It’s Brash

38 comments on “It’s Brash ”

• Comments are now closed

1. bobo 1

   21 July 2009 at 1:51 pm

   The guy that helped to keep wages low through the 90s 🙂 class
2. IrishBill 2

   21 July 2009 at 1:54 pm

   I really thought his name was being floated for this as a bluff.
   • bobo 2.1

     21 July 2009 at 2:00 pm

     nah they aint that cunning.

     Also whats with all the trends these days of setting targets so far in the future without any short term interim targets. Its as bad as pledging money to something when you know full well you wont be around to pay it..

     Call them a “Buck Rogers Target”
3. Dr Dunny Brush 3

   21 July 2009 at 2:16 pm

   Raise productivity? Sack some workers. Hahaha! Raise productivity? Lower wages. Hahaha. Raise productivity? Sack more workers! Hahahahaha!
   • So Bored 3.1

     21 July 2009 at 2:42 pm

     Truly beautiful name you use, lol..not in the slightest bored at present.hehehehe
4. Dr Dunny Brush 4

   21 July 2009 at 2:25 pm

   Privatise. Privatise. Privatise. Hahahahaha!

   Back in the saddle at last. Hahahahaha!
5. Kevin Welsh 5

   21 July 2009 at 2:34 pm

   Don Brash. Not hard to see where this is heading…

   http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00023.htm

   (Assuming this link is allowable as per site rules)
   • jarbury 5.1

     21 July 2009 at 2:53 pm

     Interesting read Kevin. Scary stuff!
   • Ianmac 5.2

     21 July 2009 at 3:32 pm

     Does your link to Scoop indicate that the Recession fell as a gift into English/Key hands? Sounds a bit like the plan in the USA in the 90’s for there to be some expensive wars thus making it impossible to justify a Health Scheme. Relevant now just as the cuts in NZ are “necessary”.
     • Kevin Welsh 5.2.1

       21 July 2009 at 3:46 pm

       Interesting comment Ianmac.

       The thing with hidden agenda’s is that you need an event to enable them. I guess the current crisis was mana from heaven for NACT in that regard, they just lacked the balls to go for broke.

       Maybe CT advocated a more stealthy approach this time round. More about setting the scene and spend three years convincing the plebs that they need another dose of “pain before gain” so they will be begging for it in the end.

       Capcha word: measures… nice.
   • Bill 5.3

     21 July 2009 at 5:58 pm

     So the ‘strategic deficit’ arrives before the ‘north of $50’ tax cuts. The ‘north of $50’ tax cuts get cancelled. No need to bring about what you already have. nice
6. Clarke 6

   21 July 2009 at 2:38 pm

   I dunno, I rather support his appointment. After all, it allows us to abandon any pretense that the Productivity Commission will consider anything as mundane as objective evidence, and we can instead rush headlong into blind hard-right ideology. Appointing Brash is definitely putting ideology ahead of reality.
7. Zaphod Beeblebrox 7

   21 July 2009 at 2:42 pm

   Don’t you get it? We’ve suddenly flipped into another dimension where everything is the opposite of what is meant.
   Hence “Reducing the wage gap with Australia” is code for “Making sure NZ workers never get the same rights and pay as our convict cousins” and “Productivity” is code for “I don’t want you trained, skilled and productive, otherwise we might have to pay you too much, if you’ve got skills and qualifications you can bugger off to Australia”.
   George Orwell would be proud.
   • So Bored 7.1

     21 July 2009 at 2:45 pm

     They should link Donnys remuneration with productivity gains / losses….he will end up owing us.
     • Ron 7.1.1

       21 July 2009 at 4:32 pm

       That’s a great question to ask in Parliament, though. How much is Don getting paid and what are his KPI’s?
8. aj 8

   21 July 2009 at 2:48 pm

   Let me guess. We need more pain to make the gain.
9. StephenR 9

   21 July 2009 at 2:54 pm

   Not really the best decision politically. Allows Labour to justify putting Chris Trotter in charge when it’s their turn. Sigh.
10. ghostwhowalks 10

    21 July 2009 at 3:34 pm

    If Brash doesn’t use email anymore- that cant make him very productive?

    ” Miss Jones- take a letter . Did anyone tell you that you have nice legs !”
11. bobo 11

    21 July 2009 at 4:30 pm

    The whole appointment is a bit of an own goal for the Nact, giving Labour something else to attack and giving Brash a platform to contradict Key in the same way Bill does, Bill and Don are still disgruntled ex leaders in the same way Mike Moore is with Labour. Moving their back office agenda to the front office 🙂
    • bobo 11.1

      21 July 2009 at 4:34 pm

      Winston is blowing the dust off his mirror as we type.
12. ghostwhowalks 12

    21 July 2009 at 4:39 pm

    This from the press release ..

    “He was Governor of the Reserve Bank for 14 years, and an important motivation for his entering politics in 2002 was the widening income gap with Australia.’

    So the income gap was widening in 2002 ?

    This has to be a major porky by Hide. I thought the income gap had closed slightly or stayed the same ‘since 2002’

    Of course the gap didnt exist in the late 80’s .

