David Cunliffe’s speech to the New Zealand Institute
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12:13 pm, March 14th, 2014 - 124 comments
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Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.
I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Initiative and its Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich. Oliver it’s great to be here with you today – and I know this group greatly values the open contest of ideas.
You were formed from a merger of the New Zealand Institute and the Business Roundtable. This is not an audience that some would naturally associate with the Labour Party.
But I believe that we have a shared interest in an economic upgrade to a high-value economy that will support better jobs and higher incomes.
It is a project that matters to all New Zealanders, and it is one in which I have personal experience.
Before I entered politics I worked as a business consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. We worked to help companies grow, export and create more value in their operations.
In one project I led a team of mill workers at a large NZ pulp and paper mill.
Our goal was to seek practical ideas from the shop floor workers about how to do things smarter and reduce waste.
My role was to build the system that allowed all the team to contribute their best ideas, and to ensure they were analysed, implemented and tracked.
It worked beyond our expectations. Millions of dollars a year were saved by ideas as simple as changing the wrapping on paper bales and improving work flows.
Together, we saved jobs and helped build the business. It’s a tough industry and there have been other changes since, but we got the best we could out of what we had.
And working together – that’s what we must now do for the New Zealand economy as a whole.
Vision
New Zealanders love to say we live in the best country in the world. And it’s true. The people are great, our landscapes are spectacular, and we have a wonderful multi-cultural society.
But we are not making the most of our potential.
The problem is, while this is the best country in the world to live in, it’s not the best place to make a living.
I want to shift the New Zealand economy into high gear.
I have a vision of a New Zealand that harnesses the potential of all our people.
A vision of a country with the most productive and competitive businesses in the world.
A vision of a country with better jobs and higher wages.
It is a big step to get there.
To achieve this vision we need an economic upgrade.
That’s what I’m here to talk about today.
What’s the problem?
An old Chinese proverb says: “A peasant must stand a long time on a hillside with his mouth open before a roast duck flies in.”
It’s a warning.
Sometimes good things can fall into our lap, like periods of high commodity prices.
But it’s not a serious long-term strategy to tie our economic well-being to forces that are largely beyond our control.
Yes, New Zealand floats like a small boat on the ocean of the global economy. But I refuse to accept we can’t influence our own destiny. Together, we can achieve sustainable long-term growth.
Small states like Sweden, Norway and Singapore prove it is possible. It’s time we woke up to what has been happening in these economies, rather than staying locked in a 1990s time warp.
I’m sure there will be some in the room who disagree. But it is the view of the Labour Party that a disproportionate and growing share of the value of the New Zealand economy is accruing to the top few percent.
Labour supports positive business, but trickle-down economics and its neoliberal parentage have failed New Zealanders and left many of our emerging businesses starved of investment capital and skills.
The opportunity gaps have widened and there is no clear, shared strategy to a high value, high income future.
That’s something Labour will change. We want an economy that works for all New Zealanders.
But in order to share wealth, first we have to make it.
We need to move away from a dependence on commodity price cycles, to build an enduring, high-value, job-rich economy that leverages our innate strengths.
What’s the solution?
An economic upgrade is needed because our economy runs on old “software”.
It’s a combination of poorly-structured investment in infrastructure, macro settings geared towards the interests of a small number of speculators, a hands-off approach to innovation, and a deficit of government-industry partnerships.
We keep doing what we’ve always done in spite of the evidence from those vibrant economies overseas. They show an intelligent hands-on approach plays an essential part in securing long-term sustainable growth.
A successful economy needs the right kinds of capital investment. It needs a culture of innovation and risk-taking which takes years to mature, and sometimes only months to lose.
It often needs partnerships at a regional and sector basis which are hard to build and to maintain.
And it needs a focus on producing more value in our businesses and our economy, instead of just a greater volume of the same old raw products.
A value focus will take a strong, far-sighted government, in partnership with business, to progress.
I have watched with dismay as many sectors of the New Zealand economy have found it increasingly hard to maintain the focus on value. The goal seems to have slipped further away under the current government.
It will be a major strategic priority for the incoming Labour-led Government to support New Zealand business in the journey from volume to value.
From an economy driven by land banking and speculation to one extended by advanced manufacturing and innovation.
I want to set out three main parts to Labour’s economic upgrade:
- Investment,
- Innovation,
- Industry.
Investment
We cannot upgrade our economy without investment. To become a high-tech economy with better jobs and higher wages, then more money going into the right areas is essential.
At the moment there is a serious shortage of cash. The NZX is a shallow cousin of stock markets around the globe. Our savings rate is dismal, meaning most new investment comes from overseas and not from local sources. Our poorly structured foreign direct investment means profits far too often drain overseas, deepening the hole in our current account.
There is significant shortage of capital, especially venture capital to go towards Kiwi businesses.
To make matters worse, most of our investment goes into the out-of-control housing market where property speculators make a killing. The productive economy sees very little of that money.
Our banking and insurance sectors, which are supposed to be the main conduit for financing smart Kiwi businesses, have become almost entirely overseas owned. That doesn’t help Kiwis build an economy they own.
Labour’s strategy is to upgrade the size and focus of our capital markets.
We will dramatically increase the local investment pool available to New Zealand businesses.
We will make KiwiSaver universal.
Every employee will contribute to their KiwiSaver account, not only ensuring financial security for New Zealanders in old age, but also making a significant boost to capital available for investment now. We have seen the success of this across the Tasman. I want to replicate that, and I know I am supported in that goal by many New Zealand businesses.
We are also committed to restarting contributions to the Super Fund. This was one of the great successes of the last Labour Government, and it will be so again under the next one.
But increasing the investment pool is not enough in itself.
Our capital gains tax will dissuade investors from speculating in the housing market and encourage them to put money into the productive exporting side of the economy.
That’s money to invest in the economic upgrade. It’s also policy many New Zealand businesses support.
The second major element to the investment upgrade is overseas investment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a good thing, if managed well.
But right now FDI is poorly managed, and it’s Kiwis who are losing out. Overseas investors are buying up land, farms and good companies, then sending the profits and jobs offshore.
New Zealanders want choices in their future. We need to make sure this happens.
Labour will revamp FDI to attract quality investors with a credible business case designed around creating jobs and providing new technology to New Zealand companies.
Overseas investors are welcome to be part of our economy but they must contribute to the upgrade.
Our changes to Overseas Investment Office (OIO) rules will ensure overseas investors will bring access to leading-edge technology and new overseas markets.
Investment works best if costs and barriers to business are reduced. The biggest obstacle to our exporting businesses is the consistently overvalued and volatile exchange rate. Labour has long signalled it will review monetary policy to ensure our dollar is more fairly valued to help business and lower our external balance.
My deputy and Finance spokesperson David Parker is leading this work and will be speaking more on this in the near future.
Increasing investment and getting it into the right areas with the right payoffs will be a major part of the economic upgrade. Primarily it will help fund the economic upgrade for innovation.
Innovation
Innovation is essential to New Zealand’s economic upgrade. To be a high-tech, sustainable economy that offers skilled jobs and high wages we need to be at the forefront of global innovation.
If we don’t innovate we can’t compete.
The innovation upgrade won’t just be about new gadgets and great products. It will require a culture of change.
Thankfully New Zealanders have an innovative culture. We think outside the square. We’ve always had to. We have great bones to build on.
But in commercial terms New Zealand’s investment in R&D is well below par in global terms, and it is in private R&D that we are particularly weak.
