David Cunliffe Speech to 2013 Labour Party Conference – Building a future for all
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2:57 pm, November 2nd, 2013 - 142 comments
Categories: david cunliffe, labour -
Tags: 2013 Labour
E nga mana o tenei rohe
Ngai Tahu Tatou katoa te whanau o te reipa
Tena koutou katoa
It’s great to be here with you today, with Christchurch’s new Mayor Lianne, our wonderful President Moira, our fantastic candidate for Christchurch East, Poto Williams, and to be part of the Labour team that is going to win the 2014 election.
I acknowledge our New Zealand Council, Te Kaunihera Maori, our affiliates, sector councils and my caucus colleagues.
I want to especially acknowledge our previous leader David Shearer, leadership candidates Grant Robertson and Shane Jones, and my Deputy David Parker.
Mostly, I want to acknowledge you – every member of this, New Zealand’s greatest political party, whose membership has exploded by 75% this year!
We are here with good reason in this great city.
To show our solidarity and determination to help get the rebuild moving. And to return a new Labour MP, Poto Williams, in Christchurch East. Thank you all for being here.
Christchurch, we admire your resilience and your strength.
Your compassion for one another, and your determination to rise above adversity are an inspiration to the rest of the country and to this Party.
We are here today united and ready to win.
Not for ourselves, but for every New Zealander who needs a new beginning and wants their country back.
We need to reimagine the future.
To rebuild it.
To reclaim the Kiwi dream for all New Zealanders.
The New Zealand we will build together is one most Kiwis can today only dream about.
Let me tell you a local story.
There ‘s a small road on the northern outskirts of Christchurch, just beyond the Styx railway over the bridge.
It is called Cunliffe Road.
My grandfather, a railwayman all of his life, and my gran retired there.
They milked a cow; they kept chooks; grew their own veges; and fished for eels in the Styx river at the bottom garden.
Like I did.
The house was a stone’s throw from the railway tracks, tracks on which my father’s family worked and which much of the early history of this country was built – with hard labour, with high hopes and fervent dreams of a more prosperous future.
Portraits of King Dick Seddon and Mickey Savage hung in the kitchen.
I grew up the son of a Vicar.
We didn’t have much, but we never went without.
There was a good state school for me to go to, healthcare when my dad desperately needed it, and opportunities for me to work hard and get ahead.
We have all heard about our current prime minister’s own humble beginnings, his overseas success and his money trader’s fortune.
But in aspiration and core beliefs John Key and I could not be more different.
John Key and his colleagues grew up in same New Zealand I’ve just been talking about.
They personally benefited from these opportunities but now deny them to all but an elite few.
They are pulling the ladder up behind them. – and that’s just wrong.
I got into politics because I believe that all New Zealanders, regardless of background or circumstance, should have the same opportunities.
Only when we all do, will we unlock the boundless potential of this country and its people, creating a better, fairer, more inclusive society that works for all New Zealanders, not just a privileged few.
This weekend, our Party sets out together on a challenging but exciting new path.
The stakes could not be higher: for the very future of this country and all who live in it.
I am enlisting your support and commitment to help this Party return to government in 2014.
Helping to create a fairer, more equitable future for all New Zealanders.
A Tale of two countries I grew up in a New Zealand where if you worked hard and played by the rules anyone could get ahead.
It was a country in which Kiwis could trust that government worked more or less in the interests of all its citizens.
Sadly, those days are gone.
We are confronted by a government clearly ruling in the interests of a few at the expense of the many, and creating two New Zealands.
One for the rich and powerful, who don’t pay their fair share of tax because they have smart accountants to ensure they avoid it.
And there’s the other New Zealand. Where people struggle to put food on the table for their families.
Where children go to school hungry, and senior citizens shiver in their homes.
Families who pay tax on every dollar they earn, pick up the slack for the mega-rich and the foreign corporations who don’t.
Middle New Zealand is working harder than ever.
And what do they have to show for it?
A dying dream.
Middle-income Kiwi families can’t afford the rent or mortgage because of National’s housing crisis; They can’t afford power bills from the profiteering companies National is determined to sell; Many families can’t afford clothes or a treat for the kids, because under National their wages just haven’t kept up.
Now for the first time, a generation of hardworking parents are faced with the shocking prospect their children will do worse than them.
That’s why our best and brightest young people are leaving.
All this did not happen by accident. National deliberately chose this for New Zealand, because they still believe in outdated policies that reinforce privilege.
Some call it “trickle down”.
It’s the idea that if the rich get richer, the poor get lucky.
Such neo-liberal policies are fundamentally outdated and the Global Financial Crisis proved they don’t work.
Top economists around the world are casting aside these outdated theories, but National has not caught up.
Five years ago, John Key told New Zealanders, “wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones’’.
But he only meant it for the privileged few.
He gave massive tax cuts to the rich that they did not need while he put up GST on everyone.
Since that promise, 200,000 Kiwis have voted no confidence, and left.
We’re told we can’t afford the ‘social goods’ that since the time of Michael Joseph Savage have been our Kiwi heritage.
A good government stands alongside New Zealanders in case of disaster, ill health or bad luck.
Good government in partnership with people helps build industries and regions; dams, railways and ports, and plants vast forests.
Those birth-right assets belong to all New Zealanders.
National – they are not yours to sell! But not content with laissez-faire neoliberalism, National has tilted the playing field even further.
Its Hall of Shame involves those shabby deals with Warner Brothers; Sky City; Rio Tinto and Chorus.
Business people are telling me they want no part of that.
They want a level playing field that’s fair and transparent, not one set of rules for National’s mates and another for everyone else.
They also say John Key is a map without a compass; that National has no strategy for the underlying problems of our economy.
Mark my words, John Key’s answer will be to invite the royal family to bring its newest and cutest member here for a long series of photo ops in an election year.
They should come.
But will John Key dare take the Duke and Duchess back to McGehan Close?
Will he take them to a closed sawmill in Rotorua or a boarded up tannery in Shannon?
You can be sure he’ll bring them to Parliament.
But will they meet the nightshift cleaners he won’t pay a Living Wage?
The contrasts between National and Labour, between their New Zealand and ours, could not be greater.
This government is tired, arrogant and out of touch. It is off-Key and out of tune.
Labour is fresh, energized, true to its founding ideals and full of new ideas.
It is a Party ready to govern on behalf of – and most importantly, alongside – all New Zealanders.
Building a Future for All 3.1
An economy that works for all New Zealanders In the last few weeks my team and I have visited families in Rotorua and Shannon whose lives have been shattered by the closure of their sawmill and their tannery.
They need an economy that works for all New Zealanders.
One that creates more value from every tree we fell, every litre of milk we produce and every fruit we pick.
When National thinks about growth, they think about growing volume.
Milking more cows, digging more mines or drilling more holes.
They haven’t got a fracking clue.
There’s only so many cows we can milk without polluting our waterways.
There is no limit to the ingenuiety of our Kiwi scientisits in making more high value products from the proteins in our milk.
We will reward innovation.
National scrapped Labour’s R&D tax incentive.
So our best and brightest took their ideas offshore.
The journey we need to be on is one from thinking about volume to thinking about creating value.
By contrast, National thinks it makes sense to truck New Zealand logs to a port, ship them to Asia for processing, and then import the timber back here to Christchurch for the rebuild.
How dumb is that?
Our Labour Government will give preference to Kiwi-made timber for the Christchurch rebuild.
When we create value we need more of it to stay in New Zealand so we can share it.
Our economy is being hollowed out because we don’t have enough capital.
