Bad week for Key

Written By: - Date published: 6:37 am, October 12th, 2011 - 55 comments
Categories: disaster, john key, Media - Tags: , , ,

It’s been a bad week for John Key:

3News has him caught out lying (excellent video) about what Standard and Poors said about his double downgrade of the economy.  An economy that’s 3.6% smaller and $37billion deeper in debt than when he took it over.

The Standard has his office caught lying that his Radio Live piece was cleared by the Electoral Commission.  And of course there’s the complaint that his hour talking about his cat and trying to ignore the double downgrade was an election ad that may be taken from National’s allocation.

And his government’s failing to act on the worst environmental disaster New Zealand has had, with hundreds of tons of oil headed toward Mt Maunganui and Coromandel holiday spots.  The first couple of days of good weather were missed to avert disaster, and now heavy swells are making difficult work to prevent more mess.

Time for a change.

–

Although this post should be covered by the opinion section of electoral law and shouldn’t need authorisation, here’s mine anyway, just to be safe:
Authorised by Ben Clark, 54 Aramoana Ave, Devonport

55 comments on “Bad week for Key ”

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  1. wyndham 1
    12 October 2011 at 7:03 am

    It will not pass unnoticed that Key, apart from one brief appearance, has now disappeared from the Rena disaster scene, leaving the field for Smith and Joyce to face the flack.
    National must preserve his carefully constructed ‘smile and wave’ image at all costs and disasters don’t fit into this scenario.

  2. tc 2
    12 October 2011 at 7:26 am

    Be nice to see some focus on the BS budget also with all it’s la la land growth values now the stats are proving what a crock of shit those assumptions were always going to be.

    If sideshow refuses to come out and play, Blinglish and co have no choice…..ready, aim and fire.

    • Lanthanide 2.1
      12 October 2011 at 9:17 am

      There was a snippet about this on the radio this morning.

      They said that the tax switch appears to have cost a lot more than initially expected, not sure if they said it was $1B more or not (half asleep). Bill English said that he was sure it would end up being fiscally neutral over the full 4 years. They had a quote from Russell Norman saying all you had to do was look at their ridiculous roads of national significance that for the most part hadn’t even been analysed for cost-effectiveness.

      The pre-election fiscal update (PREFU) is to be unveiled on the 25th of October. I expect it won’t be particularly rosy for National.

      • Ben Clark 2.1.1
        12 October 2011 at 10:16 am

        $1.1 billion it’s cost so far.

        Bill English is saying it was only ever going to be revenue neutral over 4 years and he’s sticking to that. But it was only meant to be $500 million down in year one and then be positive from then (due to the magic extra growth) – we’re in year 2, we’re still losing, and the many are paying $2.6 billion extra in GST to give tax cuts mainly to the the few of $3.7 billion.

        An economy that’s nearly $40 billion more in debt ($9 billion due to earthquake), and 3.6% smaller than when they took over. A great financial record.

        • Lanthanide 2.1.1.1
          12 October 2011 at 10:20 am

          Ok, good summary.

          Bill English is clearly lying if he thinks it will end up meeting their projections. Due to compounding growth, the only way to make up for lower growth in the early parts is with significantly higher growth in the latter. Weren’t they already forecasting something like 2-3% growth, meaning to counteract the growth deficit so far they’d need something in the ballpark of 4-7% to meet the initial forecasts?

          Someone should put that question to him.

        • Jim Nald 2.1.1.2
          12 October 2011 at 10:25 am

          With the tax switch, John Key and Bill English squandered a measure of resilience that was in our economic system.

          The opportunities and advantage we could have had have been bloody wasted by this lot in government.

        • Zaphod Beeblebrox 2.1.1.3
          12 October 2011 at 12:43 pm

          How does English get away with such rubbery figures? Then he has the cheek to say that we might need some fiscal belt tightening ‘down the track’. Well… how much, where and when….. or are we supposed to vote for an open ended commitment the details of which are withheld?

