The nice thing about David Bennett is he says what other Nats are smart enough to keep quiet. Remember his rant against the minimum wage? But he out did himself with his speech defending the appalling record of the National government. It turns out the brighter future Key promised was a lie – the National government is not there to make your life better.
So, there you have it.
Are you one of the quarter of a million jobless Kiwis thanks to the bankers’ recession and the lazy economic management of Key and English? Well, you clearly made life choices and if life isn’t good for you it must be your fault. You should have got a safer job like being a perpetual backbench MP.
Early childhood education fee increases made it unaffordable to give your kid the best start in learning? That’s your fault for not being rich like David Bennett.
Got no tax cut because, like 60% of households, it was all eaten up by the GST hike while the PM gets $23,000 (despite needing it so little he doesn’t really know how much it is)? That’s your fault too. If you were rich like John Key and David Bennett you would have gotten big tax cuts when John Key and David Bennett passed them. But you made your choice.
Suffering wage cuts, even though the government’s trumped up stats say your wages are going up? That’s your fault too… actually, it is partially your fault if you haven’t bothered to join your union and fight for better. Union members get bigger payrises.
Long-term unemployment breeding crime in your neighbourhood? That’s your fault for not living in a nice gated community with the likes of David Bennett.
If government isn’t there to make our lives better, one rather wonders what it is for. Maybe so our betters, like David Bennett, can rule us and enjoy the fruits of privilege?
Government isn’t there to make our lives better. As George Monbiot points out Our ministers are not public servants. They work for the people who fund their parties, run the banks and own the newspapers, shielding them from their obligations to society, insulating them from democratic challenge.
Our political system protects and enriches a fantastically-wealthy elite, much of whose money is, as a result of their interesting tax and transfer arrangements, effectively stolen from poorer countries and poorer citizens of their own countries. Ours is a semi-criminal money-laundering economy, legitimised by the pomp of the Lord Mayor’s show and multiple layers of defence in government. Politically irrelevant, economically invisible, the rest of us inhabit the margins of the system. Governments ensure that we are thrown enough scraps to keep us quiet, while the ultra-rich get on with the serious business of looting the global economy and crushing attempts to hold them to account. http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2011/02/07/a-corporate-coup-detat/#more-1329
Hear, hear. It’s too easy to feel that corruption (and that’s what it is, a corruption of our democratic processes and traditions, whether or not there’s actual bribery going on) is so entrenched that things will be that way forever more.
But there’s another saying that’s apt here too: wishing doesn’t make it so. It’s the old parties who have become citadels of preference and privilege. We’ll only change things by backing new parties (of whatever stripe) where the corruption has not had time to set in or has not become endemic. Or better yet, independents.
“Wishing doesn’t make it so” – good point.
People have been taken in by Key and his mates who have been spinning out fake aspirational politics. More can now see through Key’s machinations.
I’ve got a few more comments to come when I make my way back to the country next week.
‘If government isn’t there to make our lives better, one rather wonders what it is for..’
To enrich it’s own and it’s backers pockets, ECAN removal benefits farmers (and Dairy interest holding MP’s like carter and Sideshow John), ACC privatisation benefits insurers, PPP benefit big business, Privatisation benefits big business, EFA tweaking benefits the Nat’s, Joyce broadband benefits the incumbent crap service providers without any new technology etc etc
IMO they’ve spent 9 yrs in opposition planning how to make as much dosh for their backers and themselves ASAP and were handed an economy lauded internationally as being in great shape (even Bliglish admitted it) so had to set about wrecking it pronto with tax cuts for the rich etc
On top of this you’ve got Worth/Wong/PEDA/Double Dipton/hobbit/no end of crap urgency legislation and ACT so they certainly aren’t about improving anything outside of their own narrow interests with whatever means they can find…..cue basher/crusher/ayaTolley etc
What an appalling delivery! Bennett is being paid a salary? He seems to talk in sort of cliches but doesn’t support his own words with argument. Weird!
As for its “not the Governments job to make your life better!” Marks 1 out of 10. (The worst I’ve heard.)
Hey Lefties – can you please confirm what Prime Minister John Key did get in tax cuts. We have Labour MPs in the House talking about $1000 or $52,000 per annum for the Prime Minister. That is clearly a lie as above you are saying it is $23,000 per annum. Reality is that the PM Salary is about $400,000 per annum. The tax cuts were 5% less for over $70,000. so 5% x $330,000 is $16,500 per annum. Then the rumour is that he gives away most if not all of his salary – so the reality is John Key probably got no tax cut at all.
