Jacindamania

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 28th, 2019 - 138 comments
Categories: capital gains, child welfare, jacinda ardern, labour, public transport, tax, transport - Tags:

Despite the babies and the engagements, maybe it’s time to ditch the default Jacindamania.

Let’s not bother with the criminal waste of tax on hundreds of working groups, existing to successfully suppressing oppositional opinion through co-option.

Oranga Tamariki has got three investigations underway for removing children, and is being kicked all over the park by the media. Cue another year of paralysis by analysis.

There is no reform of the justice sector.

There’s no substantial reform of social welfare, in particular no raise in base welfare levels, so no improvement in poverty levels this term. That’s another generation of 25% of our children.

Transport remains a fully self-inflicted disaster, with light rail gone from even starting for at least another term, mortality and injury and traffic congestion all soaring, and the only items of note to open this term will be National-inspired motorways in the Waikato.

There are no new partnerships with Labour-led councils such as Christchurch or Auckland, and the ones there are like City Rail Link and Christchurch rebuild were started under National.

Tax policy is a full-throated policy wasteland, with no Capital Gains Tax and no other tax reform either as long as Ardern is PM, so National’s tax settings continuing to oppress most of New Zealand.

Teaching at both secondary and tertiary level is a policy disaster with massive untested reforms to demolish polytechs and removing secondary decile ratings, with little stable to replace them. Great they’re paid better.

Nothing about water charging, and won’t be in this government. Free money to business.

A weak-ass carbon reform, with little attempt to change the carbon pollution of the vehicle fleet or farming industries.

KiwiBuild is largely unrecoverable, although there is indeed sterling work with HNZ building new rentals. Maybe the Urban Development Agency will help, in a few terms.

And now, intervening via television into an iwi-Fletchers housing partnership, over the top of layers of court and local government mandating, the Prime Minister gets in to stop a Mangere housing development. Few other suburbs in Auckland need new housing more, and she stops it.

I don’t knock the successes, small though they are. Great to hear mental health, defence, and conservation are getting better funding. I’m also glad we have an emotionally astute Prime Minister.

But it’s a very partial leadership. It’s not ‘transformational’, it’s not the year of delivery. What is this government?

This is the weakest leadership on policy of any government since the last term of Holyoake, 60 years ago. That’s on Ardern.

It’s time, since we are now getting emails to volunteer and donate money on their behalf for the next election, to expect more from Jacinda Ardern.

138 comments on “Jacindamania ”

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  1. marty mars 1
    28 July 2019 at 8:14 am

    Lol yep it sure looks bad for Jacinda – so pleased it's not Simon there – lol some not so happy it seems.

  2. Warren Doney 2
    28 July 2019 at 8:16 am

    I'm almost completely certain Labour would do a lot more if it wasn't constrained by NZF. We don't really see that because it would make both parties look bad if it was in the open.

    Labour must be acutely aware of how close things still are between the parties. Like it or not, almost half of NZ wanted the status quo to continue. That's democracy…

    Another thing I wonder about is if they are being careful with the economy because of the very real possibility of Trump managing to plunge the world into another recession.

    • Anon 2.1
      28 July 2019 at 6:19 pm

      You forget that Labour, being in power, is by definition enabled by NZF. Unless you are suggesting they would be more productive in opposition (entirely possible)?

    • Patricia Bremner 2.2
      28 July 2019 at 8:02 pm

      Or Warren , Trump could plunge us into a war.

      Advantage, stop telling us we are manic if we support what Labour (Jacinda) is trying to do. We realise it has been harder to change things than anticipated. The lack of "Service" in the Public Service being a problem to correct before progress may be made, which is happening… ie taxation reforms.

      Stupid adhoc legislation passed by the last Government, often under urgency, leads to bad outcomes in all areas. Underfunding, contestible funding are problematic. Failure to train staff, and often pay them properly also causes issues.

      The last Government had "Small Government" which meant poor or no services and loss of money and rights.

      This Government has to run just to keep up with the major "Outcomes" of abysmal planning by the last Government. It took them 9 years to strip away money and rights, so why are you expecting it to all be fixed in two years?

      Yes the Labour Party need funds, because the Union wrecking last Government meant funding is mainly from the less well off. Those who benefit from neo-liberal politics tend to support that. ie, Farmers and Business and the Ultra Wealthy.

      Negativity is toxic. So give us some of the positives that have happened and outline where you think emphasis could fall in the last year of this term and issues for the next election.

      I haven't seen too many here going in to "Jacindamania" and to mention her engagement and child is sexist. Mickey did a great write up on how National use their children, yet Jacinda gets knocked for having a life.

      Some of your comments sound like frustration rather than reasons.

      Green MPs are great but there are some one trick pony types who are flakes.

      NZ First plays the Centrist card and the Conservative Card.

      Advantage I just wonder what you expect or want.

      • Graemeholt 2.2.1
        29 July 2019 at 6:57 am

        PB. Your comment on Jacindamania not being evident on this forum is the problem. It’s the lack of discussion on this forum when Jacinda and her Government have been missing in action on some issues, that has been most noticeable to me. Instead this forum has at times deflected criticism of the present Government and jumped straight back to criticising the previous Government. Just like you are doing in your comment. We all know the last National Government got too preoccupied with growth and trying to maximise the economy at the expense of social issues. We all can see that the increasing numbers in tourism and immigration has led to infrastructure and housing being neglected so that’s why this Government was elected. If this Government is found to be dragging the chain on some issues after promising so much to get elected, this forum should ask the hard questions. People here need to be reminded that the only reason this Government was elected to power was Winston’s NZF

  3. Kay 3
    28 July 2019 at 8:59 am

    Any long term beneficiary could have told you benefit rates weren't going to increase under this government, even if they weren't being constrained by NZF. Labour are not our friends, they made that quite clear in 1999- 2008. I'm amazed that so many people haven't figured this out yet.

    • Anne 3.1
      28 July 2019 at 10:41 am

      But there was a benefit increase announced in the May budget Kay. In case you missed it here it is:

      • Benefits: To be indexed to the average wage instead of inflation. Expected to put about $47 more a week into beneficiaries' pockets by 2023 – about $10-17 more than they would get under CPI. Cost:$320.2m over four years.

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12235639

      • Kay 3.1.1
        28 July 2019 at 10:50 am

        I didn't miss that. About time we were linked to the average wage but it doesn't make up for the decades of benefit freeze. Plus if experience is anything to go by, ANY increase to the core benefit, even if it's $5/week, results in a corresponding decrease of supplement benefits like Temporary Additional Support and sometimes Accommodation Supplement, so frequently it's possible to end up with no increase at all, sometimes even a loss. So I'll believe it when- or if it happens. That's how they're able to 'find' the budget to do this- take away from one benefit to pay another.

      • Rosemary McDonald 3.1.2
        28 July 2019 at 10:58 am

        Ooh! By 2023! Yippee! That's only another four…. years assuming this Current Mob gets re-elected. In the meantime, most of these people are doing it tough.

        Pretty shit, really.

      • Kay 3.1.3
        28 July 2019 at 11:08 am

        @Anne- forgot to ask, how much do you think rents and the cost of living will have increased by then? less or more than $47/week?

