards is in overdrive.   

And – given her deliberate and public warnings that the expected surplus in 2026/27 will likely be pushed out because of the worse-than-expected state of the books – expect National to start ramping up their own “six long years” war cries.  

And quite rightly.   

But National this week shot itself in the foot by jumping the gun on the blame game.   

On Monday, Prime Minister Chris Luxon and education minister Erica Stanford announced a ministerial inquiry into the “unrealistic and unaffordable” scope of school property development.   

Stanford put the blame for the fact 350 schools across the country were promised new classrooms or renovation work where expectations far exceeded what could be delivered, squarely in former Education Minister Chris Hipkins’ lap.   

“I make no apologies to Chris Hipkins for asking ‘how could you possibly leave us in this situation?’” she told media.  

But it didn’t take long for it to be pointed out that the former National Government got the ball rolling on many of these school projects.   

In 2015, then-Education Minister Hekia Parata announced the Marlborough Boys’ and Girls’ Colleges would be co-located on a new site at a cost of $63 million.   

In 2018, the Ministry of Education reviewed the project, reduced its scope and pushed the cost out to $170m.   

Stanford said on Monday the construction estimate was now more than $405m.   

The issues with the development are well documented.   

After Parata’s 2015 promise, developers had significant issues finding the right land for the project. So much so that it was decided the new co-location site would have to be at the girls’ college.  

This, of course, led to a cost blow-out.   

And this is not an isolated instance.   

Before the 2017 election, National committed to a redevelopment of the Wainuiomata High School; they said it would cost $12m.   

But Hipkins said $12m “would not have even touched the surface, given that the school was literally sinking into the ground”.  

He estimates that project would more likely cost close to $100m.   

In other words, National drastically over-promised major school projects and left Labour with a difficult choice: Cough up more money or tell school kids they’re not getting new classrooms.   

Labour chose the former.    

Even Stanford appears somewhat sympathetic: “Labour found themselves, to be fair to them, in a situation where costs had escalated with building projects”.  

Luxon and Stanford were quick to start banging the blame drum, despite much of the criticism for some of the biggest blow-outs being the fault of National.   

Attempting to place the blame of this sorry saga on Labour has been a misstep from the Government.   

There are many – and will be many more – issues that National can quite rightly point the finger at the previous Government over.  

But by coming out of the gates so strongly on an issue that’s not entirely Labour’s fault, National has weakened its own hand in the long run by shaking the public’s faith in the validity of the Government’s accusations.   

Put simply: When you point a finger at someone, be mindful that three of your own are pointing right back at you.