Hypocrisy and bad spin

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, November 8th, 2012 - 44 comments
Categories: child welfare, local government, Metiria Turei, poverty, spin - Tags: , , , ,

NActUF are very good at using finely-honed, diversionary and distorting spin.  However, when debating 2 Private Members’ Bills yesterday, already lacking 1 needed vote before the day began, government speakers couldn’t even be bothered trying too hard.  Often in the debate son the first readings of these bills last night, the hypocrisy was glaring and the spin clumsy (full of tired right wing cliches).  On the other hand, Green and Labour MPs produced some very good speeches, demonstrating the difference between left and right wing principles.

The two Bills were Metiria Turei’s Income Tax (Universalisation of In-work Tax Credit) Amendment Bill— First Reading, and Darien Fenton’s one to entrench Free Public Library services. The top award for say-one-thing-do-another hypocrisy is shared by Nick Smith and Peter Dunne. The top prize for half-arsed clumsy spin goes to Maggie Barry.

Metiria Turei delivered a very good speech on child poverty, in introducing the first reading of Bill in October.  It is worth reading the entire speech because it lays out some of the shameful and appalling facts of child poverty in NZ. Something certainly needs to be done to fix the unfair Working for Families tax credit. Turei didn’t claim her bill would be the long term solution but said:

So here is my first step towards that fair future for our kids. My bill that we are debating tonight will relieve the worst poverty for these 150,000 children

In her speech concluding the first reading last night, Turei compared statistics from the 1980s to the present, for child poverty in NZ and Australia (1 minute into the video). They are damning.  Child poverty has gradually decreased in Australia, while it has stayed shamefully high in NZ.

The Bill failed at its first reading by one vote – Banks and Dunne voted against it – shame on them!  (Ditto for the Public Libraries’ Bill). In the General Debate yesterday, Turei makes a final plea to Peter Dunne to support her Bill.  She asked Dunne to honour a pledge he made before the 2011 election. Dunne had signed a pledge with a group, ‘Closer Together’ (1.30 mins into video), which stated,

As a politician I choose to commit to building a fairer New Zealand, and will actively support policy measures that reduce income inequality and ensure that will bring people closer together.

around the same time Dunne wrote:

I very much support your call for more detailed debate around the possible ways to reduce poverty and income inequality.

In another staggering example of doublespeak, Nick Smith and other Nats said they wouldn’t be supporting Darien Fenton’s Bill to entrench free public library services because:

  • libraries are soooo 1930s, and National will be providing a better service through Ultra Fast Broadband
  •  Nats don’t agree with government telling local government what to do
  • it’s just spending other people’s money

….. and then Maggie Barry waffled on about Labour’s Nanny state. Maggie clearly hasn’t been near a public library lately and knows little about how they operate.

In contrast, Phil Twyford gave an excellent speech.  He begins by outlining the difference between the NAct government’s individualistic, user-pays ethos, and the left’s philosophy of social inclusion and collective provisions.  He referred to the history of the rise of public libraries, at the same time as the development of public education and a belief in inclusive democratic participation. He was laughing with utter disbelief (3.23 mins into video) at Nick Smith’s hypocrisy, after what he did with ECAN.  Now, in this Public Libraries’ debate, Smith was arguing that the NZ government shouldn’t tell local governments what to do.

Jacinda Ardern also gave a very impassioned speech in response to Nick Smith (video begins with Nick Smith’s summation of his speech). In her summation Fenton highlighted the diference between the Auckland-based MPs, by saying that, after her speech,  Nikki Kaye will not be able to show her face anywhere near any public libraries, and just lost a load of votes.

The contrasts between the government and opposition speeches for these two Bills, show exactly why we need to end this destructive, hypocritical government; and why we need to replace it with a government based solidly on democractic, inclusive and fair, left wing principles and policies.