    • Gabby 3.2
      28 July 2019 at 11:07 am

      The people who 'haven't figured it out' aren't on benefits, so are wilfully unaware of the situation.

      • Kay 3.2.1
        28 July 2019 at 11:13 am

        Until it happens to them. Once upon a time I would've had nothing but sympathy/empathy for anyone who found themselves in that situation, wherever they had been prior. Now it's almost a perverse pleasure seeing the 'wilfully unaware who didn't want to know' get a taste. Can't believe I've become such a horrible person.

      • The Al1en 3.2.2
        28 July 2019 at 11:22 am

        Or maybe they have been and got jobs.

        A part time job of 20 hours per week opens up working for families credits, including the top up payment, which can add thousands per year to low income earners bottom lines. Winz accommodation supplements are also still able to be received, which makes the option of getting off your arse for 3 days a week even more financially attractive.

        • Gabby 3.2.2.1
          28 July 2019 at 11:31 am

          Sure Al0on, kicking away the ladder once they're off it.

          • The Al1en 3.2.2.1.1
            28 July 2019 at 11:36 am

            Nope, the safety net is still the lefts best invention. What I am doing, though, is stating the blindingly obvious, that if the low benefit rates for job seekers aren’t to ones liking, there are already in place better options available to those willing to find a part time job of 20 hours per week.

            The wff minimum family tax credit is set at $31,020pa. Earn under that through wages and in work tax credits and you get bumped up to that level. Also accommodation supplements are given but not added to the income assessed. That's a winner for those prepared to work a 3 day week, even at minimum wage, especially solo parents.

            • Kay 3.2.2.1.1.1
              28 July 2019 at 11:40 am

              @Alien- low benefit rates aren't exactly to 'the liking'' of people with long term illness and severe disabilities either, but we don't have the luxury of getting off our arses and getting even part time work, even though most of us are desperate to. Please respond.

              • The Al1en …
                28 July 2019 at 11:42 am

                I'm on record here, way back, stating invalids should get a totally free ride and any assistance they need.

                • Kay …
                  28 July 2019 at 11:49 am

                  Glad to hear it.

                  But do you think that it's reasonable that for the majority of people of other benefits for whom it is mostly temporary situation, that they should recieve enough to be able to pay the rent, utilities, medical costs and eat? Wouldn't this be more cost effective to the state than what has ultimate happened as a result, ie increased avoidable hospitalisations, dealings with the justice system and other social costs?

                  • The Al1en …
                    28 July 2019 at 11:55 am

                    I'm more than okay with winz paying the bills directly so people can afford their rent, utilities, medical costs, clothing and groceries.

        • Craig H 3.2.2.2
          28 July 2019 at 11:32 am

          Not a lot of difference to the government in amount they subsidise the parent by either way.

      • Anne 3.2.3
        28 July 2019 at 11:46 am

        Actually I've been there Gabby. For 13 years from 1993 to 2005 I was on the DPB looking after an aged parent. The DPB was the same as the unemployment benefit – around $140 per week iirc. Ruth Richardson had docked the pay to single mums looking after their young – and to relatives looking after their old – by a significant amount.

        I know all about hardship. I was reduced to living in a apair of white Warehouse sand-shoes much of that time because all my shoes had fallen apart and I couldn't afford to replace them. My saving grace… I did have a decent roof over my head.

        So yes, I know a bit about hardship – of more than one kind.

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.3
      28 July 2019 at 12:26 pm

      And no meaningful action on the punitive, economically and socially destructive payment clawbacks that occur when beneficiaries get part time work. That is very low hanging fruit that should be sorted. Many beneficiaries are worse off if they have low paying or part time work (after travel / work costs), which is a nonsense that this government seems happy to continue.

      • The Al1en 3.3.1
        28 July 2019 at 12:35 pm

        People can come off the benefit working 20 hours per week and avoid any claw backs and still get an accommodation supplement.

        Using the wff figures I posted, that's $31,020 pa + Accom Sup v The dole, and being beholden to the regime.

        • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.3.1.1
          28 July 2019 at 2:51 pm

          Are you sure? WINZ state that any earnings over $80/week attract a 70c in the dollar reduction in benefit – effectively the highest marginal tax rate in NZ, aimed at those who should be targeted the least.

          https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/on-a-benefit/tell-us/income/wages/deduction-tables/jobseeker-support-single.html

          • The Al1en 3.3.1.1.1
            28 July 2019 at 3:01 pm

            If you come off the benefit you don't get penalised because you aren't getting a benefit anymore. You come into the realm of the IRD and the only abatement is if you qualify for the minimum family tax credit and earn over the 31k limit, then you have to pay it back 1 for 1.

            https://www.mytax.co.nz/tax-resources/working-for-families-tax-credits/
            Minimum family tax credit
            This payment tops up your family income to a minimum amount after tax each week. To get this payment, at least one parent must be working for a salary or wages.

            A two-parent family must work at least 30 hours a week between them, and a single parent must work at least 20 hours a week.

            People who don’t qualify for this payment include those on the NZ Superannuation or Veteran’s Pension, those who receive a student allowance and those in self-employment.

            • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.3.1.1.1.1
              28 July 2019 at 7:54 pm

              Almost like you are deliberately not getting my point!

              If a single person on a benefit can only get 15 hours work a week at the minimum wage:

              Wages (before tax): 15 x 17.70 = $265.50

              Benefit Abatement: (265.50 – 80) *0.70 = $129.85

              Tax: 10.5% x 265.50 = $27.88

              Net pay: 265.50-129.85-27.88 = $107.77 ($7.18 / hour net)

              Effective tax rate: (129.85+27.88) / 265.50 = 59.4% (!!!)

              And this assumes there are no additional costs to do the job, e.g. transport, child care.

              Why create such a daft and punitive situation? Labour is well aware of it and should fix it.

              • The Al1en …
                28 July 2019 at 8:15 pm

                You're not reading what I'm writing. A solo parent gets permanent part time job at 20 hours a week , or a couple 30 or more, and you can come off the benefit with winz, so there are then no abatement rates. Get on the phone to IRD and apply for the minimum family tax credit, and when granted (as it will be if the above conditions are met), then they will top your income up to the current limit of $31,020.

                This is all fact. What bit don't you understand?

                • Gabby …
                  29 July 2019 at 5:19 pm

                  Are you recommending having children then Al0on?

                  • The Al1en …
                    29 July 2019 at 6:46 pm

                    Probably more recommending those with children and already on a benefit go get a part time job, sign off and take advantage of the minimum family tax payment through IRD as an instant way out of benefit poverty.

                    But sure, why not. The more kids we have, the greater the chance of birthing another brilliant mind like yours.

        • KJT 3.3.1.2
          28 July 2019 at 4:37 pm

          With all those well paid part time jobs there are, of course.

          • The Al1en 3.3.1.2.1
            28 July 2019 at 4:40 pm

            As a solo parent, the best bang for buck return would be to get a minimum wage part time job of 20 hours per week.

            • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.3.1.2.1.1
              28 July 2019 at 7:57 pm

              Probably not! The benefit abatements see to that, although they are less brutal (but still ridiculous) for single parents:

              https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/on-a-benefit/tell-us/income/wages/deduction-tables/jobseeker-support-sole-parent.html

              • The Al1en …
                28 July 2019 at 8:21 pm

                Absolutely is the best option. I signed off the dole years ago and did exactly that. No claw backs, no abatement rates, no bs.

                I earn too much to qualify now, but the scheme is still there and does help those people prepared to work 3 days a week to get out of poverty.

            • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.3.1.2.1.2
              28 July 2019 at 8:01 pm

              Minimum wage for a solo parent at 20 hours/week:

              20 x 17.70 = $354

              Benefit abatement: $137.80

              Tax: $37.17

              Net Income: $179.03 (assuming no extra costs!)

              Effective tax rate: 49.4% (more than we tax CEO’s earning millions per annum!)

              Probably best for everyone if they stay home and look after the kids.

              • The Al1en …
                28 July 2019 at 8:16 pm

                Again, as a solo parent with a 20 hour per week job, if you come off the benefit there isn't an abatement from the benefit because you're not on the benefit anymore.

              • mikesh …
                29 July 2019 at 3:24 pm

                Taxpayers are taxed on their total income. If their tax rate amounted to 49.4% or more then they would be entitled to a big rebate at the end of the year.

                • UncookedSelachimorpha …
                  30 July 2019 at 7:40 am

                  Yep, that is the difference between an actual tax rate of 49.4%, and an effective tax rate of 49.4%. This effective tax rate is still completely real, in that it absolutely reduces your income by 49.4%.

    • Patricia Bremner 3.4
      28 July 2019 at 8:07 pm

      Kay, talk to Andrew little, and realise this is not a Helen Clarke government. Did you get better help from National?

  4. MickeyBoyle 4
    28 July 2019 at 10:06 am

    Hardship grant numbers exploding, beneficiary numbers up by 16000, 7 of the 9 poverty measures Statistics NZ monitor have significantly worsened and the other two have not improved. Neoliberalism is still rolling forward and we have not one single party in government looking to change it. Hope you are all loving the politics of kindness in our year of delivery…

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 4.1
      28 July 2019 at 12:28 pm

      I agree Labour remains 99% neoliberal.

      But increased hardship grant payments may be a good thing – they may be making them easier to get (I have heard rumours that they are). For 30+ years WINZ etc have been encouraged to despise their 'clients'.

    • Patricia Bremner 4.2
      28 July 2019 at 8:09 pm

      Because Mickey they are mainly getting their entitlements.

    • Gabby 4.3
      29 July 2019 at 5:22 pm

      Winz might be telling people about their options nowdays mickeyboil.

  5. Dukeofurl 5
    28 July 2019 at 10:08 am

    So Its taking ALL of Nationals talking points for a post.

    • Siobhan 5.1
      28 July 2019 at 10:45 am

      Self critiquing is an important, in fact a vital, ingredient in any political group, even more so in a party/Government that describes itself as transformative.

      There was a time, long long ago, I had thought that The Standard would be the best forum for such discussions. Yet since Labour has come into power TS seems to have become an echo chamber for an increasingly small number of folk pointing fingers and endlessly crowing 'OOOh look at Simon..what an idiot" (or Trump, or Assange), which is all fine, fun and games I guess, but its a very limited conversation don't you think?

      And that sort of smugness and lack of perspective is exactly what loses the Centrists elections all over the world these days. (oh, yeah, sorry everyone, and the Russians with there amazing ability to control the minds of millions of voters with facebook ads)

      It would be interesting to hear which of these issues raised by Advantage you consider to be merely opposition 'talking points'.

      • Robert Guyton 5.1.1
        28 July 2019 at 10:55 am

        Okay; how about justifying the claim that working groups represent a "criminal waste" of tax?

        • KJT 5.1.1.1
          28 July 2019 at 11:04 am

          The one item that the OP has incorrect.

          Working groups evidence based expert and public consultation, analysis, and research before enacting policy, has been sadly lacking in the past.

          It is most definitely, not, a waste of tax payer, dollars.

          • Robert Guyton 5.1.1.1.1
            28 July 2019 at 11:11 am

            Including the claim indicates a willingness to take an unnecessarily negative view and indicates that the other claims might be similarly unbalanced, imo.

            "Transport remains a fully self-inflicted disaster"

            Really? National left "Transport" in great shape and the coalition Government has stuffed that Wonderful Good thing up?

            I didn't know.

            • Dennis Frank 5.1.1.1.1.1
              28 July 2019 at 11:18 am

              Try talking to a Wellingtonian about transport, Robert. Saw a story on the tv news the other day, a post-mortem a year on from the new bus system getting up & running. Vox pops used suggesting everyone is giving it the thumbs down. Greens have spent 30 years going `public transport rah rah rah!' So I watched the close-up of Gareth Hughes listening to the plaintive excuses from the council, thinking he'll be learning from the difference between policy rhetoric & implentation. I hope!

          • Patricia Bremner 5.1.1.1.2
            28 July 2019 at 8:11 pm

            KJT 1000%

      • MickeyBoyle 5.1.2
        28 July 2019 at 10:56 am

        Well said Siobhan. This red team good, blue team bad nonsense is exactly that. The same people who would criticize a National governments performance on inequality and poverty measures should hold that same measure up to this governments performance, not be blinded by their ideology. Sadly this country is going down the same path as the U.S. where partisan politics is so frankly disgusting and dangerous, it is a threat to democracy itself, and where hypocrisy knows no bounds. Truly sad.

      • Sacha 5.1.3
        28 July 2019 at 11:20 am

        an echo chamber for an increasingly small number of folk pointing fingers and endlessly crowing

        We get the behaviour we tolerate here, yes.

      • Enough is Enough 5.1.4
        28 July 2019 at 3:55 pm

        I completely agree Siobhan.

        It is frustrating that so many people seem to be happy simply because National are not in power. Rather than objectively looking at what is and isn't being done by the government, people seem happy just to be mocking Simon Bridges on a daily basis. You almost guarantee 5 posts from one author every week doing just that.

        I don't give a rats about the National party. I want to see the government doing what they promised to do. Where is our transformational government?

        I also think the problem sits with the make up of the coalition. The sooner we see the death of NZ First the better.

        Can you imagine the real changes that would be happening right now if Marama Davidson sat next to Jacinda in the cabinet room rather than well past it Winston Peters.

  6. Psycho Milt 6
    28 July 2019 at 10:18 am

    This is the weakest leadership on policy of any government since the last term of Holyoake, 60 years ago.

    Gee, it's almost as though a government that has no electoral mandate for significant change and consists of three parties with conflicting policy agendas, might struggle to push through a coherent policy programme of significant change. But that can't be true, right? It must be lack of leadership on Jacinda Ardern's part.

    • Kay 6.1
      28 July 2019 at 10:36 am

      It must be lack of leadership on Jacinda Ardern's part.

