Posts Tagged ‘john key’
Jobs only real benefit reduction policy
Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, March 24th, 2010 - 18 comments
You can’t ‘force beneficiaries back into work’ by ‘giving them a kick in the pants’ if there’s no jobs for them to go into. This supposed ‘get tough’ approach won’t get people off the benefit. It’s a cynical exercise in political marketing to make the government look active and distract from the real issues. It is no coincidence that this policy was released a day after the mining policy.
Nikki Kaye hits out at Key’s mining plan
Written By: - Date published: 6:38 am, March 23rd, 2010 - 29 comments
National Party MP Nikki Kaye is hitting out at her own leader John Key’s plan to mine Great Barrier Island. She joins the growing list of conservative opponents against the plan, with Auckland Mayor John Banks also voicing his opposition. It shows just how toxic this mining plan is.
Key’s mining plan worse than Bush’s
Written By: - Date published: 6:14 am, March 23rd, 2010 - 51 comments
John Key’s mining plan released yesterday is true madness. It sacrifices New Zealand’s natural heritage to make a buck for a few multi-national mining companies. The full list of changes make it clear: Key is mounting an attack on our conservation areas on a scale that even George W Bush couldn’t stomach.
I got it wrong: tax cuts for rich even bigger
Written By: - Date published: 12:09 am, March 22nd, 2010 - 100 comments
I made a mistake in my calculations of the effects of the leaked tax reforms. In the corrected numbers, the poor get less, the rich get more. The wealthiest 13,000 taxpayers get a quarter of a billion in tax cuts between them – nearly $20,000 a year each. The poorest half $1.25 a week and higher rents to pay. This ‘tax reform’ package is really a mask for a wealth grab from the many to the few.
Sadistics office backs National Standards
Written By: - Date published: 3:55 pm, March 19th, 2010 - 19 comments
New instalment from John Key impersonater “Plumedekiwi”, in which the PM gets his linguistic knickers in a twist over national standards….
If you haven’t seen the other vids by Plumedekiwi, check him out here
Classic Key clanger
Written By: - Date published: 3:43 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 6 comments
In this article, in which a Kaikoura Whale Watch spokesman states the bloody obvious (that if New Zealand turns pro-whaling his industry will suffer), our harpoon-wielding Prime Minister displays his usual lemming tendancies, saying commercial whaling “might be acceptable if it was acceptable to others‘. Not only is this not really English, it’s also pathetic. […]
A love that will not die
Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, March 17th, 2010 - 19 comments
I tried to write a satire of John Armstrong’s column today along the lines of the ‘Beloved Key‘ one I did the other day. But I’ve had to give it away. It’s beyond parody.
So, I guess I’ll do some serious analysis instead.
Nats to pay miners to dig up national parks
Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, March 17th, 2010 - 14 comments
During Question Time yesterday, Metiria Turei exposed National’s plan to subsidise mineral exploration by foreign companies in the most important parts of our national parks.
John Key refused to confirm Turei’s information but couldn’t deny it. Clearly, the Nats had been planning to slip it through in the Budget unnoticed.
50 dollars and northwards
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, March 16th, 2010 - 14 comments
Felix can hardly contain himself at the prospect of National’s tax changes: Woohoo!! Told you my mate Mr Key would be able to deliver a “north of $50 a week†tax cut. And you all said he wouldn’t. So who’s looking stupid now eh? I mean sure, you need to bring in $180,000 a year to get it but just get off your arse and be a bit more ambitious whydontcha?
National Parks, not National’s parks
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, March 15th, 2010 - 82 comments
Forest and Bird has obtained information that Prime Minister John Key is looking to mine Paparoa National Park [pictured right], Great Barrier Island, and areas surrounding the Thames township. The final details of the discussion doc will be decided at Cabinet today. Mr Key, you’re in for a fight on this one.
GST hike = tax cut for rich only
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 pm, March 14th, 2010 - 50 comments
The numbers of National’s tax money go round leaked to the SST. I have worked out who wins and who loses. Key claimed that no-one will be worse off and the bulk will be much better off but 10% are worse off and 80% get next to nothing (without even counting the rent hikes). The elite get $100 in net tax cuts for every $1 the typical Kiwi gets.
Stupid competition
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, March 13th, 2010 - 30 comments
We keep hearing, from the Key government, statements about education that make no logical or factual sense at all. Here are two examples. Help me choose — which is the stupider statement, and why?
Save Radio NZ dethrones Key
Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, March 12th, 2010 - 14 comments
Who would have thought that a Facebook group advocating to keep Radio NZ funded and commercial-free would overtake Prime Minister John Key’s fan group for number of members? Well, yesterday at 9.30, just over three weeks since it was founded, the Save Radio New Zealand group reached 18,973 members, passing Key’s 18,972. That gives a […]
High unemployment helps Nats keep wages down
Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, March 11th, 2010 - 21 comments
While other countries have used their strong public sectors to steady the private sector and keep unemployment down during the economic downturn, our government is compounding unemployment by cutting the public sector, throwing people out of jobs and feeding worker insecurity.