Our R&D spend is currently 1.27% (2012) of GDP, of which only 0.58% is private spending. Compare that to Denmark, with 3.07% (2010) or Israel at 4.34% (2010).
We need to turn our numbers around, and fast.
Labour in government will restart New Zealand’s stalled innovation story.
We will renew the R&D tax credit.
We will significantly increase Crown investment in R&D, with a focus on co-funding from the private sector.
Before I became a business consultant and entered politics, I had the privilege of studying at Harvard University. In the United States I saw the value of universities, industry and venture capital working together.
That is the culture Labour will be encouraging in our research and teaching institutions; unleashing our best minds into partnerships with industry.
Labour also brings a broader concept of innovation to the table.
We must meld our creativity with capital to build small to medium companies which dominate in market niches. We must foster talent to develop innovative products and services that people want to buy, and we must protect our intellectual property.
We need to honour and replicate the likes of HamiltonJet, Icebreaker and Orion Health – mid-sized companies that have developed innovative products and services that the world wants to buy.
In these cases, the high value activity and ownership has remained in New Zealand.
But innovation is not just about hard science and new products. It is also about the softer aspects of business, such as distribution and marketing.
Our current innovation problems are hurting us in the industry that will drive our future – ICT.
If we compare ourselves with other smaller successful nations, it soon becomes clear that we have a deficit of around ten thousand high-tech jobs.
Many of our children, and those who are teaching them, are running yesterday’s technology, and are falling behind their peers in the rest of the developed world.
We cannot let that continue. ICT today plays a role similar to the railway in the 19th century. It is the infrastructure that opens up new markets and new supply chains.
Places like Israel have realised the importance of upgrading ICT skills and related creative skills to support growth and innovation in other industries.
We need to follow in their footsteps to upgrade our ICT industry.
Labour is committed to overcoming the digital divide. We will not build a tech-savvy generation without new generation technology.
That’s why our policy is to raise the bar in terms of ensuring access to fast broadband within low-decile schools.
And Labour will introduce a “digital bill of rights” to give certainty to business and all New Zealanders that we can live, work and play safely and productively in the digital world.
We will make further announcements in this important area.
Industry
Investment and innovation are the essential frameworks for supporting business and growth and leading the economic upgrade.
But it is also essential that government mucks in and supports businesses. While I back our business community to lead in the global economy we are competing with far bigger and stronger players than us.
Government should back positive Kiwi businesses, not leave it to the wolves of international trade. Labour will do that. We want good jobs in every region in New Zealand.
That also means attracting industry to New Zealand regions that need it most.
Industry policy has become a dirty word. It isn’t. Regional development has also fallen by the wayside. Labour will bring it back. We want good jobs in every region of New Zealand.
We have witnessed a loss of heart in regional New Zealand. There are opportunities for growth, investment and innovation in our regions, and in sectors such as forestry.
Yes, there are challenges. But experience has shown there are ways to partner with local businesses to create value.
So under Labour the regions will play a major role in the economic upgrade.
It is time that central government stopped treating regional and local government (and their economic development agencies) as second class citizens.
Sustainable economic development means jointly developing one vision, one strategy and one engagement structure for each region.
That means simplifying the governance structures and no wrong door for businesses and communities wanting to engage in building a better future.
It means enhanced coordination and prioritisation of Crown investments, with a focus on transformative projects executed within a strong strategic framework.
Examples could include new infrastructure like a rail head to Northport or dredging the Opotiki Harbour bar to drive new aquaculture.
Or expanding research projects tailored to lead industry clusters like Scion’s Rotorua forestry expertise, or the Marlborough Wine Research Centre.
Or harnessing our polytechs to provide industry-specific training to the 70% of NZ school-leavers who do not go on to university; as centres of excellence that serve the key industries in their area, such as in forestry, tourism, fisheries, ICT, CAD, construction and viticulture.
And post-settlement iwi will have an important role as core asset owners and employers in our regions. They must be part of our shared future.
Success stories tell us something, and that is that when government is a partner in the long journey from volume to value then regions and communities can thrive.
There is no set template for regional growth. But disengagement achieves nothing. We must work together and ensure all our industries are humming.
In the very near future, I’ll be making the first of a series of industry announcements, providing concrete examples of how the economic upgrade will work.
Summary
Today I have outlined the framework for New Zealand’s economic journey to a higher value, higher knowledge, higher income and renewable future.
We want better jobs and higher wages for all New Zealanders.
We all know that in order to sustainably lift incomes we need to sustainably lift productivity.
We all know that just being a producer of raw materials, stuck on the treadmill of commodity price cycles, is not the way to that better future.
Especially when our warped tax system and our inadequate savings system incentivise over-investment in real estate, and under-investment in innovation.
New Zealand must be more than a farm to be harvested by offshore banks. We must grow our manufacturing and high-end services sectors. We must provide opportunities to inspire our best and brightest young innovators to build job creating businesses here in New Zealand.
Today I have set out for you the crucial elements of an economic upgrade that will put us on the road to shared prosperity: Investment, Innovation and Industry.
These require serious policy changes, not tinkering. That’s why we will have:
- Capital gains tax to move from speculation to innovation,
- Universal KiwiSaver to grow our onshore investment capital,
- Monetary policy reform to back our exporters,
- R&D tax credits to encourage innovation,
- A series of industry and regional strategies that grow New Zealand’s wealth.
And all of this will leverage off a sound fiscal policy based on fairness, responsibility and sustainability.
Conclusion
We are a wonderful, beautiful country. We can be a land of hope and opportunity for all New Zealanders. We can truly be – as the late Sir Paul Callaghan dreamed – a place where global talent wants to live.
We are small in size but we don’t have to be small in vision. We cannot bet on all possible futures at once – but we can focus on what we can do well, and do it even better.
Actually we should aim to be world class in every niche we enter into.
And that – by definition – must be a shared journey. We are all in this together. Government and business, employers and workers.
Today has been about setting out the vision for a high value, sustainable future with better jobs and higher wages.
Labour’s economic upgrade is an opportunity to provide the decent society we all want.
