Stephen Franks, Jim Mora and Brian Edwards are all having a moan on National Radio about Franks not being elected in Wellington Central – and blaming the Standard!. It was the nasty lefties’ fault, nothing to do with his homophobia (what homophobia?)
Can any one comment on why there appears to be a complete purge of all historical mentions of Winston Peters? I’m trying to find the post where Farrar derides, what he calls an ‘unusual constitutional setup’ or something, about how the government shouldn’t be having ministers outside of cabinet.
Franks wasn’t elected to Wellington Central because the people didn’t want him elected. It’s called democracy and is something Franks is going to have to come to terms with eventually.
Thanks you guys!!! You’ve kept an old leftie sane over the last couple of weeks. And now I’ve had my first chuckle in 4 days. Steve Braunias in the SST was a giggle too.
Never thought I’d have to get out and campaign for MMP …. AGAIN! Keep up the Great Work.
I hope the Standard doesn’t become the KiwiBlog of the left for the next 3 years. It has been home to reasoned debate of fact, policy and issues. It’s cheap to take a shot, it will be hard work holding the government accountable.
The affable guy routine is already an embarrassment. Is he acting goofy or is he actually goofy. Tonight on the news Key and English arrive early for coalition talks with media at the ready. Key goofs his way through while English clears out of the room quickly and returns when he realises Key didnt follow him out. English is viewed peering thru the glass door while Key eventually figures it out and leaves.
It was a minor moment but suggests a serious lack cohesion and trust between the two men. English should have stayed and supported key through the Media comment or waited for key to initiate the next move, instead of ducking for cover.
Alexandra – I love it how Wodney kept Key waiting coming up the stairs , i’m sure it was a calculated entrance by him, almost dancing with the stars drama like, did anyone ever track down the women he asked to sit in her seat directly behind Winston at the privileges committee, was just curious.
I wonder if you guys will give John Key any sort of break and give him a few months to see how he pans out as Prime Minister.
Or will your ideaological distatse of anything to the right of the Labour / Greenies mean that any thing he says does, mutters, dresses walks, looks, meets, writes, answers, will be immediate cause for derission. If that is the case then I suggest you get a life.
John Key has inherited a very difficult economy, and to get through the tough times ahead, this new National Government is going to have to make some very hard calls. How bad a state is the economy really in – or is that something you do not want to know about? Or the day after the new Natonal Government is sworn in will you be blaming him for the state of the economy.
The negative campaign was a major contributing factor to Labour’s Loss. Maybe the straategy going forward is to try and be a bit more positive and constructive?
Monty: As far as I’m concerned, if he can see his way through the coming years without fucking up the economy, selling off the family silver, sending anyone to the poorhouse, getting us embroiled in any foreign wars, causing deep demographic or ethnic rifts, subsuming our national sovereignty to any third party groups (governments or corporates), going back on a bunch of his promises, or ruining the future of NZ democracy, he fully deserves to be PM.
I don’t mean this in a cynical way at all. He’s got a huge job ahead of him, and if he’s up to it, more power to him.
Monty Get a grip!! Labour’s negative campaign I am so tired of this mantra! The economy is in better shape than it was in 1984,1990 and 1999. thanks to Cullen’s stewardship.The much vaunted “third way”Same system of steady responsible management Blair used in the UK. Foreign business analysts describe NZ’s economy as “being very sound” and” well placed to weather the storm” I suggest you start reading the business pages.We are at the beginning of the biggest Global economic collapse since 1929 due to the irresponsible right wing free market policies of the USA ,the huge tax cuts given by Bush administration to his scumbag corporate mates,and Cheney’s gouging of the US Treasury to fund the illegal Iraq invasion. If you are willing to be educated and informed I have a list of book titles worth reading on the subject.None of what is happening is news to me nor is the the weak ruse of inheriting a poor economy . IT IS LIE! Pray for a wet summer for the Dairy farmers and NZ will be insulated from the worst of it. We are one drought away from serious social decline as we have an incompetent leader. Or hadn’t you worked that out yet? He was a currency speculator for Merril Lynch who are now bankrupt. He wouldn’t know which way the ground is pointing.
He can have exactly as much of a break as Helen Clark was given.
What’s that, Lassie? Headlines screaming “BUSINESS CONFIDENCE PLUMMETS” within days of Labour gaining power in 99? He may pleasantly surprise us, sure, but if he wasn’t ready to be PM he shouldn’t have kept assuring us he was.
Yeah, what a selfish b’stard. Here I was thinking if I studied and then worked real hard in life I could make something for my me and my family, but I see your point. thats just soooooo selfish. If I finally own a business then create more jobs for more people thats just soooo selfish – I’m just a lousy capitalist and only think about the harder and smarter you work, the more you advance…..but nope – you’ve got me!!! People like me – the job creators should leave the country – or stay and share our hard earned dollars with the parasites!
you make a strong case Lampie. I’m only glad the majority really understood your thinking last Saturday
Why exactly did business confidence dip early after the election in 1999? Maybe it had something to do with the anti-business policies of the Labour Government. They had left wingnut partners such as the now defunct Alliance – Anderton being the only relic of that error and it was a vengeful government – determined to implement policies that would have plumeted the country into recession had it not been for the wonderful ad solid economic foundations laid by Ruth, Jenny and of course the 1984 to 1987 Labour Government.
So concerned was Clark about her policies she held a conference with Business where business outlined the economic impacts of their policies. Labour at that point severly moderated their anti-business agenda.
What mess has Cullen left the economy in this time that will require firm action. How bad is the economy that Cullen has left in his wake. I supppose over the coming weeks we will find out how much Cullen has squandered the good years.
Assume Key lives up to his campaign rhetoric. Those ‘hard choices’ that he makes end up being to abandon right wing adventurism in favour of Keynesian orthodoxy.
I’m guessing the rabid right, will have all sorts of things to say. I doubt they’ll be original, but you mock the right you have, not the right you wish you had.
My guesses for what they call John the Moderate’s shiny new Keynesian National Party are:
National in Name Only (NINO), BlueCommunists, National Socialists (too easy), and Snifters.
The Thatcherite ‘wets’ goes without saying.
I look forward to seeing you defending him, and explaining that he did what he had to do. It would have been stupid to cut spending. Social spending levels needed to be raised, and so on and so forth.
“What mess has Cullen left the economy in this time that will require firm action. How bad is the economy that Cullen has left in his wake. I supppose over the coming weeks we will find out how much Cullen has squandered the good years.”
hahahahaaaahh you are a complete muppet aintcha Monty!! Now we’ve got the dipshit from dipton back as finance minister things are gonna be just peachy! A dunce who so quickly fucked up the portfolio the first time he took it that Bill Birch had to take it back in less than a year!
A cretin of your calibre is such a liability to the right that you’d be doin them a huge favour by s.t.f.u.
Also, Cullen was a fucking great keynsian minister, take off your inverse reality goggles, noddy.
[lprent: Tell me have you been taking lessons from the trolls of the right? Read the policy]
The new National Party-led government should draw on the expertise of Sir Roger Douglas, according to the New Zealand Business Roundtable.
Prime Minister-elect John Key is meeting ACT leader Rodney Hide and United Future leader and the party’s sole MP Peter Dunne today.
Business has welcomed the election of a centre-right government and market traders are relieved there is a clear result.
Mr Key has ruled out ACT MP Roger Douglas being a minister but Mr Hide has said the issue is not dead.
Bill English, who is expected to be finance minister, said there would be no cabinet position for Sir Roger but the Government would be open to advice from a wide range of people, Radio New Zealand reported.
Business Roundtable executive director Roger Kerr said he did not want to get into the debate about cabinet positions, but Sir Roger should be called on to help with the current economic crisis.
“There is a lot of nonsense about extreme policies,” he said.
A number of Sir Roger’s policies had been tinkered with but they were still largely in place. Sir Roger was an extremely experienced person whose expertise ought to be drawn on.
“It is high time that Roger’s role was recognised as almost saving the economy so to speak and he would have a lot to contribute in the current environment.”
The roundtable has congratulated Mr Key on his conclusive victory in the election.
The roundtable wants policies to improve productivity and address the country’s large current account deficit.
It is in favour of privatisation and freeing up the private sector to undertake commercial activity to grow the economy.
“We’d say it is fiscal policy and regulatory policies that should be the top priorities,” said Mr Kerr.
“The last thing we should be doing at the moment is following these ideas that have been doing the rounds of spending up yet further. That is a sort of mistaken Keynesian idea,” he said.
killinginthenameof back at 6:02pm – look at his archives for Oct 2005 – there are several posts where he quotes the Cabinet Manual. ACT’s press releases in the same month are also interesting.
Oh, Monty. Thanks for making my point for me – if Labour deserved no “break” because of their “anti-business policies”, then John Key, pay-no-attention-to-the-policies-behind-the-curtain certainly doesn’t.
KITNO: Re Ministers outside cabinet, today John Key has said they’re a good idea (despite criticising them as a strange constitutional anomaly for the past three years) because they allow heterodox politicians to criticise the government while still serving it.
It’s convenient and self-serving to change his tune now, but I agree with him. It’s MMP in practice.
I wonder if you guys will give John Key any sort of break and give him a few months to see how he pans out as Prime Minister.
I’m sure if we look back through your comments over the last few months, we wont find one sympathetic comment for Helen Clark. And comments from the KBR tended more to be about Helen’s face, teeth, billboard photo, or rich pricks rather than any substantive policy difference – maybe excepting tax prior to Nats tax plans being released.
The centre-left currently should aim to keep its achievements intact, and so any time NUFACT decides to invoke hard conservative or libertarian rhetoric or policies, you can be sure that the Standard will keep them disHONEST.
Actually, I think we really ought to save our serious attacks for his coalition partners in a few months when cracks appear in his team. Key is a crass buffoon with little political nous. He’ll dig his own grave.
