Daily Review 28/08/2017

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, August 28th, 2017 - 56 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

56 comments on “Daily Review 28/08/2017 ”

  1. Ed 1

    Little.
    Turei.
    Peters.

    3 political scandals?
    or 3 political hit jobs by anti democratic forces in this country?

    If it looks like a duck , if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it is a duck.
    Dirty politics.

    “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”
    Ian Fleming

    • Would you rather have little back there?

      • Ed 1.2.1

        No.
        I don’t think the saboteurs expected Little to resign and then Labour to bounce as they did.
        Rather they expected to strangle Labour.

        • marty mars 1.2.1.1

          Looks all self actuated to me. Hardly scandals and they are helping the left especially when boring bill is opposite. Everything is going well ed no need imo to get too worked up – we are well on the way. Of course there may be some on the left who aren’t convinced of the purity of the parties but that is always the case hopefully the nit picking will subside and onwards to victory.

    • tracey 1.3

      Tracy Watkins suggests the following knew this was coming:

      Peter Dunne (Revenue Minister who hasnt announced an invrstigation of the leak)
      David Seymour
      Taxpayers Union

      Strangely she doesnt think who leaked is important. Actually Tracy that may be the only thing that matters in this.

      • Ed 1.3.1

        Trotter.

        ‘How strange it is that, at the time of writing, only Jordan Williams from The Taxpayers’ Union, has felt moved to observe: “Winston Peters has either been the victim of a political hit-job, or there is a serious flaw with the Ministry of Social Development’s systems which saw Mr Peters accidentally overpaid”. Clearly, Mr Jordan recognises “dirty politics” when he sees it – so why can’t this country’s leading political journalists?’

        • tracey 1.3.1.1

          But doesnt reveal how he knew in advance. Mr Williams, imo, is duplicitous he could well be saying this to make it seem he wasnt involved.

      • Craig H 1.3.2

        Dunne isn’t the Revenue Minister currently, Collins is.

    • tracey 1.4

      Er didnt Turei make a public announcement as a Green strategy?

    • Wayne 1.5

      Little did himself. And it seems Labour is more than pleased with his decision.

    • James 1.6

      Yeah the nats travelled back in time and made Turei commit benefit fraud and then came back and wrote it into her speach without her knowing.

      They are responsible for their own scandals.

      • WILD KATIPO 1.6.1

        Scandals?… scandals did someone say ?

        Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal …
        Video for Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal)▶ 16:11

      • James – we’ve been through this before with you – they are responsible for their actions – the scandals are the result of the behaviour of others; journalists, political enemies, troll and sycophants, righteous citizens and so on. Please don’t make me write you off as unteachable.

    • repateet 1.7

      Things have been quiet on the Paula Bennett front.

  2. Union city greens 2

    “Majority of Kiwis back water tax even if they face higher costs, new poll shows”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11912604

    A good policy win for the greens and labour.
    Got to be going down better than one hour a week second language classes.

    “National’s second language guarantee based on one hour of learning a week”

    http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/national-s-second-language-guarantee-based-on-one-hour-of-learning-a-week.html

    • tracey 2.1

      Yes. Even in Canterbury the number in facour is about 65%

      • Union city greens 2.1.1

        And pretty even across all age groups

        • tracey 2.1.1.1

          Lowest seemed to be below 30?

          • Union city greens 2.1.1.1.1

            Because water comes from the supermarket in a plastic bottle with a sipper top. Heh

            Margin of error stuff, though, but yeah, I found that a bit odd/disappointing.

      • Indications are that ECan was canned because National was afraid that democracy would give what the people wanted and not what the farmers wanted:

        By April 2010, however, Carter’s view had changed completely, threatening all regional councils at the Irrigation NZ Conference: “We had to act [re ECan] because the situation was untenable if we are to seriously make progress in delivering this irrigation. I would have thought what happened recently [re ECan] would be a signal to all regional councillors to work a bit more constructively with their farmer stakeholders.”

        Irrigation for farmers now took precedence over winning urban support. Democratic ECan was in the way and population trends would inevitably give urban representatives increasing influence over natural resources policy.

        It was, essentially, legalised theft of our resources.

        So, yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised that most Cantabrians are in support water charges for commercial users.

    • JC 2.2

      https://www.odt.co.nz/news/election-2017/majority-kiwis-back-water-tax-poll

      “It is lowest in Canterbury, which would bear the brunt of any price on freshwater because the farming industry is heavily dependent on irrigation.

      But Cantabrians are still strongly in favour of the initiative, with 68% saying they would back it.

      A charge on freshwater is most popular among older voters, with nearly three in four people over 60 saying they supported it”.

      Bring it on!

  3. “Besides all this, English also used his position to try and foist anti-abortion propaganda on the public. A practising Catholic, English told attendees at a pro-life function at the close of 1997 that he would look at cutting the funding to doctors certified to assess women for abortions, and redirect what he called the “wasted money” toward supporting women to keep the children or consider adoption.115 Documents obtained by the Auckland Women’s Health Council showed that English later went against the advice of his own ministry and ordered the reinsertion into a pamphlet on abortions of information about foetal development, photographs of foetuses at various stages, and a list of possible negative side effects of abortion, such as a higher risk of miscarriages, premature birth and breast cancer.”

    http://werewolf.co.nz/2017/08/bill-english-the-forgotten-history/

    • weka 3.1

      Pretty sure that his wife ran SPUC in Gore for a long time too. Pre-internet so I couldn’t find anything online when I looked recently.

    • Even if he had done that he would have still put in place the punitive measures for solo parents that he and National have done in this term of government. Conservatives seem to moan about abortion and demand that it be illegal but then refuse to support the kids.

    • Ian 3.3

      20 years ago. It is now easier for a woman to have an abortion than a cow .

    • JBS 3.4

      That article is one of the better ones Gordon has written lately and well worth reading to refresh long forgotten actions/inactions by those still in power. WTF. How is this possIble?

    • ianmac 3.5

      Just read the forgotten history Robert. And he is still today to relying on “Market Forces as the panacea.

      “As head of CHE, he defended and advanced National’s free market healthcare reforms……”

      “…More importantly, English oversaw the continued deterioration of New Zealand’s health system — avoiding action on several slowly unfolding impending health crises and attempting to paper over the way National’s reforms contributed to them. Perhaps most alarmingly, English largely ignored a deepening mental health crisis, despite widespread public demand, an issue that continues to haunt the country today.”

      Remember when English set out to destroy the free Health system in the 90s so that privatisation would be a justified takeover. And today….

      http://werewolf.co.nz/2017/08/bill-english-the-forgotten-history/

      • WILD KATIPO 3.5.1

        I certainly recall that other import from England called Harold Titter ,- they used him as the hatchet man . The cheek of it… bringing some prick over here and paying him tens of thousands of OUR TAX DOLLARS in consultancy fees to dismantle OUR HEALTH SYSTEM.

        The amazing thing is they never ended up rotting in our jails for treason.

        Too bloody gullible and naive we are in this country.

  4. Bearded Git 4

    Steve Braunias, brilliant as ever, writing (as Gemini) on the end of National:

    “Gemini, the intuitive political hack, thought that he had intuited the end of something. National’s campaign launch felt like the last sigh of a Tory government; and when English and his team of MPs left the stage, they were piped off by the campaign theme song, that sad country lament. Its lonesome steel guitars spoke of the wide empty spaces of defeat. Its clip-clop bass was the sound of a broken old horse heading for the catfood factory… National down on its luck, smiling through tears, hanging on, finding new curtains for sick children, stuck in Henderson, and the last sound the National faithful heard as they left the Trusts Stadium in the Sunday rain was that dreary theme song, that wistful dirge.”

    The article is here (a must-read):

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11912547

  5. Muttonbird 5

    Quality election ad this. Hopeful, forward-looking, high production value, unpretentious, and a clear message.

    https://youtu.be/ETiEhLyvBoU

  6. teoranga2013 / August 28, 2017
    “I always look at where New Zealand is being taken and compare that to the aspirations our forefathers had when they first came to New Zealand to “build a better” place than the one they had left behind.
    When I see a government handing over a New Zealand passport to someone who has not met the criteria of immigration and who just happens to be very rich, I know that government is corrupt.
    When I see a government that allows and encourages, with irrigation schemes, the intensification of farming on land unsuitable for that purpose simply because of the white gold return it brings into the country, I know that that government does not understand the need to hold our country in perpetual production; I know that they are sacrificing the long term goal for the short-term gain.
    When I see friends having to endlessly challenge, bad government department decisions through systems of endless sham reviews and I see the process defeat them financially and physiologically I know this country is no longer a country that knows “it’s job is to be fair.”
    When I see New Zealanders impoverished because their jobs have gone to those who come into our country, work the season on low wages then go home to their third world countries “rich” men, or when I see our people unsatisfactorily housed ,and even on the streets, because far too many people have been allowed to flood into this country as new immigrants to create an illusion of “good economy” when in fact it’s a “false economy”, then I know this government is calculatingly and cruelly holding on to power.
    I ask myself for whom are they doing this? Why do they say we must “globalise” Who says we must globalise, Uganda, Borneo, Equador. Morocco? Who says we must Globalise? Globalisation is just opening the doors so the very rich and powerful can come in and legally exploit and control our natural resources, like water and oil, and that which we and our forefathers spent 200 years developing as our home.
    I look for the politicians / party that will run our country as our own, like Switzerland or Japan do. I am deciding on which party and which person in my electorate understands the true meaning of a sustainably managed country, a country that will feed our children that follow in perpetuity and which party and which person embraces that we are a fair and egalitarian society and want to remain that way.”
    Comment from Pete George’s blog.

