Archive for October, 2009

So what was phase one?

Written By: - Date published: 2:50 pm, October 15th, 2009 - 14 comments

Funny thing, I woke up this morning and thought to myself “what happened to the cycleway?” I was even going to put a “quick question” post up later today to see if anyone out there knew. Then just a few minutes ago a media release from Tourism New Zealand turned up in my inbox to […]

Spin-busting: ACC rises and cuts

Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, October 15th, 2009 - 38 comments

The Herald’s editorial today largely reads like it was written by Nick Smith and John Judge, so let’s use it as the basis for some spin-busting (my source is the ACC annual report unless otherwise mentioned): opponents say any change would be a prelude to privatisation. Yet all this exaggeration could not disguise the fact […]

Drinking Liberally – Auckland

Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, October 15th, 2009 - 1 comment

Drinking Liberally is returning to the London Bar for a session with Greenpeace Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid. When: 7pm WEDNESDAY 21 October Where: The London Bar, upstairs cnr Queen and Wellesley Streets, Auckland CBD Who: You and like-minded left-wingers. All welcome. What: The climate change debate is heating up. World leaders will soon gather at […]

Nick Smith plays dumb

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 15th, 2009 - 14 comments

Answering the question you wish you were asked rather than the one you were is a common PR tactic (to a point) when speaking to the media. Watching a cabinet minister try the same trick in parliament really starts to unveil this government’s contempt for democracy (though this example is perhaps not quite as bad […]

The Independent on National’s ACC agenda

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, October 15th, 2009 - 5 comments

Very good editorial on ACC in The Independent today. The article’s offline, but it’s quite clear about why the Government is trying to manufacture a crisis over the financial position of ACC: ACC currently collects sufficient levies to meet each year’s claims – it has levy revenue of $4.1b in the 2009 June year, compared […]

One law for all?

Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, October 15th, 2009 - 10 comments

Over on g.blog, toad has noticed something: If you or I steal money, it is theft. We get taken to court, and get fined or go to prison. When MPs do it, it is an ‘accounting error‘. When Cabinet Ministers do it, it is ‘not a good look‘. And when banks do it, it is […]

Parliament pay dispute just the start

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, October 15th, 2009 - 9 comments

Non-political staff Parliamentary Service are in industrial action. They want to keep their redundancy provisions that were bargained for years ago and get pay into the collective. Right now HR decides their wages. They’re meant use this performance pay system but now they’re saying there’s no money and no cost of living adjustments. The pay […]

Do you want a republic?

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, October 15th, 2009 - 38 comments

Republicanism is a funny issue. Politicians tend to agree that it is inevitable that “at some point” NZ will become a republic, but no one is prepared to take the job on. Well, fate has tilted the table. Yesterday Keith Locke’s bill was drawn from the member’s ballot. The bill sets out a two-step referendum […]

Open mike 15/10/09

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 15th, 2009 - 28 comments

We’re trying a daily “Open mike”. This is a place for anyone to post comments on topics that might be of interest, and for any discussion following up on the comments. Over to you…

What a balls-up

Written By: - Date published: 12:38 am, October 15th, 2009 - 22 comments

Competent government’s a bit like oil in your car’s engine. It’s easy to take it for granted – until it’s not there. Look at the mess this bunch have made of a simple broadcasting rights deal. We’re going to have the six major games live on four channels, three of them free-to-air. Isn’t that just […]

Why did you switch to National?

Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, October 14th, 2009 - 133 comments

Down in the comments long time contributor gobsmacked wrote: I have never seen a post on here saying ‘The left parties want the voters who switched to National last time. They aren’t idiots. But we lost them. Let’s find out why.’ That’s step one. I live in hope. Happy to oblige! Gentle reader, if you […]

Derek Fox on Rugby World Cup

Written By: - Date published: 3:01 pm, October 14th, 2009 - 28 comments

Up until a few hours ago Derek Fox was the Chief Press Sec for the Co-leaders of the Maori Party. He resigned from that position this morning, evidently deeply dissatisfied. Shortly after resigning he gave an interview on 9 to noon – scathing of the World Cup bid (embedded below).

March against ACC cuts

Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, October 14th, 2009 - 5 comments

From October 27th, survivors of sexual violence will only be eligible for ACC funded counselling if they are first diagnosed with a mental illness. Firstly, you don’t need to have a mental illness to need a few counselling sessions after going through a traumatic and disempowering experience. Why should a survivor miss out on services […]

Poor managers hurting NZ

Written By: - Date published: 1:23 pm, October 14th, 2009 - 22 comments

What a sad state the management workforce of this country is in. Just think about these recent stories: Open Country, locking out their workers, employing scab labour, creating an environmental mess and blaming it on the workers they locked out – all because the workers joined the union and wanted some guaranteed hours. The appalling way that […]

March for action on climate change

Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, October 14th, 2009 - 12 comments

Let’s have a good turn out. Incidentally, with 1,700 workers at Justice joining 140 of their Parliamentary Service comrades in industrial action as they try to win a meager cost of living pay adjustment, and more departments soon to join them, Parliament’s front lawn could be a busy place in the weeks to come. Strange […]

The fighting fourth estate

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, October 14th, 2009 - 4 comments

The Herald can be bad, but it’s not yet a patch on Fox News. From The Guardian: “What a bunch of warmongers we have in the White House. America is fighting the war in Iraq, they’re fighting in Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaida, the Taliban. And now these people have taken on another enemy: Fox […]

Infratil and NZ Bus – pay up.