I know you are 20% behind in the polls – but that is no excuse to lie. r being lefties can you not help yourselves?
Perhaps the best thing to do with all government MPs is to publish, each year, their financial accounts including what they earned, tax paid, donations made etc.
True accountability? Perhaps, but it’s public money they’re receiving so we have a right to know what they’re spending it on.
Or we’ll have the likes of Maryan “I love camping… in hotels” Street continuing to pretend to be one of the workers.
Lets see whether you shop at Gucci or Glassons, Prada or Portmans. Barkers or Boss.
So all government employees should declare how they spend their money
.doctors
.nurses
.teachers
.councils
.firemen
.police
WTF. No, but what is more to the point, elected representatives should have to declare all of their investment interests, close all of their trusts, and more importantly, have to put on record who they are visiting or being visited by during their working hours.
Perhaps one of the best bits of television was the Francesca Mold / John Key interview when Lord Ashcroft visited him during the election. Key was mortified that he had been caught out and denied any knowledge of the visit twice before admitting it was Key himself who was the purpose of the visit.
Hey Monty why help you understand the truth when you have no interest in the truth? You know small matters like adding in the tax cuts from the first round of NAT tax cuts, the affect of those cuts to boost Key’s investment income etc.
Mr Key owns $50m. Lets presume $10m is in assets that do not produce an income. Let’s also presume the rest has a return of 4% and then let’s half this amount.
The income would be a further $400,000 on top of his income and the tax cut would be another $40k.
So let’s get this right, you do not know how much he earns or how much he gives away but you are convinced that the left is lying when one or more members of the left state something that you know nothing about is true??
but the difference is, fraser, that you’re not John Key, so Monty doesn’t blindly love you and doesn’t get feelings that he’s slightly unsure about when he sees you swinging your arse on a catwalk.
“can you please confirm what Prime Minister John Key did get in tax cuts”
It clearly depends what his income is. But if you just go from his PM salary of $400,500 –
Tax in November 2008 = 330,500*0.39+30,000*0.33+26,000*0.21+14,000*.125 = $146,005
Tax in February 2011 = 330,500*.33+22,000*0.30+34,000*.175+14,000*.105 = $123,085
Therefore, income tax cuts on PM’s salary due to National’s tax cuts = $22,920 – basically, the $23K cited in the post.
Every additional dollar of income above that has had a 6% tax decrease. Say his fortune makes a 2% taxable in New Zealand return, that’s $1 million, getting a $60,000 tax cut, which is the thousand a week Labour is talking about.
If you give all your money to charity you still get a tax cut. And there’s no evidence Key does. Indeed, Key has never said he gives all his salary to charity.
David Bennett’s speech just made watching the first round of American Idol look totally un-cringe worthy. But he’s right I need to get off my behind, throw away architecture as a career, go to Victoria University and get an Honours degree (clearly the bar is set pretty low!) work for a corrupt group of accountants, take some bribes and then sink all my ill gotten gains into a highly polluting dairy farm in the Waikato and kill off what is left of the Waikato River eco-system.
If Key says that he “only” got a 15k tax cut, when conservative estimates work out at 45 to 50k, has he inadvertantly (or stupidly, which is more believable) admitted to tax evasion. can we have an IRD audit immediatley please. How do you go about dobbing him in, how much info do you need or is this confession to scamming enough.
On a more serious note, this is why top US politicians publish their tax returns. Given how corrupt they are over there, that’s probably a true blessing for The People.
Wikipedia facts –
Member for Hamilton East
Assumed office 17 September 2005
Preceded by Dianne Yates
Majority 8,820 (26.58%)
Bennett was born on 28 October 1970 in Hamilton. He attended St. John’s College, Hamilton before gaining an LLB and a BCA from Victoria University of Wellington. Bennett owns two dairy farms near Te Awamutu, and has also worked as an accountant for KPMG, in Auckland.
Is this person real?? The logic is on the level of the GOP advertisements from the USA. I note that the Nats don’t do anything just talk about it while the country is allowed to drift into social and economic bankruptcy.
So the government isn’t there to help society according to Bennett — what is it there for? To sell the country to overseas businesses.
I hear him say that the National govt is fundamentally unfair because it believes in putting the boot into the people.
Stop picking on David Benefit. He keeps us amused in the House and on the Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committee. He was a source of on-going astonishment during the ERA and Holidays Act Bill submissions process – just ask the people who came before him.
Getting paid shitloads by the taxpayer to amuse the House is hardly an endearing trait worth nurturing.
On a side note, I was thinking what with Kris Fa’afoi’s background in media, he could have set up a day by day blog account of a new MP’s life in the big house.