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At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...5 days ago
- Shameless, clueless
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...5 days ago
- Crazy ’bout a Sharp-dressed Man
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...6 days ago - How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...6 days ago
- 8% ACT Party Creates One Ring To Rule Them All
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...6 days ago - When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...6 days ago
- Govt to double number of toll roads
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s pre-emptive strike
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...6 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Coalition’s Empty Gestures, And Abortion Refusal As The New Slavery
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...6 days ago
- More public service contempt of parliament
Back in 2023 the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties raised concerns about the inherent conflict of interest involved in public service agencies supporting parliamentary select committees. Our parliament is run on a shoestring, so depends on the public service for advice. But public service agencies work for Ministers, not ...6 days ago
- If There Is A God
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...6 days ago - A Lipstick Government
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...6 days ago - NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...6 days ago
- Why you won’t hear me advocate for electric cars
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate. I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...7 days ago
- Coalition forced to back down on tolling Pahiatua track
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...7 days ago
- Thank You
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...7 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...1 week ago
- Making Gravy
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...1 week ago - Nothing here but the shadows
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...1 week ago - The United Right: the FSU’s Continued Efforts to Undermine Academia
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...1 week ago
- Showing the Americans how to do it
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...1 week ago
- 2 Men, 1 Haircut
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago - Chris Penk’s Hate Parade
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...1 week ago - Tell me a story
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
- National’s Greatest Misses 2023-4
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...2 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...3 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...3 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...4 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...4 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...6 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban
The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
- Greyhound racing industry ban marks new era for animal welfare
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...2 weeks ago
- Rangatahi voices must be centred in Government’s Relationship and Sexuality Education refresh
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt introduces archaic anti-worker legislation
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...2 weeks ago
- Winston Peters – Kinleith Mill Speech
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...2 weeks ago - Swarbrick calls on Auckland Mayor to end delay of revival of St James Theatre
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...2 weeks ago
- He Ara Anamata: Greens launch Emissions Reduction Plan
Today, the Green Party of Aotearoa proudly unveils its new Emissions Reduction Plan–He Ara Anamata–a blueprint reimagining our collective future. ...2 weeks ago
- Internationally-trained doctors jump at chance to boost health workforce
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...13 hours ago - PM appoints business leader to APEC Business Advisory Council
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...2 days ago
- New intelligence oversight appointments
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...2 days ago
- New housing developments able to progress more quickly
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...2 days ago
- Actions to speed up air travel delivering results
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...2 days ago
- Ending contracted emergency housing in Rotorua
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...2 days ago
- Vocational education and training decisions support return to regions
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...2 days ago
- Reducing the environmental impact of synthetic refrigerants
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...3 days ago
- Ngāruawāhia section of Waikato Expressway back to 4 lanes for Christmas
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...3 days ago
- Appointments to the ENZ board
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...3 days ago
- Government to celebrate Waitangi Day around NZ
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...3 days ago
- More gangs added to Gangs Act list
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...3 days ago
- Judicial appointment announced
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...3 days ago
- GDP data highlights importance of growth
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...3 days ago
- Strengthening Free Speech in Universities
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...3 days ago
- Launch of Emergency Cellular Priority Service
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...3 days ago
- Minister reopens Mangamuka Gorge
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...4 days ago
- Funding confirmed for second Ashburton Bridge
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...4 days ago
- Government boosts support for avian influenza response
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...4 days ago
- Levelling the playing field for media advertising
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...4 days ago
- Inspector-General of Defence appointed
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...4 days ago
- Fire and Emergency New Zealand final levy rates confirmed
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...4 days ago
- More AML relief on the way for Kiwi businesses
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...4 days ago
- Hawke’s Bay Expressway moving at pace
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...4 days ago
- Government seeks partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned-land
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...4 days ago
- Wide ranging legislation to make justice system more efficient
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...4 days ago
- Diverse skills in community trust appointments
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...4 days ago
- Torture redress for survivors of the Lake Alice Unit
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...4 days ago
- A busy year in the House
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...4 days ago
- Consultation opens on working with engineered stone
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...5 days ago
- Greater reporting on Treaty settlement commitments
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...5 days ago
- New appointments to the Charities Registration Board
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...5 days ago
- Building consent processing times improve
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...5 days ago
- Faster access to support through Innovation Fund
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...5 days ago
- New Zealand to assist Vanuatu on earthquake response
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...5 days ago
- Government takes steps to reduce card fees for Kiwis
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...5 days ago
- Review recommends ECE regulation shakeup
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...5 days ago
- Offshore Renewable Energy Bill passes first reading
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...5 days ago
- Local Government (Water Services) Bill passes first reading
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...5 days ago
- Gene Technology Bill passes first reading
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...5 days ago
- Signs of the hīkoi: More than just ‘words on cardboard’
The placards seen at the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti conveyed "huge kōrero with immediacy", expert says: "People know the power of the word." ...9 hours ago - A final Ode to .. King Luxon
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...17 hours ago - A hater and an enthusiast review The Royal Free by Carl Shuker
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...18 hours ago - Survive to 25 (December, that is)
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...18 hours ago
- All I want for Christmas is modern day slavery legislation
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...18 hours ago
- Israeli-American historian describes attacks on Gaza as ‘war of annihilation’
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...21 hours ago - NZ govt plans to make ‘heavy handed’ change to free speech rules for universities
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The vision that Cunliffe is spelling out for NZ sounds infinitely more promising than National’s approach of selling out to the lowest bidder, giving contracts (& thus exporting jobs) to overseas companies, giving money to those already wealthy and keeping wage low (or lowering them) for those that are working on wages that already don’t cover living costs, ignoring workers rights to good work conditions and degenerating workers power to negotiate, amongst other things.
It sounds just like what I was advocating. Deeper capital markets, more focus on investment and saving, incentivize capital investment in labour.
So why do I get called every name under the sun, yet when Cunliffe says it, you applaud? That’s what blind tribalism gets you, huh.
Good on Cunliffe. He’s gone up in my estimation.
Every name under the sun? I’ve barely got started.
It’s because your prescription will deliver the opposite of your stated aims, and this is blindingly obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention.
Not to you it seems, as Cunliffe is singing from the same songbook. He’s even quoting the exact same source I did, namely Sir Paul Callaghan.
“The left must convince the voters that New Zealand is on the wrong track fiscally, and present policy that would make it better.”
“what expenditure would you cut?”
“There is no child poverty”
Have you come to terms with Puddleglum’s exposure of your innumeracy yet?
Cunliffe is advocating the exact same things I do, namely deeper capital markets, more focus on investment and saving, incentivize capital investment in labour.
Which is why you’re desperately trying to change the topic. Nice to know you’ve come around after someone else told you what to think.
English Comprehension 101, OAB’s special course for special wingnuts.
My remark “your prescription will deliver the opposite of your stated aims” is an attack on your prescription, not your stated aims.
Puddleglum pointed out how innumerate you are with reference to your errors in understanding the definition of poverty. I had spotted them before that, so I gambled that someone else would fill in the gap for me. Puddleglum obliged. However, I note that you had been drivelling about your wizened understanding of “the mean” whereas Puddleglum referenced the median. Nonetheless, Puddleglum’s argument holds.
You’re innumerate, and yet you arrogantly presume to lecture on Economics. Fuck off.
Stick to the topic.
And go fuck yourself, too, but only if someone else tells you it’s okay first. Heaven forbid you’d think for yourself.
In response to your off-topic dribbling:
http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/economics/the-problem-with-relative-poverty
Have you comprehended that everyone can be paid at least sixty percent of the mean yet?
Why are you so desperate to change the topic? Go argue it in that thread, if you want.
This topic is about Cunliffe’s economic prescription, correctly identifying the need for deeper capital markets, savings, investment and investment in labour.
I agree with him.
How about you? You may need to ask someone else first….
I agreed with him a long time before I’d heard of him. His prescriptions are hardly revolutionary, after all.
What I’m saying is that the policy prescriptions you have proposed here (and I have more quotes from you to demonstrate that if need be) will deliver the opposite of the outcomes Cunliffe wants for New Zealand.
“His prescriptions are hardly revolutionary, after all.”
Same thing I’ve been saying, but when I say it, you go all tribal.
I look forward to seeing more detail from The Cunliffe.
No, cretin, it isn’t the aims you’ve been paying lip service to, it’s the established FACT that your prescription delivers the opposite of Cunliffe’s. Are you so fucking stupid you think repeatedly missing the point will prevent everyone else from noticing?
Yes, you are. Innumerate, cretinous, stupid. A typical National Party gimp. Low IQ, enlarged amygdala, utterly incapable of anything other than wearing uniforms and opening gates other people built.
How can it when I’m agreeing with him?
