Labour’s pro Kiwi Manufacturing Policy
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12:40 pm, April 17th, 2014 - 76 comments
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The following is a speech that David Cunliffe has delivered today concerning Labour’s Manufacturing Policy.
“Today I am announcing Labour’s Manufacturing Economic Upgrade.
It’s part of Labour’s strategy to shift an economy that’s merely idling into a higher gear.
To an economy that can support skilled, well paid jobs across the whole country.
We need New Zealanders to be able to know that their kids will be able to grow up near them, to find work, to afford homes, and to raise their children.
Put simply, we need an economy that works for all New Zealanders. Right now that’s not what we’ve got.
In the run up to the Budget it’s tempting to create a fetish about fiscal surpluses. The risk is you lose touch with the real economy.
That’s the economy where Kiwis have jobs and incomes, run businesses, borrow money, and bring up their families. It’s the economy we live in.
That real economy needs both competent economic management and visionary economic leadership.
Managing an economy is about maintaining sound practices in fiscal, monetary and regulatory policy.
Managing is important in its own right – we know this – we delivered nine out of nine fiscal surpluses and reduced sovereign debt to zero last time we were in government.
We didn’t listen to our opponents who wanted high-end tax cuts instead of reducing debt.
We also created the fiscal buffer that enabled New Zealand to make it through the GFC.
So we know how to manage but, unlike the current government, we also know how to lead.
Leading an economy is about clear thinking and decisive action.
Some people like to trot out the analogy of New Zealand as a tiny boat adrift in the turbulent seas.
They say we have no alternative but to passively ride the cycle of global commodity prices.
They say that keeping the ship on an even keel is the best we can hope for.
It’s the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ approach to economic strategy. It creates a ‘Kontiki economy’ that drifts with the current, without a rudder or an engine.
We reject this entirely.
Sure, a commodity price ‘wave’ is an opportunity to be exploited. But as the 20% drop in dairy prices in the last two months shows, relying on these waves is no substitute for building a powerful engine.
Labour in government will return to active leadership of the economy – to governing with a long-term vision, a clear strategy and a shared sense of direction.
It doesn’t assume all wisdom comes from government. To the contrary, we believe in unlocking the energy of businesses and communities.
Building a shared sense of purpose and direction will both reduce risk and accelerate progress.
We want to get all New Zealanders focused, not on riding waves, but on building a better, stronger, smarter engine.
Manufacturing is and must be a core part of New Zealand’s economic engine. But it is facing serious problems.
For now there is some optimism among construction-based manufacturers, driven by the Christchurch rebuild. And among some manufacturers being supported by high dairy and meat products. But the overall view is much less reassuring.
Eventually the commodity prices will drop, and the rebuild cheques will dry up.
What happens then?
With the current settings, we’re in trouble, because New Zealand manufacturing is in longterm decline.
The facts speak for themselves:
- Since 2008, manufactured exports have fallen by 19% in real terms,
- Since 2008, there has been a net loss of 1,700 manufacturing firms in New Zealand,
- And since 2008, manufacturing employment has fallen by more than 42,000.
And how many firms have either closed or suffered severe retrenchment in recent years?
- Huhtamaki packaging in Auckland lost 135 jobs,
- Sleepyhead beds dropped 132 jobs in Auckland and Canterbury,
- Criterion in Auckland – 180 jobs,
- SCA Hygiene in Waikato – 140 jobs,
- Hillside in Dunedin – 90 jobs,
- Sealed Air in Bay of Plenty – 112,
- Tait, Christchurch – 74,
- Fitzroy yachts, Taranaki – 120,
- Huttons, Hamilton – 125,
- And another 125 from Cerebos in East Tamaki.
- And just last week we found out about 85 more jobs gone at Christchurch Yarns.
These are just a few of the closures. Nearly every day there are manufacturers who are having to make the tough decision to cut a line, shorten a shift, let another one or two skilled workers go. Because there’s just no support.
That’s hundreds of Kiwis who have had their lives turned upside down – many of them will have found no other job, some will have lost their homes, their marriage, left New Zealand and taken their skills with them.
And beyond the personal hardship that these numbers signify is the loss of muscle in an economy which sorely needs it and the loss of brain-power that could have created new and better products. It’s lose, lose, lose.
But manufacturing in New Zealand has huge potential.
We have a sound pedigree with companies like Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Glidepath and Hamilton Jet.
We have a tech-savvy workforce skilled in engineering and design.
Even so, there are those who ask whether manufacturing really matters, when our primary industries are going great guns.
Truth is, the manufacturing mindset creates value along the whole of the value chain.
They drive the uptake of new technologies and invest heavily in R&D.
Manufacturing companies are also services companies in design, sales, marketing and distribution. The most successful manufacturers get an increasing share of their profits from this bundling of products and services.
And manufacturing drives the creation of jobs.