Our banking, finance and insurance industries are almost all foreign-owned, which is why we always run an external deficit and build up international debt.
A Labour Government will address this fundamental problem.
By strengthening KiwiSaver.
By building up KiwiBank.
By restarting contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.
All of these things will help build an economy we own.
Of course we will balance the books, as we did every year in the fifth Labour Government.
But that is not enough to turn around long term economic decline.
Our pro-growth will help local Kiwi businesses access the investment they need to thrive.
And today, in this very brave city, I am announcing that Labour will confront the challenges of an insurance industry that is no longer Kiwi-owned.
One we know from painful experience has not met Canterbury’s needs.
Just as KiwiBank gave us a customer-focused, low cost Kiwi-owned bank, KiwiAssure will give everyone a choice for better service, competititive premiums and local ownership that keeps profits here.
KiwiAssure will be a sister company to KiwiBank, within the NZ Post Group.
And like KiwiBank, it will offer customers an alternative and raise the bar across the insurance industry.
We will build an economy that works for all New Zealanders, by helping create more value and keep more of it onshore.
And having kept more wealth in New Zeaaland, that wealth needs to be shared fairly.
The economy we build will provide secure, well-paid jobs. We will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour – immediately.
We will promote a Living Wage.
We will protect vulnerable workers.
We will develop a new employment framework built on mutual respect.
We will scrap the unfair 90-day trials and restore fairness in the workplace.
We will train young Kiwis to rebuild Christchurch.
We won’t give priority to overseas labour which just happens to keep locals out and wages down, We will invest more in our people and their skills and training.
Everyone will contribute their fair share.
We will raise the top tax rate for high earners but not middle income families.
We will target those who speculate on capital gains and avoid tax using trusts.
We want a level playing field.
National wants special deals for its mates.
National gave $30 million to Rio Tinto to keep the smelter’s closure off the TV until after the election.
Labour will have a plan for an energy-rich Southland beyond the smelter.
National bent the rules to sell our laws to Sky City.
Labour will regulate to address gambling harm.
National is about to hand over $400 million of your dollars to Chorus.
Labour will deliver faster, cheaper braodband without subsidising foreign telcos.
So Labour’s economic plan means creating more value, retaining more value onshore and sharing more value across our community.
A fair and just society
That’s because Labour believes in a fair and just society where all citizens live in dignity.
• Warm in their homes through a Labour power policy that stops profiteering on electricity;
• Secure because when the worst happens there’s a safety net to catch them and give them a hand up;
• Safe with a world class health system that promotes wellness.
• Secure with Super that means they won’t be living in poverty when they’re old.
A fair society means having a shot at the Kiwi dream, incluiding home ownership.
That’s a dream increasingly out of reach for a great many of our young men and woman beaten down by stagnant wages and skyrocketing house prices.
Labour will build 100,000 affordable homes over over ten years.
We will help first home buyers, not punish them with harsh lending rules.
And unlike National, we won’t let offshore speculators rort our housing market.
A just society gives a great start in life for all our kids.
Labour will extend Paid Parental Leave to 26 weeks.
We won’t tolerate child poverty.
We won’t let kids go to school hungry.
We will scrap the National standards, there will be no charter schools.
Instead we will build on New Zealand’s first calss public education system, that is led by some of the best educators in the entire world.
An environment we protect
Like so many Kiwis, I love our natural environment.
Last weekend I tramped the Routeburn track with my son (until snow turned us back).
As a kid I fished for salmon and trout in Canterbury’s rivers.
I might not look like a pig hunter, but my dad was and as a kid I loved following him through the bush.
We need to protect our forests and rivers and mountains.
Labour will protect our environment.
We will reverse National’s gutting of the Resource Management Act.
We will rebuild our Conservation Department to protect our world-class conservation estate.
We won’t, for example, build a monorail through a world heritage park.
We are not opposed to responsible mining, but we won’t approve new mines on high value conservation land.
We will insist on best practice environment and cleanup standards before we approve any more deep sea oil drilling.
We recognise climate change is a fact, not a philosophy.
We will restore an effective emissions trading scheme.
We will not walk away from our responsibities to the planet, its climate or future generations.
We want a high value, low carbon, renewable energy, smart, clean tech future.
A nation we can all be proud of
We will will give our children a nation to be proud of, including a principled and independent foreign policy.
Labour calls for an informed debate about the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.
National says it cannot release the negotiating text – that is a cop out.
We expect proper briefings to the public, just as Labour did in government with the China FTA.
While we recognise the potential trade benefits, until there is a full and open debate we are not prepared to sign over a blank cheque on our national sovereignty.
A Labour Government will never spy on our own citizens without a judge’s warrant.
That’s why we will repeal the GCSB Act and replace it with legislation that upholds Kiwis’ rights and freedoms.
We will honour the Treaty of Waitangi, and support the development of a vibrant post settlement Maori renaissance based on mutual respect and partnership.
We will invite New Zealanders to participate in a constitutional conversation to help us towards a mature, stable constitutional form.
We will celebrate our unique identity by supporting our vibrant arts and culture sectors; including a renewed commitment to public broadcasting as one of the most important guardians of our democracy.
Labour will help New Zealanders look to the future with confidence, in who we are, where we stand, where we are going.
Creating the future Our mission is to Build a Future for All, including an economy that works for everyone, a fair and just society, an environment we protect, and a nation we can be proud of.
Our Party, alongside all New Zealanders, can deliver this vision together.
But first we must win the election in 2014.
I know we can win; my colleagues in caucus know it.
We need you to know it and believe in it too.
Let’s build on the momentum we have gained.
Here’s what we have to do, caucus and members and supporters, acting as one.
We have to organize.
Last election, nearly a million New Zealanders didn’t vote and we didn’t inspire them enough to do so.
With one quarter of that missing million, National’s days in government are over. Some of them are in Labour’s heartland.
They’ve voted for us in the past. We need to persuade them that we will make a real, positive difference in their lives.
Many of the missing million are in the regions.
We’re going to crisscross this country until every town knows we are on their side.
We must listen to young people, because everything we do is ultimately for them.
Each of you has the power to help us reach the missing million.
They are your neighbours, your co-workers, your friends.
Talk about our Labour vision.
Every phone call you make, every piece of mail you deliver, finds us more new supporters.
With our caucus , our members and our supporters working together we are unstoppable.
Summary
So together, we are on a mission to win the 2014 election.
We are ambitious, not for ourselves, but to serve the people of New Zealand.
Together, we will build a future for the children in this country who live in poverty, who go to school with empty stomachs, whose parents can’t afford to take them to the doctor when they are ill, who contract Third-World diseases through overcrowding in sub- standard housing.
We will build a future for the young people who leave school directionless without support, guidance or prospects.
We will build a future with our young people who come out of university with huge loans, fight their way into poorly paid jobs., and who can’t afford to buy a home of their own.
We will build a future with our businesses and exporters held back by the inflexible Reserve Bank Act that sets inflation as its primary target while ignoring the devastating effects of a high exchange rate.
We will build a future with our scientists who, are forced to look overseas for meaningful work.
We will build a future with our public servants – our wonderful policewomen and men, our teachers, our nurses and doctors – whose work and worth has been so undermined and demoralized by this destructive Government.
We will build a future with our artists, authors, musicians and performers – who help us to understand not only where we stand in the world, but to feel comfortable in our own skins – and proud of who we are.
Creative, diverse, compassionate, innovative, generous, determined people happy at home in Aotearoa but punching well above our weight on whatever world stage we appear.