It seems to be causing a cognitive dissonance meltdown in you that is really quite amusing.
English comprehension 101, lesson three.
You agree with his ends, not his means.
PS: you even disagree with his facts, Maggot, when you deny child poverty.
I’m not sure agreeing with the ends is a problem.
Let’s have a look at his methods:
Capital gains tax to move from speculation to innovation,
Needs more detail. Imposing a capital gains tax, alone, does not move money from speculation to innovation.
Universal KiwiSaver to grow our onshore investment capital,
Needs more detail. How is he going ensure NZers are diversified? Directing Kiwisaver into a tiny economy on the far side of the world increases risk cost.
Monetary policy reform to back our exporters,
Needs more detail.
R&D tax credits to encourage innovation,
Needs more detail. How is he going to prevent abuse?
A series of industry and regional strategies that grow New Zealand’s wealth.
Needs more detail.
Cunliffe is wrong.
There, I said it.
He’s still caught up in the free-market capitalism delusion.
Sir Paul Callaghan rip
I had the privilege to listen to one of his last public presentations at 2011 labour party congress cunliffes speech was sir pauls blue print for the new zealand economy and I will take sir pauls plan over john keys anytime.
To the contrary, I think it’s great to hear this from you, JLTW. I think it shows you to be a pragmatic thinker with an open mind.
Does this mean that Cunliffe gets your vote in September? 🙂
+1 Huginn
@Just Like Tiger Woods.
It is nice to see you saying something positive.
Labour is a much better option to vote for than the National sell-outs
Well, I’ll see what their other policies are, whether I think they can deliver them, then contrast them with Nationals.
Labour would also have to distance themselves from the Greens, or give an indication of what Green policy positions they would adopt, and what they would rule out. I like how Cunliffe is talking centrist economic policy, but I have no time for the Greens and would not vote to enable them.
Hi JLTW,
I have posted a reply to this comment of yours on today’s Open Mike (15th March). It is post 4.
I did this because my question would lead to the conversation getting off this thread’s topic – being a question re your stance on the Greens and not Labour.
interesting speech. now the right will pick it apart BUT you can only pick apart something that says something.
i am particularly interested in how this will be dealt with:
” The biggest obstacle to our exporting businesses is the consistently overvalued and volatile exchange rate. Labour has long signalled it will review monetary policy to ensure our dollar is more fairly valued to help business and lower our external balance.”
+1
define fair. is it fair to consumers and poor people struggling to pay for petrol? or is it fair to exporters seeking greater revenue for their product?
That seems to me like a false and misleading dichotomy. What makes you think it can’t be both?
so you know the optimal exchange rate point for our dollar vs say the US$, and at the same time the AUS$? and how does that fit with the relationship between those two currencies? you wouldn’t want to create the ability for arbitrage between the three would you? coz i’d speculate and take advantage of it. has the reserve bank the reserves to push our dollar the 2-3 base points in any direction it needs to go prevent distortion?
Currency controls are a multi headed hydra. I agree that there needs to be fair environment for our exporters to work in. But they seem to be succeeding despite the pressures of a high dollar. it, like interest rates, are not the only factor.
It’s a nice idea, but until there is some concrete policy as to how labour expects to achieve this “fairness” (which, incidentally, you can’t define and should be able to if you believe it exists) i am sceptical of it working at all.
Strength is strength. Sun Tzu talks about the different types of ground (external factors), perhaps you should study that a little.
so you have no idea what i’m talking about. yet you honestly believe your opinion is important and should be listened to. OAB, you are a complete idiot. even the internet is poorer for you being on it. if you typify the average labourite, it’s small wonder they are lacking an intelligent message.
Yes. It is, in fact, implied by the free-market paradigm. It is:
1/(imports/exports)
Thus as our imports increase relative to our exports to the same country the value of our dollar to that countries currency goes down. This will be done for every country/currency.
The purpose of the exchange rate is, after all, to encourage trade balance between the two countries.
PS, that formula isn’t complete yet.
It’s capitalism as usual, but with a more caring, NZ-focused and inclusive face.
BINGO
Economic growth remains a good thing to aim for, especially if the proceeds are fairly shared with workers.
Can I make a slightly out of left field comment? It is not economic growth per se that is the danger but economic growth coupled with environmental damage that is the problem. We should celebrate the idea that we could have more artists, teachers, counsellors, therapists, doctors etc to look after us but the problem is that growth is coupled with the consumption of resources and the production of pollution.
If we could break that link then there could be a debate about growth being good for the economy.
Cunliffe uses the phrase “long term sustainable growth” more than once.
Kind of hedging his bets while trying to avoid scaring big business interests too much.
And Cunliffe talks about “growth” in relation to innovation, ICT industries and regional growth.
Julian Simon isn’t very popular, but his thesis that the most valuable resource on Earth is the educated healthy human mind is a valuable insight.
Not just educated but experienced. IMO, a lot of the problems we have today is being caused by people who are educated but don’t have any experience. Blinglish comes to mind.
interestingly, all the roles you have listed there are interpersonal ones – ones involved with the caring of others and the emotional labour associated with that. Or the transmission of a creative message to others, taking people away from the literal and arithmetic into a field which might inspire and transform the meaning of their lives.
These are of course all things that the corporate state has sought to either destroy, or corporatise for profit.
In their true form, they are not “economic” roles as understood by the neoliberal mindset – i.e. roles for creating private profit, the transformation and commodification of natural resources for sale, etc.
If Cunliffe is setting out a new definition of what an economy consists of – or perhaps simply going back to the old definition where an economy exists to serve the purposes and needs of the society and its communities (not the other way around) – I would be very interested. However, that is what some would describe as a “radical” agenda.
We have to define what our resources are and what is a sustainable rate of use of them is. Then we develop our economy within those limits. This is real economics rather than the delusional financial stuff that’s taught as economics in our schools and universities.
Great speech, agree with tracey that the Right will try and tear it apart, the problem is that most of our Right are hopeless/lazy people who have relied on Capital Gains or as they put it “Passive Income” to gain their dollars, not clever/enterprising business. just look at what Amy Adam’s is doing with her Canterbury properties…classic National Party wealth generation.
Smart/clever business people will end up siding with Labour, because although there may be an increase in their “Labour/Wage/Salary” costs there will be a much bigger increase in the Top Line…Labour’s historical average GDP growth proves it. Every ones a winner…or as DC says it “Walk and chew gum at the same time”
and this quote:
“Yes, New Zealand floats like a small boat on the ocean of the global economy. But I refuse to accept we can’t influence our own destiny. Together, we can achieve sustainable long-term growth.
Small states like Sweden, Norway and Singapore prove it is possible. It’s time we woke up to what has been happening in these economies, rather than staying locked in a 1990s time warp.
I’m sure there will be some in the room who disagree. But it is the view of the Labour Party that a disproportionate and growing share of the value of the New Zealand economy is accruing to the top few percent.
Labour supports positive business, but trickle-down economics and its neoliberal parentage have failed New Zealanders and left many of our emerging businesses starved of investment capital and skills.”
is spot on the MARK!!!
Norway floats on a sea of gas and oil for its wealth – so this means Labour supports the current governments policy of encouraging more Oil & Gas exploration? I’m totally in favour of that and setting up a Sovereign Wealth Management organisation to reap the benefits. Mighty be tough to get that past the Nimbys in the Greens though aye?