44 comments on “Hypocrisy and bad spin ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Tracey 1
    8 November 2012 at 1:07 pm

    “Nats don’t agree with government telling local government what to do”

    I wonder how Auckland got a Super City Council then… and ECAN got abolished never to have the light of democracy shone upon it again…

  2. Matthew 2
    8 November 2012 at 1:10 pm

    How can anyone be against free libraries? I mean seriously… wtf

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      8 November 2012 at 1:42 pm

      The Nats and their rich mates can’t make a profit from free-libraries.

    • Jimmy 2.2
      8 November 2012 at 4:06 pm

      Whats free about them?…Rate payers are forced to fund other peoples reading habits.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1
        8 November 2012 at 4:09 pm

        /facepalm

        You mean their own reading habits don’t you? After all, the library is open to all ratepayers.

      • Reagan Cline 2.2.2
        8 November 2012 at 7:29 pm

        Wrong Jimmy. Other people are forced to pay for ratepayers reading habits because ratepayers as owners of land and capital use profits from the work of other people to pay for their books, internet access etc.

      • karol 2.2.3
        8 November 2012 at 8:24 pm

        Ah, there you go – the right wing perspective that has a very narrow short term view.  When such community resources are freely available to all, we have a more inclusive society.  This means less disaffected people committing crimes.  An more informed citizenship encourages more democratic participation etc.
         
        I don’t have children, but I’m happy for my taxes to go towards a free public education system for other people’s children.  I benefit; we all benefit ultimately.
         
        It’s about what kind of society you want to live in.

        • felix 2.2.3.1
          9 November 2012 at 12:13 pm

          “When such community resources are freely available to all, we have a more inclusive society.”

          Well yeah, that’s exactly why the Nats and Peter Dunne voted it down.

  3. vto 3
    8 November 2012 at 1:27 pm

    Nick Smith is simply pure evil, just like Bill English.

    Where does he get off saying that the National government doesn’t like telling local goverments what to do?

    Fucking lying arsehole.

    Heard a glimpse on te wireless just before of someone giving him a bollocking and comparing his practices to what our men fought against in WWII at some select committee. Brilliant. More of this should be encouraged – these people need personal and heavy and consistent beratement over their treatment of our democratic principles. Shout them down. Walk away from them. Give them no respect. Give them the finger whenever you see them. Carter. Smith. Adams. Brownlee. Key and English.

    • Draco T Bastard 3.1
      8 November 2012 at 1:53 pm

      Nick Smith is simply pure evil, just like Bill English.

      That’s true of the entire National caucus.

      Where does he get off saying that the National government doesn’t like telling local goverments what to do?

      Has this actually made the MSM yet? Have the MSM compared the removal of Auckland’s right to referendum on the Super City and the firing of ECan so that farmers get more water to poison against Nick Smith’s stated dislike of telling local government what to do? Wasn’t there also a bit about the City Rail Link in Auckland?

      This should be top news in the MSM as National shows itself to be totally hypocritical.

      • bbfloyd 3.1.1
        8 November 2012 at 1:59 pm

        DTB……Don’t hold your breath….. When, and if it gets reported, murdochs fourth estate will report it as the “lefties” trying to waste our money again….

    • mike e 3.2
      8 November 2012 at 1:55 pm

      Ol lizard smith eyes at it again slithering around in the national cesspit a morally corrupt slime ball!
      You can safely say he speaks with a forked tongue maybe thats why the ladies like him he should have resigned from parliament after using his office to conduct an affair with a constituent who was in a vulnerable state when she sort help from the Porn again Christian!!

  4. muzza 4
    8 November 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Indeed these are two glaring issues, which expose all that is so nasty about “our democracy”, and our so called representatives. Its one of a few things

    1: They are nasty wrong-uns
    2: They are brainwashed
    3: They are being blackmailed/controlled
    4: All of the above

    There are not many serious choices in such continued disgraceful voting patterns, and blatant hypocracy! To what end will Kiwis continue to let the attack on our people, our country, and all its future go on, un-checked!

    Cast your vote as instructed to do so by your partys “owners”, and shut up! Don’t rub our faces in the fact that we are paying in hard energy, your costs, to spew this kind of dros out.