  3. Craig Glen Eden 3
    12 October 2011 at 7:59 am

    Well we all new the chickens would come home to roost the sad thing at the moment most kiwis would go oh look chickens coming home to roost and Keys media team will go yup thats right eggs for all New Zealanders, little do they know it will be egg on their faces but the promise of a brighter future still beckons (oh the smell of those eggs wont it be wonderful)

  4. freedom 4
    12 October 2011 at 8:13 am

    there is no crisis at first five, we have CRUDEN, who should have been Carter’s understudy on tour last year anyway, but he is there now and Wallabies are on the menu. Go the All Blacks !!

    p.s. there is a cup of weak tea from Vernon Small in today’s Dom discussing Teflon Man.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/vernon-small/5771192/Teflon-Key-facing-toxic-backlash

  5. I dreamed a dream 5
    12 October 2011 at 8:27 am

    With all the bad publicity for Key and Co this week, if the next polls do not narrow, there would be something wrong — either with the polls or the public.

    • Afewknowthetruth 5.1
      12 October 2011 at 9:53 am

      Well you really said it that time.

      Have you not considered the possibility that opinion polls are rigged to produce the result required to programme the masses into believing the present government is doing a good job?

      Have you not consideed the possibility that a large sector of the general public are uninformed and stupid?

      Have you not considered the possibility that voting makes no difference and that a computer somewhere has aleready been programmed with results that produce the required government but make it look as though there was an election?

      • Lanthanide 5.1.1
        12 October 2011 at 10:22 am

        Now you’re getting into tinfoil hat territory.

        Such a pity that the strident ones who are mostly on-track, also have kooky fringe ideas and can’t seem to distinguish between them.

        • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.1
          12 October 2011 at 10:32 am

          Geez Lanth in the US they have advanced very expensive computerised software which focuses on gerrymandering congressional districts.

          There have been claims for a long time that voting and vote counting in Ohio and Florida were rigged.

          Now I agree that these scenarios are much less likely in NZ. But that does not put them into ‘tin foil hat’ territory.

          BTW just heard today that the Bank of New York Mellon has been charged with systematically and consistently allocating bad prices to pension fund currency clients while keeping the best prices for itself. In other words, ripping off the retirements of tens of millions of working Americans, over years and years.

          Put nothing past these guys mate. Its why they are sociopaths.

  6. King Kong 6
    12 October 2011 at 9:00 am

    Word on the street is that Key was drinking with the captain of the Rena before the vessel left. Apparantly they were absolutely wasted and Key dared the Captain to drive.

    We needn’t worry though because I hear Phil Goff will be arriving on the scene today and I expect he will fix everything.

  7. I dreamed a dream 7
    12 October 2011 at 9:06 am

    Has Captain Key and his National ship hit a reef? It may well turn out to be the Worst Disaster in NZ Election history (from National’s point of view that is). Here’s hoping.

  8. Afewknowthetruth 8
    12 October 2011 at 9:43 am

    ‘Time for a change.’

    It sure is. In fact it’s long past time for a change. Unfortunately the Goff team will only offer more of the same, slightly tweaked, just as was the case when they were last in power.

    So, if Goff manages to pull off a victory for Labour we will still continue on the same path to economic, social and environmental destitution that we’ve been on since the 1970s, the same collission course with reality.

    Actually, we have already hit reality. It’s just that most people still have not noticed, what with the distractions of rugby, the latest sitcoms and dancing with the stars etc. We are post peak oil and we are in the early stages of climate chaos and financial meltdown. An accelerating collapse is inevitable.

    The next few months are going to be very interesting, now that a few more people overseas have worked out that the present system offers them no future, so they are starting to revolt.

    (By the way, the leaking ship is not NZ’s worst environmental disaster: the contruction and operation of the Bluff aluminium smelter probably is, followed by extraction and burning of coal, Motunui, the dairy industry, tourism, consumerism, offshore oil extraction, the construction of roads etc. The leaking oil from the ship will soon be gone and forgotten; the other disasters will continue a while longer.)

    • Draco T Bastard 8.1
      12 October 2011 at 10:49 am

      (By the way, the leaking ship is not NZ’s worst environmental disaster: the contruction and operation of the Bluff aluminium smelter probably is, followed by extraction and burning of coal, Motunui, the dairy industry, tourism, consumerism, offshore oil extraction, the construction of roads etc. The leaking oil from the ship will soon be gone and forgotten; the other disasters will continue a while longer.)