      No it's not that. I'm pretty sure that most people capable of reasonable thought are aware of coalition limitations/squabbling etc. It's this constant going on about 'transformational government', caring, wellbeing, the great claims of giving a damn about child poverty etc that's still coming out of their mouths (or whoever write their speeches/press releases) while simultaneously in practice it's for the most a continuation of previous policy with a bit of window dressing to make them 'seem' kinder eg giving the Winz offices a paint job and orders to treat us as human beings. THAT is a lack of leadership. If said initial promises/intentions can't/won't be met for whatever reason them come out and say it, otherwise she's no better than Key/English- say something often enough and it must be true, right?

    • MickeyBoyle 6.2
      28 July 2019 at 10:38 am

      If they cannot make significant change or deliver what they have previously promised they could. Then maybe it's time to stop coming out with words and phrases like "transformational", "year of delivery" and "my generations nuclear free moment". Who do we blame that on?

    • Dennis Frank 6.3
      28 July 2019 at 10:42 am

      Yeah, it was always gonna be muddle thro the middle. Ad's right about Ardern's transformational rhetoric versus the reality of delivery though. When you talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk to establish a track record. Her year of delivery is glass half full. Ad's list reminds us it's half-empty.

      So a reality check. The year is half-done, so perhaps a tad premature. Let's see how she leads from here, eh?

  7. Kat 7
    28 July 2019 at 10:28 am

    Yes Jacinda Ardern is totally useless just like Norm Kirk was. What we need is another Muldoon and a dose of bulldozer dictatorship. I would say disadvantage to that.

    • Marcus Morris 7.1
      28 July 2019 at 11:27 am

      What we need is another Muldoon and a dose of bulldozer dictatorship.

      A quote like that begs the question: "How old are you". Muldoon won the 1975 election with a landslide mainly on the back of his promise to demolish Labour's brilliant Universal Superannuation scheme, replacing it with the unsustainable scheme the country has been struggling with ever since. You mightn't remember that in its initial form every one would receive it at age 60. Hugh Templeton, who served for nine years in Muldoon's cabinet labeled it along these lines "Muldoon's election lark has become a fiscal albatross".

      Muldoon was New Zealand's most divisive Prime Minister ever and, under MMP, his would have been a one term government.

      The financial difficulties which the country found itself when he left office left the way open for Douglas and his neo-lib acolytes to plunge the country onto a revolutionary economic path and the subsequent avalanche upwards of wealth that will probably never be redressed adequately. The egalitarian society of my youth had been lost forever.

      The damage done to our social and environmental infrastructure that was left unaddressed during the time of the last National Government, will take years to correct. In fact it was exacerbated. Sir Michael Cullen had done his best in the preceding years with Kiwi Saver and Kiwi Bank (Jim Anderson) and the Super fund to which National refused to contribute.

      Leave the Troy trolls to do their own dirty work – they are expert at it. Jacinda has never claimed to be wonder woman and for many of us she has been a beacon of light, relief, and hope in the murky world of politics.

      • Kat 7.1.1
        28 July 2019 at 2:10 pm

        Old enough to know whats what Marcus and the fine line between sarcasm and irony, but thanks for your recollections on Muldoon. Jacinda Ardern like Norm Kirk is an achiever, a doer and a change agent. Many of her critics are just theorists and word merchants and if put in the same leadership situation would most likely spin out faster than a jaffa down Baldwin Street.

        • Marcus Morris 7.1.1.1
          28 July 2019 at 7:12 pm

          Sorry Kat. I think I did misunderstood your drift. I have just been a bit taken aback at some of the comment on this thread. I like your final analogy.

          • Kat 7.1.1.1.1
            28 July 2019 at 7:41 pm

            All good Marcus, what we have here is a willing quiet majority, and a very vocal minority that expect revolution and instant Valhalla from the present govt. It is never going to happen. If careful consideration is given to the all the circumstances and issues that confront our young PM along with comparison to previous leaders the blindingly obvious realisation is we have a very special person in Jacinda Ardern. The next election is crucial and for all our sake's she must secure a mandate that unshackles her govt from the chains of excessive political compromise. I know who and what I am voting for.

            Perhaps an enlightened benevolent dictatorship really is the answer……. after all.

            • Anne 7.1.1.1.1.1
              28 July 2019 at 8:41 pm

              The next election is crucial and for all our sake's she must secure a mandate that unshackles her govt from the chains of excessive political compromise.

              And therein lies the root of the problem.

              There's been a bit of disingenuous comment on this post which is rather sad.

              Thanks Kat for an enlightened contribution.

        • Patricia Bremner 7.1.1.2
          28 July 2019 at 8:25 pm

          Agreed Kat. 7.1.1

    • Patricia Bremner 7.2
      28 July 2019 at 8:18 pm

      Muldoon was a bully and a "Small man!!"He caused NZ harm.

  8. Robert Guyton 8
    28 July 2019 at 10:31 am

    Remove "de" from the first word and you've got the flavour.

  9. Robert Guyton 9
    28 July 2019 at 10:49 am

    Recent quotes from Kiwiblog regulars:

    "I genuinely find Ardern a nasty, contemptible woman. So fake and vapid."

    "I don’t think she’s smart enough to be nasty. She’s just incompetent."

    "Once you see her snarling and being nasty then that ‘likeable’ perception is quickly lost.
    She.is.awful."

    We're being encouraged to deflate the "Jacindamania" bubble; Perhaps we should follow the lead of those fine commenters from the Farrar stable. We've started well, adopting the word and there-by the implications – a step in the Right direction!

    frown

  10. Stuart Munro. 10
    28 July 2019 at 10:50 am

    Real policy takes time. The transition from the irresponsible governance of the Gnats is not to be achieved overnight, they dismantled many things that were to provide checks, balances, and constructive input, having no use for anything they couldn't sell.

    Jacinda has breathed new life into Labour, which thoroughly deserved to die after Douglas betrayed his country and our people. She is not the problem – it's the wretched neoliberals who still embrace that cruel and stupid recipe for corruption and failure.

    Her government is an improvement on the Gnats, which is the best that can be had until Labour is prepared to count the cost of cargo cult capitalism.

    • Dennis Frank 10.1
      28 July 2019 at 11:01 am

      Good comment, Stuart. Her stance is managerial, which anchors her in the status quo a little too much for those who want progress. Critical focus will therefore be on how much progress her leading actually achieves. So far, I agree it's better than the alternative, but the current protest will be a real test for her leadership skills. But look who's missing: the minister for maori development. Head down, hoping nobody will notice.

      • Anne 10.1.1
        28 July 2019 at 12:14 pm

        …who's missing: the minister for maori development. Head down, hoping nobody will notice.

        No Dennis, Nanaia Mahuta was standing with Jacinda Ardern when she made her announcement on Friday. The TV1 reporter made a point of mentioning her presence but she was out of the camera shot.

        She is one of those who works hard behind the scenes but isn't one to go looking for publicity. She doesn't need to. Her constituents know her and what she does for them.

        • Dennis Frank 10.1.1.1
          28 July 2019 at 12:51 pm

          Appearing in a photo op doesn't really count. If she organised Henare & Jackson to do an attempt to broker a solution, I'd agree with you. But we don't know that yet. Perhaps the PM did that bit of organising instead…

          • Louis 10.1.1.1.1
            28 July 2019 at 1:28 pm

            Watch the video, it was not only the PM that spoke, Nanaia Mahuta AND Peeni Henare did as well.

            https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/07/ihum-tao-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-slow-on-intervention-leading-m-ori-figure-matthew-tukaki.html

            • Dennis Frank 10.1.1.1.1.1
              28 July 2019 at 2:40 pm

              Thanks for that, most helpful. I only saw a small part of it on the tv news. Good to know they had a roundtable of stakeholders which went well, and it was sensible of the PM to organise that as a basis for her change of stance. Mahuta did seem to have her head around the situation, so I'll stop being critical and await developments…

              • Louis …
                28 July 2019 at 3:51 pm

                Has there been a change of stance though? As far as I am aware the govt are not going to make decisions on this, they are there to help get the relevant parties talking to each other in the hope that the parties in dispute can find a resolution that they can all live with.

                • Dennis Frank …
                  28 July 2019 at 4:01 pm

                  You're right, but a necessity for the govt to decide on may emerge from the process. The PM's change of stance was the shift from hands off to engaged. So govt intervention as catalyst is what's happening now…

                  • Louis …
                    28 July 2019 at 6:15 pm

                    Govt were engaged prior. "Mr Henare said MPs met with Fletchers, local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki, and SOUL, but were unable to reach a consensus about how to move forward"

                    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395100/ihumatao-protest-govt-will-not-intervene-pm-says

                    So they are having another go to get the parties to talk and work it out.

                    • Dennis Frank …
                      28 July 2019 at 8:41 pm

                      Oh yeah. Looks like a double back-flip, then. This is the bit that provoked my comment: "Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government would not intervene." Then she intervened.

                    • Louis …
                      28 July 2019 at 9:09 pm

                      Did she though? was it any different to what her govt did before, by having her mps try and get the parties talking to each other to work out a solution? How is it a back flip?

    • infused 10.2
      28 July 2019 at 11:24 am

      You'd still be saying that 9 years from now. Good policy could have been made if it wasn't on the back of knee-jerk reactions for a popular bump in the poll. This govt is full of this.

      • Marcus Morris 10.2.1
        28 July 2019 at 11:31 am

        Now give us the examples or your post is just fake news.

      • Stuart Munro. 10.2.2
        28 July 2019 at 12:48 pm

        Look, if the Gnats learned anything from nine years in opposition, I'd cheerfully credit that. And I'm sure they will improve – time will remove notable kakistocrats like Brownlee and Nick Smith by attrition – but they need to do more than lose their low-hanging fruitbats to be a breakeven proposition for New Zealand.

        And Labour, of whom much criticism can be made, remain substantially better than that even break, though well short of being aspirational, much less enlightened.

        A lot of the problem lies with the habit of gotcha and comparative sizzle critiques. The problems with Labour are policy and implementation issues, not Jacinda problems. The problem with Simon is not his lack of leadership per se, so much as the failure of that party under his (albeit temporary) control to contribute meaningfully to policy discussions and debates. They failed to govern under Key and now struggle to conceive what good government even looks like.

        Meanwhile the real major issues continue to fester. Labour will not address the drivers of our rapidly increasing inequality and mental health problems. The very easiest environmental issue, plastic bags, got attention, but transport and agriculture have been given lip service options. Policies that impoverish NZ in the long term like mass unskilled immigration and sales of farms and water rights have been skirted. A competent government would have brought those to an end immediately.

        • srylands 10.2.2.1
          28 July 2019 at 3:32 pm

          Inequality is not increasing.

          Mental health is a problem but it will take a decade to fix.

          Nothing can be done on transport.

          Plastic bags were not the real problem. Supermarkets are a sea of plastic.

          Not sure what you mean on agriculture – do you mean water? If so that is in the pipeline.

          Selling farms is not a problem.

          Not sure what you mean by "water rights" – if you mean bottled water the only problem there is the plastic.

          Mass low skilled immigration is a real problem. But we need people to work graveyard shifts at gas stations and other similar roles.

          • Stuart Munro. 10.2.2.1.1
            28 July 2019 at 4:16 pm

            Inequality has not stopped increasing. The housing crisis is both a product and a driver of it, as is the low skill mass immigration.

            Mental health is an emergent property of dysfunctional societies – NZ hasn't worked for working people for a long time now. There is no current initiative that will begin to 'fix' that.

            Supermarkets are a sea of plastic and are not working to reverse that trend.

            There are a number of things that can be done in agriculture that aren't – we even have a fully fledged CAFO down near Timaru complete with a manure lake. Carbon and climate mitigation should be embraced voluntarily, but the kind of wankers who'll run an unpermitted CAFO will need to be closed down. The obvious measures, riparian and wind break planting, polycultural feed crops, diversification away from resource intensive styles like intensive dairy remain the exception rather than the rule. The all up costs of these mitigations is negligible.

            Selling farms offshore is the reason locals aren't keen to work on them. Foreign owners are even less responsive to local communal interests than local owners. Selling farms offshore is the reason 51% of farm income is capital, and farming for capital is freeloading on local communities and infrastructure.

            The alienation of critical natural assets like water is an enormous problem. Though the plastic is a problem too, the peppercorn rentals charged for these water rights won't even pay to maintain the roads the heavily laden trucks carrying bottled water are subjecting to greater wear and tear. The community should at a minimum receive a rental for those resources over and above the costs imposed upon them by the business activity.

            Mass low wage immigration is a huge problem, and wages will never rise while governments collude with scumbag employers to avoid paying the likes of graveyard shift workers penal rates.

    • AB 10.3
      28 July 2019 at 11:30 am

      Yes, a significant improvement on the alternative and constrained by a number of things – including the means of their coming to power through coalition with NZF, plus a largely hostile media environment and business establishment. Plus some self-imposed constraints like the Budget Responsibility Rules – though the BRR is really just an artefact of the larger constraints I just mentioned. I guess Ad's point is that even with these constraints they could have done better. Probably – people and organisations can usually do better.

      I view Ardern as the best 3rd-way politician we have yet seen and I hope she gets multiple terms. Ultimately it's a dead end though – at bottom, 'kindness' is an attempt to shame Capital into behaving better. This is a sort category error, Capital is part of the structural configuration of the economy, it's not people and it's not a thing with a conscience.

  11. Fireblade 11
    28 July 2019 at 11:29 am

    Nine years of National, Act, Maori Party and United Future was a disaster for NZ (according to some).

    Now some declare 18 months of Labour, NZ First and the Greens are also a disaster.

    So what now?

    Back to National in 2020 for more of the same?, or do we give the current government more time to prove itself?

    • Marcus Morris 11.1
      28 July 2019 at 11:33 am

      Well said.

    • srylands 11.2
      28 July 2019 at 3:38 pm

      There are two problems for the Government. Firstly over promising – Kiwibuild was never going to work. It was the wrong solution for the wrong problem. The Government should have focussed on RMA reform and getting the Chinese to build thousands of affordable rentals.

      Secondly New Zealand First is as much of an influence on policy as Labour. It is just behind the scenes. If there is a Labour-Green government after the next election things will be very different.

      • Stuart Munro. 11.2.1
        28 July 2019 at 4:21 pm

        Rubbish – the Chinese are not magic fairies who are going to solve our housing problems for us. A state operated and funded builder is the only model that will deliver good outcomes for NZ people. Chinese companies won't even work here unless they are exempt from local labour laws and can sell the units offshore, which makes them worse than useless.

      • lprent 11.2.2
        28 July 2019 at 5:46 pm

        The Government should have focussed on RMA reform and getting the Chinese to build thousands of affordable rentals.

        Yeah right. That worked so well for National. They came into power and played at RMA reform and then let the market generate the housing required for the housing crisis that they complained about in 2008. Not to mention their extensive immigration plans.

        Then, when that made absolutely no impact on supply, they tried to fast-track housing construction via the SHA and other overriding legislation. Which is why there is a SHA in Mangere with a few thousand people sitting on it. Fast tracking and overriding all other concerns just pisses people off.

        That didn’t work either.

        So how did that decade of failed attempts work out – dimwit? The laziness of the invisible hand? Using the power of the state to force? None of it worked.

        Of course National and Act, in their usual blind stupidity, managed to forget the actual role of the state in housing development, and never did their job of providing the required infrastructure. But they are inherently lazy as well as being tightfisted, and in love with stupid short-cuts.

        It would require the truly idiotic and religious to still have faith with any of these processes – and you are it. Only someone who’d substitute a religious father for brains could have written your pile of twaddle.

        The basic problem with housing is that we really don’t have a developed construction sector. The companies are too small. The legislation and legal processes don’t allow large projects to work for construction companies at a profit.

        I’m not sure that kiwibuild is the right approach. Mostly because of its emphasis on trying to get the market to do the job.

        So far the only part that is working is the Housing NZ is just simply buying and building and renting their own housing. The classic state house approach. I think that we need more of that to actually get simple contracts out to build construction companies.

        While the rest of the infrastructure that makes the market so cautious gets fixed. Probably starting with the National party learning to gag its inability to learn from experience about magical solutions. They’d be the worst factor currently increasing uncertainty.

  12. Darien Fenton 12
    28 July 2019 at 12:08 pm

    Bottoms up? That's the best we have to look forward to from Simon Bridges? Really. If you want real change, you can change the government and may I controversially suggest that a Labour Green government may be able to do a hell of a lot more without the brakes of Conservative NZ First?

  13. Pat 13
    28 July 2019 at 1:00 pm

    It is the difference between politics and governance….like it or not there is another approx 40% of the voting public that are considered….just as those dispossessed are considered as to how far they can be ignored so too are those with assets. A balancing act that is construed from place.

    The alternative?

  14. Drowsy M. Kram 14
    28 July 2019 at 3:05 pm

    “But it’s a very partial leadership. It’s not ‘transformational’, it’s not the year of delivery. What is this government?”

    “This is the weakest leadership on policy of any government since the last term of Holyoake, 60 years ago. That’s on Ardern."

    https://thestandard.org.nz/the-mess-that-the-new-government-inherits/ [from The Standard, 23 Oct 2017]

    Apologies for this backward looking comparison (21 months of a Labour-NZ1st-Greens coalition vs 9 years of National-led coalition governments), but let's remember what Key and his cronies stood (and still stand) for and delivered for all New Zealanders.

    Tax cuts for the wealthy.
    Transferring public assets to the asset portfolios of the weathy in NZ and abroad.
    GST increase.
    Politicisation of the public service.
    Dirty politics.
    Charter schools.
    Bad faith bargaining.
    Inaction on child poverty (what poverty?), housing crisis (let them 'eat' motels), etc.
    Defunding mental health providers.
    Historically high levels of immigration.
    Historically high levels of pollution in waterways, on beaches, etc.
    An opportunity to consider changing the NZ flag.

    The hopes and expectations of what a "transformational" non-National party government might deliver for all New Zealanders were and still are high, but attempting to reverse some of the above (or at least not make things worse) are achievements in my book. I have no great expectations that the bulk of NZ voters will see it like this, as we slide further towards selfishness/greed/corruption-fueled community collapse.

    https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2016/vol-129-no-1435-27-may-2016/6891

    • SHG 14.1
      28 July 2019 at 5:04 pm

      <i>Politicisation of the public service</i>

      Nope, this was a Clark change. I'm sure National were happy to receive a public service that had been turned into a political tool, but they didn't create it.

      • Sacha 14.1.1
        28 July 2019 at 6:14 pm

        Shipley started the whole 'no surprises' bullshit – to pull the SOE boards into line. Heather Simpson certainly gave it oats under Labour.

    • McFlock 14.2
      28 July 2019 at 7:57 pm

      yeah, and lots of other things that aren't on that list.

      Most of those things seem to have had solutions implemented. Some have underperformed (Kiwibuild is doable, but was a bigger bite than they anticipated), but at least they tried something more than "market forces will provide".

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 14.3
      29 July 2019 at 7:45 am

      Absolutely DMK. I get frustrated that the coalition could do so much more – but they are a big improvement on Key and Co., and I am grateful!

    • Psycho Milt 14.4
      29 July 2019 at 8:36 am

      Even if this government were to achieve a sum total of 0 progressive reform in its entire term of office, it keeps out of power a party whose response to climate change was further oil and gas exploration, intensification of farming and setting up a scam ETS using fake east European carbon credits. That alone would be enough to make it worthwhile – anything else is a bonus.

  15. Observer Tokoroa 15
    28 July 2019 at 3:44 pm

    "Despite the babies and the engagements, maybe it’s time to ditch the default Jacindamania."

    Written by a savage subhuman for all the banal Trolls.

    Why is this ratbag ADVANTAGE allowed to come on here with his mouth "ditching default Jacindamania"?

    Stripping her naked – like the arshole he is. When he made sure there was no housing available thanks to his nine year lousy National Friends.

    Ranting Birth; Destroying Children; Hating people who had to walk into Sir John Keys and Sir Billy English Slums. Bending the knees to the obscene Outrageous National Landlords.

    ADVANTAGE get you and your Trolls off this site. And stay off. It's high time to ditch your mouth of slime and NationalFilthmania.

    You have done Nothing! but handed out Misery- all of You.

    One last point ! Have you ditched the Simon Bridges Babies – default! You misreable sub being?

    [One last point! It is ok to disagree and have a robust debate but is never ok to attack and abuse one another and least of all an Author on their own Post. Read the policy. Debate the point(s) and/or issue(s). Banned for six months – Incognito]

    • Incognito 15.1
      28 July 2019 at 4:42 pm

      See my Moderation note @ 3:44 PM.

    • Incognito 15.2
      28 July 2019 at 10:38 pm

      Hi Observer Tokoroa,

      Reluctantly and against conventional wisdom, I will reply to you at the other side of the ban, which will not be revoked. This reply is a one-off!

      The Moderation note is at the bottom of your comment number 15 @ 3.44 PM, in bold; you cannot miss it.

      I do not consider the post by Advantage as misogynistic; they would not become or stay an Author here for long if that were the case.

      Read the about and the policy – look at the sections on who we are, and the site’s attitudes about ascribing hidden motivations to authors [thanks Lynn]. None of the Authors who write here is paid for this; we are all volunteers with something to say because we care. The site does not receive money for advertising either, before you ask. To suggest otherwise is akin accusing us of being underhand and corrupt and (just) like the Dirty Politics brigade that we all detest. You would have been banned for that too, BTW, but I am not kicking you when you are already out.