Still, an odd shovel-full here and there won’t hurt us.
Lefties really are little children aren’t they? Too immature even to recognise their own failings they lash out at others – ooh it was an evil biased media, ooh it was an awful conservative conspiracy against poor widdle Winston.
No recognition of reality.
Hey lefties, this is why you lost. You’re fucked in the head. You don’t understand life, people, societies or economics. In addition, you come across as arrogant – you appear to really imagine you alone have the heart and wisdom to realise “justice’ in this fallen world.
You seem to think you deserve to win because you’re such super people with such pure humanitarian motives. That’s why you never criticised the abrogation of fair play represented by the EFA, because it was for the cause and everything is justified by the cause.
You stupid pricks haven’t even learned the elementary fact of life – that the secret to life is giving others meaningful value so that they can then transfer that value to others along the way. You teach someone how to fish and they will teach others. You give someone a fish and they will eat it and ask for another. By denying them this you degrade their humanity and prevent them from obtaining meaning in their lives by giving them the ability to help others and furthermore, you treat them like an idiot so they think they are.
Lefties do this all the fucking time the world over and for a short time people appreciate the fish. Problem is the only way lefties can get the fish is by taking it off others because they’re too fucking stupid to pull it in themselves (i.e. lefties never actually grow any economy they control because they focus almost entirely on redistributing the fish rather than helping people who are good at catching it to catch even more. Lefties appear to imagine that situation would be weally weally awful because that would mean those awful tewwible people would have far too many fish and we can’t have that can we. That wouldn’t be super at all.)
Moving away from fish to just one of many examples from the real world, where is the education system after nine years of you? Fucking nowhere you stupid fuckhead losers. I bet Te Tiriti is a big part of it but where are the business courses? Nowhere. Lots of courses however on how to get along with others and how to avoid thinking you’re a fucking loser. Yeh that’ll really help people when they start learning how to compete in the real world. Oh right, that’s another maxim from lefty philosophy isn’t it. There are no losers. Hey fuckheads, what’s the point of lying to school children about the way the world works? Isn’t that really really really cruel and indeed, evil? Of course it is.
When things turn to shit as they have, lefties have no answer, simply because the only thing they know how to do is to re-distribute. If no-one else is creating the wealth, they have no fucking ideas at all. That’s why you were dumped you execrats, the country doesn’t trust you because it knows we’re heading into some serious shit where there’s not going to be too many fucking fish and the last thing we wanted was to have a bunch of lefties at the helm giving us no fresh perspectives but still more of the same. Cullen has known about this for several years, bet on it. What has he done? Nothing. Case closed. You lost not because of the media, not because of Hulun’s laughably flawed campaign strategy (snigger), it was because you just don’t get life. You’re actually the worst people in the world, you arrogant naive fuckhead moron fucks.
Kind regards,
reid
[lprent: Despite appearances this is not a graffitti troll. Previous comments have been rational.]
Sheesh why the pity attacks on each others. The election is done and dusted. For the right they need to work out how to keep power. For the left they have to re-organise.
The left need to stop expecting a National led government to stuff up. It may happen but in New Zealand we tend to keep governments for more than one term. We don’t know if that will happen in this case. But I do suggest that rather than waiting for National to stuff up. Why not organise yourselves on policy and strategies to get back in power.
For National and Act and United Future. It would not take a big swing back to the centre-left for them to regain power in 2011.So make sure policies are on the right track to get the voters that voted in 2008 for them to vote Centre-right again.
“And comments from the KBR tended more to be about Helen’s face, teeth, billboard photo, or rich pricks rather than any substantive policy difference”
And comments from this site and the left tended to be more about how slippery and untrustworthy Key is, rather than anything actually grounded in reality – just like the much lauded neutron bomb, it failed to deliver.
There’s an old saying about people in glass houses with stones in their hand, PP, and you really ought to think about it before you get in the saddle of your high horse again.
Wow Ried, that’s like 3 years of worth of kiwiblog’s hatred, misinformation, delusions and lies all wrapped up into one post, what a pity that reality entirely contradicts what your claiming, then again given your perspective of reality we can hard blame you. Oh and limiting educational opportunities is a policy of the right, helps them keep themselves and their families in positions of privilege.
Hey lefties, this is why you lost. You’re fucked in the head. You don’t understand life, people, societies or economics. In addition, you come across as arrogant
What a gem! I think I’ll get it printed and framed.
Ried, next time you write a comment on here can you use something other than fish. Seriously while i was reading your comment i kept feeling hungry, which meant i couldn’t give your fine penmanship the attention it deserves. Maybe next time you could use a pie, or a cake – oh see know i’m getting hungry again. Oh, tell you what, i’m allergic to nuts, use nuts in your next comment.