Sweden made big money selling product and materials to fascists during WWII and has invested that loot well. They also have sat right on top of a hugely rich market called Western Europe and have been industrialised for a long time. How does NZ replicate those historical advantages or facts?
Singapore has great geographic advantage sitting atop a major shipping route – they’ve exploited that well and used that advantage to diversify into Financial Services etc. But they have done so under an authoritarian regime which is just a little repressive. Is that what we want NZ to be – all decisions driven by Central Government?
Totally for supporting innovative business practice – but not with state money. What does a career bureaucrat in Wellington know about risk, innovation and business?
But one plus mark for Mr Cunnliffe – at least he is clearly acknowledging the engine of prosperity is business and risk taking. I wonder how that sits with the CTU?
“Norway floats on a sea of gas and oil for its wealth – so this means Labour supports the current governments policy of encouraging more Oil & Gas exploration?”
are national and norways approach to resource extraction the same?
not by a country mile
“. Is that what we want NZ to be – all decisions driven by Central Government?”
this has increased under national
“at least he is clearly acknowledging the engine of prosperity is business and risk taking. I wonder how that sits with the CTU?”
Do workers work somewhere other than businesses now? Do they not matter to the success of a business? Do they not take any risk by accepting a job at a particular workplace?
FFS – must you parrot lines that are so easily dissected?
Polly wants a cracker.
Re: Norways approach to Oil extraction –
I said I was in favour of a Sovereign Wealth Fund approach as per Norways “encouraging more Oil & Gas exploration? I’m totally in favour of that and setting up a Sovereign Wealth Management organisation to reap the benefits”.
I am also in support of a properly risk managed extraction operation – you didn’t reply to how Labour is going to get that past the Greens who want nothing to do with Oil and Gas exploration…
Re: Increased control of by Central Government under National – examples please. Happy to be proved wrong by facts not a blind “increased under National” statement
Re this little set of statements
“Do workers work somewhere other than businesses now? Do they not matter to the success of a business? Do they not take any risk by accepting a job at a particular workplace?”
Workers matter to business absolutely – valuable input to the production process for goods and services.
But in terms of risk taking – what risks are they actually taking?
Compared to the small business owners who employ large numbers of Kiwi workers the risk that a worker is taking is small.
A small business owner often has a mortgage funding facility supporting their business plus having invested their hard won personal financial capital to get the business stood up. They can and some times do lose everything – a worker loses his/her job and can apply elsewhere for another one. Nothing in life, just like life itself, is for ever – change is inevitable
That’s why Business Owners deserve the profits their business ventures generate – because they take the risk of the operation being successful and reap the whirlwind when it fails.
If a worker wants a big piece of the pie – he/she can also form their own competing business and earn the profits the business generates. Or they can gather together and form a co-operative and share the risks and profits amongst themselves..
You can argue that large Corporates exploit workers – in some cases I wouldn’t argue at all that is true – hence why I support unions existence to protect the vulnerable.
But my point stands – business is the engine of growth and opportunity – and I am glad to see Mr Cunliffe admit that
The oil exploration ships are leaving. The talk of huge reserves turns out to have been hype which, along with generous subsidies/bribes, got some of the worst countries in the world to send a few survey vessels down here. No doubt NAct was hoping for a find or two before the elections, but it’s not there. I suppose they’ll be happy with the second prize of cutting environmental protections and doing away with democratic rights to protest. It seems every black burned oil cloud has a silver lining for our masters after all.
Business isn’t the engine of growth. Econ 101 fail.
You’ve got your supply and demand completely around the wrong way. Supply rises to meet demand. Not the other way around.
Remember, all pathways of economic demand must eventually terminate at a person.
So if the population has no money to spend then they cannot create economic demand and the economy tanks.
This is what has happened in many Western economies as the system has contorted to such an extent that the bulk of the population is now mired in debt and is incapable of generating the demand that a growing economy would require.
This afternoon I had a conversation with a local businessman that went along these lines:
BMan: “Australian wages are far too high and need to be cut”.
RL: “So you would like all your customers to be a lot poorer?”
BMan: ” Well yes, but with lower wages I could drop my prices”
RL: “Fine but what about your other costs that are related to asset prices? Are you happy for property and asset prices to drop as well?”
BMan (after a bit of a pause): “I guess that would be ok, but what about the mortgage?”
RL: “That’s the problem with deflation, it’s far worse than inflation because the debt is fixed. Would it not be easier to just devalue the currency instead?”
BMan: “But then you just finish up with a whole lot of imported inflation!”
RL: “But isn’t that just the same as dropping wages? I thought you were keen on that?”
BMan: “But devaluing the currency makes the whole country poorer”
RL: “What not just the workers?”
(Temperature drops a few degrees as it is prone to do around here quite rapidly…)
BMan: “Only weak and failed economies have low value currencies”
(I was tempted at this point to mention how the NZ dollar is almost at parity with the Aussie but I figured that would be a counterproductive tangent)
RL: “So what are we to make of China fixing it’s currency at a fraction of it’s float value then?”
BMan: “Isn’t there a paddock full of merinos where you should be right now?”
Yeah, business people really don’t understand economics.
Demand is extremely important – but was there a demand for the iPhone before it was designed and built then offered for sale? Didn’t Apple take a large risk and invent a product, employ people and firms to produce and distribute it – without the demand existing already??
Demand and Supply co-exist. Some time there is demand for a product or service which is not already available in the market place and someone steps in and fulfils that demand. Other times demand is CREATED by people or business offering new products and services which people have never heard of before
So – no, not econ101 fail. I actually passed that puppy a long time ago….
We don’t need oil and gas extraction. In fact, considering AGW, we’d be far better off without it. You’re a typical RWNJ – you think that there’s only one type of resource and that we need to dig it up ASAP and sell it to become wealthy.
Warner Bros, SkyCity, Rio Tinto, ECan, etc, etc,
The bit that you don’t understand is that they’re more valuable to the business than management.
Lose your job, lose your house and family. Massive amounts of stress which damages the body. Yeah, huge amount of risk being a worker.
See, that’s actually a load of bollocks. Every employee at a business is taking a huge risk which is why every business should be a cooperative.
Nope, business as it stands is a wealth siphon that rewards only the rich rather than supporting the whole society as it should.
Draco – where are the peoples co-operatives? If your diatribe on workers being more valuable why are they not organising themselves into co-operatives to make a living for themselves…. Why are the Unions not leading that charge?
Go on get out there and storm the barricades instead of ranting on a blog site. Do something practical ,form a co-operative and start trading for a living, don’t rely on those fat cat business owners….. I look forward to you posting here on the Standard a report on your success…….
as for being a RWNJ – nah not me chap I am no fan of the far right and multi national corporations. I just don’t think central control of everything is the way to go…
Why don’t you ask John Key? He has, after all, been a career bureaucrat*. He also participated in the destruction of billions, if not trillions, of dollars of paper wealth and the selling out of a country.
BTW, did you notice how Cunliffe shared a story about how they found far more value talking to the workers than talking to the business managers?
* bureaucrat
Which is not such a bad thing DtB. After all what is the alternative to doing things by the rules?
Occasionally the odd flash of genius will slip through, but mostly it just descends into favours, nepotism, graft and outright corruption.
And he did a pretty compelling job at the Committee for Auckland yesterday as well.
Feel the fluidity of it, and compare it to the lumpy and poorly-stitched passages in the welfare one he did at Kelson a month ago. Feels like either there’s a new speechwriter in the office who has his cadence down, or Cunliffe is taking a clearer role controlling the pen himself.