Demystify the corridors of power and shed light on the workload for us lesser mortals. Justify the faith Mana put in him by being seen to be doing the job.
Love this idea … in theory. 😛 While I’m sure Fa’afoi is a tireless worker on behalf of the good people of Mana, one is not too hopeful about a journo-turned-polly offering a completely unvarnished version of events.
Recipe for a David Bennett speech. Take one bunch of cliches, add as much bullshit as you can find (he’s truly a cow farmer), mix together and serve. To be taken with a grain of salt.
Nothing much changes. I recall Maurice Williamson a decade or three back, he was a minister of health at the time, stating that a good health service was a privilege, not a right.
No doubt one of his witty observations that JK has noted.
No doubt this Bennet’s remarks will be passed off as “wit”, by “smile and wave”.
About as clever as JK’s (unscripted) but oft repeated use of “bloated bureaucracy”.
What a douche. And he’s an electorate MP too, which means the ‘good’ people of Hamilton East actually picked him to represent them. Goes to show that the Nats could stand a mentally defective incontinent dairy cow in certain electorates and they’d still win. Depressing.
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Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
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“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
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The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
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Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
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Government isn’t there to make our lives better. As George Monbiot points out Our ministers are not public servants. They work for the people who fund their parties, run the banks and own the newspapers, shielding them from their obligations to society, insulating them from democratic challenge.
Our political system protects and enriches a fantastically-wealthy elite, much of whose money is, as a result of their interesting tax and transfer arrangements, effectively stolen from poorer countries and poorer citizens of their own countries. Ours is a semi-criminal money-laundering economy, legitimised by the pomp of the Lord Mayor’s show and multiple layers of defence in government. Politically irrelevant, economically invisible, the rest of us inhabit the margins of the system. Governments ensure that we are thrown enough scraps to keep us quiet, while the ultra-rich get on with the serious business of looting the global economy and crushing attempts to hold them to account.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2011/02/07/a-corporate-coup-detat/#more-1329
it doesn’t have to be that way
Hear, hear. It’s too easy to feel that corruption (and that’s what it is, a corruption of our democratic processes and traditions, whether or not there’s actual bribery going on) is so entrenched that things will be that way forever more.
But there’s another saying that’s apt here too: wishing doesn’t make it so. It’s the old parties who have become citadels of preference and privilege. We’ll only change things by backing new parties (of whatever stripe) where the corruption has not had time to set in or has not become endemic. Or better yet, independents.
“Wishing doesn’t make it so” – good point.
People have been taken in by Key and his mates who have been spinning out fake aspirational politics. More can now see through Key’s machinations.
I’ve got a few more comments to come when I make my way back to the country next week.
Monbiot’s words certainly describe the arrogant smug slugs pretending to run but but wrecking New Zealand at the moment.
‘If government isn’t there to make our lives better, one rather wonders what it is for..’
To enrich it’s own and it’s backers pockets, ECAN removal benefits farmers (and Dairy interest holding MP’s like carter and Sideshow John), ACC privatisation benefits insurers, PPP benefit big business, Privatisation benefits big business, EFA tweaking benefits the Nat’s, Joyce broadband benefits the incumbent crap service providers without any new technology etc etc
IMO they’ve spent 9 yrs in opposition planning how to make as much dosh for their backers and themselves ASAP and were handed an economy lauded internationally as being in great shape (even Bliglish admitted it) so had to set about wrecking it pronto with tax cuts for the rich etc
On top of this you’ve got Worth/Wong/PEDA/Double Dipton/hobbit/no end of crap urgency legislation and ACT so they certainly aren’t about improving anything outside of their own narrow interests with whatever means they can find…..cue basher/crusher/ayaTolley etc
Yep, still very much at the back of the National class, Eddie.
This guy comes across as barely literate, he certainly doesn’t understand his own ideology fully.
I’ve seen him in the House too, there’s a few of them at the back tasked with the shouting-down and the bullying.
What an appalling delivery! Bennett is being paid a salary? He seems to talk in sort of cliches but doesn’t support his own words with argument. Weird!
As for its “not the Governments job to make your life better!” Marks 1 out of 10. (The worst I’ve heard.)
Hey Lefties – can you please confirm what Prime Minister John Key did get in tax cuts. We have Labour MPs in the House talking about $1000 or $52,000 per annum for the Prime Minister. That is clearly a lie as above you are saying it is $23,000 per annum. Reality is that the PM Salary is about $400,000 per annum. The tax cuts were 5% less for over $70,000. so 5% x $330,000 is $16,500 per annum. Then the rumour is that he gives away most if not all of his salary – so the reality is John Key probably got no tax cut at all.