Together, we will build a future for all New Zealanders, with an economy that works for all of us, a fair and just society, an environment we protect, and a nation we can all be proud of.
We are a Party on the march.
We are a winning team.
We have an important job to do for all New Zealanders.
We must work.
We must win.
And we must serve.
I ask you now to join with me in becoming the Sixth Labour Government.
Thank you.
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Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...4 days ago - Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...5 days ago - Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...5 days ago
- Reported back
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...5 days ago
- Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...5 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...5 days ago
- Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...5 days ago - Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...5 days ago - Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...5 days ago - A speed limit is not a target, and yet…
This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...5 days ago
- The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...5 days ago - The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...5 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...6 days ago
- I'd like to share what I did this weekend
6 days ago - For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...6 days ago - A friend in uncertain times
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...6 days ago - The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers
Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...6 days ago - It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...1 week ago - Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...1 week ago - Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...1 week ago - Flooding Housing Policy
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...1 week ago - A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...1 week ago - The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...1 week ago - The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...1 week ago - Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...1 week ago
- Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...1 week ago
- Tobacco First
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...1 week ago - Trump’s Adopted Son.
Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...1 week ago - The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...1 week ago - The Hoon around the week to July 19
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...1 week ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2024
Open access notables Improving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...1 week ago
- Release: Charter schools to remove the rights of teachers
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...23 hours ago - Te iwi Māori will not stand for another Foreshore and Seabed
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...2 days ago
- Te Pāti Māori Acknowledge the Need for Fundamental Change in State Care
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...2 days ago
- National disgrace for children in poverty
Shifting the goalposts on child poverty is a new low for the National-led government. ...2 days ago
- Release: National disgrace for children in poverty
Shifting the goalposts on child poverty is a new low for the National-led government. ...2 days ago
- Government quietly waters down child poverty targets
The Government’s move to dilute child poverty targets is a reminder that it is actively choosing to preserve hardship for thousands of households. ...2 days ago - Release: National jumps on Labour’s trains
National is so short on ideas it is now announcing Labour’s rail announcement from a year ago, Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...2 days ago
- Release: Opposition parties unite to protect ECE
Labour, the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori are uniting to stop the Government’s dangerous changes to the Early Childhood Education sector. ...2 days ago
- Release: Another step forward for survivors of abuse in care
Labour welcomes the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care’s final report and the government committing to a formal apology in November. ...3 days ago
- Govt must listen to experiences of abuse survivors
The Government must do all it can to bring abuse in care to an end following the release of the independent inquiry. ...3 days ago
- Release: Health New Zealand exposes Minister spinning in freefall
Health New Zealand contradicted the Government’s spin that back-office bureaucracy is the cause of overspend in the public health system. ...4 days ago
- Govt must act on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...4 days ago
- NZ Government Must Enforce ICJ Ruling
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...5 days ago
- Release: Listen PM, boot camps don’t work
Refusing to listen to evidence, experts or experience the Government is stubbornly marching ahead with its boot camps. ...7 days ago
- Release: Govt must act on ICJ ruling on illegal Israeli occupation
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...7 days ago
- Release: Rents up under National, promises fall flat
National Party policies which promised to put “downward pressure” on rents are having the opposite effect. ...1 week ago
- MSD figures show Govt determined to punish beneficiaries
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...1 week ago
- We need real solutions, not more failed boot camps – Willow-Jean Prime
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...1 week ago
- David Seymour is Unfit to Serve as Minister
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...1 week ago
- Renters suffer as soaring rents feed rising inflation
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...1 week ago
- National’s climate strategy undoes good progress
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...1 week ago
- Green Party releases executive summary of independent investigation
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...1 week ago
- Government back off track on climate action
Today’s Draft Emissions Reduction Plan shows the Government couldn’t care less about a liveable climate for all. ...1 week ago
- PM needs to step in over Shane Jones’ undeclared meeting
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori Opposes Three Strikes Amendment Bill
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...2 weeks ago
- Govt Determined to Make Aotearoa a Country of Disposable Renters
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...2 weeks ago
- Statement on retail crime Ministerial Advisory Group
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...2 weeks ago
- Statement from Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt Continues to Destructively Withhold Information
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...2 weeks ago
- Statement from Labour climate change spokesperson Megan Woods
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...2 weeks ago
- Eight ways National is making life harder for workers
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...3 weeks ago
- Waitlists up and workforce down under National
Health New Zealand’s recent quarterly performance report shows the public health system is going backwards under the National government. ...3 weeks ago
- Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...17 hours ago - AG reminds institutions of legal obligations
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...20 hours ago
- More young people learning about digital safety
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...20 hours ago
- Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...23 hours ago
- Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...1 day ago
- Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...1 day ago
- Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...1 day ago
- Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...1 day ago
- Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...2 days ago
- Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...2 days ago
- Test for Customary Marine Title being restored
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...2 days ago
- Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...2 days ago
- Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...2 days ago
- Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...2 days ago
- Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...3 days ago
- PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...3 days ago
- Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...3 days ago
- Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...3 days ago
- Half a million people use tax calculator
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...3 days ago
- Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...3 days ago
- Rebuilding the economy through better regulation
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...3 days ago
- ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...3 days ago
- Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...4 days ago
- Accelerating Northland Expressway
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...4 days ago
- Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...4 days ago
- Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...4 days ago
- NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...4 days ago
- Backing mental health services on the West Coast
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...4 days ago
- NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...4 days ago
- Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...4 days ago
- Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...5 days ago
- Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...5 days ago
- Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...5 days ago
- Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...7 days ago
- Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...7 days ago
- Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...1 week ago
- Update on global IT outage
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...1 week ago
- New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...1 week ago
- New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...1 week ago
- 'Pacific Futures'
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...1 week ago
- 'Enough is enough' – Chris Hipkins blasts government over Māori policies
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins says the coalition government is unfairly targeting Māori: "Each week they find new ways to keep Māori down." ...1 hour ago - Focus on Politics: Abuse in care report delivers demands for justice
The government has promised to listen to survivors, but how it responds and whether justice is served remains to be seen. ...6 hours ago
- Green AGM: Party processes will be respected on Darleen Tana issue, Chlöe Swarbrick says
A Green Party member is concerned that proper process will not be followed - but the party's co-leader says a vote will not be forced. ...6 hours ago
- Re-writing the timeline of the universe
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...6 hours ago - Anne Salmond: What track was that?
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- Government Fails To Recognise Parallels Between Whakapakari And Its Boot Camps
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- Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 July
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A speech is as much about delivery as content, and judging by the media reaction (and the grumpy righties!) Cunliffe has nailed this one.
Well done, great platform for next year.
Best speech from a Labour Party leader that I have ever heard.
Xox
Talk is cheap, action is what is costly.
I think it was No Right Turn that said the $15 minimum wage is an outdated goal. I agree with this and I think we should be aiming to be on par with Australia’s current minimum wage if we’re serious about retaining Kiwis in NZ:
http://www.fairwork.gov.au/media-centre/latest-news/2013/06/pages/20130603-minimum-wage-increase.aspx
Otherwise a very nice speech.
There has to be a major uplift in voting to get a Labour/Green government even elected to be in a position to be able to implement the “outdated” $15 min.wage let alone the living wage goal of $18.41 per hour.
KiwiAssure sounds good too.
Labour’s policy at the 2011 election was to raise the minimum wage up to $15 gradually. It appears their new policy is to raise it in one lump, probably at the start of 2015.
So for all that it’s now a miserly target, they aren’t going to be tardy about hitting it.
And legislating a fast increase after the initial rise to $15.