One job in manufacturing creates between 2 and 5 jobs in the wider economy.
Good jobs – skilled, well-paid and stable jobs.
But through neglect we’re losing the ability to create the kind of elaborately-transformed products that are the backbone of advanced economies and to bundle them with high-value services.
We need to change that. Which is why today, I am announcing our Manufacturing Economic Upgrade.
It’s got three parts.
- Investment
- Innovation
- Industry
Changing the Investment Environment
First, Labour will adopt macroeconomic settings that are supportive of manufacturing and exporting.
There is no doubt that the NZ dollar is over-valued. Just this month, the IMF put the figure of between five and 15 percent.
We will make changes to monetary policy to broaden the range of tools available to the Reserve Bank to achieve a more competitive and less volatile exchange rate. My finance spokersperson David Parker will be announcing more detail of this very soon.
We will use a capital gains tax to shift dollars from property speculation to productive investment.
And I am pleased to announce that Labour will introduce accelerated depreciation to reward investment in plant and equipment.
This will start with advanced manufacturing, which delivers the greatest spill-over benefits to the rest of the economy.
It will cost $30 million in the first year. We envisage extending it to all manufacturers over time.
We will not ‘pick winners’ at the individual firm level.
Our aim is to influence investment policy overall. To change the culture of investment in New Zealand so that firms, entrepreneurs, researchers and investors feel confident in developing world-beating ideas here.
A number of other policies will dovetail into these measures.
- We’ll grow domestic savings so more capital is available for investment in the manufacturing sector. Our expanded universal KiwiSaver and reinvestment in the NZ Super Fund will build on proven success.
- We’ll encourage foreign direct investment in manufacturing, with clear rules that benefit New Zealand by favouring transfer of technologies, by developing new channels to market, and by employing Kiwis.
- We’ll simplify capital markets and, while respecting labour, environmental and quality assurance standards, we’ll reduce unnecessary compliance costs so New Zealand companies, in particular SMEs and entrepreneurs, can raise capital more easily.
- We will lower structural costs to businesses, starting with electricity prices.
- These policies will drive investment in manufacturing in New Zealand.
Resparking Innovation
Investment needs to drive innovation. We’ll respark New Zealand’s innovation system.
Innovation and manufacturing go together. Manufacturing is the biggest investor in research and innovation in modern economies.
In manufacturing, each new order is an opportunity to innovate, to customise, to add services to products and control more of the value chain.
That drives productivity improvement, innovations in work organisation and the application of technology, ahead of any other sector.
What’s more, small innovative manufacturers tend to create an eco-system around them of specialised suppliers, designers, and distributors. It’s how they achieve scale without needing to become vertically integrated.
As a result, the R&D and productivity advantages in manufacturing spill over into the wider economy.
Just yesterday the New Zealand Productivity Commission concluded that we are falling behind the rest of the world and that R&D is a big part of that problem.
The Productivity Commission found that our GDP per capita lags 27% behind the OECD average. We get a staggering 40% less GDP per hour worked than the average developed nation. We’re working harder and getting less for it.
The Productivity Commission laid a large portion of the blame for that on our underinvestment in innovation. It found that if we’d invested properly in R&D, the income gap would be a third smaller than it is today.
For too long, we have chosen volume over value – the easy route of producing more raw commodities. Because we haven’t invested enough in innovation we’re missing out on reaping the rewards that come from having high value goods to export to the world.
That adds up to fewer jobs, lower wages, less money for the government to invest in public services and infrastructure.
So one of the first things Labour will do in government is to reintroduce a Research and Development tax credit at the rate of 12.5%. This is vital.
Alongside that we will better integrate manufacturing R&D requirements with research-based institutions.
And we will support manufacturers to meet skill shortages, with improving apprenticeship training, and support for better management of skilled workforces.
Industry Development
The third part of the policy is unashamedly pro-Kiwi industry and Kiwi communities.
It’s possible to be so obsessed with level playing fields that you forget to cheer for your own team.
Labour will unashamedly back New Zealand manufacturing.
That’s why we have committed to a national procurement policy that favours Kiwi-made, so New Zealand manufacturers enjoy the same advantages as their international competitors.
Today I am announcing we will adopt a target of keeping another $200 million a year at home, rather than sending that work overseas.
This measure alone will create around 2,000 jobs.
Australia, Canada and the United States have all enacted similar policies – it just makes sense.
It will, of course, be done in a way that is WTO-compliant.
We will also give manufacturers a stronger voice in trade negotiations, and make it a priority for negotiating teams to keep the sector informed.
New Zealand manufacturers have legitimate concerns that New Zealand’s trade agenda is too dominated by opening markets for commodities.
That exposes us to the risk that FTAs allow into NZ overseas-made products that are below NZ standards.
