national/act government

Categories under national/act government

Why won’t Key sack his Minister?

Written By: - Date published: 10:02 pm, April 6th, 2009 - 23 comments

The Herald is now reporting that John Key won’t sack Richard Worth, despite new information coming to light that an associated company to WSD Global (in which Worth was director while a Minister) was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office: Mr Key said today he had spoken to Dr Worth on Saturday. “I believe he […]

Ominous Trickles before the Flood

Written By: - Date published: 5:35 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 13 comments

The attack on democratic local government is taking shape in the public domain. 1. Hide was not made the Minister of Local Govt for nothing. Radical changes are planned and National chose an ACT Party frontman to deflect public reaction. The Bill about to be introduced, and likely passed, to ‘cap rates at the rate […]

How much is a lie worth?

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, April 2nd, 2009 - 29 comments

Labour revealed in parliament today that Richard Worth has another secret shareholding that created conflict of interest when he carried out ministerial duties on his trip to India. After Key gave him the famous ‘bollocking’ on Monday, Worth can have been under no illusion that there wasn’t a conflict of interest with these shares. He had repeated opportunities […]

Mayday Mayday, Worth’s bought it and I’m losing altitude – Groser out

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, April 1st, 2009 - 36 comments

Richard Worth, OBE, is now in very serious trouble having been snared in what looks like untruths about using his Ministerial portfolio to further the interests of a company he had a private commercial interest in. It’s pretty blatant and really Key won’t be able to get away with keeping him on for much longer. […]

National dumps worker reps from ACC board

Written By: - Date published: 5:49 pm, March 31st, 2009 - 13 comments

Nick Smith announced National’s changes to the ACC board this afternoon. As expected they’ve kicked Wayne Butson and Ross Wilson off the board, meaning ACC no longer has any worker representation. In their place are a mixed bag of company directors and consultants headed by an affiliate member of the Business Roundtable. This isn’t just […]

“Corrupt!”

Written By: - Date published: 4:19 pm, March 30th, 2009 - 62 comments

National rode to power off the back of years of rhetoric accusing the last Labour government of corruption. Who can forget the screams from the Nats? – “Corrupt! Corrupt! Corrupt!” they cried. The boys in blue were going to deliver us a new era of transparency and accountable government. Interesting then to see a report […]

A healthy dose of reality on prisons

Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, March 30th, 2009 - 10 comments

Peter Williams QC was on Breakfast this morning giving a refreshingly frank assessment of the problems with our prison and justice systems – specifically how *not* to solve them: Our prisons are a complete and absolute disgrace but they’re not going to be helped by privatisiation. Worth watching.

Tax cuts for some

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, March 29th, 2009 - 47 comments

The Weekend Herald’s front page proclaims ‘$2 billion more in the pocket“. The article goes on to say “the average worker will get $15.66 a week”. But who is this ‘average worker’? The Herald has used the average wage, which is $47,500 a year, but that’s not what the typical employed person earns because the […]

Take responsibility or take the blame

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, March 27th, 2009 - 11 comments

As Minister of Works responding to a disaster in his portfolio, Bob Semple famously said ‘I am responsible but not to blame’. That has become one of our political mores. If they are not personally at fault, ministers shouldn’t have to take the blame when things go wrong but they are responsible for dealing with the […]

Blindly cutting away

Written By: - Date published: 2:08 pm, March 26th, 2009 - 23 comments

One of the most cavalier and foolish actions of the National led government during its first 100 day blitz of legislation (in itself described by many as an assault on democracy) was the cancellation of the R&D tax credit. The business community warned well in advance that cutting the credit was a very bad idea, […]

Mission-On off

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, March 26th, 2009 - 21 comments

If the definition of PC is doing things because they fit an ideology, not because they make sense, then it’s clear National and ACT are pushing their own PC agenda. It’s out with successful and value-for-money programs like Mission-On. For a small cost now in helping kids develop healthy eating habits we will save ourselves […]

Sinking shipping is stupid

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, March 26th, 2009 - 10 comments

Toad’s post on coastal shipping deserves re-posting: Coastal shipping is the most energy efficient means of moving freight. A ship consumes 75 – 80 percent less fuel than a truck per tonne hauled. It’s just got to be the way to go. The United States finally seems to be seeing this. A Bill before the […]

Douglas gets it

Written By: - Date published: 2:16 pm, March 25th, 2009 - 15 comments

Roger Douglas in a press release today: National’s goal of a top personal, company and trustee tax rate of 30 cents in the dollar is laudable – but it must remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch, ACT New Zealand Finance Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas said today. “It is pointless setting […]

The government gets a headline, we get potholes

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, March 25th, 2009 - 9 comments

No Right Turn puts the farce of the governments spin into perspective in Public relations replaces policy II. I’m just going to quote it… Earlier in the month the government announced that they were spending $1 billion on state highways. It was apparent from the original press release that this was purely an exercise in […]

Pinch me

Written By: - Date published: 11:54 am, March 24th, 2009 - 17 comments

A cyclist and Standard reader writes: Pinch me. Maybe I’ll wake up in a world where a cycleway isn’t the government’s flagship idea for getting us out of the recession. You’ve got three more years of this mate.