      /agreed

      All of that is a consequence of the capitalist drive to produce far more than needed so that they (the capitalists) can have a continual profit.

    • freedom 8.2
      12 October 2011 at 5:48 pm

      I go with Dairy being our biggest environmental disaster ever. The worst part of the Dairy disaster is how much NZ’rs pay every week for the privilege of destroying our water and our pastures.

  9. fmacskasy 9
    12 October 2011 at 9:45 am

    There seems to be a new meme developing around Dear Leader – that of liar. As more such instances occur, his reputation becomes more tainted, bit by bit.

    This is his weakness.

  10. Barry 10
    12 October 2011 at 9:55 am

    The last 3 years has seen the most accident prone government since Peter Fraser had to deal with World war II.

    • fmacskasy 10.1
      12 October 2011 at 9:57 am

      Yeah, but if it had been John Key dealing with WW2, he’d no doubt try to blame that on Labour as well…

    • Colonial Viper 10.2
      12 October 2011 at 10:03 am

      You call it “accident prone” I call it cursed.

    • Lanthanide 10.3
      12 October 2011 at 10:10 am

      Pike River was a disaster of their own making. As was leaky buildings.

      The Rena grounding is probably not directly attributable to them, but they appear to have dropped the ball with the 3 days of calm weather wasted, when they could have at least *tried* to do something (instead of doing nothing).

      Tax cuts to people who don’t need it during a recession and refusing to reverse them or put in a temporary levy for EQC resulted in the credit rating downgrades.

      • Colonial Viper 10.3.1
        12 October 2011 at 10:16 am

        Apparently the Rena already had multiple citations against it in safety audits.

        And we seem to have a Maritime NZ which was far far too slow acting and deferred decision making to the private sector instead of leading.

        • Lanthanide 10.3.1.1
          12 October 2011 at 10:27 am

          “Apparently the Rena already had multiple citations against it in safety audits.”

          Yeah, but that doesn’t make it John Key’s government’s fault. It makes it a fault of the ministry, which may or may not be because of this governments meddling.

          All it takes is a couple of people in the authority chain to make bad decisions and you end up with bad outcomes. But those same people could have made perfectly reasonable decisions for all situations they were faced with in the past, so there may not have been any way for the government to know about it. In other words, this same thing could still have happened with Labour in government.

          What they are directly in control of, though, is the cleanup and recovery. They appear to have wasted 3 days.

          • Colonial Viper 10.3.1.1.1
            12 October 2011 at 10:39 am

            I understand. The NAT govt did not run the Rena into Astrolabe reef, and I agree.

            It did let Maritime NZ get away with fucking around for the first 72 hours, setting up bird cleaning stations, issuing notices and cleaning up small spills of oil.

            I really only blame them for the latter not the former.

            this same thing could still have happened with Labour in government.

            I’m not sure if the outcomes would have been different, but the style definitely would have been. Far more hands-on and less let’s wait for private sector action.

            • insider 10.3.1.1.1.1
              12 October 2011 at 12:34 pm

              What exactly should have been done, when and why? Who would have done it and with what equipment?

              • Colonial Viper …
                12 October 2011 at 6:08 pm

                Hopefully the ship had proper charts, operational and up to date navigational equipment, and a properly trained and experienced crew.

                Otherwise they should not have been permitted in NZ waters.

                Clear enough for you?

                • insider …
                  12 October 2011 at 6:37 pm

                  It;s had repeated inspections in China, NZ and Aus before the grounding. It passed after fixing up some issues within 24 hours. The standards may not be what you want, but it did meet them.

                  • Macro …
                    12 October 2011 at 10:07 pm

                    It’s not just physical standards (eg bits of kit and operability of equipment) that is the problem here. These vessels operating under flags of convenience, are poorly manned, with skeleton crews who are poorly paid, and working long shifts. (The Rena had previously called at 3 other NZ Ports in about a week and the ships compliment would have been working around the clock during that time). This has been long cited by the maritime unions of western countries as a disaster waiting to happen. To allow such large poorly manned vessels to continue to ply NZ waters is an indictment on both National and Labour govt’s who have allowed this situation to develop over recent decades. And we are not alone in having such disasters occur. All can be sheeted home to poor manning and over tired crews.