Signs are good. Now all he has to do is throw the notes away – he doesn’t ned to deliver every line. Journos always know there’s differences to delivered text – and the really quotable stuff comes in the Q and A afterwards.
A couple more of these and maybe the donors will come back after last weeks’ fuckups.
Anyone know what the audience’s reaction was?
I understand the NZ Institute to be a right wing think tank
I trust some were turning varying shades of green, yellow and red (perhaps even purple needs to be mentioned for some holding the most extreme right-wing views : ) ).
I would like to think that many [o.k even some will do] saw the sense in what Cunliffe was saying.
What was the audience reaction, anyone know?
The NZ Institute was an evidence based relatively neutral organisation not captured by the neoliberal disease. The NZ Initiative is a reverse take over from the Business Round Table, and has amply demonstrated a return to it’s Roger Kerr roots. Shame on them.
Thanks DV,
I was not immediately aware* that there were two organisations with such similar names, nor that they had been conflated in this post, and thus, had carried it on (NZ Institute vs NZ Initiative). Guilty [again] of not reading carefully enough.
*Your comment jogged my memory.
Thank you for clarifying the matter – it is an important distinction.
Would have been interesting to see David explain how a government saddled with the Greens is going to drive the New Zealand economy forward. Which will create employment and growth without blowing out in costs , red tape and compliance!
Responding to the Greens issues is not really Mr Cunliffe’s main job as leader of the Labour party.
However the query you have is pretty simply answered.
If you are setting up a business that stands to create problems in the environment all that is required of you to ‘save money on compliance’ is come up with a well thought out plan that minimises these environmental problems.
If one doesn’t want to think of such considerations and push through an unsustainable idea – this costs a lot – that is when RMA is followed in the spirit it was meant to be.
If businesses are allowed to create unsustainable businesses (i.e. ‘red tape’ and ‘compliance’ is in existence) this causes a great deal of costs to others (if not the owner as well) in the future.
This is how having rules that safe guard our environment saves money and moves the economy forward whereas weakening such safeguards moves us backwards.
e.g. If our water supply become undrinkable – this costs everyone ill health and someone (most likely taxpayers) the expense of new fangled water filters. In this way, living with disregard to the environment is a way to damage the economy – not move it forward.
+1111
Heck – I just realised there is a major error in this comment of mine (thanks for reading past it DTB)
Correction: “If businesses are allowed to create unsustainable businesses (i.e. ‘red tape’ and ‘compliance’ are undermined/removed) this causes a great deal of costs to others (if not the owner as well) in the future.
Cunliffe talks about sustainability several times in the speech.
what would be interesting is seeing people actually bothering to read what green policies are – not what their opponents claim them to be
+1
I always get a laugh when some RW douchebag names himself after a fascist dictator and spells the name wrong. A tomar por el culo, fascista!
“Labour supports positive business, but trickle-down economics and its neoliberal parentage have failed New Zealanders and left many of our emerging businesses starved of investment capital and skills.”
Now there is a basic truth that Politicians have avoided saying. And brave to do so at the New Zealand Initiative forum.
There were some who have been critical that Labour had failed to engage with the Business. But David’s excellent speech is the opening round.
+1
less of the thinkimg tank.
ask yourselves two questions:
why did they change their name/s
why do we almost nothing from them when national is in power and cant shut them up when labour is in power
True Tracey but what better place to approach the enemy but in their own bunkers.
Thanks Tracey, It is a bit hard to understand your comment – yet I believe you are responding to my reference to the ‘NZ Institute’ as being a think tank – I see I was in error – it would be more a big business self interested anti worker group of cronies, wouldn’t it?
Correction: That should be NZ Initiative – not NZ Institute
And come to think of it David has worked with Business and helped with innovation. John Key on the other hand has no experience other than buying and selling money. David’s approach to business innovation by involving the workers is transformational and suggest much more support for Research and Development. (Shades of Charles Handy’s approach including flatter management styles?)
iJohn Key on the other hand has no experience other than buying and selling money
or another way, experience in buying and selling other people’s money clipping the ticket, each time it goes round and making money from others who are trying to protect their money from people like him who are buying and selling and clipping the ticket each time, and setting arguable values on all of that, may change tomorrow, or tonight, or in the next hour, or now.
They are busy little wasps raiding other people’s honey pots, and doing very little original gathering. That’s how John Key made his money, and the banks and finance houses who have taken ownership of the financial system and run governments and a fiefdom over the worlds’s people. And we expected him to care about we NZs? What an innocent or ignorant lot.
+111
it should make the nzi look stupid if they criticise cunliffes vision, but its how its reported that matters.
most dont know this is the rebranded round table, which is why they merged and dropped the rt tag.
I thought this speech of Cunliffe’s was to the NZ Initiative?
this: What is The New Zealand Initiative…
The New Zealand Initiative is a business group with a difference. We are a think tank that is a membership organisation; we are an association of business leaders that is also a research institute. And we believe that these are not contradictions.
Is it the same as the NZ Institute just wearing a different hat? Or what?
At the beginning of the speech Cunliffe addresses it to the New Zealand Initiative and says it was formed from the NZ Institute and Business Roundtable – so an error in the title and front page of the post.
srylands, chris, bm, and others have been conspicuously quiet these past couple of days. have farrar and slater been slow to spin the collins and williamson and guy stuff?
Meh same old Labour (National light)……… still that’s why I vote green I suppose.
David Cunliffe’s speech strikes the right tone.
Labour and leader Cunliffe and the NZ Insitute and their champion Oliver H.
A bit like Ukraine and Russia squaring off.
They need to find how to see ways to work together for good outcomes.
A Cold War, or a hot one, a conflict or a standoff, isn’t to anyone’s advantage.
Video on stuff of clips from the speech and subsequent press qu & a.
Karol
Yeh, I saw that earlier on. There’s some nice shots of Jones looking uncomfortable at not being able to blurt out his random brainfarts. Little footage of the actual speech, but long unexplained minutes of some unidentified hands counting out a stack of $100 notes.
It comes across like the speech recording was done over the top of the NZI’s version of a porn tape (giving a new meaning to the term; “money-shot”).
Yes, the $100 bill inserts were strange.
Strange, unless you think that someone was trying to make it look simultaneously boring and a bit dodgy. Then it would make perfect sense.
I just wish they would put these up on You Tube of their own site as a lot is lost in the reading the speech, when listening/watching then you get all the nuances.
Posted in the interests of informed debate:
If Labour are genuine about rolling back neo-liberal Rogernomics (which the 1984 -87 Labour Government started), how about ‘opening the books’ and ‘cutting out the contractors’ – at both central and local government level?
Where does David Cunliffe (Labour) NOW stand on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)?
I for one am not interested in any ‘weasel words’ that PPPs aren’t actually privatisation, because public assets aren’t sold.
At central government level -the Rogernomics blitzkreig was commercialise, corporatise – PRIVATISE.
First SOES (State-Owned Enterprises) – then PRIVATISATION.
At local government level it was LATES ( Local Authority Trading Enterprises) then – the alphabet name change to Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs).
Now of course – with the ‘economies of scale’ provided by the forced Auckland Supercity amalgamation – there is a greater possibility for CCOs – then PPPs.
Just read the Ernst and Young Report that the Auckland Mayor Len Brown commissioned on PPPs (- yes – the same Ernst and Young who provided the ‘whitewash coverup review’ that helped to protect him from possible criminal prosecution – in my considered opinion).