I’m not sure whether it passed, but there was a proposal to set the minimum wage to 2/3 of the average wage. Such a policy is what we really should be looking into, rather than setting the minimum wage to dollar values and incrementing it every year (letting governments like National decide not to increase it).
Latest 2013 stats: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/Income/NZIncomeSurvey_HOTPJun13qtr.aspx
Interestingly, the median hourly earnings are $21.58, and 66% of that is $14.24, so $15 is already higher than that.
The average hourly figure (apparently available in the excel spreadsheet only) is $26, so 66% of that would be $17.16.
Also such a policy needs to consider it’s own impacts. If you put the minimum wage up, necessarily you will be increasing the average wage, and by quite a tangible amount, too. That in turn would result in the minimum wage needing to be increased to keep up with the increasing average, rinse, repeat.
Now don’t those stats tell you something! ie the high renemeration of a few pull the mean up substantially while half of the employed earn less than $21.58
Yes, which is why it’s terrible that Key uses “average wage” of ~50k/year as his talking point when saying how much tax cuts or whatever will save people.
To be fair, the median is dragged down by a lot of part timers. I’d like to see a median and average that only looked at full time (35+ hours/week) workers.
To NZ youth…”I found a reason”….( for voting Labour or Green)
Here is to hoping for a great future under a Labour /Green coalition Government 2014!
😎
Heartening to read that.
For KiwiAssure, I would be happy to pledge to be one of the first to sign up. Just as I had with KiwiBank.
It feels like the early 1970s all over again. The Norman Kirk years. It was Norman Kirk who inspired me and many of our most senior Labour politicians to join the Labour Party. Included are Helen Clark, Phil Goff and David Lange. We were young, idealistic and he seemed to be speaking for us. In reality he spoke for everyone just as Cunliffe is doing today.
KiwiAssure? Inspired.
Perfect location to announce new Insurance plan.. given the way Christchurch has been abandoned by the government kowtowing to the interests of private insurance companies, who have screwed the people.
Inspiring speech – much that is excellent – but it’s still about affordable homes for 1st time home buyers.
Great stuff about work, TPP, spying regulations, anti-cronyism, anti-neoliberalism, combating climate change, KiwiAssure, anti-overseas ownership of key enterprises, etc.
But it’s still only the Greens & Mana campaigning for more state houses, and standing strongly for a strengthening of social security.
Frankly I’m quite happy for those areas to be the stronghold of Greens and Mana, since Labour are the bedrock that would form the basis of a left-wing government. If de-emphasizing those policies makes Labour more palatable to centrist voters and lets them get into government, then great.
I truly believe that once the Greens are in the government, they’re going to surprise a lot of people with how competent they are.
Yes. I really want to see what the talented Green MPs can achieve as Ministers in a strong coalition government.
If more people listened or watched parliament – even if its only Question Time – they would know there is some formidable talent in the Green caucus.
Indeed Anne
David Cunliffe gets it. People are looking for security. At the moment it’s a risk even to change jobs if you might end up getting sacked in three months for no reason. Government should be dependable, a bulwark against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Not a vector for the unpredictable.
Btw, how did the delegates respond to Cunliffe’s speech? Were they inspired? The words certainly are uplifting.
It was bloody good. Five or six busloads of activists then went on to help Poto door knock, and we were totally inspired.
Yep. A number of us went out to door knock. I personally felt the urge to do something to improve Labour’s chances.
And the response was really good. In the area I door knocked support was running at about 75%.
Great speech…
This to me is Labour:
“To reclaim the Kiwi dream for all New Zealanders.”
and
“Creative, diverse, compassionate, innovative, generous, determined people happy at home in Aotearoa but punching well above our weight on whatever world stage we appear.”
+1….fantastic speech!…..GO LABOUR and GO Cunliffe..(great NZ grassroots native leader!)
….the next 2014 New Zealand Government for many years….in coalition with the GREENS!…This is the answer to our hopes and dreams
( and maybe Mana and Winston NZFirst as optional extras)
Okay – I didn’t expect an overt statement acknowledging that the Kiwi dream is dead and that it’s time to wake up and get real (resource depletion, AGW…).
But to read statements to the effect that Labour wants to attempt some type of resuscitation … Nope, not for me.
But then, I’m not a New Zealander (never mind a working one) and have never had any inclination or ambition to own a house or to own any 2.5 acres or whatever. So the speech wasn’t even addressed to me or the thousands of other people who live here who aren’t New Zealanders.
But good luck to one and all on that ‘dreaming of the dream’ stuff.
Gower repeating his lie that last year Cunliffe staged a leadership challenge. And repeating his own mythology around Cunliffe’s ambition.
He can’t report on reality as it proves him, and the rest of the RWNJs, wrong and so he makes shit up.
Precisely.
At Cunliffe’s victory celebration after he was elected leader, Gower was wandering around the periphery saying “good party… good party” to anyone who would listen. Those of us standing nearby just stared at him. Nobody bothered to answer…
Yes. An appalling piece on the Conference tonight from Gower – and he was frowning and stumbling over his words – can’t admit his campaign against Cunliffe didn’t work, and he keeps spinning a deeper and deeper hole for himself.
Awful journalism from PG. John Key won’t thank him either for the embarrassing attempt at link….but he’s a bit better than wotsisname ? slater? isn’t he?
On PG at the conference. He seemed to have nothing to report.Was that because nobody would talk to him? I hope so… best to ignore. At least TV1 reported something that happened. Can’t wait for the Paul and Paddy show on 3….not.
One of the points mentioned in The Entrepreneurial State is that such R&D tax credits don’t work. They just become a tax cut with no new R&D happening.
What I’d really like to see is a lot more basic research being done by the government. In some cases it would need to be from basic through to applied. A case in point would be semi-conductor manufacturing.
I hope that he’s talking about a new tax system from the ground up rather than amending the ballsup we presently have as a tax system.
The only way that’s going to happen is re-nationalisation.
Could be interesting, will have to see what he actually means. The present system, with it’s focus on getting a job where there aren’t any, actually keeps people and thus wages down.
And with those we also need 100,000 state homes on top of the ones we have now.
Good.
I like the bit about getting rid of Charter Schools.
Karol- me too…Charter schools – a clear unequivocal warning from Cunliffe to potential investors who see education as just another NZ asset for sale.Charter schools could be seen as dodgy an investment as Kiwis saw through Meridian.
“One of the points mentioned in The Entrepreneurial State is that such R&D tax credits don’t work. They just become a tax cut with no new R&D happening.”
My work was going to be a decent recipient of the tax credits. I’d have expected it would have allowed us to hire 1 or 2 more staff, which would have increased R & D.
Yeah, the research that she cited said that some had been well designed and did, more or less, do what the government had wanted. Most had been badly designed though which resulted in no change to the amount of R&D while the governments involved dished out millions in subsidies.
There’s no way to tell which way the R&D tax credits that Labour put in place was going to go as it got cut too soon to make a statistical analysis. She thinks, and I agree, that it’s much better for the government to directly fund the R&D itself rather than relying on tax credits. Yes, that means the government picking winners but, then, governments around the world have been doing that for centuries and are actually quite good at it especially in the basic research stuff that takes decades to come to fruition which the private sector doesn’t fund at all.
Mr Draco,
I’m with with you on the general approach. However I don’t think a semiconductor fab is a good idea. We’re talking >$1bn for a decent fab, and its not like there is a shortage of capacity globally for semi manufacturing capacity. (The $2bn for fibre-to-the-home is bad enough – and how long and for how much are we going to be shaken down by Chorus for that?) Taiwan has done well in this sphere – Altera and Xilinx get their stuff built at TSMC and UMC, but we really can’t afford the government investment to get a legion of chemists, physicists and process engineers up to scratch (especially considering our lamentable efforts getting secondary school students into science or engineering of any type!) This sort of industry feeds upon a base of skills and capabilities we just don’t have.
