National is weird in that I think there's some people who are just that callous and don't care about the consequences so long as their class of people does better. Then there are some who are no doubt true believers and think despite all the evidence that the neo-liberal magic economy actually exists. And then there's just the naive socially conservative traditionalists who see it as necessary that the poor need to be punished for their situation etc.

The hospitality collapse specifically, I dunno I think they're just throwing shit against the wall at this point. Like, you're not buying enough morning coffees because you're at home, so get back to the office. But also, we're going to put up your bus/train fairs by 70% so now you'll have even less spare money for coffee. And the public transport is creaking so we'll build more roads to get you into the city where parking is getting harder & more expensive to find.

Its mostly brainless policy. I try to remind myself not to attribute to malice just plain smooth-brainness stupidity. Brown in particular is so captured by the road transport ideology that he hits every problem with the road hammer because they all look like nails to him.