Keith- while monty may see things differently than you, that’s no excuse for behaving so poorly. I’d say “grow up”, but I know from experience that doing so simply doesn’t work for everyone to gain the maturity they need đ
Why exactly did business confidence dip early after the election in 1999? Maybe it had something to do with the anti-business policies of the Labour Government. They had left wingnut partners such as the now defunct Alliance – Anderton being the only relic of that error and it was a vengeful government – determined to implement policies that would have plumeted the country into recession had it not been for the wonderful ad solid economic foundations laid by Ruth, Jenny and of course the 1984 to 1987 Labour Government.
Perhaps it did. Perhaps it didn’t. But if Key slips up at the beginning of his term, wouldn’t it be equally as fair to be judgemental of his policies and leadership in the same way? Let’s face it Monty- we have a fundamental disagreement on economics. The Left thinks we should spend more during a downturn, the Right thinks we should spend less. If we lose our economic momentum that is all that’s keeping us from REALLY feeling this global recession, then I hope you’ll be ready to admit that something went wrong.
Keith- while monty may see things differently than you, that’s no excuse for behaving so poorly. I’d say “grow up’, but I know from experience that doing so simply doesn’t work for everyone to gain the maturity they need
fuck off! đ
[lprent: Banned 2 weeks. Read the policy. I’m always happy to increase it if you want to argue.]
Mike “I know what I’m doing” Williams has just declared a $100,000 donation from fishing magnate Peter Vela yet disclosed this after the election. Labour also received $60,000 from the EPMU yet disclosed this before the election.
Both donations were apparently received on the same day.
Is he working for the National party?
What is really impressive is the fact that he is clinging on to his directorships. Employment with Owen Glenn beckons.
Labour lost because
1) as Steve Pierson noted they spent political capital on very expensive low return projects like the anti smacking bill. Either a bad assessment of the political cost or a bad assessment of the value of the law.
2) The attacks on key. They effectively advertised Key, without sticking much mud to the Teflon boy. (I might put this down to being out of touch with the views of swing voters).
3) Poor advertising – take a leaf from the green booklet – the Mary add was particularly bad and depressing. It amazes me that parties in NZ have such mediocre ads and billboards.
4) too much defense of Winston – no issue with not firing him – but why spend political capital actively defending the anti-asian immigration man? And getting Glen upset…
Whoar also raises an interesting option of selling Cullen as the man for a crisis. Risky – but much better than just negative campaigning against Key.
“you make a strong case Lampie. I’m only glad the majority really understood your thinking last Saturday”
What a great comeback, take your little bleeding heart act to kiwiblog. You shelfishly went on about taxes are too high. No compelling argument on why, just your individualist thinking.
Education is within reach because of the last administration. This country IS one of the best business environments to start and operate SMEs hence why we have a very high number of entrepreneurs compared with most countries. You will find that in your OECD stats!!!!
Don’t tell me about business as I will shove my commerce degree up your arse!!!
Good on you for taking up/doing studies though. Take advantage of the loans scheme if you are working full time and doing part time studies, this spreads out payments over the years for you with slight admin cost of $50 (might be cheaper with paying up front depending on fees)
Wow, that was a lot of anger.
I hope that after your rant you feel a whole lot better because it looked like you had a lot of pain and frustration pent up in that head of yours.
Also from your writing it seems you are very scared and you have every reason to be because we are heading for a terribly scary time. We are heading for a depression far more dangerous and deep than the 1929 recession. In fact you might find that we are heading for the collapse of the US empire leaving us stranded on an island very far from the rest of the world.
You might find that export will cease, money will dry up totally and tourism (Is John Key really going to be the minister of Tourism? Well be prepared for rich pricks to buy up great swaths of land) will be a thing of the past. No more stuff coming in and no more stuff going out. Very scary indeed.
So while your all relieved and happy about having dumped that heavy load let’s see who created the economic hardship that is coming our way.
Let’s start with the first possible culprit you point at: Labour and more specifically Cullen because he according to you knew about it three years ago.
Three years ago when I first arrived here my husband and I decided not to buy property and go off the grid because we saw the writing on the wall and since I have to assume that if a little person like me can see it coming a man like Cullen and even more so an intelligent women such as Helen Clark must surely have known. What could they have done about it?
Well, they could have been frugal, Oh oops they were. No big tax cuts for the rich like in the US. (Does it mean the rich got poorer and the poor richer under Labour well actually no, the rich grew richer and the poor poorer under Labour though so your fish thingy goes a tad awry there. This is a rapport on income distribution in NZ I found, it’s from 2004 but it hasn’t gone any better fro the workers who’s job’s went overseas so I think it only went down hill from there.)
They could save our tax dollars so when the time came they could make sure the workers and little people of this country were protected, Ooh oops they did.
They could have public free healthcare in place so the little people could afford to see a doctor too when they needed it, Ooh oops they did.
So you can’t really blame Labour.
So what did cause the coming collapse of our financial system, if it wasn’t Labour or this countries workers?
Well, it started with the subprime crisis. Somewhere along the line banks decided that is would be a good idea to give money to people who had no money to pay back their loans. That started around about 1987-1988.