    What ever happened in the 90s to make it so ….. and who was Reserve Bank governor from 1988 to 2002
    • Draco T Bastard 12.1

      21 July 2009 at 8:20 pm

      The gap was widening in 2002 because of what he did as governor of the reserve bank. Perhaps he was concerned that it wasn’t widening fast enough.
13. Policy Parrot 13

    21 July 2009 at 4:39 pm

    If this government is so keen on reducing spending in the public sector, it should re-evaluate its decision to institute a Productivity Institute, and can its hangers-on e.g. Rankin, Brash and Scott.

    Then perhaps consider contracting out Treasury department advice to those of a more institutional attitude, for example, Universities.

    The statistic that is constantly justified as a need to trim the public service, 44% growth from 1999 to 2006 was more of a reflection of rebuilding of the public service rather than a bloating per se, after it was demoralised and run down from 1984-1999. New Zealand’s strong and corruption-free public service is a asset, not a burden on the country, and mass redundancies in the sector will inevitably lead to emigration of talented and skilled personnel that we may never get back.

    Its also a matter for public accountability, in the public service. How can we determine, and then rectify a situation, if we see under private contracting out- see if we are actually getting value for money, and then if judged not, actually do anything about that? The automatic assumption on the right that private is better smacks of an ideological purity that ought to have been put to bed forever in this country, especially now with the benefits of private management on Wall Street currently on show.
    • Swampy 13.1

      21 July 2009 at 10:37 pm

      Public service expenditure has gone far beyond rebuilding due to substantial new spending in areas of health, welfare and education.

      Tell me about the Tertiary Education Commission again…
14. Policy Parrot 14

    21 July 2009 at 4:40 pm

    [sic]
15. Scott Yorke 15

    21 July 2009 at 5:13 pm

    What a pointless waste of money.

    It’s pretty damn obvious why there’s a productivity gap with Australia.

    The obsession with investment property, lack of incentive to invest in R&D (thanks for scrapping the R&D tax credits, Key!) and complete lack of vision by our leaders are the main problems.

    And the most visionless politician in NZ for the last decade is going to fix this?

    I would laugh if I weren’t so busy crying.
    • RedLogix 15.1

      21 July 2009 at 11:09 pm

      The obsession with investment property,

      Well yes, but where else to put your money?

      Our stock market is a pump and dump wild west, our finance and investment industry a sick joke, and our legal system has proven over and again unable or unwilling to protect the small investor who gets ripped off.

      This is why historically about 80% of all wealth in this country has been made in property; the alternatives can make you a small fortune for certain, but as they say, usually by starting with a large one.
16. toad 16

    21 July 2009 at 9:22 pm

    Dr Dunny Brush will certainly be riding high tonight!

    While a short-term setback for us, his appointment is also a great focus to organise around.

    This appointment has really helpen to identify Key’s government as something far more malevolent than Labour-lite.
17. Swampy 17

    21 July 2009 at 10:20 pm

    Who says the report will do anything other than be turned into a doorstop.
18. jarbury 18

    21 July 2009 at 10:38 pm

    Considering the economic ideology favoured by Brash actually created the wage gap between NZ and Australia in the 1984-1999 period, it’s going to be hilarious to hear how he intends to close that gap. Repudiate everything he believes in perhaps?
19. StephenR 19

    22 July 2009 at 8:21 am

    The automatic assumption on the right that private is better smacks of an ideological purity that ought to have been put to bed forever in this country, especially now with the benefits of private management on Wall Street currently on show.

    By that logic, food supplies should be government controlled because the benefits of private management on Wall Street have showed us the error of our ways.
    • felix 19.1

      22 July 2009 at 8:24 am

      No Stephen, PP referred to “The automatic assumption…”

      Weak strawman, dude.
20. StephenR 20

    22 July 2009 at 9:10 am

    Did I mention Whitehead was speaking at a conference on managing and measuring performance in the public sector…whoops
21. StephenR 21

    22 July 2009 at 9:15 am

    felix, PP’s assertion seemed to be that Wall Street shenanigans makes some sort of point about the private sector as a whole, which I don’t agree with.

    In any case, i’m not sure what the task force recommends is so easily predictable. We know what Brash’s views are, but it’s not like under his Nat party leadership the Nats were pushing for getting rid of the minimum wage. We’ll see though aye?
    • felix 21.1

      22 July 2009 at 11:42 am

      PP’s assertion seemed to be…

      Not if you can read the English language. Try again paying attention to the words and they way they’re put together. There’s a logical syntax underlying language and if you ignore it you can assert that anything means anything.

      Seriously, try again.
22. Pascal's bookie 22

    22 July 2009 at 12:35 pm

    So John reckons if Don comes up with any brash suggestions he’ll just ignore them

    So it’s either a big ol’ waste of half a million bucks and however long it takes, or the whole point is to have a bunch of radical nuttiness to point to and say ‘look at how centrist we are, because that’s right wing’.

    Which would make Brash’s job to be kicking out Overton’s window a bit. Which hardly seems an appropriate use of tax payer funds.
23. Rodel 23

    22 July 2009 at 11:14 pm

    Hooten should be appointed with Brash to the ‘productivity’ group.

    Collect a few e-mails and Hagar could write a sequel- ‘The return of the Hollow Men”
    • Rodel 23.1

      22 July 2009 at 11:39 pm

      Sorry- That was – ‘The Revenge of the Hollow Men.’

• Comments are now closed

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS