Archive for August, 2009
Electoral finance – summary of submissions
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, August 7th, 2009 - 15 comments
The Ministry of Justice has released a summary of the submissions it got on its Electoral Finance Issues Document. They got 79. The Ministry gives out some figures about some figures on how many submitters were for or against certain ideas. Of course many submissions did not cover all issues, but the balance of opinion […]
Unemployment back to English’s ‘realistic’ level
Written By: - Date published: 5:11 am, August 7th, 2009 - 33 comments
Who said this? “if we continue with National’s policies over the next three years we will be able to create another 115,000 jobs and bring unemployment under 6%. These are realistic targets…Labour’s claim that it can bring the unemployment rate down to 3% is also a hoax” It was Bill English in 1999. Of course, […]
What a coincidence
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 6th, 2009 - 72 comments
So there I was, just a walking down the street, and $47,000 just fell out of the sky in tax free readies, bam, right in to my lap! Like I was Bill English or something! What – that never happened to you? Me neither. We have to work for our money. Actually I guess Bill […]
Which one’s true, Bill?
Written By: - Date published: 2:32 pm, August 6th, 2009 - 13 comments
According to the Speaker, Bill English MP’s “primary place of residence” is in Dipton because Bill has told him it is. But according to the Registrar of companies, Bill the shareholder of Resolution Farms‘ “full residential address” is in Wellington because Bill has told them it is. The Companies Act requires shareholders to provide a […]
English lives where Lockwood says
Written By: - Date published: 1:31 pm, August 6th, 2009 - 7 comments
Allowances for MPs accommodation are made according to the Speaker’s determinations. An MP’s “primary place of residence” is where the Speaker says it is. Page 18 of the determination gives the definition: primary place of residence,— (a) in relation to a member, means the place of residence that the Speaker determines, by written notice to […]
A real recession policy
Written By: - Date published: 1:27 pm, August 6th, 2009 - 13 comments
Darien Fenton’s minimum redundancy bill has been drawn from the ballot and is likely to go before the house in the next two weeks. In my opinion implementing a minimum redundancy is one of the most significant ways we can reduce the effects of the recession on working Kiwis because it offers a buffer for […]
Uncowed
Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, August 6th, 2009 - 9 comments
Shh. Hear that sound? It’s National’s mud throwing machine gearing up again. Inevitably, they’ve released Labour’s ministers’ spending. No evidence of any rort but the big numbers work into the media narrative. It’s all about taking the focus off ministers ripping us off by taking allowances they shouldn’t and making it ‘gosh, everyone spends lots huh?’. […]
English in serious trouble
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, August 6th, 2009 - 70 comments
Over at Red Alert, Trevor Mallard has posted a form that all MPs wanting an out-of-town allowance must fill out. It asks MPs to list their residential address, and asks “Is this residence the place you would normally go to when you are not on parliamentary business?’ If Bill English put down his Dipton farm […]
Unemployment hits 6%
Written By: - Date published: 11:12 am, August 6th, 2009 - 22 comments
Stats NZ has just released the unemployment figures for the June Quarter. Unemployment has hit 6%. That’s 138,000 people out of work. We’re going to need more than a cycleway to get ourselves out of this one.
John Key ‘may’ be able to understand it?
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, August 6th, 2009 - 11 comments
John Key has recently acted like a jerk to a young mother worried about what climate change is going to mean for her future and that of her child. Essentially he said that she should stick to what she knew. Bearing in mind the complete lack of understanding that both John Key and his NACT […]
Greens show the way forward
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, August 6th, 2009 - 42 comments
The Greens have presented a sensible and feasible plan to reduce our greenhouse emissions to 40% less than 1990 levels by 2020. Contrary to Nick Smith’s scaremongering, it won’t break the bank. In fact, at current carbon credit prices, they will save us money. phase out fossil fuel plants and set higher energy efficency standards. […]
Flogging our future
Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, August 6th, 2009 - 18 comments
Hot Topic has very interesting post up about how Act took a sudden interest in climate change denial after they received $100k from prominent climate change denier Alan Gibbs. As Gareth at HT points out: Hide’s repositioning coincided with a major donation to ACT by Alan Gibbs, a wealthy NZ businessman best known here for […]
The house built on sand
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, August 6th, 2009 - 26 comments
English, now known by the moniker Double Dipton, has decided to give back half the amount to has rorted so far from the taxpayer. Rather than claim the full ministers’ allowance, he’ll pocket ‘only’ $24,000 a year for living in his own family home, thank you very much. His claim that he didn’t know he could charge […]
Less work, less pay for Kiwis
Written By: - Date published: 5:00 am, August 6th, 2009 - 5 comments
Today the Household Labour Force Survey, which includes the official measure of unemployment, will be out. The headline number is expected to be around 5.6%, up from record lows below 4% just nine months ago. The HLFS has a few limitations though. It only measures the percentage of people who are ‘in the work-force’ (ie in work […]
John beats up on young Mum
Written By: - Date published: 4:27 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 89 comments
Seems John Key’s been name-dropping Kiwi film stars to business leaders in Brizzie. In today’s NZ Herald Key is quoted slamming actress Keisha Castle-Hughes for speaking out on climate change, saying that she should ‘stick to the acting’. Remember it’s just a matter of days after public consultation wrapped up over what the Government’s 2020 […]
Flippin’ Bill
Written By: - Date published: 3:39 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 122 comments
According to the Companies Office, Bill English lives at an address in Karori in Wellington. This address is publicly available on the Companies Office website as he is registered as a shareholder in Resolution Farms Limited, whose shareholders are Simon William English and Mary Agnes English. Like every other citizen who is a shareholder and […]
DL Dannevirke (I kid you not)
Written By: - Date published: 2:32 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 7 comments
The Drinking Liberally empire keeps on growing. Tomorrow there’s an event in Wellington, and Dannevirke, the newest chapter, has its first event on Saturday. I’m not sure if the people in Dannevirke have hooked into the DL Facebook organisation but it’s great they’ve got it started. They’ll have Rick Barker, Labour’s buddy MP for Wairarapa […]
One law for all?
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 46 comments
Are you? a disgraced former minister who resigned from Parliament in shame? a National MP who rents from a National minister (Judith Collins or Anne Tolley for example), claiming that expense back from the taxpayer while the minister simultaneously rents another place, again on the taxpayer’s tab? a private citizen who dares to publicly oppose […]
Why don’t they just stop ripping us off?
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, August 5th, 2009 - 26 comments
Key admits his ministers are rorting the system – exploiting the allowance not for need but just because it gives them a chance for a bit of free cash: “In some instances you’ve got ministers moving out of homes where they might otherwise stay there but the rules don’t really encourage that” So, they’re moving […]
Key: Don’t join the conversation
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, August 5th, 2009 - 72 comments
By telling Keisha Castle-Hughes she should “stick to acting” and keep out of the climate change debate, Prime Minister John Key is signalling to young New Zealanders everywhere keep out of politics. I guess he doesn’t want us to “join the conversation” after all. Speak up, get shot down. That’s the modus operandi of the […]
The lies keep coming
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, August 5th, 2009 - 15 comments
Read this: Hon Phil Goff: What analysis did Treasury do on the cost-effectiveness of the national cycleway scheme in producing jobs, and is he prepared to provide the Treasury analysis, oral and written, to members of this Parliament; if not, why not? Hon JOHN KEY: Rigorous analysis was done. Having read that, do you believe […]
DL Wellington with David Cunliffe
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, August 5th, 2009 - 1 comment
Drinking Liberally is on again in Wellington this Thursday (that’s tomorrow), with guest speaker David Cunliffe on the opposition’s inquiry into bank profiteering. When: 17:30, Thursday, August 6 Where: Southern Cross, Abel Smith St, Wellington [Hat tip: No Right Turn]
Sshhh! You’ll make the economy cry
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, August 5th, 2009 - 29 comments
John Key says we shouldn’t be talking about the number of people going on to the dole. He reckons that mentioning the fact that thousands of people are losing there jobs will cause people to lose confidence and hurt the economy. Isn’t the real problem for the economy that thousands of people are losing their jobs, […]
Worth the Bill
Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, August 5th, 2009 - 35 comments
What would you call it when you collect $900 a week by false pretenses? What would you call it when you tell the Electoral Commission and Ministerial Services that you live somewhere other than where you, your partner and your children actually live and work? And if you did those things while holding an office presumably subject […]
Field’s guilt and Farrar’s shame
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 pm, August 4th, 2009 - 128 comments
Over at Kiwiblog DPF has wet himself with excitement at the Field verdict. Sadly however, he doesn’t get two bullet points into his post before he starts lying. DPF damply reports: 13 Sep 05 PM Helen Clark says ‘the only thing of which Taito Philip Field is guilty is being helpful’. Yes the PM immediately […]
3News on National Ministers double-dipping
Written By: - Date published: 7:07 pm, August 4th, 2009 - 54 comments
3News covers the story of National Ministers double-dipping at the taxpayers’ expense. UPDATE: ‘BLiP’ has bestowed a new title on Bill English: “Sir Double Dipton”. Gold.
Taito guilty
Written By: - Date published: 6:44 pm, August 4th, 2009 - 109 comments
No surprises and a good outcome. That man betrayed everyone who ever supported and trusted him. He exemplifies how power can corrupt, something that evidently still afflicts government. Good on Clark for sacking him as a minister when the allegations first came out. Different standards back then I guess. Pity it took so long to […]
Anarcho-syndicalist peasants
Written By: - Date published: 1:46 pm, August 4th, 2009 - 4 comments
An old favourite.
Accountability then and now…
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, August 4th, 2009 - 47 comments
Then: Labour Minister David Parker accused of financial wrongdoing (filing incorrect returns). He resigns Ministerial portfolios and as Attorney General while the Companies Office investigates. Cleared of all wrongdoing (the returns were correct) and later reinstated as a Minister. Now: National Minister Richard Worth accused of financial wrongdoing (using Ministerial position to seek personal gain). […]
Section 59 and child abuse
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, August 4th, 2009 - 26 comments
Late last week households around the country received their referendum envelope that asks “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence?” Leaving aside the ambiguity and lack of clarity in that question, the lack of opinion based on fact and any semblance of common sense apart from Chicken Licken Family […]
More snouts in the trough
Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, August 4th, 2009 - 78 comments
More Nats have been exposed rorting the out of town allowance for ministers. Bludger Bill is claiming the allowance for living in his own house. The others are claiming because they felt like fancier digs. McCully, Groser, Heatley, and David Carter all own homes in Wellington but have moved out of them into more expensive […]
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