It’s also too easy for the interests of regional economies to be sidelined in the event of major closures. These can end up becoming a gladiatorial contest between receivers, unions and creditors.
Experience shows that, with quick action on the part of local government, businesses, and unions, the failure of one business need not mean a complete loss of skills and employment to the region.
Such events can be turned into useful catalysts for finding new opportunities and unleashing initiative and drive.
But that requires a rapid response in terms of establish taskforces and given them the necessary mandate. Labour in government will ensure that regions have the resources to do that quickly and effectively.
We recognise that different regions have strengths that map to specific industry sectors. In Rotorua it is forestry and tourism. In Nelson it’s horticulture, viticulture and fisheries. In Auckland, manufacturing is crucial.
Labour will back our regions to excel in what they do best.
Conclusion
Nearly all companies have to make the crucial decision whether to be low-cost operators or differentiators.
The choice between low margin high volume production typically requiring low skilled workers with similar low wages, or focusing on developing high value products with strong margins that require skilled, well paid, workers.
It will come as no surprise to you that Labour believes New Zealand will be best served if our economy, on the whole, is tilted to high-value strategies.
To get there it’s not enough to simply manage the status quo – to mind the shop.
We need leadership. We need a government that employs good governance, and that doesn’t settle for drifting on the currents of commodity price cycles.
We need a deliberate strategy to build a state-of-the-art, high-spec engine for New Zealand’s economy.
The kind of manufacturing New Zealand needs to bring value, skilled jobs, and decent wages into our economy is struggling because we are not seeing this kind of political leadership.
That’s a lost opportunity now and for our future.
But we will turn it around through shared leadership, clear thinking and decisive action. We have to if we are to improve New Zealand’s economy and the lives of our people.
It’s my vision and it’s Labour’s vision.
Making it real is a task Labour is ready to embrace.
Update: A short video from David
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- A TikTok Prime Minister.
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...3 days ago - Texas LessonsThis is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election.
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3 days ago - Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links at 6:06 am
The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours as of 6:06 am on Wednesday, April 17 are:Must read: Secrecy shrouds which projects might be fast-tracked RNZ Farah HancockScoop: Revealed: Luxon has seven staffers working on social media content - partly paid for by taxpayer Newshub ...3 days ago - Fighting poverty on the holiday highwayTurning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...3 days ago
- Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:26 pm
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...4 days ago - At a glance – Is the science settled?On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...4 days ago
- Apposite Quotations.
4 days ago - What’s a life worth now?
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...4 days ago - Howling at the MoonKarl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...4 days ago
- Newshub is Dead.
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...4 days ago - Seymour is chuffed about cutting early-learning red tape – but we hear, too, that Jones has loose...Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...4 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...4 days ago
- Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...4 days ago
- PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for electionPRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...4 days ago
- Climate Change: Criminal ecocideWe are in the middle of a climate crisis. Last year was (again) the hottest year on record. NOAA has just announced another global coral bleaching event. Floods are threatening UK food security. So naturally, Shane Jones wants to make it easier to mine coal: Resources Minister Shane Jones ...4 days ago
- Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...4 days ago
- Long Tunnel or Long Con?Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. 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 ...4 days ago
- Smoke And Mirrors.
You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...4 days ago
- Fast-track submissions period must be extended
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...14 hours ago - Release: Progress on climate will be undone by Govt
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...15 hours ago - Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect themNews that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...3 days ago
- Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunchesMore essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...3 days ago
- Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals billThe Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...4 days ago
- Government throws coal on the climate crisis fireThe Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...4 days ago
- Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project insteadCancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...5 days ago
- Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priorityA laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...5 days ago
- Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful lawThe Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt should stop making people’s lives harder and build more homesThe National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...1 week ago
- Release: Melissa Lee missing in action on mediaThe action Melissa Lee promised to protect democracy and the media sector is missing, Media and Communications spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...1 week ago
- Landlord Government leaves little hope for rentersThe Government’s announcement on tenancy rules prove that it does not care about renters. ...1 week ago
- Opportunity to build a more sustainable economyGreen Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...1 week ago
- Significant step forward in fixing cruel and unjust pastA significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...1 week ago
- Missed opportunity but NZ will surely one day recognise the right to a sustainable environmentNew Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...1 week ago
- Release: Don’t cut our lunches – clear message sent to GovernmentTens of thousands of people are demanding the Government commits to fully funding free and healthy school lunches. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt makes U-turn on Suicide Prevention OfficeLabour welcomes the Government’s U-turn on the closure of the Suicide Prevention Office, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...2 weeks ago
- CCC issues warning over further climate delayToday’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon targets lame and lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon targets are lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Commitment to disability communities missing from Govt prioritiesMinister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...2 weeks ago
- Methane target review is dangerous duplicationThe Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Government must commit to school building project for disabled studentsThe Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National must take mental health seriouslyMental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...2 weeks ago
- Referendums for Māori wards a racist step backwardsThe Government's imposed referendum on Māori wards is a racist step backwards for Māori representation, and disregards Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Job losses at Health not worth it for tax cutsNew Zealand will feel the harm of the National Government’s reckless cuts to jobs at the health ministry for generations, says Ayesha Verrall. ...2 weeks ago
- Press release: No Māori initiatives in Government’s nothing planMāori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...2 weeks ago
- Thirty six point PR spinThe Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...3 weeks ago
- Thirty six point PR spinThe Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...3 weeks ago
- Thirty six point PR spinThe Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Social housing off Government’s to-do listThe Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Less money in most people’s pockets this AprilChanges 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. ...3 weeks ago
- $41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
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 ...15 hours ago - Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder listThe 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 ...17 hours ago
- Judicial appointments announcedAttorney-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 ...17 hours ago
- Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in SingaporeEducation 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 ...18 hours ago
- Value of stopbank project proven during cycloneA 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 ...18 hours ago
- Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visitForeign 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 ...19 hours ago
- Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac DayScience, 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 ...21 hours ago
- Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the PhilippinesPrime 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 ...1 day ago
- Government commits $20m to Westport flood protectionThe 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 ...2 days ago
- Taupō takes pole positionThe 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 ...2 days ago
- Cost of living support for low-income homeownersLocal 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 ...2 days ago
- Government backing mussel spat projectThe 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 - ...2 days ago
- Government focused on getting people into workBenefit 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 ...2 days ago
- Clean energy key driver to reducing emissionsThe 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 ...2 days ago
- Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forwardThe 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 ...2 days ago
- Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic PartnershipPrime 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 ...3 days ago
- Government consults on extending coastal permits for portsRMA 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 ...3 days ago
- Inflation coming down, but more work to doToday’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 ...3 days ago
- School attendance restored as a priority in health adviceRefreshed 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 ...3 days ago
- Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sectorOceans 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 ...3 days ago
- Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International CongressAssociate 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 ...4 days ago
- Removing red tape to help early learners thriveThe 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, ...4 days ago
- RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tapeChanges 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 ...4 days ago
- McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationshipTrade, 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 ...4 days ago
- Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister LeePrime 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 ...4 days ago
- PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ tiesPrime 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 ...5 days ago
- Antarctica New Zealand Board appointmentsForeign 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 ...5 days ago
- Finance Minister travels to Washington DCFinance 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 ...5 days ago
- Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlordsThe 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 ...5 days ago
- Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being consideredState 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 ...5 days ago
- New Zealand condemns Iranian strikesPrime 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 ...5 days ago
- Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plansHundreds 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 ...1 week ago
- Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand ChairHealth 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 ...1 week ago
- Roads of National Significance planning underwayThe 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 ...1 week ago
- Navigating an unstable global environmentNew 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 ...1 week ago
- NZ welcomes Australian Governor-GeneralPrime 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 ...1 week ago
- Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for WinterAssociate 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 ...1 week ago
- NZ and the US: an ever closer partnershipNew 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 ...1 week ago
- Joint US and NZ declarationApril 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 ...1 week ago
- NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperationForeign 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 ...1 week ago
- Anne Salmond: My open submission on this radical, flawed fast-track bill
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, ...49 mins ago - Short story: Finally, by Caoimhe McKeoghThe 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 ...49 mins ago
- Thomas James is a master of inventionWhen 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, ...49 mins ago
- All 28 road tunnels in New Zealand ranked from worst to best
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 ...2 hours ago - How to make the most of your market haulLucinda 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 ...2 hours ago
- From a library basement comes a fashion historyZoë 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 ...2 hours ago
- Rousing farewell for Kiwi doctors flying out to Gaza aid flotilla
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 ...9 hours ago - Communities Against The Fast-track Heartened By ‘Overwhelming’ Public Response; Disgusted By ‘...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...10 hours ago - Renters Rights To Drastically Reduce Under Landlord GovernmentThe Government’s announced changes around tenancy rules set renters’ rights back by nearly a decade. ...10 hours ago
- NZPI Submission on Fast Track Approvals BillOur response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...10 hours ago
- Fast Track Invite List Includes Most Destructive Industries In New ZealandThe 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. ...10 hours ago
- Eugene Doyle: Helen Clark on why AUKUS isn’t in New Zealand’s national interestCOMMENTARY: 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 ...11 hours ago
- Government releases list of organisations shoulder-tapped for fast-track consents
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...12 hours ago - The Week in Politics: Job cuts surge and Waitangi Tribunal troubleAnalysis - It's been a grim week for public servants, while trouble is also brewing between the government and Waitangi Tribunal. ...13 hours ago
- It never rains but it pours: intense rain and flash floods have increased inland in eastern Australi...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 ...13 hours ago
- Watch: Christopher Luxon speaks to media in ManilaThe PM has defended how he's talked up NZ trade on his trip to Southeast Asia, after criticism from his own delegation. ...13 hours ago
- ‘It could be the death of the museum’: why research cuts at a South Australian institution have ...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 ...14 hours ago
- Government signs off $41m clean energy deal with Asian Development BankThe government has committed $41 million to clean energy transition at the Asian Development Bank's Energy Transition Mechanism. ...14 hours ago
- Are 2 mid-career AFL retirements a sign Australian athletes are taking brain health more seriously?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, ...16 hours ago
- Luxon: Waitangi Tribunal comments from coalition parties 'ill considered'Comments from ACT and NZ First ministers about the Tribunal were "ill considered" and "that message will be underscored" to them, the PM says. ...16 hours ago
- Mental Health Foundation Facing Staff Cuts From Govt Funding SqueezeThe 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. ...16 hours ago
- I wholeheartedly recommend The President: a brilliant revival of a play of decay, terror and revulsi...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 ...17 hours ago
- How the coolest little capital is shrinkingIt's not the first time a government has targeted public servants for job cuts, but this time Wellington is really feeling it. ...17 hours ago
- Many prisoners go years without touching a smartphone. It means they struggle to navigate life on th...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 ...17 hours ago
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Sorry – but unless there is active protection from cheaper overseas imports it won’t work.