And while they gave money they created out of thin air to poor people to buy houses they collected those mortgages and told dimwits like New Zealand investments firm owners that they could buy slices of the derivatives they created on top off that and told them that this was a good idea because “house prices would always go up” (remember that one?)
So banks created this crisis and who have we voted in? Ooh oops John Key.
One of those selfsame bankers who was involved in exactly the trade which is causing the financial collapse.
John Key who headed a department in Merrill Lynch in the late nineties which developed innovative and complex new products.
John Key who was shocked at Merrill Lynch’s exposure to the subprime crisis in October 2007 and didn’t get back to Cullen about it in order to save NZ in a bipartisan way.
John Key who never created any wealth other than parasitical money creation out of thin air.
John Key who thinks nothing of almost collapsing his own countries currency and to lie about it twenty years later.
You know what Reid? If Cullen was supposed to know that I’m sure John Key was in an even better position to know what was coming. Hell, he was at the very root of it. So what you reckon should he have done something to prevent it from happening? Or is he exempt from having to deal with the consequences of his own behaviour.
And for those of you thinking that I accuse John Key from being the sole perpetrator of the subprime crisis, think again. No, of course JK was not the sole perp but he was heading the department of debt from one of the most aggressive parasitical subprime and derivative banks ever.
Nice to know that the fox is going to run the hen house, eh Reid?
He was the managing director of debt, Global head of foreign exchange and European head of bonds and derivatives. That is an awesome level of seniority in a bank such as Merrill Lynch and with it comes a huge level of responsibility and control over it’s finances. He was not the boss of Merrill Lynch but in his position and as an upon invitation only advisor to the Federal Reserve of New York it is save to say he knew exactly what he was doing and how it would pan out in the end.
It was the same speculative bubble/burst mechanism that caused the first great depression after all.
You are absolutely right about the Glass Steagall act being repealed in 1998 under Clinton.
As far as I’m concerned the Dems and the GOP are just two head of the same dragon though. Nothing lefty about Clinton. Just another pawn for the banksters and the military industrial complex.
The joke’s all wrong, anyway – John’s already had access to the BMWs, as leader of the opposition – and used them 5% more in the last year than our outgoing PM herself.
Of course you can blame the scheisters who lobbied for neigh on 11 years spending between 100 to 200 million dollars to have the act repealed so they could go on a rampage. They are nasty, greedy and dangerous individuals who for their own greedy benefit destroyed our economies, waged two wars and made a killing in the process.
reid, not that such a comment deserves a response, but I’ll give a short one.
Your analogy used ‘fish’, showing that redistributive politics get people fed, and that’s it. I don’t imagine that you actually believe this to be the case, as it was an analogy. So what if you used something like… doctor visits. Redistribution doing something that increases productivity, reduces long-term costs and means those who ‘create the weath’ have a wealthier society to which they can sell goods and services, and a healthier population which will better be able to be gainfully employed.
I could give another dozen examples that illustrate the same if you need them – and I think you do.
I reckon you haven’t spent a lot of time thinging about any of this, your whole comment (17-year-old tantrum vitriol ignored) was exceedingly one-dimensional and simplistic.
Travellev: Again an interesting simplified run-down, that I can understand. (I cannot think that Reid would read it as he is not able to be objective. When I stripped away Reid’s invective there was nothing much left except Key-like slogans.)
It will be interesting if History will eventually enlighten the populance in a credible way ?
Travellev: By the way, I paste your assessments onto my own file because it would be a pity for it to be lost in the archives. In due course they could be valuable.
Reid, Reid, Reid… (Comment: November 11, 2008 at 12:30 am)
Wow! us Lefties are arrogant? You should really re-read your own rant.
Anyone would think your man, your saviour hadn’t won, anyone would think you didn’t get just exactly what you wanted.
Hmmm not very gracious of you.
Please come back and comment when your right-wing ‘fishing teachers’ have lost the next election. Because I’d looove to hear how angry you are when you don’t get what you want.
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Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, Â “Oranga Tamarikiâs governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealandâs foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealandâs foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech:Â AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This weekâs announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House â but itâs not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand:Â The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasuryâs forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when â during an interview on RNZâs Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? âIt's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their âfutureâ amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected â and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers â as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP â critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori âstrenuouslyâ objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to âtheirâ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – âAn SEP,â he said, âis something that we canât see, or donât see, or our brain doesnât let us see, because we think that itâs somebody elseâs problem. Thatâs what SEP means. Somebody Elseâs Problem. The brain just edits it out, itâs like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper â released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today ….  Buzz from the Beehive There we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Petersâ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard âboilerplateâ Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of âbenignâ becoming âmalignâ and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review â The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didnât make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalemâs statement â âImplementation of âCass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – ITâS A COMMONPLACEÂ of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: âWeâll govern for all New Zealanders.â On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
 Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-rightâs plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Green Party MP HĹŤhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of MÄori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of MÄori land. ...
A senior, highly respected Kingâs Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga MÄori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealandâs growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesnât know or care about the frontline cuts sheâs making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. Â ...