I think we have to go for the less embodied (read: capital intensity) stuff. Telogis (100+ engineers), Orion Health, there are currently jobs for thousands of software engineers, and our nascent computer games industry should exceed $50m next year. The sweet spot for us is in transdisciplinary R&D focused on customer value, building on our strengths. We don’t have a major surplus of capital to compete with countries which have invested the tens of billions / hundreds of billions to create semiconductor competitive advantage at the high end of the value chain. What we do have is (i) a pioneering-culture derived can-do attitude (2) a history of attacking cutting-edge non-capital-intensive industries without an appropriate level of nervousness, and (3) an unsophisticated international marketing approach, characteristic of NZ’s management skill weakness, which undermines (1) and (2). So I say pour investment into (3), send the kids to uni to learn the right stuff, and let’s build upon those things we have proven good at.
It’s not just a question of having the capability but also being better at it.
Then we need to build up that capability and not say that we just can’t do it.
Think about it, before anyone had those capabilities they didn’t have them They built them up and they did it through government funding and investment. The first fab plants in the US were built by the government and then made available so that anyone could develop ICs. Doing this broadens the development base and so we get even more ideas put into practical reality.
We need to be doing the same thing.
As long as we keep that sort of defeatist attitude then we will keep losing our best and brightest.
This is outright BS. A few people have those strengths, a few others have different strengths. A society does not specialise. Within itself it has the capabilities and resources needed to maintain itself.
Dear Mr Draco,
I love your can-do attitude. And for sure semiconductor capability was built up through government investment – in the US initially through defence investment, in Japan through industry development investment, and in Korea (gotta spend those US subsidies somewhere.)
My point is really about bang for buck – and I think semi industries aren’t going to deliver the best bang for buck. You label my prescription of non-capital-intensive end-user focused R&D defeatist – but I would argue that (1) if we’re going to invest in industries then we’d better avoid competing against those where our competitors enjoy cheap capital provided by states with very deep pockets (e.g. my Chinese Android tablet has an ‘Allwinner’ brand processor), (2) we need to pick growing industries for investment where the formula has yet to be settled, and innovation can deliver competitive advantage (a better long term return on investment), and (3) we do actually have cultural archetypes for success.
Perhaps a society does not specialise – however our successful innovators draw on common societal characteristics. Angus Tait, Dennis Chapman – a democratic attitude by the founders in the firms of these individuals led to innovation led growth. Bill Buckley – well, his firm manufactures over 80% of the world’s ion implant magnets for the semiconductor industry. Buckley and Tait had the skills and gave it a crack. Chapman had industry leading skills and parlayed this through the Telecom privatisation back in the 80’s to a hundred million dollar company. On Orion Health, they pursued leadership of the health information integration market and are now world leaders.
Diverse industries, but at least in the case of Buckley and Orion Health, they aimed at and succeeded at dominating a global segment. In both cases they succeeded by just being better than the competition, which is easier in a growing market than an established market. Consistent results starting from the 80’s suggest that dominating a segment is much more profitable than just being a small player in a global market.
Don’t get me wrong – I support us getting it together to collectively support industrial growth. My concern is bang for the buck. I reject your claim that it is defeatist to reject an industrial growth strategy consisting of pouring our scarce capital into mature industries that suffer global oversupply of capacity. I think we can do it effectively, but I believe bang for the buck is to be found in attacking emerging industries based on our demonstrated cultural strengths.
Did you know that studies at Canterbury University have developed means to manipulate individual atoms? Throw in the progress that’s happening with 3d printing and semis aren’t something we’re lacking but are, as a matter of fact, leading the bloody way. You won’t be seeing fab plants that cost billions but ones that cost thousands, can easily fit on your table and can produce molecular circuitry.
Are you sure that there’s no “bang for buck” in that?
Contrary to what some think, our pockets are just as deep. We really do have the resources needed in people, materials and skills.
Here’s the thing, in the mid term we won’t be exporting or importing as it will be more expensive than making stuff here for our own use. That’s inevitable as oil gets ever more expensive. Kinda takes the heat of the competition off and lets us think about how we’re going to maintain a high-tech society by ourselves.
The biggest problem I see for our innovators is that the majority of them aren’t supported because a few people grab all the wealth for themselves. We really, really, can’t afford the rich.
We’ve had this discussion before DTB, And its a stupid idea for us to ignore what we are already good at, and where the critical capabilities and niches for us actually lie.
I’ve never said to ignore what we already do, only that we need to expand what we do. That’s why I want to see self-drive buses and trains. Once we have those we can move thousands of people into training to produce something else. Expand and develop but we also get to kill the growth fairy that’s presently destroying our environment.
Not sure I entirely agree re the R & D tax breaks. Anything has to be better than the NAct picking winners strategy.
It probably needs to be capped, available to to NZ shareholder coys, overseas owned – approach with care, and possibly some clawback depending on the tax regimes around share sales. I’ve seen some of the claims and they came from NZ owned software star up and were fairly modest < $30000. Not the size that picking winners strategies even see.
My work is overseas owned but employs ~150 NZers. R&D tax credits would let us hire another 1 or 2.
Maybe what we need is a resurrected DSIR one department focussed on developing and improving NZ Scientific Research
“I hope that he’s talking about a new tax system from the ground up rather than amending the ballsup we presently have as a tax system.”
Even though I seem to be the only person promoting taxation for business at a gross amount I firmly believe that this would work and be simple and fair to administer. 5% say on gross income for all businesses and a willingness to slowly bring down the employee gross taxation rates to match. Simply solves a whole lot of issues with the current system.
“Seriously though I still think that taxing at gross solves many of the issues around manipulation of the tax system. This would also mean overseas esales could also be taxed at source so companies like iTunes would now pay tax on sales by NZers and rorts like the non-interest but claim interest as an expense one IRD has just ruled on would become irrelevant and pointless.”
“Another good reason to tax businesses at a gross rate. Remove the perverse incentive to have a continuous flow of interest via buying more properties to reduce your tax bill here and elsewhere by offsetting the losses.”
“Here’s an earlier post where it was debated a little more:
http://thestandard.org.nz/tax-take-bullshit/#comment-422506
I’d like to find a figure for the total gross (before expenses) income for all businesses to do a rough calculation but can’t find this anywhere. I asked IRD but they didn’t know either.
It would seem to me to be quite simple to simply tax at say 5% of total income across every business in NZ. Every business would be on the same footing tax wise as every other business.”
What a ridiculously conceited little punk is Potty Gower. Like a spoilt school kid………can’t let go.
Watched his spiel on TV3 News. “Last year…….last year…….last year.” So I guess it’s all about him, still.
Then the howler that ShonKey Python’ll be strutting round feeling “flattered” because of “building a future” or equivalent ??? This is mature commentary from TV3’s political editor ?
Pity Potty ain’t got the facility to understand that particular call to arms as a subtle reference to the “brighter future” being but a fraud on ordinary New Zealand.
Haven’t seen the news but it is top on TVNZ, 3rd on the Herald, but at TV3 we’ve got “Unions lay out demands for Labour” and “Pressure on Labour at Conference”, perhaps still playing catch up but the TVNZ story has been up for 2 hours. Second on Stuff.