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201348/PPPStudyForAttachmen1.pdf
“The Mayor has asked for a position paper to be developed on the nature and uses of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). This paper is to focus on the range of PPP options that may be suitable for major Council and CCO projects.”
I don’t see anything David Cunliffe is saying to the former Business Roundtable (Now NZ Initiative) and (apparently ) the Committee for Auckland (who really run the Auckland region) – that would frighten these big business robber barons – because – in my considered opinion, he’s not putting forward policies that would really help to ROLL BACK ROGERNOMIC$.
ie: Opening the books and cutting out the consultants and private contractors.
For some suggestions for how to bring about some GENUINE ‘transparency’ in New Zealand – help yourself …..
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ANTI-CORRUPTION-WHITE-COLLAR-CRIME-CORPORATE-WELFARE-ACTION-PLAN-Ak-Mayoral-campaign-19-July-2013-2.pdf
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
Penny not so bright.
Being a martyr to the cause is really dumb
Time to get your house in order so you can continue the good fight.
Not knowing when to retreat and fight another day has lost many wars.
Time to retreat lick your wounds and have a good base to fight from
.
‘It is not rash to take a calculated risk’ (General Paton).
‘Faint heart never won fair go’ (me).
Thank you for your concern – but I know exactly what I’m doing – defending my lawful right to ‘open, transparent and democratically-accountable’ local government.
In the 2013 Auckland Mayoral election – I campaigned on ‘open the books’ and ‘cut out the contractors’ and polled fourth with nearly 12,000 votes.
It would be an interesting development if others who support my stand were to email Mayor Len Brown, and state that they were considering joining my ‘rates revolt’ for genuine transparency in Auckland Council and CCO spending?
As long as the Auckland Council and CCO ‘books’ are not open, and we’re not being told exactly where public rates monies are being paid:
ie: the NAMES of the consultants / contractors
the SCOPE of the contracts
the TERM of the contracts
and the VALUE of the contracts
I WILL NOT PAY AUCKLAND COUNCIL RATES.
End of story.
Please be reminded of the Public Records Act 2005:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2005/0040/latest/DLM345729.html
17 Requirement to create and maintain records
(1) Every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice, including the records of any matter that is contracted out to an independent contractor.
So – when Auckland Council does not comply with the RULE OF LAW – what happens to them?
Oh yes – they try to neck-stamp concerned citizens / whistle-blowers who have the guts to stand up to them.
If you think I’m going to put up with that sh*t – think again.
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Is there somewhere we can donate to help you keep your house, your madjesty?
If we donate, do you promise to not accuse us of corruption for funding Auckland City Council?
I’ve got $5* that says the ‘paper bales wrapper’ comment will become a focal point of the Government’s attempts at criticism of what is a strong and clear statement. That statement being there is more than enough proof, after thirty years, that this dangerously expensive experimental machine has failed and the future can not continue the mantras of a free market ideology driven by profit and fuelled with unaccountability.
*I really don’t have $5 so if you don’t mind, no bets will be taken 🙂
The problem with Cunliffe’s speech is that the policy doesn’t match what he is trying to achieve
“Capital gains tax to move from speculation to innovation,
Universal KiwiSaver to grow our onshore investment capital,
Monetary policy reform to back our exporters,
R&D tax credits to encourage innovation,
A series of industry and regional strategies that grow New Zealand’s wealth.”
A 10% non-universal CGT is not going to see people abandon housing for other investments. Overseas has shown us this. Overseas has also shown us that house prices rise over time when a CGT is introduced. Surely not what Cunliffe is trying to achieve?
Given the number of people in Kiwisaver already, universal Kiwisaver is not going to suddenly bring a huge pool of funds. Also, Kiwisaver investers need to be diversified in their investments to ensure certainty in returns. How is Cunliffe proposing to maintain diversification whilst investing more heavily in New Zealand?
Sounds good, exactly what is the policy here? There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you tailor your monetary policy further towards exporters someone else will suffer elsewhere in the economy.
Last time out this was a hugely complicated regime that achieved little additional R&D expenditure. Made for some additional accounting fees though so I guess one sector benefitted!
Again what’s the detail here? Taranaki has enjoyed regional growth on the back of oil & gas exploration. Is Cunliffe backing this? Regional growth in NZ has been good and has been widespread in the last year or so. Not sure exactly what this policy entails.
Exactly.
These are virtually the same policies Shearer and Goff were offering. Their past approach which failed miserably.
whereas nationals detail is
” we wont sell more assets” followed by defining silence, no plan b.
Actually it was followed by “we will sell a lot of state houses.”
Ah yes but that was a qualifier to plan a not a plan b.
plan b: check thesaurus under “asset”
Hope you’re not implying National’s failures get Cunliffe and Labour off the hook for this poor policy mix?
I read this speech several times looking for something to be hopeful about in it.
I am really sorry that this meaningless blather is the best Mr Cunliffe can do.
I have heard variations of the same speech made by a number of politicians, right wing think tank spokespeople and various other odds and sods over the last thirty years.
It offers nothing to those who need relief from the drudgery and pain of poverty right now but is rich in promises on how he will make capitalism work better for those who already have plenty.
Even if his simplistic bollocks about deeper capital markets, innovation etc were to work some time after we are all dead there can be only one set of winners in following that course and it is not the workers who create the wealth or those excluded from participating in the economy in any meaningful way at present.
Hopeless!
Cunliffe is short on detail, but he is correct about the problem. And the solution.
“there can be only one set of winners in following that course”
People in work or people looking for work.
Bollocks. Their employers will also benefit. Mind you, they always benefit from the better educated healthier workforce the Left delivers.
Their employers are in work.
Are you saying people are less educated and less healthy since Rogernomics? Do you now agree, with Cunliffe and myself, that deeper capital markets are needed, more savings, more investment?
English Comprehension 101 for special winguts, lesson two.
“I agreed with him a long time before I’d heard of him”, means exactly what it says.
Perhaps some sort of IQ therapy is required.
That’s nice.
Meanwhile, looks like Cunliffe and I are on roughly the same page, although I await further detail. You appear to be waiting for someone else to tell you which page you are on, lest you inadvertently agree with me, a black hole opens up, and you get sucked into the swirling orifice.
Cunliffe is sounding very National Lite in that speech….
Deeper capital markets, more investment, more savings.
They won’t make the slightest bit of difference to most of us.
And moving the precariat a bit one side or other of the employment/unemployment line by getting them into crap jobs and making bosses even richer is not the answer, even if this could actually be achieved some time in the far distant future by following the Cunliffe recipe.
I know!, I know!
The Cunliffes of this world believe in quality jobs based on innovation, investment in research, regional development strategies, blah blah blah and a lot more old bollocks.
Various snake oil salespeople have offered up this blander, gentler form of business as usual in the last few decades, both here and in other countries. Jim Anderton used to talk like this for example as did the third wayers in the UK.
It is just empty rhetoric to justify trying to make capitalism work instead of confronting the difficult task of trying to build an economy that serves us rather than rules us.
And your alternative is what, exactly?
And the winner on the day – liberalism. So we tinker whilst America burns – joy.
WTF! What is Cunliffe doing even addressing the NZ Initiative (formerly Business Round Table). It is giving then a legitimacy they do not deserve. Considering the unholy relationship with these people in 1984 talking to them now seems pointless and almost a betrayal of those that fought against the Labour direction in the 1984-1990 period.