Todayâs Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and itâs only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. âThis is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. âThe government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicineâ, said Ayesha Verrall âThis is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoonâs interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour childrenâs spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te PÄti MÄori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veteransâ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veteransâ affairs spokesperson Greg OâConnor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxonâs management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonightâs court decision to overturn the summons of the Childrenâs Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about MÄori without evidence, says Te PÄti MÄori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. âThe judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last yearâs severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labourâs environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our countryâs most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Governmentâs Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a âget out of jail freeâ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te PÄti MÄori Justice Spokesperson, TÄkuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, MÄori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
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. ...
New Zealandâs good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National governmentâs lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealandersâ security and wellbeing. âCongratulations to this yearâs recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealandâs defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealandâs digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. Â âThe immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Governmentâs school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealandâs next Ambassador to the United States of America.  âOur relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,â Mr Peters says.  âNew Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. âNew Zealand was built on gold, itâs in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is âan Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhereâ and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. âThis is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASAâs Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. âOur Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECDâs latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its membersâ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli.  ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Councilâs Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today.  "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Councilâs Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today.  Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. âThese reforms are long overdue. New Zealandâs insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. âThree years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. âBeing able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canadaâs refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ânext moveâ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Childrenâs Commissioner. âThe Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says.    âThe coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. âOur Governmentâs thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening â  Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealandâs foreign policy, weâd like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âCreating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northlandâs marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. âThis is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the countryâs total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. âThe beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ĺ-RÄkau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mĹ Ĺ-RÄkau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ĺ-RÄkau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Governmentâs plan to supercharge New Zealandâs EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four â and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Governmentâs plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. âI have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People â Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Governmentâs plan to restore law and order. âSpeaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealandâs human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). âNew Zealandâs goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. âIâm putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure âone stop shopâ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. âThe NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
WhÄnau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. âGiving these whÄnau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Governmentâs goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave OâSullivan (OBE). âOur sympathies are with the OâSullivan family with the sad news of Dave OâSullivanâs recent passing,â Mr Peters says. âHis contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year â and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. Thatâs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the governmentâs legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. Theyâre busy restoring Australiaâs native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Austin Human/Unsplash How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people? âAsher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales Alright, letâs embark on a meteor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last yearâs election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a âgritty, wrenching and highly confrontingâ series. By ...
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This’ll be the first of many.
L
oh yai! Fun times ahead.
now now guys, lets not stoop to Farrars level.
Could someone PLEASE decrypt Key’s jargon ?
kitno: It’s just a bit of fun bro. Start pulling us up when we’re replaying videos of him tripping over in a shopping mall.
Let us hope, he never never never has to give a speech at the UN or talk to the Yanks
Lampie: Or APEC, where he wants to represent us on his maiden voyage as PM, next week? (Which is a good call, in my view).
L
Stephen Franks, Jim Mora and Brian Edwards are all having a moan on National Radio about Franks not being elected in Wellington Central – and blaming the Standard!. It was the nasty lefties’ fault, nothing to do with his homophobia (what homophobia?)
Ok Tane, fair enough.
Can any one comment on why there appears to be a complete purge of all historical mentions of Winston Peters? I’m trying to find the post where Farrar derides, what he calls an ‘unusual constitutional setup’ or something, about how the government shouldn’t be having ministers outside of cabinet.
Franks wasn’t elected to Wellington Central because the people didn’t want him elected. It’s called democracy and is something Franks is going to have to come to terms with eventually.
LOL
http://www.img-bin.com/pthumbs/large/801/John.jpg
How adorable, a kitten and a little ethnic kid.
Yeah the election is over can we be spared the cutesy campaign stuff now..
Prediction – Key gets rolled by English while overseas on trip to Apec đ
“How adorable, a kitten and a little ethnic kid’
Did the kid get the Lockwood pass test?
“Lampie: Or APEC, where he wants to represent us on his maiden voyage as PM, next week? (Which is a good call, in my view).”
Think he needs your skills Lew.
I am sure the new incoming National / Act Ministers appreciate the new BMWs that have hadly been run in yet.
Of course a BMW wil be a step up for John – I think he drives a commodore although he could of course dfrive any car he wants.
Thanks you guys!!! You’ve kept an old leftie sane over the last couple of weeks. And now I’ve had my first chuckle in 4 days. Steve Braunias in the SST was a giggle too.
Never thought I’d have to get out and campaign for MMP …. AGAIN! Keep up the Great Work.
“Prediction – Key gets rolled by English while overseas on trip to Apec”
Ah damn, had $50 on English just before Xmas
Lampie – I didn’t say which year though đ
Bobo – do you think it could be more embarrassing if photos of Helen holding a pussy were published?
LOL
haha bobo, yes I would be pushing hard for 2008 (patience, you must learn patience)
John, no
It is our turn to poke fun at YOU!!!!