Not in the top stories on TV3.
up now
Seriously another Kiwi-prefix idea? It might be a good idea, but come on where is the creativity?
Sometimes, in fact most of the time, you don’t need creativity in the name. You just need for it to say what it is. This is one of those times.
I might go and copyright a few other Kiwi-prefix policies. Sadly they’ve already booked the Kiwi assure domain name. I wonder why they went with NZ power instead or Kiwi power?
Yeah, the whole “Kiwi-X” thing is pretty twee.
Also they went with NZ Power because KiwiPower was already registered by some organisation so they couldn’t use it. Otherwise they would’ve.
I guess they’re trying to build on Kiwibank’s strong brand name and recognition. They risk diluting the brands goodwill if they continue to use it on everything.
Yes, people are too stupid to notice the difference between “bank” and “assure”. In related news, ever noticed the huge numbers of people who walk into ANZ branches trying to access their BNZ accounts? Because I haven’t.
They face the opposite dilemma with the insurance wing. NZ Insurance is already taken, so is State Insurance (which was the former government-owned insurance provider). And in terms of banking, NZ Bank would probably be too close to BNZ to be used. I guess they chose “KiwiRail” instead of “NZ Rail” because that was the former name of the railways, and they wanted to differentiate it…
We have:
KiwiBank
KiwiRail
KiwiSaver
Will have:
KiwiAssure
KiwiBuild – at least this is a programme rather than an ongoing entity
They might nationalize McDonalds and then we would have KiwiBurger.
Kiwi Fried Chicken
Well that’s a barn burner.
Can anyone imagine Shearer giving such a speech?
Thought the disco lights were a bit weird. Kinda looked like he was speaking at a high school dance.
He loves the nightlife.
Other than platitudes, the poorest million have been promised:
– cheaper power,
-slightly better labour legislation
-and a living wage (if they can score a job as a government cleaner)
The middle class have been promised:
-a new insurance company to keep their premiums down,
-cheaper, faster broadband,
-more kulcha
-more public service jobs
-R and D incentives
-26 weeks paid parental leave
-less worry about the conservation estate and better tramps
-less likelihood of being spied on (as long as they take no part in protest action of any kind)
-and cheaper power
edit – forgot to mention their kids getting $40,000 off their first, brand spanking new homes to kick-off their rental portfolios
yep, the missing million willing be beating the freaking doors down to sign up with Labour.
Other than platitudes, the poorest million have been promised:
– $15 minimum wage
– A fairer tax system with those at the top paying what they ought
– A policy platform that should help grow small business more than National’s lazy hands-off approach, that will create more jobs
– 26 weeks paid parental leave (because ‘poor’ people have children too, you know).
Very strange list you came up with.
Sorry, forget the sub-living-wage increase.
All the rest on your list have very little to with the lives of the poorest.
Depends where you live. There are poor people living in places like rural Southland where the rivers are now making kids sick from swimming in them. That includes kids from poor families who are probably more dependent on the rivers for food and recreation than the wealthy ones. Ideas like that protecting the environment only serves the well-off is pretty outdated js. I also think that groups like beneficiaries will be most likely to be the next level of those targeted by the surveillance state if it’s not stopped.
Your criticism isn’t without merit though. Sometimes Cunliffe’s vision seems quite stereotypical to me, and I wonder how many people will fall through the holes in that vision. I liked hearing his story about how he grew up, but I don’t believe that the policies he is talking about will restore that NZ to us. What I’m not clear about yet is if they’re being pragmatic but heading in the right direction, or if they’re simply not getting it yet. Like with the GP, who I believe mostly have a deeper understanding of the reality than comes across in their PR-shiny, modern approach to politics, I am willing to give Cunliffe and Labour the benefit of the doubt for now. But keeping an eye out as well.
You seriously think beneficiaries are less likely to be surveilled under Labour than under National?
Depends on what you mean by surveilled in your question.
What I meant, was that I can see a possible future for NZ where the govt uses the kind of surveillance the GCSB allows to spy on beneficiaries for WINZ related issues. Repealing the GCSB etc makes that less likely. Much less. It’s not about now, it’s about the direction NZ could go in from this point on. I would have thought this self-evident, given Paula Bennett’s current approach.
Where Cunliffe says “replace it with legislation that upholds Kiwis’ rights and freedoms” I think there is more likelihood of that being extended to beneficiaries under a L/GP govt than a NACT one.
I still think Labour are far too light on welfare. I’m waiting to see if that’s pragmatic politics, or if Labour are going to leave benes on the scrapheap when they realise that their vision of full employment is not realistic.
I recently had a business card from a fraud investigator who works at ministry of social development left in my mailbox, asking if I knew anything about people who lived in or vehicles parked at a house across the street.
So seems they don’t need GCSB to gather information on investigation targets.
“So seems they don’t need GCSB to gather information on investigation targets.”
You don’t see a difference between how the MSD currently handles fraud cases via investigators, and being able to just look at every phone call, text and email a beneficiary has made and received in the last five years? Really?
Seems like the investigation is going to happen one way or another. Being able to read all communications sounds like it’d be a more efficient way to sort out those who are defrauding the system and those who aren’t.
Not saying I agree with it, mind you.
Go on Weka, you really think that Labour doesn’t KNOW that full employment in a market economy is simply Bullshit, David Parker would snigger up His sleeve at the very notion of full employment,
Look at what National did with benefits, Labour planned it during the Clark years, just how vindictive and victimizing the changes Labour planned were going to be we will never know, but plan it they did,
Look at the abysmal tinkering around the edges of the States housing stock National have been busily doing, Labour planned it, along with the ‘inclusion’ of the ‘social sector’ and with no plan of any sort to increase the number of State houses,
At it’s core the neo-liberal philosophy has the ‘protection of the middle class’, i believe Obama even made reference to ‘protecting that middle class’ in His second inauguration speech,
Do i see Labour stepping away from the neo-liberal template in David Cunliffe’s speech, well no, not unless such a ‘stepping away’ has a benefit for the middle class…
“Go on Weka, you really think that Labour doesn’t KNOW that full employment in a market economy is simply Bullshit”
You misunderstood Bad. I didn’t say it was whether DC believed in full employment or not. I meant it was whether DC would promote full employment as a solution to a bene-hating culture as part of pragmatic politics but still be good to benes, or whether they already intend to leave the benes on the scrap heap once the full-employment bit stops being a useful ploy (although to be fair, has DC actually talked about full-employment? I was being a bit loose with how I described his approach).
You seem sure that the future Cunliffe govt is the same as the Clark govt. I don’t see how you can know that yet.
“Look at what National did with benefits, Labour planned it during the Clark years, just how vindictive and victimizing the changes Labour planned were going to be we will never know, but plan it they did,”
[citation needed]
In my experience, life on a benefit has always been easier under a Labour govt than a NACT one. Labour have done some pretty shit things to be sure, but don’t make out that they are the same as NACT, they’re not.
A fairer tax system, not likely, my income tax will remain the same and i will still be paying the increased GST…
Yes, but increased taxes on the wealthy and traditional tax-avoiders means the government debt can be paid back sooner than otherwise, or that provision of services can be increased.
Since there are many government programmes that can have high rates of return (like home insulation returning $6 in health costs for every $1 spent), the more money that can be spent on those services ultimately reduces the future tax burden, which means less tax rises in the future or potential tax cuts in the future.
Sure, all medium-long term benefits there and largely just hand-waving, but an impact none-the-less.