Written By: - Date published: 11:46 am, October 14th, 2009 - 15 comments

Day 7 of the bus strike by Infratil The idiotic employers at NZ Bus owned by Infratil have dragged their lockout into a 7th day of disrupting Auckland’s commuters. Yesterday they repackaged some of their old proposals and tried to make it look like something new. What the grasping employers want is for the drivers […]

National’s subsidies for polluters to cost $73 billion

Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, October 14th, 2009 - 6 comments

A newly released government paper shows that by 2050 government debt will be $54-$73 billion higher than it otherwise would be due to National’s subsidies for carbon polluters. According to the paper: Treasury has modelled these costs [the free allocations to polluters] and, while the model has limitations, they estimate that, if a 1.3% phase […]

The PSA-SFWU non-merger

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, October 14th, 2009 - 2 comments

Farrar’s published what he calls an ‘internal union email’ about the PSA and the SFWU’s decision not to amalgamate. Considering it was sent out to 70,000 people more than a week ago I wouldn’t get too excited. The amalgamation talks always struck me as an odd idea. The organising cultures and the membership profiles of […]

Sausages with Darby

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, October 14th, 2009 - 6 comments

Fool me once…

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, October 14th, 2009 - 50 comments

They say pattern recognition is a vital part of healthy cognitive function. I wonder it Sharples sees this one: Every time an issue the Maori Party cares deeply about comes up, Key makes soothing noises. Promises they’ll get what they want. Then when crunch time comes, he screws them. Fire at Will Bill – Maori […]

Open mike 14/10/09

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 14th, 2009 - 17 comments

We’re trying a daily “Open mike”. This is a place for anyone to post comments on topics that might be of interest, and for any discussion following up on the comments. Over to you…

Oldest trick in the book

Written By: - Date published: 5:49 am, October 14th, 2009 - 7 comments

How do you get someone to change their mind about something they like? Simple, find one negative element to it (nothing is perfect) and blow it into a major issue. Nick Smith knows how to do this, he’s built a career on it. Now, he’s trying to make compensation payments to criminals the issue in […]

NZ Bus spins as 5pm deadline passes

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 3 comments

The front page leads on Herald and Stuff report: NZ Bus will lift its lockout notice and resume services on Thursday morning “as a gesture of good will”, if the unions stop strike action and agree to reach a settlement, the company says. I do despair about our media sometimes. This is not a new offer. […]

Beyond parody

Written By: - Date published: 5:05 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 13 comments

I was joking when I said all we need now is for Sharples to up the ante in the government vs government bidding war, but this government is truly beyond parody. “Just before heading into the House today Mr Sharples talked to reporters, and was clearly furious and openly critical of National. He called what […]

Infratil are pissing into the wind

Written By: - Date published: 4:58 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 7 comments

Day 6 of Infratil’s strike Brian Rudman had a column yesterday that clearly articulated how Aucklanders view the bus strike by Infratil management at NZ Bus. Only a few days ago, my bus had to take an unscheduled stop outside the public toilets in Victoria Park. The driver locked his money box then made the […]

Labour drops the ball

Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 79 comments

Labour’s pathetic response to Treasury’s flat tax proposal has come in for some well deserved criticism over at No Right Turn, and I have to agree it’s a pretty basic failure on Labour’s part. Faced with a reactionary and regressive proposal that amounts to a full-frontal attack on their founding values and the people they […]

Rewinding Fast Forward

Written By: - Date published: 3:32 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 2 comments

One of the snippets announced while John Key was over performing for Letterman recently was a call for action on research into emissions: NZ pushes for Global Alliance on agricultural emissions Prime Minister John Key says the New Zealand Government is pushing for a Global Alliance to research how to cut world-wide greenhouse gas emissions […]

Flat tax: works for Lithuania and Albania, eh?

Written By: - Date published: 1:33 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 34 comments

Predictably, the ideological vanguardists at Treasury are rolling out the flat tax argument again. For some unknown reason Radio NZ hasn’t published the Treasury papers they obtained under the OIA but the idea this time seems to be to use the money raised from higher GST, capital gains tax, land tax, changes to tax treatment […]

Beyond belief

Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 23 comments

So, let me get this straight. Pita Sharples, treating his ministry’s budget like a personal slush fund, decided that TPK would give Maori TV $3 million to add to its bid for free-to-air TV rights for the Rugby World Cup. That extra $3 mil made Maori TV the front-runner to get the rights. Now, the […]

Toad asks: Who paid for what, Nick?

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 13th, 2009 - 1 comment

Following my post yesterday, toad on g.blog raises some questions about Nick Smith’s expense claims: In the Dompost article, Nick Smith said “I had to spend $152,000 to make [his electoral office, which he owns] usable I don’t dispute that. But who paid the $152,000? Was it Smith personally? Or was at least some of it from a […]