Carter leads on whaling
Written By: - Date published: 3:04 pm, March 10th, 2010 - 26 comments
Good on Chris Carter. He’s the only politician on Left taking some leadership in opposing the National Government’s abandonment of New Zealand’s anti-whaling stance. Today he launched an online petition against the government’s position. Carter writes: “John Key’s great plan to save the whales is apparently allowing the Japanese to hunt them commercially. This appalling […]
Whaling proposal not realism, it’s a sell-out
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, March 10th, 2010 - 65 comments
John Armstrong has chucked John Key’s promise to end whaling down the memory hole and, instead, comes out swinging against those who don’t want to give up the commercial whaling ban: “the plan [will] allow commercial whaling for a 10-year period, but with big cuts in the numbers killed each year. This plan would buy […]
Brash emails hit headlines again…for the wrong reason
Written By: - Date published: 7:41 pm, March 8th, 2010 - 62 comments
The leaked emails which helped bring about the downfall of former Nat leader Don Brash hit the headlines again today, for all the wrong reasons. The story of who “stole” the emails was nothing more than a successful Tory decoy. Journalists have already forgotten the insidious tricks used by the top echelons of the National Party.
Legitimate spending vs rorts
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, March 5th, 2010 - 32 comments
It’s pretty rare that I agree with John Key but he got it right when he voiced concern that journalists are attacking MPs for legitimately using their budgets to do their jobs. Do we really want to force parties to rely on private funding for communicating their positions? That makes politics a rich man’s game. There are plenty of actual rip-offs and rorts for the media to root out.
Glorious school building opened by honourable leader
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, March 4th, 2010 - 62 comments
Beloved Leader of People’s Constitutional Monarchy of New Zealand, Honourable John Key, attended glorious opening of school building on Tuesday.
Several youths were overcome by the glory of Honourable Leader’s appearance as were several members of the press corps.
Ashcroft owns up to “non-dom” tax status
Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, March 2nd, 2010 - 7 comments
Lord Ashcroft, the British Conservative party’s major donor, has admitted that while he is “permanently resident” in Britain he is not domiciled there for tax status.
As a result the Conservative party may have to repay donations totalling several million pounds.
Aussie pay gap widening, Key does nothing
Written By: - Date published: 12:32 am, March 2nd, 2010 - 28 comments
The total pay packet fell for Kiwi workers last year and it will get worse in coming years. Aussie wages continue to rise, their unemployment is falling. If Key is serious about catching Australia he needs a full employment policy. Instead, he will keep doing nothing.
‘Atlases’ don’t deserve a tax cut
Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, February 24th, 2010 - 67 comments
This man is Paul Reynolds, CEO of Telecom. He has overseen the largest corporate disaster in recent New Zealand history. The Nats are planning to give him over $6,600 a week in tax cuts. Apparently this screw up on a $7 million salary is the kind of guy New Zealand needs.
Nats’ sense of entitlement behind credit card abuse
Written By: - Date published: 6:42 am, February 24th, 2010 - 40 comments
Yesterday the Dominion Post caught out National Party Ministers using their taxpayer funded credit cards for personal use. This was a gross betrayal of public trust. Housing Minister Phil Heatley knew what he was doing, but did it anyway. John Key should sack Heatley for turning his nose up at the Kiwi taxpayer.
Don’t take stock tips from Murray
Written By: - Date published: 10:18 pm, February 23rd, 2010 - 18 comments
Turns out McCully’s shares in Widespread Portfolios are worth 20 cents a pop. $31 total. He paid a grand for them at $5-odd each. Ouch. Are these guys really so good at business? Is mining really such a good bet for the country? And what is hidden away in the trusts?
Abbott laughingstock for saying Aussie should copy Key
Written By: - Date published: 8:42 pm, February 21st, 2010 - 27 comments
The new Aussie Liberal leader, Tony Abbott, has been widely derided for saying Australia should ape National’s economic policies. “Abbott’s remark came the day that Australia’s unemployment rate fell from 5.5 to 5.3 per cent. The NZ rate? It’s 7.3 per cent.” We should copy their stimulus policy, not the other way round.
Armstrong on Clueless Tolley
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, February 18th, 2010 - 19 comments
John Armstrong: “Anne Tolley’s reluctance to explain [national standards] left the distinct impression she was less than 100 per cent sure.†It was a bit more than an impression, and it was a bit less than 100%. Tolley clearly had no clue what she was talking about.
Guyon tires of Key’s empty grin
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, February 17th, 2010 - 32 comments
Guyon Espiner isn’t exactly what you would call a critic of John Key’s government, so when he has a blog post titled “John Key’s sloppiness as costly as it is charming” you know things are bad.
Right turns a blind eye to middle NZ
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, February 16th, 2010 - 62 comments
In their attempts to justify putting up GST on all New Zealanders to give huge tax cuts to the wealthy few, the Right are going so far as to argue that middle and low income New Zealand doesn’t even exist.
What is Whanau Ora? 2
Written By: - Date published: 7:49 pm, February 15th, 2010 - 41 comments
Asked to explain his billion dollar policy Key says: “Whanau Ora is a way of saying we’re going to measure outcomes, instead of just inputs into a family to give greater flexibility to a third party private providerâ€. I take that to be a long way of saying “I don’t know what Whanau Ora isâ€.
National-style standards and Key’s teacher trap
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, February 15th, 2010 - 38 comments
When the Government came under fire over National Standards John Key was quick to raise the anti-union bogey. The old stereotypes are certainly still strong in National, but they have led Key into a trap. What might have worked for Muldoon or Maggie in the past won’t work now for a number of reasons.
Columnists slam Key’s lack of plan
Written By: - Date published: 4:14 pm, February 13th, 2010 - 110 comments
Tracy Watkins awards the first week of Parliamentary politics this year to Phil Goff, and points out that it’s as much due to his and Labour’s much improved performance as it is to Key and National’s shambolic, over-promise, under-deliver governance. (more…)
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