All good sounding stuff – but built on the false hope that free trade = fair trade.
We need to cast off the shackles of being good WTO “citizens” and get back to doing what is best for NZ, not multinationals.
So you are suggesting we withdraw from the WTO? We could join a very illustrious group of non-members.
Like Australia…
And the USA…
and.. oh any nation you can point a stick at has regulatory controls to protect industries they consider essential – only NOT NZ – extraordinary isn’t it!
“Sorry – but unless there is active protection from cheaper overseas imports it won’t work.”
A question Mr Macro:
When you buy goods (shoes, books, software, hiking boots, tablets, car parts, boating gear) do you
(a) walk into the local high street store and buy whatever is on offer at inflated prices, or
(b) trawl the interweb, importing your gear directly from the USA and Singapore, at half the cost, and in small batches to avoid GST?
If it is (a) you are a fool.
If it is (b) you are a hypocrite.
So which are you?
lol
According to neolibs, whatever the market will bear is a fair price, right up until someone decides to support local producers. Then all of a sudden the same market price is “inflated”.
c) Buy from the Warehouse at prices between a and b, but towards b.
its interesting to see what your shopping list looks like slylands…
most kiwis are justing trying to pay rent, power, water, food, transport, clothes for their kids and the occassional lotto ticket in the hope they can get a brighter future, rather than living in hope that the currency trader and his career bureaucrat will ever deliver a better life.
Most? Really?
I buy what goods I need at the local farmers market. Yes there is a place for markets – but not the ones you hold dear.
If I need shoes – I try to by NZ made – but they are becoming very hard to get.
How many tablets do I need? The ones supplied by the pharmacies are brought by that wonderful organisation Pharmac so I usually go with those.. Oh you mean those thingies people use to stick plugs in their ears? Never had one and don’t see a need for.
We have a wonderful library here – you should try visiting one someday. And 3 secondhand book shops keep me well supplied. But its getting more difficult to get a book published and PRINTED in NZ.
My three cars and vintage motorbike (1957 BMW R50) I repair and have a lathe. It is impossible to buy NZ made parts for these now – although there used to be a tyre industry in NZ, and car parts as well. But all that went when we began exporting our jobs overseas in exchange for a few cheap imports. Very shortsighted and that is what I’m on about, but you would rather have a few cheap imports rather than spreading the wealth and fostering a more vibrant economy. Figures!
Boating? I’m fortunate enough to have a few mates with boats. Two made their own from local materials and the fishing is only 20 mins away and very good thank you. But I’m keeping that a secret.
Key-National and their half baked snake oil salesman and soon to be leader Stephen Joyce should never have scrapped Labour’s R & D tax credit.
For this reason it is little wonder manufacturing exports have dropped 7% in the last year.
Why is this being announced today? At the end of a news-filled week which is now turning into the Easter Weekend.
Something this important should have had a better timing slot.
So people from the cities, going home to their families in the provinces have something to talk about?
They’re more likely to be talking about how the people holding them up weren’t trucks in the fast lane.
Disraeli Gladston
“Something this important should have had a better timing slot”
I couldn’t agree more, that is one example of why these clowns are at 28% in the polls and dropping.
Someone as smart as you should vote for National
Usual communications stuff up. Typical of Labour. Or perhaps best to hide such impractical policies under the umbrella of Easter.
David Cunliffe and the Labour Party strategy for stimulating manufacturing and especially technology industries got a good plug on National Radio mid-day news
imo….David Cunliffe’s Labour is beginning to pull away by a nose….we know we have good horse here but now it is beginning to look like a real racer
Keep up the good work David Cunliffe and Labour!….keep hammering this one…but in simplified form so the general public can see it is the best entrepreneurial Business Party for all NZers!
( not the rorter of the environment and seller off of State Public Owned Assets that John Key and NACT is…which is for big business mates that extort the public purse)
Yep, spot on Chooky. This is the sort of announcement that provides us Labourites with real solid back up to argue against vacuous greedy useless National supporters…this is great stuff.
Good policy. Hard for National to work around too.
I assume that is a joke. The stated policy to devalue the NZD by as yet unclear macro policies is the equivalent of a large pay cut for workers. What would happen if the Government announced a legislated 10% cut in all wages? But because the Left’s constituents can’t join the dots, they sleep walk into the horror of such a policy. Meanwhile, they worry about who owns an electricity company (a non issue).
Exports including tourism revenue up by 10%.
Greater competitiveness of local producers stimulating employment.
Less profits for overseas owners of NZ assets.
Yeah, pretty obvious why you don’t like the idea, auSSpylands.
SSlands – if it really were a 10% cut in wages, you’d say it was a promising beginning. What’s your real reason? Do you work in importing?
The only joke is the shite you come out with, Sorryman.
A promising speech, and a focus on a series of substantial issues, though a speech of course is not delivery.
It certainly beats currency speculation as an economic strategy.
Srylands is not a casual visitor to this blog.
His interest is not that of an ordinary person.
the quote on your website explains why NACT ans slylands want the ele tricity companies out of public ownership
Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” Justice Brandeis
“want the ele tricity companies out of public ownership”
What garbage are you talking about? Being publicly listed means the companies have to be more transparent than they were under sole government ownership.
Wrong. With them being in public ownership we also get to tell them what to do. Don’t get that option when they’re privately owned.
SSpylands is one of the few people who genuinely give me the impression that they have spent 20 or 30 years following a vocation that makes NZ worse for most of its citizens.
hooton always gives me that impression, as does anyone who makes a living out of deliberately hiding and manipulating the truth
well, yeah, but I also get the impression that hooten would lie for anyone if they paid him enough.
Similarly folk like max bradford have wandered in and out of being outright destructive for $$. Sspylands, on the other hand, seems to be a true believer.
No it is actually quite the reverse. I am interested in policies that make New Zealand more prosperous. It is the poor who I am interested in. I find you offensive. Both of you.
An example – Removing absurdly high border protection on childrens clothing and footwear helped low income families in the 80s and 90s – immensely. I could run through dozens of other policy settings that benefit average workers – all opposed by the Greens in their current or antecedent forms.
Despite your misinformed rhetoric you promote policies that detract from personal freedom and hurt the poor. You simply lack the intelligence to work it through.
Your policies help the poor – we know this because there’s so much more of them since we started following them.
As for the poor, St John and Saint Paula greet them at the door – ‘Let me help you out’ they say. ‘Which way did you come in?’
lolololol
🙂 So very, very, true..
that should be on a poster
That’s your engorged amygdalla pushing you around, S Rylands.
Everybody please spare a little sympathy for poor, fearful S Rylands.
He’s wasted his good years intoning the mantras in The Holy Book of Market and now the penny is starting to drop and all the credible advice is abandoning his Temple of Greed, he’s rapidly becoming unemployable except for the odd satirical comedy, where he can be wheeled out to be laughed at.
Oh happy day.
i havent laughed so hard all day. your faux offence is hilarious. at least i never accused you of being a drunk.
could you post the statistics for the numbers of shoeless and footwearless children prior to the 1980’s
you are so straight jacketted by your failed ideology which amounts to generating more and more of everything, especially money to solve everything… of course you draw the line at giving money to the poor despite the evidence supporting this because you equate poor with stupid and they just cant be trusted with money without being told how they can use it by people like you.
you believe a new road from kapiti coast to wellington will help the poor? Its just a coincidence its the route you use to your work?
you support policies which always promise to alleviate poverty but never really achieve it. if you are some kind of beacon for the poor they are in deeper shit than i thought.
you relentlessly mock the greens and those us who will vote for them and your wife is a green supporter.
your pseudo intellectuosity is surpassed only by your supreme smugness.
Please stop wasting your time and energies engaging with such nonsense.
That’s why they are here… to clutter up the site and divert, distract.
They aren’t interested in genuine debate, rather they are here simply to burn up people’s time needlessly.
Please ignore them. You have better things to do with your time.
in this case, I think it’s relevant to the post.
SSpylands’ policies have given us a constant rate of around 170,000 unemployed and doubled the rate of child poverty since 1982, and he still insists his policies have helped and labour’s proposals will hurt people (by giving them jobs).
We need an economy that helps people, not corporate balances. A corporation exists to loot, not create jobs. Neolibs argue that corporate bank balances create jobs, but they do not. SSpylands is one of those zealots in treasury who cannot conceive of anything other than “privatise and deregulate”. Politicians come and go, but he is a constant source of corrosion in the system, like a WINZ case worker who hates the unemployed.
We don’t just need economic policies, we need to introduce diversity into administrative systems.
Macroeconomic planning and analyses units in MSd and internal affairs, for example. Competing plans, rather than relying on treasury.
I really don’t understand why people whose stated aim is to destroy govt are allowed to work in govt.
In no other organisation would it be tolerated.
Time for a purge I reckon.
+1
+1
Treasury is a political party.
+1 as well. There is the making of a very useful political meme in there.
The right has spent 30 years or more attacking and diminishing the idea of collective governance at every opportunity.
Even if that were true, who needs to “work it through”? We have 30 years of real-world evidence that states the closer we get to neoliberalism, the worse outcomes are for most NZers.
Clothes are cheaper, but fewer workers have jobs. And fewer workers without jobs have state support. And child poverty is at 27%.
Up from 14% in 1982. Same measure. Even if you quibble over extent, any bias is consistent. The poorer classes are growing, the middle classes are shrinking, and the upper classes say “let them eat cake” (a probable out-of-context slander of MA, but illustrative nonetheless).
You absolute clown. The “border protection” (or tariffs) that you speak so derisively of may have resulted in higher prices for the locally made product as opposed to the typically inferior imported variant but your ideological blinkers have meant you’ve missed the point. The factories that manufactured said product employed local workers who in turn had money to purchase aforementioned products, not to mention the tax take to the government from the onshore manufacturing. Likewise for example, the TCO of locally manufactured rail rolling stock vs imported. I’m sure (or rather I’m hopeful) that you can use google to your advantage to figure that one out.
For someone that purports to be highly intelligent, how do you not understand the most simple concepts? This isn’t left/right politics, it’s simple economics and business. Do try to keep up.
Or $$pylands follows these rules.
Ferengi rules of acquisition
Once you have their money … never give it back. Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to. Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity.
http://www.sjtrek.com/trek/rules/
Foreign exchange currency gambler?
reminds me of a joke in one of the recent simpsons, a rich guy wants to help the poor in the community, ‘i have made a lot of money, & i want to give something back to the community, not the money of course…’ ha!
Ha, it’s a clever joke and it exposes an important truth.
Whenever someone talks of “giving back” to their community, they should really be harangued about why they took it from their community in the first place.
three I’s is better than 5-eyes.
The Story of Solutions
solutionaries!
its so simple its scarey to think people genuinely dont get it. this is why many are scared of the greens. they seriously challenge people like slylands mantra of “want want want. gimmie gimmie gimmie. more more more.”
its through the looking glass time.
rational is irrational
irrational is rational.
thanks for this draco tee bee.
Don’t need savings. What we need is 0% interest loans from the government. The administration of those loans paid for through taxes.
Making NZers serfs in our own country to the new foreign owners.
We don’t need foreign money as we have all the resources we need here in NZ. All we need is the money to be used to help direct how those resources are used and the government can, and needs to, create that money with the necessary direct and indirect taxes.
See above.
So, you’re going to renationalise the power companies? Because that’s the only way that that is going to work.
No they won’t. What they’ll do is make the parasitic financial services even more of a vampire upon the rest of NZ.
Actually, research shows that R&D tax credits don’t work. The government doing the R&D both directly and indirectly does. Siri was developed by a small firm with government funding. ARPAnet was created by government funding to government agencies.
Really, go read The Entrepreneurial State and then start picking winners – just like the US government has done for decades and then, just like the US, we can actually be successful. The only difference needed is that when government funded research contributes to a successful private enterprise that private enterprise gets to pay royalties for the privilege.
yup. labour are not a game changer BUT a green party with 15% or more may force some change quicker than labour were prepared for, hence their seeming preference for NZF?
if people want genuine, generational change, labour is not the place to put your tick. national lite is still national.
To reiterate. If you want the Greens in government, that David Cunliffe has already said on more than one occasion, that the Greens will most definitely be part of a Labour led government, then you need Labour to cross that line and win the election Tracey.
No, you need to vote Green. A Green led government would be far better than a Labour led one.
But you’re not going to get a Green led government – yet. I can see it happening one day but not in the foreseeable future. When it does happen it will probably be an amalgamation of progressive left-of-centre parties who come together as a single entity.
In the meantime compromise is the order of the day with a Labour led government which has a strong Green presence. First though, the voters have to endorse such a scenario and that is where it could unstuck if both parties don’t manage their respective campaigns with due respect for each other. I think they will.
But if Labour and Green can only get over the line together then it doesn’t matter – numbers wise – which you give your vote to.
If you want more Green influence, vote Green. It’s really that simple.