I feel that your latest comment should be backed with a violin solo, in other words the poorest can keep on paying the most as a % of their income and hope for a few crumbs swept their way at some point in the far far future,
No wonder the million stay home on voting day, they don’t feel like being a part of Labour’s middle class protection racket…
I’m simply replying to your comment where you said “A fairer tax system, not likely”.
It will be *fairer* than it is now. That doesn’t mean it will meet whatever your ideal taxation system is.
So fairer for whom may i ask, beneficiary families, single beneficiaries, nah wait, i got it, all the ‘fairness’ will be accrued by the middle class right,
Labour tax the rich to feed the middle class while keep the boot swinging in the direction of the poor, a truly RED Labour Party…
You forget the biggest one of all. A massive tax break to those wealthy enough to own a family home. The bigger a house you can afford the larger tax break you get. Meanwhile those who can’t afford a home are taxed on their investments. Upper-middle class welfare.
Didn’t even see that one. I guess it’s a form of bean blindness.
What the heck are you smoking, mate?
Bean-blindness.
I take it you’ve never picked beans for a living?
I was hoping you and your cabal would have put a policy remit up eliminating, or at least capping, the “family home” CGT exemption.
Can you explain just a little bit more what you mean?
I’m talking about the exemption of the family home in the capital gains tax. Basically it’s a regressive tax break which favors those who can afford houses, the bigger your house, the bigger your tax break.
Yes, but it’s still a step in the right direction.
That’s a bit of a cop out! How is a regressive taxation scheme a “step in the right direction”?
How is *adding* a capital gains tax that affects those wealthy enough to own multiple houses and shares, but doesn’t affect those who own a family home, regressive?
Because the benefits of those exempted from the tax will disproportionately favour those with greater assets. Specifically,
-Those with houses will get significant portion of their capital gains tax free, those who can’t afford a house will be fully taxed on any capital gains.
-Those with bigger homes get a larger tax break than those with smaller homes.
-The “family home” will be implicitly favoured as investment over all other investments. Doing up the kitchen will be tax free but starting a new business will not be. End result, home improvement become the leading growth sector in the economy.
-Finally how ambiguous is the term “family home” ? In this day and age it’s difficult to define what a family is, let alone what a family home is. Lawyers and accountants will find creative loopholes, benefiting those who can afford their services. (And of course the lawyers and accountants!)
-I’m sure the “family business” exemption will be even more ambiguous.
I’m all for a comprehensive capital gains tax, just get rid of these stupid exemptions.
Next you’ll be saying taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables is regressive.
No, because an exemption to a regressive tax is progressive.
Tamati, it’s misguided – and imo classist – to say “Because the benefits of those exempted from the tax will disproportionately favour those with greater assets.”
Yes there is an obvious urgency for building more State homes, but we must do whatever else we can to discourage the rentier class from buying 2nd, 3rd, 4th… homes. This is the target of the CGT.
I take your point about lawyers and accountants, which is why we must take special care in setting up the CGT so that there are no means of tax avoidance, clever loopholes, trusts etc…
However I strongly disagree with CGT on the family home. And even more so with the argument that you should not exempt CGT on the family home on the grounds that this would “disproportionately favour” those with more valuable assets.
The purpose of exempting CGT on the family home is to ensure people (rich or poor) aren’t unfairly penalised when they have to move.
When you move, you sell your home and then buy another one at the same going market rate. Irrespective of whether your home is worth 200k or 900k, you are already up for the costs of buying/ selling/ mortgage/ removals.
If someone has worked hard all their life and bought a family home over many years, why should they have to pay CGT just because they have to move to another town for work?
For many NZers at whatever level, having a mortgage free family home by retirement is their dream.
Let’s not forget it’s the rentier class who are the target for CGT because their ‘business’ is what pushes up prices and makes homes less available for first buyers. They cynically and/or happily exploit tax breaks for the running costs on their additional properties. Meanwhile government rent assistance for the poor ultimately trickles upwards into the landlords’ pockets
I have no idea why you think that “doing up the kitchen will be tax free”. I haven’t heard anyone say that a CGT exemption on selling your only home will include tax exemption on doing it up.
btw most people want to do up their home to make it a nicer place to live in – and ultimately to add value. What’s wrong with that?!
I’m not sure why you are calling me ‘classist’ for saying I think all investments should be treated equally. I’m currently in the process for saving for a deposit and just think it’s unfair that I’ll be taxed on my investments while those who can afford a home largely will not be. If that is “classism” then guilty as charged.
-Unfortunately taking “special care” when writing the legislation won’t be enough to prevent entirely legal exploitation of this exemption. Tax law is immensely complex, and this just adds another layer of confusion.
-My point is why should we favor houses over other capital investments? I’ve worked hard (but not yet long) and invested my savings in shares. I want to buy a house eventually but don’t yet have enough for a deposit.
-The problem with the exemption is it favors the “upper middle” much more than the “lower middle” and provides precisely nothing to the bottom of the heap. We should be flipping this on it’s head.
-Re-doing the kitchen will absolutely be a tax free investment. Any gains in house value as a result will not be taxed, but backing more productive investments will be taxed. If we want to grow our economy we need people to invest outside housing, this tax system will only encourage it.
-Encouraging people to renovate will only increase the spread of “McMansions”, houses will become more expensive. (I do concede that fewer people owning rentals may offset this.)
-Far better would be have a CGT exemption window that could be accrued over time. You get $10,000 of tax free gain from any source per person per year. This will allow those with modest houses to avoid moderate capital gains when they move.
Finally how ambiguous is the term “family home”
I understand this is actually not that ambiguous at all, since similar definitions are already being applied to Kiwisaver withdrawals.
My understanding is that the Kiwisaver withdrawals apply to the “first home” not the family home.
Actually QoT is correct.
There are two separate aspects of KiwiSaver help for home buyers, which are usually confused together.
1. Deposit subsidy, of $1,000 per person per year when they’ve been contributing to KS for at least 3 years, with a maximum cap of $5k per person. So a couple can get $10k this way.
In order to be eligible for the deposit subsidy there are several extra conditions that must be met, such as the value of the house you are purchasing and your combined taxable income.
2. Fund withdrawal. If you are purchasing your first home, or in a financial situation substantially similar to a person who is purchasing their first home, then you are able to withdraw a good portion of all of your kiwisaver contributions: I believe it is employee + employer + voluntary contributions + returns, but not the government tax subsidy or $1,000 kickstart.
You are able to do both 1 and 2 if you meet the eligibility criteria and conditions. One of the conditions applied to both options is that it must be your principal place of residence and cannot be an investment property. This is relevant for option #2 where if you’re in a “financial situation substantially similar to a person who is purchasing their first home” you can still qualify for the fund withdrawal, even though the house you’re buying isn’t your *first* house. The actual definition of “financial situation substantially…” more or less boils down to the same income-testing as applied to the eligibility criteria for #1.
Lolz you say it better than what i could…
From wiki
Habituation is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations.[1] As a procedure, habituation is the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus that results in the decline of the elicited behavior (the process of habituation). This can be rooted from one becoming accustomed to a stimulus to such an extent, that one is simply less responsive or reactive to the stimulus. This process is gradual and is caused after prolonged exposure to the said stimulus.
After a period of picking beans, which are the same colour as the leaves of the plant, your brain stops “seeing” them. You have keep refocussing your mind which is thorughly sick of looking at beans.
The analogy is that I’m very habituated to Labour’s incessant middle-class bribes. It may mean I miss some. Sorry a bit obtuse.
David and Karen have joined us at a nice restaurant in Merivale. Awesome feeling here. Patrons at the restaurant asking to have photos taken with him.
