national/act government

Categories under national/act government

honeymoon (4)

Apologists

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 29th, 2009 - 58 comments

Picture this: Anchor “and now we go live to whatsherface outside the High Court in Christchurch to tell us the latest in the Weatherston trial” Whatsherface “the prosecution is saying that Weatherston committed a grave breach of the Crimes Act but, look, I know of this other guy who killed someone and he was never […]

Nick Smith lying with numbers.

Written By: lprent - Date published: 11:55 am, July 29th, 2009 - 12 comments

Nick Smith is the front-man for this government on climate change, and it appears that he knows absolutely nothing about the numbers. The ones he has been using are not related to his claims. It is puzzling because he was an engineer who are usually accurate users of numbers. It is more likely he is […]

Coverage round-up: Bully Bennett

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:22 am, July 29th, 2009 - 71 comments

Sean Plunkett: Being vocal in a democracy shouldn’t mean you lose your rights and protections under the law. Tracey Watkins: “The Privacy Commissioner advises that ministers can release information about an individual who has criticised a department but only that which is “relevant to the issues raised by the individual”. I would take that to […]

Beware of unbridled government

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 6:53 am, July 29th, 2009 - 33 comments

‘Beware’ that was Mary Wilson’s conclusion to her interview with Paula Bennett yesterday. The audio is here: Beware of Bully Bennett – Beware that if you voice any opposition to a government policy and the minister decides it has been going on too long or it’s too damaging, they will release confidental information on you. – […]

Privacy Commission guidelines

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 3:32 pm, July 28th, 2009 - 121 comments

Paula Bennett is trying, unsuccessfully, to dig herself out of her hole by arguing that the Privacy Commissioner’s website said the solo mums she’s bullied had given “implied consent” for their personal financial details to be released in the media. Actually, Paula, that’s not the case at all. In fact, the Privacy Commission’s checklist for […]

Bennett must resign

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 1:06 pm, July 28th, 2009 - 132 comments

I’m no expert in these things but Paula “bully” Bennett appears to have put herself in breach of the cabinet manual by disclosing private information about her critics’ personal finances for her own political gain. Cabinet Manual p 117: 8.60 The disclosure of information about an individual by Ministers is governed by both the Official […]

Productive editorial

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:40 am, July 27th, 2009 - 29 comments

Interesting editorial on National’s new Productivity Taskforce in Saturday’s Herald. Australia’s Productivity Commission (independent, highly successful, and enjoying cross-party support) could have served as a good model, but: That possibility was ditched with the appointment of Dr Brash, whose excellent credentials as a former Reserve Bank Governor are compromised by his political partisanship. This will […]

More cycleway spin

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:35 am, July 27th, 2009 - 19 comments

[At the outset of this, let me restate, once again, I’m all for cycleways. Indeed, I wish the Key government hadn’t cut millions from urban cycling in the Budget. What I object to is the overhyping of a few possible cycleways as if they constitute some kind of economic recovery plan] Key has identified seven […]

Same old failed ideas

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:50 pm, July 22nd, 2009 - 27 comments

The Government’s 2025 ‘productivity’ taskforce led by Don Brash will almost certainly come up with all the same old failed ideas that got us here in the first place. Expect a variation on the following themes: Scrap the minimum wage Privatise public assets Cut taxes for the rich Slash the public sector Deregulate, deregulate, deregulate […]

Matariki Public Holiday?

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 2:20 pm, July 22nd, 2009 - 17 comments

The Maori Party’s Matariki Day Bill was pulled in the ballot. Man, a public holiday in the middle of winter. Currently it’s one long drag from Queens Birthday to Labour Weekend. Will the Tories vote against a public holiday in the middle of winter and, once again, oppose the goals of the Maori Party? We’ll […]

Gordon Campbell on Treasury and the resurrection of Brash

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:33 pm, July 22nd, 2009 - 12 comments

Gordon Campbell has a great piece over at Scoop about Treasury’s latest ideological outburst and the resurrection of Don Brash. He points out the futility of choosing a man who played a large role in creating our wage gap with Australia in the first place to head a commission designed to close it: Brash wants […]

Flag it, more important things to do

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:00 pm, July 21st, 2009 - 15 comments

I’m just trying to understand this Maori flag thing. The Crown (in the guise of Minister Pita Sharples) has decided that Maori will only get to choose from four designs – the United Tribes (or Busby) flag, the Tino Ringatiratanga flag, the New Zealand Ensign, and the New Zealand flag. The last two are just […]

Plenty of pixie dust for the cycleway

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:11 pm, July 21st, 2009 - 39 comments

John Key says there are “no pixies printing cash” to help Kiwis who’ve lost their jobs under his government’s watch. Funny, because there’s plenty of pixie dust for Key’s cycleway. Pixie dust is in no short supply to subsidise Key’s rich mates who want to send their kids to elitist private schools. And there’s buckets […]

Recession’s ‘rough edges’ hit families – no help from govt

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 4:20 pm, July 20th, 2009 - 48 comments

Labour leader Phil Goff has called for a temporary relaxation of the rules for getting the dole. Too many Kiwis on low and middle incomes are losing their jobs but are not able to get any assistance from the Government (despite having paid taxes for years) because their partner has a modest income. John Key […]

The Salesman

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:20 pm, July 20th, 2009 - 12 comments

One of the stories from John Key’s days as a currency trader is that he was always more of a salesman than an analyst. He wasn’t good at picking markets and investments; he was good at getting people to trust him with their money. He got New Zealanders to put their trust in him too […]

Key grins blankly, shrugs shoulders

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:00 am, July 15th, 2009 - 42 comments

I was going to do a fisking of Key’s ‘major speech‘ today. But there’s nothing to fisk, no substance, no ideas, no vision. There’s just endless recycling of the same old Crosby-Textor lines and waffle. In fact, there’s one section that is just a bunch of rehashed lines – one after the other. You get […]

We can haz vision?