Well, if all the people who want a left government stopped voting Labour and voted Green then we’d get a Green led government. It’s not just Labour that are holding on to the ancient history of the party to make decisions rather than looking at the policies.
Agree with Ann. so if you do want to see the Greens in government THIS YEAR you will still need to get labour elected or national will get a third term. And another 3 flaming years of that reptilian economic saboteur john key who is bleeding this country dry and flogging it off to his foreign offshore interests, is a repellent and unbearable thought indeed, and it would mean by the time of the next election, there will be absolutely nothing left to fight for.
That means increasing the vote for both, not just Labour.
Whatever it takes to kick john key out !!!
NZ Manufacturing is at its highest level for years and is in fact, seeing – right now – today – the 19th consecutive monthly increase (on previous months.)
Our NZ exports of manufactured goods alone, to (just) China have increased 45% in the past 12 months…. In 2006 it increased ZERO % – in 2007, 4%………. Today it’s 45%
I work in an office FG Sake, and I know this stuff. How come you don’t?
What are you people smoking?
[citation needed]
That’s a quite well crafted comment. Cunliffe says manufactured exports are down 19% from 2008, you respond by comparing apples and oranges and pretending that recent gains are somehow relevant to the claim.
Still, it does raise the question: are you so stupid you think your remarks are germane to the topic, or are you simply yet another mendacious wretch?
Rhetorical question OAB. How thick is Rossco ‘I work in an office fg sake, and I know this stuff.”
Office workers are unlikely to know anything except their own little piece of work. Understanding the whole operation is not their task, understanding the whole sector is likely to also be out of their ambit, and understanding NZ’s economy and its strengths and weaknesses is far out, nearly to the moon.
Political and economic background requires too much time away from home jobs, listening/watching the talking mouths on media, sport, drinking, playing games on the computer, looking after the car/bike etc. There is not enough time in the day for an office worker without curiosity, objectivity and a love of facts to be well informed.
“Our NZ exports of manufactured goods alone, to (just) China have increased 45% in the past 12 months…. In 2006 it increased ZERO % – in 2007, 4%………. Today it’s 45%”
and the trade agreement with china was introduced when? and by whom? and how long do you think that it takes to build up a trade relationship? and lets have a look at the imports side shall we? and where does the trade imbalance lie? and what jobs have been exported to china in the process – like wine bottles, boat building, clothing, etc?
An expanding manufacturing sector, according to the BNZ index, is not the same as growth which creates jobs. As the NZ Manufacturers and Exporters Association notes, employment in the manufacturing sector has been in decline for years.
http://www.realeconomy.co.nz/377-manufacturing_employment_falls.aspx
And it’s not just about manufacturing jobs – every job in the manufacturing sector supports 2-3 more in the wider economy.
http://www.johnwalley.co.nz/243-is_manufacturing_important.aspx
It’s convenient for the right to look at the manufacturing index and say ‘Look, growth, everything’s fine so what are you complaining about?’ but the reality is a bit more complex than that.
Milk, wine, fish and logs are not “manufactured products ” FFS, they are processed agricultural products. They are only “manufactured” if you want to cover up the appalling gutting of our true manufacturing sector.
You do realise that the trend you are “worrying” about is a good thing. It happens. It is a sign of progress. It has happened in Australia, now the richest country in the world.
You are like the luddites. Get over it.
“Death of manufacturing nothing to whine about”
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/death-of-manufacturing-nothing-to-whine-about-20140415-zquwd.html
Actually the article you link to conclusively demonstrates the point Adrian is making.
It’s an old blogging trick I learnt years ago; if you can be bothered read the links rwnj’s give, invariably they say something quite different to what they claim they do.
Right now I am in Victoria working for a high tech equipment and services company. While we retain a very niche advantage, it’s a precarious one. We have won a good deal of business over the years on excellent value and price – but just last month a new Chinese competitor won a big job off us at around 1/3rd our price. Way less than the cost of our raw materials. Obviously no amount of slashing wages or ‘working smarter’, ‘improved productivity’, or innovation can make up for that.
Talking to various technical reps who call on me (and these guys are a good barometer because they connected to a very wide range of tech manufacturing industry) they can never remember times as tough as they are now. Industry investment is way down, and there is a real fear of a hollowing out of the economy – exactly as they have seen it happen over in New Zealand.
Overall there is a real sense of unease in Australia right now. Under this Abbott govt. the good times are well and truly over and the ‘lucky country’ isn’t so lucky anymore. It’s reflected in his abysmal polling.
QFT.
If labour used a different prefix than kiwi, it might resonate more. I know the focus groups tell them people who vote labour identify as kiwis, it’s the people labour want to swing that get turned off. Cultural kitsch is off putting. It’s one of the reasons Nz first consistently do well. It’s an identifiable name, though somewhat tainted now
🙄