  5. Uturn 5
    8 November 2012 at 1:33 pm

    It’s not up to the Nats to know anything of the practical implications of their policies. Thinking one step ahead is a drain on our economy.

    “…libraries are soooo 1930s, and National will be providing a better service through Ultra Fast Broadband…”

    The Nats are too busy to need the net, they do not know many books at libraries aren’t online. Better to have people stimulate the economy on breadline wages by buying a huge library of books at retail prices using a internet they can’t afford to pay for and which would be out of reach when library service no longer exists. With a rented house big enough to house their imaginary library and a landlord pushing them out every few years for the sake of more money, they can then cart 1000kg’s of books around the country.

    Still, fair’s fair, can’t have poor people knowing anything useful. Better to encourage an illiterate violent mob, trained in the polarised opinions of the media, who can’t be reached by the logical pleas of a terrified elite.

    “Nats don’t agree with government telling local government what to do…”

    That’s right, community libraries, they’ve always been under direct central government control, didn’t you know?

    “…it’s just spending other people’s money…”

    In an unexpected eureka moment, Nick Smith discovers a connection between governments and taxes.

    • Tracey 5.1
      8 November 2012 at 2:21 pm

      Isnt dotcom taking over the delivery of a fibre optic cable?

      • Uturn 5.1.1
        8 November 2012 at 6:49 pm

        Yep, Santa is coming. All that poor people need to do if they want a free present is to pay for Santa’s sleigh and reindeer upkeep, a handling fee for the workshop elves, and buy a special “gift receptacle”. Other than that, it’s totally free. The catch is that no one is really sure if Santa exists. There is also a rumour that he’s wanted overseas for stockpiling gifts.

  6. bbfloyd 6
    8 November 2012 at 1:53 pm

    “and National will be providing a better service through Ultra Fast Broadband”… How typically halfwitted from the stars of “comedy central”….

    Imagine you are a child wandering through the library,…not quite sure what you want to read…then, a book takes your eye…you pick it out, and start to read,…It is on a subject that you hadn’t considered before, so you spend the rest of your life recounting how it came about that you found your lifes work just browsing the shelves of a library….

    Where is the adventure in accessing the library on the internet? Where is that unexpected discovery going to come from if the only books you see are on subjects you are already aware of?

    Am I to beleive that the story I’ve just told is one that can be consigned to ancient history, and inspiration can now be expected to come from epiphanies that we spontaniously experience right out of the blue? ….without any stimulous from any kind of unexpected source?

    Of course not, the wise old man says….. your teachers, and leaders will supply the necessary inspiration, as they know you better than you know yourself youngster…..trust them, they know what you’re doing….

    Online libraries…pffft…. btw…. I’m using myself as the hero of this little homily…..but I’m quite sure there would be many, many fine examples of just how vital the connection to (real) libraries has been to developing young minds……

    • karol 6.1
      8 November 2012 at 1:58 pm

      bbfloyd, your comment reminds me of something that Jacinda Ardner said in her speech: that Norman Kirk was a keen user of public libraries, as part of his self-education.
       

      • bbfloyd 6.1.1
        8 November 2012 at 2:06 pm

        Karol…. I havn’t the figures, but I would be very surprised if there aren’t thousands of examples of people “finding” important knowledge purely from trawling the shelves of the local library that could be gleaned…..

        It would make for an interesting study, to search out people who have had similar experiences to mine, and to show how that has affected/changed their lives…. not to mention the benefits that could accrue to the wider community from those lucky accidents…

        • The Woodpecker 6.1.1.1
          8 November 2012 at 4:38 pm

          Try Bob Jones. I saw an interview on him, where he said when he had polio he spent alot of time reading and recons that time in his life is what enabled him to succeed.

          • muzza 6.1.1.1.1
            9 November 2012 at 7:20 am

            LOL, Nah Bob Jones succeeded because he was a thug, who then got picked up as part of the NZ gang!