      Lastly, Advantage is not a friend of mine; I have never met Advantage or had any communication with Advantage. We happen to write on the same blog site. For a moment, I sensed that you were possibly accusing me of sticking up for a friend but I was probably mistaken. I try to moderate without favouritism and while being agnostic of the actual debate, which is one reason why I cannot join in anymore as much as I like.

      You have form in using abusive language and I would suggest changing this behaviour if you want to make a positive contribution to TS when you come back.

      To all other commenters here: I am intruding on a post by Advantage so please do not reply to this comment; we do not litigate moderation on TS.

  16. facts_beat_emotions 16
    28 July 2019 at 3:58 pm

    *Excellent* post! By far the most well thought-out post I've ever seen here!

    I'll probably be shot down for this, but there is **no need** to raise taxes or introduce new taxes. What is needed is to **cut wasteful spending**. Heck, I can't remember a government *ever* looking at *local government* spending and there MUST be at least a *billion* dollars' worth of waste in Auckland alone!

    It's *long overdue* that people looked past the *toothy grin* and the *endless* women's mag front pages and asked some *hard questions* of this so-called "prime minister".

    It is *unforgivable* that she and Hipkins scrapped the charter schools for the SOLE reason of appeasing the teacher unions. She even *admits* this – video here – https://www.facebook.com/davidseymourACT/videos/3110160162342324/

    Charter school students sacrificed for the sake of the unions.

    So much for Hipkins once saying in Parliament that "one size does not fit all". So much for this government **caring about children**.

    • millsy 16.1
      28 July 2019 at 5:20 pm

      Charter schools will lead to the privatisation of education, and the infiltration of Young Earch Creationism into the curriculum.

      You will have a whole generation of young people who will grow up thinking a fictional character created the world we live in. (and that LGBT's are fit only for extermination).

      Personally I belive that every person who gets a job in the education system have to sign a statement of swear an oath upholding Evolution and the Big Bang. Creationism needs to be ripped out of education root and stem.

    • Robert Guyton 16.2
      28 July 2019 at 6:18 pm

      Watch out! Kryptonite!

    • In Vino 16.3
      28 July 2019 at 6:20 pm

      Facts beat Emotions – your opinions are not facts, and you are full of silly emotional opinion.

  17. millsy 17
    28 July 2019 at 5:16 pm

    It is really hard to do much when there is the threat of pushback from those who have reaped the benefits of the status quo for the past goodness-knows-how-long.

    Pretty modest reforms have been portrayed as a Bolshevik revolution, while landlords and farmers think they are one step away of being rounded up in the town square to have rotten fruit pelted at them.

  18. burt 18
    28 July 2019 at 6:22 pm

    To all who make The Standard what it is;

    Welcome back to reality.

    [lprent: Welcome back to sanity, burt. Please remember that the policies haven’t changed while you have been slumming. ]

  19. CHCoff 19
    28 July 2019 at 7:49 pm

    Didn't Jacindamania end at The Standard the moment headline bloggers were not made associate ministers of cabinet?

    [lprent: Nope.. Perhaps you should read the about and the policy – look at the sections on who we are, and the sites attitudes about ascribing hidden motivations to authors. Politicians at the national scene need to write here under their own name. Political staffers aren’t allowed to write here at all. In other words, we don’t let travestries like a dirty politics unit being run out of the prime ministers office as John Key allowed for Cameron Slater using Jason Ede and others. That kind of bottom feeding corruption is really a National / Act trait.

    I’ll give you the time to read the policy because I suspect that as well as being an uncouth bumpkin, you’re also illiterate. It may take you time to trace the letters. Banned until after the end of the electoral term – start of December 2020 sounds about right. ]

  20. Fireblade 20
    28 July 2019 at 8:22 pm

    Farrar and his cheerleaders are getting all excited about The Standard. How amusing 😊

    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2019/07/a_take_from_the_left.html

    • lprent 20.1
      28 July 2019 at 10:42 pm

      Yeah I know. For some obscure reason they keep thinking that this site operates like kiwiblog. That the opinions offered in the post either come from the party machine (Farrar runs National’s in-house polling and focus groups) or by some kind of party resistance – but with a single voice. Frankly I’m surprised that their delusions have lasted for nearly 12 years. But clearly they have.

      But I guess that is the nature of conservatives hunting in a pack. The intelligence level goes down as the number in the pack rises. Too stupid to actually review what really goes on. And too busy yipping in unison to think.

      Reality is that we give people logins to write their opinions as posts. We expect them to be their own opinions and to be different and to provoke discussion. We expect the commenters and other authors will disagree because everyone is different, and we certainly don’t expect to have dimwitted fools yipping together in a conservative pack.

      After all we are intelligent humans – not conservative doggies.

      • Incognito 20.1.1
        28 July 2019 at 10:59 pm

        Wilful misunderstanding or genuine confusion? I reckon it is the former.

        You might want to look at OT’s comment in Trash submitted on 2019/07/28 at 9:41 pm.

        I wondered if this was a new tactic: suggesting and creating a perception (meme) that TS is just like KB, for example. But you say it has been going on for yonks. Quite possibly, they cannot lift themselves up so they try to drag TS down to their sewer level. Not too different from their preferred style of politics.

  21. Timeforacupoftea 21
    28 July 2019 at 9:17 pm

    Some mean comments on twitter today

    They say a pictures paints a thousand words Well this picture is screaming a world of trouble .. No ring on finger .. Dad looks very worried … Cindy is gaunt and looks under weight .. the woman behind looks like WWIII has just started All is not well in the camp [deleted]
    [deleted]

    [deleted]

    [lprent: Over the edge. Banned for 1 month. Read the policy and learn not to be a caricature of misogynist dimwitted fuckwit acting like you need to compensate for the miniscule size of your dick/brain – which you clearly are. Trolls acting like parrots simply aren’t welcome here. ]

  22. Ian 22
    28 July 2019 at 9:42 pm

    Ha ha .Michael Bassett summed Ardern up in that listener article.Can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear. No experience managing people ,no experience as a cabinet minister let alone prime minister and without help from the media ,mallard and Peters wouldn't have got this far. Can't even put the boot into dairy farmers like a good,compliant lefty.

    • lprent 22.1
      28 July 2019 at 10:21 pm

      Micheal Bassett is , in my opinion, one of the most useless politicians we’ve ever had in this country. He had a superficial competence that when applied turned out to be as shallow as his academic opinions. He is a man who is, in my opinion, mostly characterised by his overwhelming envy and an ability to be a arse sniffing sycophant.

      And that is just from observing him from afar. The opinions of those who have known him from virtually all sides of the political spectrum that I have talked to tend to reflect a similar opinion. Basically he was practitioner of the kinds of nasty personal politics that made up such a high proportion of the dirty politics agenda.

      I can’t quite see why you’d see him as being competent to offer an opinion – unless you share some of his nasty personal characteristics.