        • insider 10.3.1.2
          12 October 2011 at 12:33 pm

          I wouldn’t overcook the ‘citations’. You ever been through an audit where there have been absolutely no findings? They always find something, just for the sake of it. Every vessel gets an inspection on arrival. most of those listed looked minor operational, equipment and paperwork issues not critical. I suspect most ocean going vessels will have some findings, expecially after a long trip.

          • KJT 10.3.1.2.1
            12 October 2011 at 10:43 pm

            I could go on any ship, no matter how well run, and make a similar list. It is what is being done about it, that is the difference.

            Should look at how many port State inspections, customs, cargo work and other extra hours the crew had to do, and how many port calls.

            With most accidents like this fatigue is a major factor.

            Arresting crew members is not the answer. Even Captains these days have little control over the money spent on maintenance and the quality of their officers.
            Ships crew are already strongly motivated to keep the ship in one piece. Making them criminals just increases the pressure.
            The endless paperwork designed to cover the butts of shore management, National Maritime safety agencies, shipping companies and Governments does not help either.

    • Draco T Bastard 10.4
      12 October 2011 at 10:50 am

      Not accident prone – just ideological (blindly following their faith) and incompetent.

  11. Brooklyn 11
    12 October 2011 at 9:55 am

    Two highlights: The comedy gold of the press conference and the RWNJs trilling “But what about painter gate”. The sainted one lowered himself to the level of the evil Aunty Helen. I guess that on the 26th we’ll find out whether “it’s the economy stupid” or just stupid.

  12. Dv 12
    12 October 2011 at 10:01 am

    Have the NACTS met ANY of there targets in the three years?

    • Colonial Viper 12.1
      12 October 2011 at 10:04 am

      yes they made the top 1% richer. Bonuses all round (for them that is).

    • Jasper 12.2
      12 October 2011 at 4:02 pm

      what targets?

      Their policies in 2008 were;

      Wave goodbye to a brighter future
      Sayonara to your loved ones (in body bags from Afghanistan)
      Dumbing down the education system
      Tax cuts north of $50 per week for incomes over 80K pa
      Increasing GST if a “half decent job of managing the economy” isn’t achieved
      Implementing policies that affect people that can’t vote
      Protecting Brand Key at all costs.

      I suppose you could say that their targets were all (un)officially met.

    • mik e 12.3
      12 October 2011 at 10:32 pm

      They stuck oil
      PM gets on Every Tv station a least once a day record
      Manges to break every promise.
      Manages not to take any responsibility for a party thats socoldly built on taking responsibilty.

  13. coolas 13
    12 October 2011 at 10:04 am

    Like all fancy packaging that disguises an inferior product you have to take off the wrapping first. And slowly but surely Brand Key is being unwrapped. What lies beneath the ‘smile and wave’ product is a shallow, mean, and nasty little man.

    Hopefully the throat slitting gesture and lying about S&P are the start of an election campaign which will more and more expose Key for what he is; a narcissistic and dishonest front man for his corporate masters.

  14. Zaphod Beeblebrox 14
    12 October 2011 at 10:13 am

    About time we got back to talking about who has the best economic plan. Labour needs to relentlessly get its themes set and repeat them ad nauseum. An $18.5B budget deficit and no plan to pay it down other than vague mentions of belt tightening (well what are they??) would be a good start. The 170K jobs and balance the books by 14/15 lies should be next. They need to stop talking about any other crap.

  15. randal 15
    12 October 2011 at 10:16 am

    According to espiner on the radio this morning Key was just having a bad hair day. Yeah right. so that explains everything I dont think.

    • Ianupnorth 15.1
      12 October 2011 at 2:10 pm

      He was totally banal – absolutely refused to throw any mud that could stick to his best mate John.

  16. randal 16
    12 October 2011 at 5:29 pm

    well national campaigned on the plank that it was time for their “turn”.
    Well they have had their “turn” and everything they have trouched has turned into a bloody disaster!
    I say “turn” then out.

    • mik e 16.1
      12 October 2011 at 10:44 pm

      I know now what key was saying in parliament when he did his throat slitting gesture
      I’ll finally doe something good for the ordinary citizen and top my self. and save New Zealand from the eminent disaster that would happen if Key gets more time at the HELM.