    • David H 6.2
      8 November 2012 at 4:38 pm

      Our Library has just been completely re built new building everything now I can take my son there to look, learn , and play. But for how long under this mob??

  7. Tracey 7
    8 November 2012 at 2:23 pm

    Cos the house of every child in NZ has computers and unlimited internet access (downloadability).

    • bbfloyd 7.1
      8 November 2012 at 2:56 pm

      I would mention the great library of Alexandria as a precedent setting example of what is lost when the physical knowledge is destroyed…. And in the modern sense, the isolation process being engaged in is reinforced by putting the kids in front of a computor for even longer than they do now…..

      There is a strong case that can be made for the environments created in places like libraries have beneficial flow on effects that allows a wider apreciation for the aquisition of knowledge, at least…

  8. lprent 8
    8 November 2012 at 2:43 pm

    …and National will be providing a better service through Ultra Fast Broadband

    FFS: The useless pricks in National have screwed that up as well. Apparently you can’t get the fibre into apartment block boards (like mine). The reason?

    While you could literally service a lot of households from one relatively cheap splitter – apparently there is no way that Chorus will put one in because there no way to collect money from each occupier for the initial installation.

    So this is going to be interesting looking into this at my apartment where the fibre is in the process of being installed. Fortunately I carefully brought right next to the apartment blocks board and coincidentally have a hole for the cables. If it gets to be too much hassle or too expensive then I will stay on copper.

    Anyway, their fibre rollout appears to be getting few takers because this useless pack of idiots simply haven’t thought through how people are actually able to connect. At this point the takeup of residential onto fibre is apparently minimal – and one of the main reasons is that you can’t get it into older apartments buildings. Typical sloppiness by Stephen Joyce.

    But universal access to information? Nope – you get that from public libraries – the UFB might help there..

    • David H 8.1
      8 November 2012 at 5:06 pm

      I really can’t see the use of it. I get reasonable d/l speeds now upto 1mps or more from some sites that’s enough unless you want to grab huge files 20gig plus. The biggest hindrance for me is whats the point when 90% of the sites I visit have me waiting for them for data and refresh rates are quite slow, so really whats the point also the speed i get allows all machines on my network to access the net and not notice a D/L in progress.

      • lprent 8.1.1
        8 November 2012 at 6:22 pm

        Ah you obviously don’t live with a filmmaker like I do, or spend time as a programmer moving GB datasets and codeset around. I’d agree with you for the typical household. ADSL+ works fine. Hell I watch TV using it.

        The problem is with a AsyncDSL. While I can get GB files down pretty damn smartly, I can typically only send at a twentieth of the speed the other way – and the ratio is getting worse. On the first generation of ADSL it was only 8x.

        This means that shipping a screener to finland for a film festival can take quite a few hours and make the link largely useless for everyone in the house because you get timeouts sending URL requests… 🙁

        While it takes maybe 10 minutes to backup this entire site including the databases, if I ever have to restore it then it will take several hours. I have quite a few systems that I maintain on a volunteer basis and the lack of an ability to maintain them is crippling.

        What I need are better uplink speeds. What I am getting are dingbats in parliament who have about as much interest in tech as chorus has in customer relations. Previously I had few choices. To get fibre here would have been more than several years of charges. Now it is here and it appears that I’m not going to be able to get it.

  9. Tracey 9
    8 November 2012 at 3:16 pm

    C’mon people. PEOPLE. These were aspirations… not real things unless you are on planet Key.

  10. Tracey 10
    8 November 2012 at 3:28 pm

    ” Unemployment is up to a “shocking” 7.3 per cent as businesses lay off full time workers in tough times.

    Prime Minister John Key said the New Zealand figures were surprising and at odds with other data. ”

    stuff.co.nz

    Inotherwords, it’s wrong, nothing to see here, move on.

    • David H 10.1
      8 November 2012 at 4:57 pm

      But this time he can’t refute it as it’s his own beloved Household Labour Force survey that he always quotes in the house.. But I see it’s business as usual from Key.