I know you are 20% behind in the polls – but that is no excuse to lie. r being lefties can you not help yourselves?
Then the rumour is that he gives away most if not all of his salary
Pure myth. Show me what you’re basing this on.
And no, not the quote from before the election where Key speculated that he “might” give “a good part” to charity if he became PM.
Believe me, if Key was giving anything to charity we would all know about it.
Perhaps the best thing to do with all government MPs is to publish, each year, their financial accounts including what they earned, tax paid, donations made etc.
True accountability? Perhaps, but it’s public money they’re receiving so we have a right to know what they’re spending it on.
Or we’ll have the likes of Maryan “I love camping… in hotels” Street continuing to pretend to be one of the workers.
Lets see whether you shop at Gucci or Glassons, Prada or Portmans. Barkers or Boss.
Don’t like the idea? Don’t be a public official.
True accountability? Perhaps, but it’s public money they’re receiving so we have a right to know what they’re spending it on.
Bollocks. It’s a salary they’re paid for the work they do. It’s no more “public money” than your salary is.
you don’t need to go into their personal shopping receipt by receipt but publishing tax records should be done. It is in the US.
http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/Web/PresidentialTaxReturns
So all government employees should declare how they spend their money
.doctors
.nurses
.teachers
.councils
.firemen
.police
WTF. No, but what is more to the point, elected representatives should have to declare all of their investment interests, close all of their trusts, and more importantly, have to put on record who they are visiting or being visited by during their working hours.
Perhaps one of the best bits of television was the Francesca Mold / John Key interview when Lord Ashcroft visited him during the election. Key was mortified that he had been caught out and denied any knowledge of the visit twice before admitting it was Key himself who was the purpose of the visit.
Hey Monty why help you understand the truth when you have no interest in the truth? You know small matters like adding in the tax cuts from the first round of NAT tax cuts, the affect of those cuts to boost Key’s investment income etc.
Nah Monty.
Mr Key owns $50m. Lets presume $10m is in assets that do not produce an income. Let’s also presume the rest has a return of 4% and then let’s half this amount.
The income would be a further $400,000 on top of his income and the tax cut would be another $40k.
So let’s get this right, you do not know how much he earns or how much he gives away but you are convinced that the left is lying when one or more members of the left state something that you know nothing about is true??
Monty, there’s a whole post already explaining the numbers with the maths behind them right here: http://thestandard.org.nz/key-out-of-touch-on-tax-cuts/
“he gives away most if not all of his salary – so the reality is John Key probably got no tax cut at all.”
by that logic if i spend all my $$ at the pub i didnt really get paid in the first place. 🙂
How you spend money that youve received doesnt change the fact that you received it
but the difference is, fraser, that you’re not John Key, so Monty doesn’t blindly love you and doesn’t get feelings that he’s slightly unsure about when he sees you swinging your arse on a catwalk.
Monty the tax cut is computed on Keys assumed total income , not just his ‘salary’ for his current job.
Then the rumour is that he gives away most if not all of his salary – so the reality is John Key probably got no tax cut at all.
hahahaha Monty you’re showing how out of touch with reality you RWNJs really are!
How does your argument base a reality on rumor moron
Reality is based on factual evidence.
Ha! And the inner Dalek started coming through in his voice around 6 minutes in 🙂
David Bennett is an asshat.
He talks about giving people choices to build for the future.
While he sells out the country from under our children.
I did like Lees-Galloway’s response.
Thanks for that DTB, Ian continues to do well, nice job Mr LG.
Is it the name Bennett that means you get that thick as pig shit gene?
Anti spam word “blow” oh yeah
“can you please confirm what Prime Minister John Key did get in tax cuts”
It clearly depends what his income is. But if you just go from his PM salary of $400,500 –
Tax in November 2008 = 330,500*0.39+30,000*0.33+26,000*0.21+14,000*.125 = $146,005
Tax in February 2011 = 330,500*.33+22,000*0.30+34,000*.175+14,000*.105 = $123,085
Therefore, income tax cuts on PM’s salary due to National’s tax cuts = $22,920 – basically, the $23K cited in the post.
Every additional dollar of income above that has had a 6% tax decrease. Say his fortune makes a 2% taxable in New Zealand return, that’s $1 million, getting a $60,000 tax cut, which is the thousand a week Labour is talking about.
If you give all your money to charity you still get a tax cut. And there’s no evidence Key does. Indeed, Key has never said he gives all his salary to charity.