      • sumsuch 22.1.1
        28 July 2019 at 11:11 pm

        Brilliant and astringent, Lprent. More of the same. Just been commenting on the lack of fight and intelligence on the side of the people as opposed to Oz, where they fight no matter what.

  23. Chris T 23
    29 July 2019 at 8:01 am

    It is quite refreshing to see posters on here actually looking at Labours performance through a critical lens, rather than just slagging off the last lot and switching the topic to Trump.

    Well done.

  24. Formerly Ross 24
    29 July 2019 at 8:05 am

    There is no reform of the justice sector

    A Criminal Cases Review Commission is being established. That’s very significant after previous governments were under the impression that the justice system corrected its mistakes.

  25. Peter 25
    29 July 2019 at 9:54 am

    Another diatribe about working parties and reforms and investigations.

    A pity Ardern is burdened by a coalition, and that a coalition with NZF. A clear run would have enabled her to chuck the rule book away and charge holus-bolus into doing what they wanted and stuff consultation. The old 'just get on and do it.'

    Then the whingers now about lack of action and not chucking the bath water out would be bitching about a dictatorship and how they should've got expert advice and consulted widely and … anything, everything.

    Being bound by political realities is an unfortunate thing. I suppose courage is needed and 'taking people with you, making them believe.' That denies the reality of possibilities and impossibilities. New Zealanders want to believe? Far greater than believing in hope and aspiration and possibilities New Zealanders only want to believe in a traditional left/right hate world. That is they way our political world is.

    Ardern being bold and reforming all over the shop? Yeah right, and as soon as she's been kicked out in the shortest time the other lot would undo and re-reform.

  26. Sabine 26
    29 July 2019 at 10:02 am

    you say : This is the weakest leadership on policy of any government since the last term of Holyoake, 60 years ago. That’s on Ardern.

    can i ask where you would put the government of National – No mates Party and its 'aspirational, no kiwis should be tenants in their own country, pay parity with OZ, and crush all the boyracers cars in terms of weak? On a scale from 1 – 10? Or within hte last 60 years.

    Cause frankly way to many have become homeless in our own country (and they would love to be tenants), our suicide rates are sky high and frankly shameful, our wages are no where near parity with OZ and boyracers are still racing their cars and so on and so on and so on.

  27. David Mac 27
    29 July 2019 at 10:11 am

    I believe the motivation is sound. The Lab/Greens have a genuine desire to make New Zealand a better place for as many of us as they can. When the motivating force is sound, we blunder on in the right direction. Five steps forward and three back.

    Making mistakes pepper every bid to "Have a good go". If we're not making mistakes, we're not trying hard enough. What matters is the speed with which we identify where we get it wrong and what we do about it.

    Kiwibuild is falling short, that's cool, it comes with having a good go. What matters now is how good we are at identifying the shortfalls and how they are addressed.

  28. Booker 28
    29 July 2019 at 1:44 pm

    This is classic left-wing hand wringing leading to self-immolation. Honestly, sometimes a left-wingers worst enemy is other left-wingers.

    So, we’ve had 9 years of flagrant economic mismanagement under National, who would do things like (and this is by no means comprehensive): sell state assets even when Treasury advises it didn’t make financial sense, use mass immigration to artificially inflate GDP, leading to widespread infrastructure problems and a very large, ignored, lack of real economic growth, claim that they, in their mighty wisdom, knew more about climate than the world’s climate scientists and climate change wasn’t happening, or if it was it wasn’t our fault, run a dirty ops political smear campaign out of the prime minister’s office, possibly involving public funds, lie continuously- about pretty much everything, misuse the OIA process to delay unwelcome releases, then release them to pro-National media and bloggers first to ensure positive spin in the first media coverage, get into power by campaigning on “the housing crisis” then spending 9 years claiming it didn’t exist, sacking democratically elected bodies like ECan and watching while nitrate levels became so high babies would end up blue, publicly denounce leading scientists from NIWA because they didn’t like what these scientists were finding, pull ponytails and then gift bottles of wine to make up for it, consistently run deficits and claim it’s all because of the GFC, even though that became increasingly in the past and our major trading partners weren’t deeply affected by it anyway.

    Now, after having Jacinda leading a Labour-NZF-Greens government for 2 years, the author argues that things aren’t good enough and we should give up supporting the government because all the country’s deep-seated problems aren’t fixed yet?!

    Who needs enemies….

  29. alwyn 29
    29 July 2019 at 3:41 pm

    Almost everyone here is being quite unkind to the Prime Minister. She is far to busy swanning around with The Duchess of Sussex and the rest of the Glitterati to have time to waste on New Zealand's problems.

    After all she has been personally asked to appear on the cove of the British Version of Vogue! Isn't that amazing? And isn't it vastly more important than worrying about a few hundred thousand children supposedly living in abject poverty?

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/114575939/jacinda-ardern-will-feature-on-cover-of-british-vogue-edited-by-meghan-markle

    Rumour has it, or at least a friend of mine who supports ACT says so, that she is considering whether to be the model for the cover of the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated. Filming of her sample photos for her resume will continue during her visits to tropical islands like Tokelau and the Cook Islands. As it was said during the filming of that Ausiie film 'The Castle', I told him he was dreaming.

    • Dennis Frank 29.1
      29 July 2019 at 4:13 pm

      Well she has to be seen to be helping the economy. Economist Cameron Bagrie was moaning about that on the AM Show this morning. You can always tell from the number of glossy fashion mags on display at supermarkets that they are a vital part of the economy. Wouldn't be there unless oodles of women bought them all the time, right?

      Since the economy is driven by supply & demand, she has to supply the demand. Business is tanking due to govt not holding their hand tightly enough. She's responding to their pathetic wails…

    • Gabby 29.2
      29 July 2019 at 6:09 pm

      Who's your fine flabby friend wally?

    • Drowsy M. Kram 29.3
      29 July 2019 at 8:55 pm

      "Seeth seeth seeth. If he keeps on seething like that he'll turn into a seeth!"

      Petty dribblings of a rwnj, seething impotently for our amusement. Thanks Alwyn for that ‘fine‘ example of rabid right wing 'critique' – the best Bridges can get.

  30. cleangreen 30
    30 July 2019 at 10:05 am

    Labour are making a sword for sticking in their back, I watched Winston interviwed on TV one this am 30/7/19 and I saw winston say I am not comming on this public funded channel to be insulted.

    So today the Colemar Brunton poll came out and Winston was quessed about it and it made interesting listenng.

    If that latest Colmar Brunton poll is repeated again when the next poll comes around Labour are in real trouble.

    This is clear now because the whole media ‘Newshusb, TV one and Radio NZ “National” are all controlled by the spin doctors of the National Party prbablly by Steven Joyce and John Key.

    We warned the new labour NZF Government to replace Clare Curren and put another Channel Seven public affairs channel up to sell the Government policy to the people, and Clare Curren sabotaged Jacinda and the Nnew Government by not providing Government with their oiown media platform so the result is now obvious.

    Who wins the ‘media’ wins the ‘next Government’, and so far this Government are loosing.

    Thanks for nothing Clare Curren.

  31. Hamish Stevenson 31
    1 August 2019 at 4:09 am

    Yep, I'm not giving Labour any more donations.