Look at the people involved. It proudly proclaims its close relationship with Australia’s CIS which Ruth Richardson was connected with if my memory serves me correctly.
Their motto might well be “When the people find our what we are up to we will change our name and continue ripping them off for a few more years”
Stay away DC it will only leave people with the impression that you are more interested in the fascist right than you have publicly said.
I think The Cunliffe may understand more about economics than he lets on to his far-left activist sub-group.
Good to see.
Fossil fuel depletion in 30 years’ massive climate instability in 50. That’s all you need to know about the economy, dickhead.
http://peakoilbarrel.com/will-peak-oil-actually-arrive/
We’re not running out of fossil fuels. The climate is no more unstable than it has been in the past.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/02/peak-oil-we-we-wrong
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10639819/UK-weather-its-not-as-weird-as-our-warmists-claim.html
You’ve chosen to believe lies. That’s all you need to know, but do keep your fingers firmly wedged in your ears.
“We’re not running out of fossil fuels. The climate is no more unstable than it has been in the past.”
lol – I don’t normally read your drivel justlikewood but thanks for the laugh – you really are thick. OAB – why you bother with this cretin I’ll never know but your analysis of his many, many failings as a ‘thinker’ are so true and provide some light relief, so thanks for that.
‘
David Cunliffe To Kiwi Translation Service
1984 – here we come. Again.
Well said BLiP
But is it well said?
Or have some of these statements been taken out of context? [Genuine question]
e.g.
If Cunliffe’s comments re a government push to stop speculation is combined with the above quote of Cunliffe’s – surely this move becomes one to increase the pool of investment for productive enterprises (jobs) and move away from ‘gambling’ ?
Again, what are Labour’s other stances that would make this move a different nature than those set up by a right-wing government. This might be that of encouraging small – medium sized businesses (as mentioned in the speech) rather than big/corporate ones.
Blip’s third quote of Cunliffe does hold cause for concern – I don’t really understand what Cunliffe is driving at here and it does sound somewhat dodgy – particularly: “That means simplifying the governance structures “.
From David Cunliffe, that is a great speech, very well rounded and most sensible.
But, just one BUT for the moment, while reading all that, what I could think of is: the Labour caucus, with David T.I.N.A. Parker’s direction and blessing, will be pushing out the age for retirement?? So what are the alternatives, David Cunliffe? Please explain and justify, Davids. (And please try not to lose out on the debate against National.)
From BLiP, that is very interesting. I have a lot of respect for your comments and compilations, and thank you for these.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/9710275/KiwiSaver-not-helping-NZ-report
David Cunliffe is saying publicly the neo-liberal experiment of the last three decades have failed. This , to me, is the most significant statement – and all else will now flow from that. What’s more, he has his finance spokesperson on side with that too.
” Labour supports positive business, but trickle-down economics and its neoliberal parentage have failed New Zealanders and left many of our emerging businesses starved of investment capital and skills. The opportunity gaps have widened and there is no clear, shared strategy to a high value, high income future. That’s something Labour will change. We want an economy that works for all New Zealanders.”
It’s not savings that are the problem. In fact, we could do without savings just as we can do without foreign investment. The problem is that the private banks create and control our money and they create it primarily into the housing sector. Take that control away from the private banks and have the government create the money and spend it where it needs to be spent and we’ll get the innovation and prosperity that we need.
That’s because the capitalists are looking for short term sure things. They really don’t support the decades long research and development that brings true innovation to an economy. That takes a government that’s determined to actually do right for the country which, since the 1980s, has precluded both Labour and National as the chased the delusional free-market utopia. Mariana Mazzucato describes that quite clearly in The Entrepreneurial State. It’s not the free-market nor private enterprise that ultimately developed the PC that you’re reading this on.
Nope, it’s always a bad thing as it turns NZers into serfs of the foreign owners. There’s a reason why we got rid of feudalism and those reasons still stand and so our governments, our political parties, should not be trying to bring it back.
That wouldn’t be privilege, that would be indoctrination.
And failed to see that most of that R&D was supported by the US government through departments such as DARPA, ERPA, NASA and scores more. The US actually has a research and development structure that works and it’s entirely centred on government support and direction. The only real problem with the US system is that the private sector ends up with all the profits while the government and the country that supported all that development gets nothing. This is exaggerated by the tax havens and other tax dodges that the private companies use to prevent paying tax.
Waste of time and money.
Silicon Valley became possible because the US government put in, in today’s dollars, billions of dollars per year of support and infrastructure which included the initial fabrication plants.
And, after all that, there’s still no such thing as sustainable growth. There is such a thing as sustainable development.
DC’s speech and, particularly, his statement “We want better jobs and higher wages for all New Zealanders” brings to mind this and let’s hope he lives up to making that happen:
“Remember the days when families could live off one income?
“The graph shows a market failure which has made this near impossible for most families. We’re working harder and longer than ever before, but wages have remained flat. The failure of wages to keep up has meant many families are living in poverty. It hurts me to think that 270,000 kids live in poverty in this country. Part of the solution is a Living Wage for all Kiwi workers, and fairer workplace laws.
“I’ll lead a government that is prepared to tackle this injustice head on.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/mind-gap-way-forward/
Is he bringing back Unions to help restore wage disparity?
Is he going to increase benefits to help address inequality and help drive up the minimum wage?
Is he bringing in a price freeze to prevent the fiscal benefits of minimum wage increases being lost to inflation?
Despite the great sounding rhetoric, just what do they plan to do to achieve this aim?
Cost of living is just as important in my opinion.
Cost of housing, food, electricity are at criminal levels considering our natural resources available and those extortionate costs are mostly due to a lack of regulation.
Time for Labour to set out clearly how they would pick winners as opposed to how National is doing it.
So I want to return to the content of this. Check out this passage:
These require serious policy changes, not tinkering. That’s why we will have:
Capital gains tax to move from speculation to innovation,
Universal KiwiSaver to grow our onshore investment capital,
Monetary policy reform to back our exporters,
R&D tax credits to encourage innovation,
A series of industry and regional strategies that grow New Zealand’s wealth
He also mentions a “shift in gear” and a programme “upgrade”.
Now compare to The Dolphin and the Dole Queue speech from two years ago.
Both speeches are saying – to quite different audiences – that he not only analyses deep into the Structural Adjustment of the 1980s and 1990s and into the GFC. Not only that. He also wants to re-establish the radical edges of the whole polity.
In the New Zealand Institute audience he knows he is with players who depend on radical shifts in economic policy to get radical shifts in wealth (their way of course). Our economic history of 30 years tells us that’s how it’s done. He has an audience who know that their wealth aspirations are tied to policy. They are not by and large farmers and rentier-classes.
He is laying out the bold moves Labour has on offer. Nothing new. Except that such a set of shifts looks inevitably like it has a political energy that Key’s government utterly lacks.
The same bold moves are also seeking a parallel place at the edges of left radicalism. No other party leader has laid out such a deep understanding of the need to find common ground with the young and hungry of both the hard left and hard right.
This is not the same as Third Way-ism. This is forming consensus strong and hard enough that people who are hungry for economic and fiscal policy change, both left and right, will back a broad and major policy shift. He wants to make them hungry for the ideas that National will themselves not to have.
This is the heart of a radical, providing a deep reading of his audiences, preparing to unite both hard edges of New Zealand. He is preparing to shift the heart of capital itself.
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