Stunning

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, March 24th, 2009 - 42 comments

This is just stunning: Mr Key was yesterday questioned about an employment situation where a person was offered a job paying $40,000 a year and told that the fourth week of leave would have to be included in this or the job would go to the “next in line”. He said this would not happen […]

Gustafson on National’s strategy

Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, March 23rd, 2009 - 7 comments

Not many people know more about the National Party than Barry Gustafson, so I found it interesting to read his take on the Nats’ ‘softening up’ strategy in the Sunday Star Times [offline*]: A new govenment tries to “discredit things that you know you are going to change or try to change in the future. […]

Three strikes and you’re garrotted

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, March 23rd, 2009 - 16 comments

The Toad’s ‘interview’ with ACT’s David Garrett is so good we had to steal it. Like all good parody, it’s easy to believe it could be real. An interview with ACT Party Law and Order spokesperson David Garrotte Toad: David, for many people, you first came to public attention when you appeared drunk on Eye […]

More on the Commerce Commission

Written By: - Date published: 6:55 pm, March 21st, 2009 - 14 comments

On Thursday I linked to a piece in the NBR that suggested Simon Power’s appointment of Dr Mark Berry to replace Paula Rebstock at the Commerce Commission hinted at a radical shakeup of the consumer watchdog. Today John Drinnan has an in-depth piece in the Herald that suggests radical reform is indeed on the way, […]

Redistributing the wealth

Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, March 20th, 2009 - 104 comments

In a speech to the International Fiscal Association Conference today, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said the Government’s goal over the next 18 months is to start moving towards a top personal tax rate of 30%. This would be a whopping 9% cut from the current top tax rate, almost exclusively going to the rich, and […]

Out of her depth

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, March 20th, 2009 - 41 comments

Paula Bennett’s performance on Morning Report today didn’t just bring home how completely out of her depth she is as a Minister, it also exposed the limits of National’s strategy of government-by-PR. If you haven’t heard the interview yet, download it now. You won’t be disappointed. What’s clearly happened here is Bennett was sent into […]

Four wheels good, two wheels bad

Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, March 20th, 2009 - 34 comments

The Government is taking nearly half a billion dollars out of public transport, cycling, walking, road maintance, and traffic policing to pay for more state highways. Transport Minister Steven Joyce’s reasoning for this – ‘86% of people go to work by car’. Doesn’t he get that people have to go by car because there aren’t […]

Fox in the henhouse

Written By: - Date published: 5:06 pm, March 19th, 2009 - 19 comments

The National Business Review has an interesting article online that suggests Simon Power’s recommendation of Dr Mark Berry to take over from Paula Rebstock as chair of the Commerce Commission is a sign the government is planning a radical deregulation of the competition landscape. The piece even goes as far as to describe Dr Berry […]

Key on wages

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 pm, March 18th, 2009 - 93 comments

Key’s speech to the CTU today showed an interesting inight into how he thinks you lift wages. NZPA reports: He said it was not good enough for New Zealand to be in the bottom third of the OECD for per-capita incomes, but was cautious about tackling the issue by lifting minimum wage rates. “In reality, […]

National’s cargo cult mentality

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, March 18th, 2009 - 32 comments

Over the weekend I pointed out that National’s plans to review the Overseas Investment Act would lead to even more foreign control of New Zealand and, ultimately, even more of our national wealth sucked offshore to pay the dividends of overseas shareholders. Murray Horton from the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa weighs in today, […]

Jonathan Coleman on TVNZ

Written By: - Date published: 1:20 pm, March 17th, 2009 - 42 comments

Jonathan Coleman on TVNZ. Parliament, 10 May 2007. Dr Jonathan Coleman When the Minister says that the Government is committed to the core objective of building national identity and will do so through television, does he not realise that New Zealanders do not want to be told by the Government what their identity is, and […]

Starving the beast

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, March 17th, 2009 - 60 comments

Before the election National promised that the public service would be capped, not cut. That promise was betrayed a long time ago, but what hasn’t been known up til now is the extent to which they are cutting it. You’ll recall a month back Consumer Affairs Minister Heather Roy let slip that across-the-board cuts of […]

Espiner on National’s use of the crisis

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 pm, March 16th, 2009 - 29 comments

Sadly, I couldn’t find Colin Espiner’s excellent piece in The Press today online. It’s good. Colin’s thoughtful observations derail the government’s PR spin about That Nice Man Mr Key and his commonsense centrist approach. He wonders whether the National government is taking advantage of the economic crisis to push through hard-right reforms Kiwis didn’t vote […]

National’s blitzkrieg

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, March 16th, 2009 - 43 comments

The government’s first hundred days are up and they’ve decided that this signals the start to a multi-pronged political offensive. They are now moving rapidly to make a slew of legislative and policy changes that were either not announced or mentioned only briefly before the election. The Herald has noticed too, writing: “the Key Government […]

A fairer 9 day fortnight

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, March 15th, 2009 - 5 comments

National’s 9-day fortnight will save only 2-3% of the jobs that are expected to be lost in the recession. It’s a trifling investment of only $20 million. It makes no effort to get workers into training. But the deep, dark secret is it is geared to the gain of business, not working people. Here’s the […]

National to increase foreign ownership

Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, March 14th, 2009 - 39 comments

Newstalk ZB reports: The Prime Minister is keen to open the door to foreign investors. In a speech to the Act Party conference today, John Key said a review of the Overseas Investment Act will be announced by Finance Minister Bill English next week. The review aims to create an overseas investment screening regime that […]

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