Please ask him what he intends to do for the poorest million.
There is still time to announce a massive state housing build and the removal of gst.
Thanks.
i second that…
GST might be regressive but it is a tax in the appropriate place – consumption.
You’ll find very few tax jurisdictions that don’t have some form of consumption tax.
What were you saying about a fairer tax system again, tax the hell out of the poorest as a % of their income and add a couple of cents to the top eaners tax rate and hey presto the poorest pay the same % on their income as the richest do,
Then??? bribe the middle class to vote for you with it…
Adding taxes that apply to high-income earners and those who dodge taxes, while not touching the rest of the tax system, is making it fairer.
Removing GST would also be fairer.
But it is not incorrect to say the tax system will be fairer when it is broadened at the expense of those who should be paying more, and not changed at all for those who are already paying what they should.
Agreed. An implicit tax break for those with mansions in Parnell or Herne Bay would only shift the burden down the ladder.
Except they already have an “implicit tax break” right now, but not just on their mansions, on all of their property.
But that applies universally to all investors. You’re advocating removing this exemption from those too poor to buy their own home.
??
See my other posts. Basically adding a capital gain tax is good, but providing an exemption on the basis of the value of your home is unfair.
The exemption doesn’t apply on the basis of the value of your home. It applies on the basis of it being the home you live in, regardless of the home’s value.
An insurance company, now that’s really really RED, thank god i chucked my membership in long ago,
As just saying has been saying, if it’s socialism, it’s the socialism of ,for, and by the middle class…
TV1 news says it’s almost an identical policy to one NZFirst announced 2 weeks ago.
Yeah i mention that down at (22), might be a radical lurch to the left from an old Tory like Winston, but the flagship announcement at the first conference of the new Leader of Labour, hardly RED looks more washed out pink from here,
Thank god i wasn’t sucked into renewing my membership…
This is the first time I have been able to take the NZLP seriously since 1987, (I gave them the benefit of doubt post 1984).
There is a whiff of Norman Kirk about this guy.
Just hope the FWITS at the conference do not derail everything (again!).
There’s a whiff of something about that guy, and it certainly aint Norm Kirk, the same old platitudes that Slippery trots out and an idea for an insurance company half inched of Winston Peters,
That old Tory Peters coming up with the idea of the state owning an insurance company might be pretty left wing considering where Winston comes from, but pffft…
Dear Dave, after you have finished your fine dinner do you think you could brush a few crumbs our way,
Yours, some sickness Bene’s…
There is a whiff of cetacean lipids coming from you.
Is that so, well there is a hint of a regurgitating rectal vacum about you…
I rest my case.
Except for the insipid attempt at abuse you haven’t made a case…
Go you good thing Cunliffe, love the insurance idea after a 70% increase in the last 2 years.
That was a very good speech indeed by David Cunliffe, truly gripping and inspiring!
I worry a bit about him going a bit over the top, as expectations by some may be a bit disappointed later on. This speech has a totally different tone to that what Cunliffe said in an interview on focus on politics on Radio NZ National today.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2574908
But as many need to be “excited” out of their slumber of years of mainstream media brainwashing (or “infestation”), that Key is a such a great “golden boy” and has the sun shine out of all kinds of peculiar body parts, I sense there is a justified need to whip up the political “lingo” a bit.
I will nevertheless party vote Greens or even Mana next year, possibly even an electorate candidate from the Greens (if they put one up), simply to keep Labour “in check”, to not forget their social policy heritage and modern, overdue, effective environmental policies that protect this country from yet more senseless exploitation.
I can’t believe I’m going to beat Tat to congratulating Cunliffe on the “fracking clue” line.
… wait, what do you mean it wasn’t a Battlestar reference? 😛
QoT.
You gem.
That speech is a breath of fresh air which gives me hope. As for Patrick Gower – his effort on the 6 pm news was a disgrace. He should be sacked.
That is what Gower is paid to do, get used to it and much more from this so called ‘media’ who are actually mediums for their masters message rather than reporters of fact with intelligent context added.
The more intelligent MSM nactiods are more subtle and normally never push their mug on camera like smellstrong in his granny ivory tower and farrer pushing the lines from behind his website etc.
Time off.
Solid start from the kiwis. Played out their set of six soundly, assuring kick pinning the tories at their own end.
More of the same needed for the rest of this half, particularly from the workmen. Hard hit-ups.
Defence a priority. MUST lead into the break.
Never underestimate Silent Shon, line speed essential in the doorknocking/leafletting area from now until half time (only six more weeks on the clock).
Save razzle-dazzle for the second half: Christmas bonus to compensate for Ruth lass cuts/Special Benefit lunacy will seal it.
Above all, maintain discipline. No room for the slightest swipe. Video ref Paddy Hitler. Keep line at all costs.
And for Christ’s sake, take your Greens.
Now get out there and show them what kiwis are!
No greens, no pudding
House insurance is one of the first things to go, along with the mythical health insurance when you are low income. However just cos the press choose kiwiassure as labours flagship policy doesnt make it so.
A different choice in copy and paste and minimum and living wage could be flagship policies from that speech.
I would have preferred the focus stayed on fairness rather than building…. it was always going to draw a comparison to brighter future…
Xtasy
“will nevertheless party vote Greens or even Mana next year, possibly even an electorate candidate from the Greens (if they put one up), simply to keep Labour “in check”,”
Labour has to win first – I hope voters of your persuasion dont mind another 3 years of NACT because of your wasted votes ….
Where is the wasted vote?
‘wasted vote’ ? what? are they going to drug test for voting too now?
Grunty – NO “wasted” vote at all, it is called smart, strategic voting, for the most likely “natural” government partner that Labour will need.
I am open to vote Labour again, provided they also cover policies that are crucial and very dear to me. I will not bend over for those still partly blinkered and “bene-hating” “centrists” in some vague “middle class”, to give me yet more lashes on my bare bottom, as the convenient “beneficiary whipping boy”!
Sorry to disappoint you, go out and make sure Labour will win then, it is your call, if you wish to take it personally. I am with Labour as leading future government party, but they do from my view need to be kept “honest” and in check, to actually stick to and also honour the nice lingo of a New Zealand for ALL!
Well wasn’t that a grand Labour Party Conference, the new RED Labour, ditcher of neo-liberalism and all that made the grand announcement,
Yes an insurance company, have the heralds blow the trumpets long and loud, send out the message to the lost tribe of voters Labour is here to save them with an insurance company, now that’s what i call a grand vision,
Could it tho, this insurance company, be a cunning signal to NZFirst who came up with the very same policy befor the light went on in David Cunliffe’s cavity,
Then again could it be imagined that as ‘He’ thought up such a stunning strategem, this insurance company, to fire up the activist, turn out the million non-voters, sweep all opposition befor Him, that David Cunliffe had a funny feeling in the back of His mind ‘that He had heard this idea befor’, but, couldn’t quite pin down where it came from, Ghandi perhaps, Nelson Mandela maybe,
They say the best form of flattery is mimicry and Winston Peters must be sitting ome place right now laughing fit to bust over the ‘Labour Party idea’ to have a Government insurance company,
Did anything of any import other than the ‘insurance company’ come out of the Labour Conference, i would love to hear about it if there was, build half a dozen State Houses perhaps,
Child poverty got a mention from Dave, so He knows it exists, maybe there’s no need to seriously address this child poverty after all it aint like it’s killing anyone, is it???…
Softly softly, catchy monkey.
If National win another term all this hope will be wasted – watch the destruction that will follow