John – hehe yeah I dunno who’s bright idea it was to take the photo op but politicians should never work with animals n children , 100% cheese đ
Lampie. Well I thought you guys had been for the last 9 years anyway. My taxes were so high they could only have been a sick joke
I hope the Standard doesn’t become the KiwiBlog of the left for the next 3 years. It has been home to reasoned debate of fact, policy and issues. It’s cheap to take a shot, it will be hard work holding the government accountable.
TimeWarp, as I said to my bro Kitno, it’s a bit of fun. Let the jokers have a laugh, there’s plenty of time for analysis and action.
The affable guy routine is already an embarrassment. Is he acting goofy or is he actually goofy. Tonight on the news Key and English arrive early for coalition talks with media at the ready. Key goofs his way through while English clears out of the room quickly and returns when he realises Key didnt follow him out. English is viewed peering thru the glass door while Key eventually figures it out and leaves.
It was a minor moment but suggests a serious lack cohesion and trust between the two men. English should have stayed and supported key through the Media comment or waited for key to initiate the next move, instead of ducking for cover.
My taxes were so high
Another myth in the making.
Define right level then, define too low, then go to the IRD and ask them to go through ALL the models that they have
typical right wing individualist thinking
Alexandra – I love it how Wodney kept Key waiting coming up the stairs , i’m sure it was a calculated entrance by him, almost dancing with the stars drama like, did anyone ever track down the women he asked to sit in her seat directly behind Winston at the privileges committee, was just curious.
Does John Drive a Commodore?
I wonder if you guys will give John Key any sort of break and give him a few months to see how he pans out as Prime Minister.
Or will your ideaological distatse of anything to the right of the Labour / Greenies mean that any thing he says does, mutters, dresses walks, looks, meets, writes, answers, will be immediate cause for derission. If that is the case then I suggest you get a life.
John Key has inherited a very difficult economy, and to get through the tough times ahead, this new National Government is going to have to make some very hard calls. How bad a state is the economy really in – or is that something you do not want to know about? Or the day after the new Natonal Government is sworn in will you be blaming him for the state of the economy.
The negative campaign was a major contributing factor to Labour’s Loss. Maybe the straategy going forward is to try and be a bit more positive and constructive?
Wheeling out excuses already Monty? đ
I primarily want to see whether he keeps his promises. Nothing unfair about that.
Monty: As far as I’m concerned, if he can see his way through the coming years without fucking up the economy, selling off the family silver, sending anyone to the poorhouse, getting us embroiled in any foreign wars, causing deep demographic or ethnic rifts, subsuming our national sovereignty to any third party groups (governments or corporates), going back on a bunch of his promises, or ruining the future of NZ democracy, he fully deserves to be PM.
I don’t mean this in a cynical way at all. He’s got a huge job ahead of him, and if he’s up to it, more power to him.
L
Monty Get a grip!! Labour’s negative campaign I am so tired of this mantra! The economy is in better shape than it was in 1984,1990 and 1999. thanks to Cullen’s stewardship.The much vaunted “third way”Same system of steady responsible management Blair used in the UK. Foreign business analysts describe NZ’s economy as “being very sound” and” well placed to weather the storm” I suggest you start reading the business pages.We are at the beginning of the biggest Global economic collapse since 1929 due to the irresponsible right wing free market policies of the USA ,the huge tax cuts given by Bush administration to his scumbag corporate mates,and Cheney’s gouging of the US Treasury to fund the illegal Iraq invasion. If you are willing to be educated and informed I have a list of book titles worth reading on the subject.None of what is happening is news to me nor is the the weak ruse of inheriting a poor economy . IT IS LIE! Pray for a wet summer for the Dairy farmers and NZ will be insulated from the worst of it. We are one drought away from serious social decline as we have an incompetent leader. Or hadn’t you worked that out yet? He was a currency speculator for Merril Lynch who are now bankrupt. He wouldn’t know which way the ground is pointing.
He can have exactly as much of a break as Helen Clark was given.
What’s that, Lassie? Headlines screaming “BUSINESS CONFIDENCE PLUMMETS” within days of Labour gaining power in 99? He may pleasantly surprise us, sure, but if he wasn’t ready to be PM he shouldn’t have kept assuring us he was.
“typical right wing individualist thinking”
Yeah, what a selfish b’stard. Here I was thinking if I studied and then worked real hard in life I could make something for my me and my family, but I see your point. thats just soooooo selfish. If I finally own a business then create more jobs for more people thats just soooo selfish – I’m just a lousy capitalist and only think about the harder and smarter you work, the more you advance…..but nope – you’ve got me!!! People like me – the job creators should leave the country – or stay and share our hard earned dollars with the parasites!
you make a strong case Lampie. I’m only glad the majority really understood your thinking last Saturday
Why exactly did business confidence dip early after the election in 1999? Maybe it had something to do with the anti-business policies of the Labour Government. They had left wingnut partners such as the now defunct Alliance – Anderton being the only relic of that error and it was a vengeful government – determined to implement policies that would have plumeted the country into recession had it not been for the wonderful ad solid economic foundations laid by Ruth, Jenny and of course the 1984 to 1987 Labour Government.