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 3:30 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 31 comments

According to NZPA John Key is going to deliver a big speech tomorrow in which he will “detail the problems and solutions for New Zealand’s economy”. I’m not holding my breath. As I said two weeks ago when he indicated he would announce a plan to stop job losses (he still hasn’t, perhaps this will […]

Folic acid fiasco

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 2:00 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 30 comments

I just don’t see why medicating an entire population to prevent a handful of spina bifida cases, which will only work if women eat far more bread than they do, is a good idea. It’s such a grossly untargeted and unsophisticated approach. Saying ‘well many women don’t get enough folic acid and many pregnancies are […]

Nats can NOHSAC

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:00 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 7 comments

One of the most fundamental rights at work is the right to come home at the end of the day healthy and safe. Now that work right, like so many others, has come under attack from National. NOHSAC, the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee, was set up by Margaret Wilson in 2003 to […]

Big Mac nation

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:00 pm, July 13th, 2009 - 99 comments

New Zealanders are now the third fattest nation in the world according to a report covered in today’s Christchurch Press. New Zealand faces a healthcare time-bomb as a new report ranks the country once touted for its outdoorsy, fit population as the third-fattest nation after Mexico and the United States. Health authorities fear disease and […]

Toast

Written By: the sprout - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 12th, 2009 - 34 comments

What a horrifying sight today’s Q+A interview with Minister of Food Safety Kate Wilkinson made. It was a shameful performance from a media point of view, with Wilkinson looking ineffectual, implausible and well out of her depth. But from a political point of view it was gobsmacking. Wilkinson enthusiastically admitted that she didn’t agree with new […]

Good news for care workers

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:30 pm, July 10th, 2009 - 8 comments

It’s good news that carers for people with intellectual disabilities are getting more recognition. A court decision has found that sleep-over shifts are work and, so, workers need to be paid at least the minimum wage for the whole shift, not just when they have to get up to assist the person. Apparently, that will […]

‘Frontline’ cut for phantom savings

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:00 pm, July 8th, 2009 - 9 comments

MAF Biosecurity is set to cut 60 jobs – 30 of them filled. It claims the fall in imports means it’s over budget and doesn’t need so many staff. I’ve got a few problems with that. Let’s assume these 30 workers about to get the sack are on the average wage ($48,000). The savings from […]

Privatising the high country

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:30 pm, July 8th, 2009 - 29 comments

According to Forest and Bird, John Key’s government has found a nice quiet way of hocking off New Zealand’s most prized assets to wealthy private interests. National has indicated radical changes to tenure review – that’s the process South Island high country leaseholders can use to privatise parts of the farm in exchange for returning […]

Fran pumping Brash for productivity taskforce

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:34 am, July 8th, 2009 - 18 comments

A few weeks ago the NZPA reported that the Government had agreed to establish a taskforce to “work on ways to close the productivity gap between Australia and New Zealand”. The taskforce would be selected by ACT leader Rodney Hide and would be announced within the month. The story then sank without a trace. So […]

OIA confirms: No reason to cut Cullen Fund contributions

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:02 pm, July 6th, 2009 - 72 comments

Well, we told you so. The Nats lied for weeks that a credit rating downgrade would be imposed on us if we didn’t cut contributions to the SuperFund. We didn’t fall for that for a minute. Even before the Budget, we pointed out that, except for the extraordinary conditions of the last two years, managed […]

Abandoning a winner

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 1:37 pm, July 3rd, 2009 - 12 comments

Government’s put out this press release: “Finance Minister Bill English has welcomed news that the Budget operating deficit of $7.2 billion for the 11 months to May 31 is lower than the forecast $8.4 billion… Most of the $1.2 billion variance was due to higher-than-forecast investment gains by the NZ Superannuation Fund and ACC” Yup, […]

Elucidate

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:15 am, July 3rd, 2009 - 28 comments

The woman has dropped her criminal complaint over Worth. Says she is satisfied now the scumbag has lost his career. Police are expected to drop the investigation. Now, can we (pretty please) know why a minister in our government lost his job? Can Key, just for a day, pretend to give a damn about transparency […]

Bill sez: ‘pay cuts for youse’

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:20 am, July 3rd, 2009 - 91 comments

Yesterday in Question Time, Bill English sent a message loud and clear to teachers, police, doctors, nurses, and all other public servants (‘frontline’ or not): under National, you’ll be getting pay-cuts, don’t expect cost of living adjustments, watch as your pay-packet buys less and less. Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Government has stated a number of […]

Excuses excuses

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:20 am, July 2nd, 2009 - 15 comments

First, it was ‘we’re going to do everything we can to keep Kiwis in jobs’ Next, it was ‘yeah, OK, we haven’t done anything significant to keep people in jobs (we borrowed a couple of small programmes from the Greens and the unions, though) but who cares? Look, other countries have more unemployed, so, um, […]

Nats attack workers’ right to protest

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:59 am, July 1st, 2009 - 55 comments

I am outraged to learn that the Department of Labour told its employees they were not allowed attend the pay equity rally at Parliament yesterday. A leaked email from the department to its staff said: “Attendance at such a demonstration may well be perceived as crossing the line by criticising a decision of the Government. […]