  7. Jenny Kirk 7

    Yes . Hope it works ! and they go out and vote positively.

  8. ianmac 8

    Just again saw that strange sad little Naational TV Ad with the blue runners. National has depended on National+Maori+Act+United Future (4) for nearly a decade. What a cheek to suggest a coalition of Labour+Green+NZF (3) is worse than the National 4 party cobbling.

  9. ianmac 9

    Winston told Campbell this evening, that he had paid whatever they asked for including interest but John thought it odd that Winston didn’t know the details.
    But Winston said that he was very busy with the campaign just now and that the rules for repayment were that you pay now. Then you have 3 months to appeal the maths of the repayment which, when the Election is over, he will attend to.

  10. ianmac 10

    Don’t get the Guy pic above?

    • Muttonbird 10.1

      Must be a bet/stunt he had to do associated with that unfunny taxpayer junket, The Jono&Ben Show.

  11. swordfish 12

    Get Winnie !

    National sees path to victory – Politik

    National is now going to target Winston Peters and NZ First in the hope of winning one or two per cent of his vote back off him

    They believe that will be enough to hold on to power.

    This week will see the Prime Minister campaigning in Peters’ Northland seat  — an unusual move in a seat which up till recently National freely conceded it could not win.

    That has changed though. They now believe his by-election vote is shrinking ……

    Also fuelling National’s strategy is polling it has which shows the Greens on around three per cent and Gareth Morgan’s Opportunities Party on two per cent.

    That was reinforced yesterday with a One News Comar Brunton poll showing the Greens on 3.6% in Whangarei.

    The strategy then is clear; to try and boost National’s vote — thought to be in the mid-40s – by two per cent or so, and then to rely on a high wasted vote from the Greens, TOP plus ACT to reduce the percentage it needs to get half the seats in Parliament ……

    If the wasted vote is much the same as the last election, then National probably needs another two or three per cent to win a majority of the seats.

    The sources spoken to by POLITIK believe that is achievable if it can motivate its provincial and rural supporters to vote at the same time as it chips away at the soft Labour vote ……

    So National is targeting the provincial and rural vote some of which it says has drifted to NZ First over the past 18 months.

    Hence the Prime Minister’s frequent appearances in the provinces. This week will see him visit three North Island provincial electorates .……

    • McFlock 12.1

      Jesus, talk about a hail mary shot: burn your only likely ally in the hope that you can do with fewer votes this time what you barely managed last time.

    • JC 12.2

      Is this why we have seen the 2 of Clubs, 3 of spades today …

      See above @ 10. Particularly.. “The forgotten History”

      Also Greens were at 20% … last I’d heard…!

    • Exkiwiforces 12.3

      mmm, the leaking of Winnie super details today by whoever and now this wee gem of an article from old Harman today. You’re got say something fishy is go on ATM or am I just reading to much into my extra strong Yorkshire Tea ATM before I go to bed?

      Talk about poking an old bear and if theses people haven’t got there ducks in a row it’s going to be good night red rover if old Winnie comes out swinging. BTW I know Winnie was a fairly good rugby player in his day, but understand he was also a half decent boxer as well?

    • If the wasted vote is much the same as the last election, then National probably needs another two or three per cent to win a majority of the seats.
      And that tells us that the threshold is way too high. Parties that should be getting in aren’t and their votes transferred to parties that the casters of those votes didn’t vote for.

      It’s killing their representation.

    • Muttonbird 12.5

      I’d have thought a decent amount of the lost vote from pension-gate would go to Labour. Don’t know where Harman has been for the last few weeks but there’s no such thing as soft Labour voters now.

    • JC 12.6

      I Actually meant 11 above!. But that’s the nature of Polls… however I do stand by the 20% for the Green’s!

      And after today I’ve become very suspicious of Fake News.. and/or Dirty Politics!

      And so I will continue to filter “News” and “denouncements”! with a grain of salt!

      Regardless of their sentiments…..

    • @ SWORDFISH comment ( 12 )

      So the non Prime Minister the Double Dipper from Dipton is to appear in Northland.

      Interesting.

      Isn’t that the place where Simon Bridges promised 10 bridges, – and nothing has even happened about that til this very day ???

      I don’t know about you , … but that sure seems symbolic of Nationals slogan of ‘Delivering for New Zealand ‘.

      Which is zilch.

      And if they had of been delivering , – why all of a sudden are they throwing cash they denied they had at so many run down broken services that we pay tax for ? Run down social services that are a DIRECT RESULT of their motives to underfund to justify privatization / public private services?

      National, … like its leader speaks with a forked tongue.

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