      • McFlock 10.1.1
        8 November 2012 at 5:12 pm

        apparently his own anecdata trumps the HLFS.
        Just another case of tory delusionals believing they are correct and reality has it wrong.

  11. weka 11
    8 November 2012 at 3:35 pm

     
    “…libraries are soooo 1930s, and National will be providing a better service through Ultra Fast Broadband…”
     
    Can someone tell me, is that actual NACT policy? Any text links? (I can’t watch video today).

    • karol 11.1
      8 November 2012 at 3:44 pm

      Actually, in Question Time today, Clare Curran was asking for statistics to compare National’s promises of ultrafast broadband accessibilty pre-election, and the actual uptake.  Nats were aiming for something like 75% uptake by 2019 – best check the transcript for actual stats when it becomes available.

  12. millsy 12
    8 November 2012 at 4:39 pm

    I hope that this is not the end of this issue, and measures to protect our public libaries find their way into Labour’s 2014 manifesto.

    • Jo 12.1
      8 November 2012 at 5:57 pm

      I hope so too, Millsy. The swift and silent angel of bibliography, who puts books into the hands of people who didn’t realise they were looking for them (like bbfloyd’s child @ 6), cannot fly on UFB, she needs pages binding who knows what you might find when you think you’re looking for something else.

  13. fatty 13
    8 November 2012 at 5:15 pm

    After Nat/Act/UF voted to keep kids in poverty Trevor Mallard calls a point of order and suggests an early dinner…nice one Trev, great timing

    • karol 13.1
      8 November 2012 at 8:32 pm

      Well, I hope Mallard was just rushing off to find where Peter Dunne had got to (but probably he was not being so supportive of the Green co-leader).  Dunne didn’t even bother turning up personally for the vote, compounding his hypocrisy.
       
      Well as Idiot/Savant indicated today, will Dunne repeat his hypocrisy in voting against a Hone Harawira Bill that was drawn in the ballot today?
       

      A ballot for five member’s bills was held today and the following bills were drawn:

      Climate Change (New Zealand Superannuation Fund) Bill (Eugenie Sage)
      Electronic Transactions (Contract Formation) Amendment Bill (Paul Goldsmith)
      Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill (No 2) (Damien O’Connor)
      Employment Relations (Statutory Minimum Redundancy Entitlements) Amendment Bill (Sue Moroney)
      Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill (Hone Harawira)

      • fatty 13.1.1
        8 November 2012 at 10:23 pm

        Yeah, Peter Dunne should be held accountable. AmaKiwi posted this inspiring story, its a method the public could use on Peter Dunne…in front of cameras, name and shame him. It would get the point across about what happened yesterday, and also hold him accountable, perhaps then he won’t do the same again to Hone’s bill.

        • karol 13.1.1.1
          9 November 2012 at 10:33 am

          Very good idea, fatty.  While I think it’s important to highlight the National Party hypocrisy whenever it is evident (especially if Nick Smith gets returned to cabinet), but I also think it is very important to hold Dunne to account.
           
          He’s a fair weather supporter of campaigns against poverty.  This should be shown up in whatever ways possible, so that the media pay far more attention to his hypocrisy.
           
          Many people don’t realise that Dunne was too cowardly even to turn up for the vote on Turei’s Bill.  She tweeted:
           

          Peter Dunne could not even bother to front up for the vote on my child poverty bill.

  14. Jenny 14
    8 November 2012 at 6:39 pm

    In their very late in the day rearguard campaign against free public libraries, and their campaign to dig up as much coal as possible in the age of climate change. I expect stove pipe hats and bustles to be the new fashion items to be sported by Nact members in the house.

    19th century campaign against the free library movement

    • karol 14.1
      8 November 2012 at 8:35 pm

      Ah, yes, our miserly and self-serving government has no respect for hard fought democratic community services and resources.  And they just don’t seem to understand how such services make for a better society.

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