David Bennett’s speech just made watching the first round of American Idol look totally un-cringe worthy. But he’s right I need to get off my behind, throw away architecture as a career, go to Victoria University and get an Honours degree (clearly the bar is set pretty low!) work for a corrupt group of accountants, take some bribes and then sink all my ill gotten gains into a highly polluting dairy farm in the Waikato and kill off what is left of the Waikato River eco-system.
I feel better already.
you forgot to add
And join the national party 😛
Damn. There always has to be a downside 😆
If Key says that he “only” got a 15k tax cut, when conservative estimates work out at 45 to 50k, has he inadvertantly (or stupidly, which is more believable) admitted to tax evasion. can we have an IRD audit immediatley please. How do you go about dobbing him in, how much info do you need or is this confession to scamming enough.
lol
On a more serious note, this is why top US politicians publish their tax returns. Given how corrupt they are over there, that’s probably a true blessing for The People.
F’ So if your not super silly rich then voting for National means Bennett thinls you are a moron!
Or else its a cry for help so he doesn’t have to spend his political life with his head up someone rich blocks behind.
Wikipedia facts –
Member for Hamilton East
Assumed office 17 September 2005
Preceded by Dianne Yates
Majority 8,820 (26.58%)
Bennett was born on 28 October 1970 in Hamilton. He attended St. John’s College, Hamilton before gaining an LLB and a BCA from Victoria University of Wellington. Bennett owns two dairy farms near Te Awamutu, and has also worked as an accountant for KPMG, in Auckland.
captcha – secret as in what is his?
Is this person real?? The logic is on the level of the GOP advertisements from the USA. I note that the Nats don’t do anything just talk about it while the country is allowed to drift into social and economic bankruptcy.
So the government isn’t there to help society according to Bennett — what is it there for? To sell the country to overseas businesses.
I hear him say that the National govt is fundamentally unfair because it believes in putting the boot into the people.
Bennett is a fat pig who forgets she once pulled the DPB. National are blue rinse Labour.
Pretty sure David Bennett hasn’t pulled the DPB.
Sorry I thought it was another fag in drag.
Can you drop the bigotry?
Exactly, picking on MPs called Bennett is way too easy.
Labour drove us into recession first? What has he been reading?
Bald knob
Stop picking on David Benefit. He keeps us amused in the House and on the Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committee. He was a source of on-going astonishment during the ERA and Holidays Act Bill submissions process – just ask the people who came before him.
I’d love to know what his former KPMG colleagues thought of him.
Getting paid shitloads by the taxpayer to amuse the House is hardly an endearing trait worth nurturing.
On a side note, I was thinking what with Kris Fa’afoi’s background in media, he could have set up a day by day blog account of a new MP’s life in the big house.
Demystify the corridors of power and shed light on the workload for us lesser mortals. Justify the faith Mana put in him by being seen to be doing the job.
Love this idea … in theory. 😛 While I’m sure Fa’afoi is a tireless worker on behalf of the good people of Mana, one is not too hopeful about a journo-turned-polly offering a completely unvarnished version of events.
Hi Darien,
Are we (the nonNACTers) going to run a ‘catch up with Australia’ campaign for the election? On work rights, representation, and pay rises?
Recipe for a David Bennett speech. Take one bunch of cliches, add as much bullshit as you can find (he’s truly a cow farmer), mix together and serve. To be taken with a grain of salt.
Nothing much changes. I recall Maurice Williamson a decade or three back, he was a minister of health at the time, stating that a good health service was a privilege, not a right.
No doubt one of his witty observations that JK has noted.
No doubt this Bennet’s remarks will be passed off as “wit”, by “smile and wave”.
About as clever as JK’s (unscripted) but oft repeated use of “bloated bureaucracy”.
That was pure unscripted stand up comedy stuff.
C’mon I am only joking.
David Bennett.
Nasty piece of work. Stinks of upper class arrogance. What do you expect. He is in the blue team after all.
I was watching his speech on PT the other night and I thought *white trash*
wtf is up with all these fukheads who think theyre better than us
Hey listen up National fucktards
YOU DO NOT come from a life of old money and societal privilege
That is a true blue tory
Youre just a bunch of selfish wankers
Hi kriswgtn
Yes you’re 110% Correct, that’s why I detest ACTnat, bunch of smugslugs!
What a douche. And he’s an electorate MP too, which means the ‘good’ people of Hamilton East actually picked him to represent them. Goes to show that the Nats could stand a mentally defective incontinent dairy cow in certain electorates and they’d still win. Depressing.
Hamiltonians ain’t the brightest bunch, on aggregate.
Consider if you will that there is a large university in Bennett’s electorate.