So concerned was Clark about her policies she held a conference with Business where business outlined the economic impacts of their policies. Labour at that point severly moderated their anti-business agenda.
What mess has Cullen left the economy in this time that will require firm action. How bad is the economy that Cullen has left in his wake. I supppose over the coming weeks we will find out how much Cullen has squandered the good years.
“Maybe the straategy going forward is to try and be a bit more positive and constructive?”
Are you kidding Monty – Lefties are born bitter and naturally hate everything above them and patronise everything below them.
[lprent: Please read my new post. The section at the bottom refers to you.]
Monty,
Assume Key lives up to his campaign rhetoric. Those ‘hard choices’ that he makes end up being to abandon right wing adventurism in favour of Keynesian orthodoxy.
I’m guessing the rabid right, will have all sorts of things to say. I doubt they’ll be original, but you mock the right you have, not the right you wish you had.
My guesses for what they call John the Moderate’s shiny new Keynesian National Party are:
National in Name Only (NINO), BlueCommunists, National Socialists (too easy), and Snifters.
The Thatcherite ‘wets’ goes without saying.
I look forward to seeing you defending him, and explaining that he did what he had to do. It would have been stupid to cut spending. Social spending levels needed to be raised, and so on and so forth.
Imprent – you spelt anti-socialists wrong
Lighten up a little too.
“What mess has Cullen left the economy in this time that will require firm action. How bad is the economy that Cullen has left in his wake. I supppose over the coming weeks we will find out how much Cullen has squandered the good years.”
hahahahaaaahh you are a complete muppet aintcha Monty!! Now we’ve got the dipshit from dipton back as finance minister things are gonna be just peachy! A dunce who so quickly fucked up the portfolio the first time he took it that Bill Birch had to take it back in less than a year!
A cretin of your calibre is such a liability to the right that you’d be doin them a huge favour by s.t.f.u.
Also, Cullen was a fucking great keynsian minister, take off your inverse reality goggles, noddy.
[lprent: Tell me have you been taking lessons from the trolls of the right? Read the policy]
This group of Nazis haven’t wasted any time!
Use Roger Douglas’ expertise say Business Roundtable group
http://www.3news.co.nz/News/BusinessNews/Use-Roger-Douglas-expertise-say-Business-Roundtable-group/tabid/421/articleID/79176/cat/52/Default.aspx
The new National Party-led government should draw on the expertise of Sir Roger Douglas, according to the New Zealand Business Roundtable.
Prime Minister-elect John Key is meeting ACT leader Rodney Hide and United Future leader and the party’s sole MP Peter Dunne today.
Business has welcomed the election of a centre-right government and market traders are relieved there is a clear result.
Mr Key has ruled out ACT MP Roger Douglas being a minister but Mr Hide has said the issue is not dead.
Bill English, who is expected to be finance minister, said there would be no cabinet position for Sir Roger but the Government would be open to advice from a wide range of people, Radio New Zealand reported.
Business Roundtable executive director Roger Kerr said he did not want to get into the debate about cabinet positions, but Sir Roger should be called on to help with the current economic crisis.
“There is a lot of nonsense about extreme policies,” he said.
A number of Sir Roger’s policies had been tinkered with but they were still largely in place. Sir Roger was an extremely experienced person whose expertise ought to be drawn on.
“It is high time that Roger’s role was recognised as almost saving the economy so to speak and he would have a lot to contribute in the current environment.”
The roundtable has congratulated Mr Key on his conclusive victory in the election.
The roundtable wants policies to improve productivity and address the country’s large current account deficit.
It is in favour of privatisation and freeing up the private sector to undertake commercial activity to grow the economy.
“We’d say it is fiscal policy and regulatory policies that should be the top priorities,” said Mr Kerr.
“The last thing we should be doing at the moment is following these ideas that have been doing the rounds of spending up yet further. That is a sort of mistaken Keynesian idea,” he said.
killinginthenameof back at 6:02pm – look at his archives for Oct 2005 – there are several posts where he quotes the Cabinet Manual. ACT’s press releases in the same month are also interesting.
Oh, Monty. Thanks for making my point for me – if Labour deserved no “break” because of their “anti-business policies”, then John Key, pay-no-attention-to-the-policies-behind-the-curtain certainly doesn’t.
KITNO: Re Ministers outside cabinet, today John Key has said they’re a good idea (despite criticising them as a strange constitutional anomaly for the past three years) because they allow heterodox politicians to criticise the government while still serving it.
It’s convenient and self-serving to change his tune now, but I agree with him. It’s MMP in practice.
L
Key’s first action as PM will be to skip the country leaving Bill English in charge. If that’s not foreshadowing I don’t know what is.
You reckon that was Key’s idea or English’s?
Maybe he thinks being minister of tourism means lots of free trips overseas.
“Lew
It’s convenient and self-serving to change his tune now, but I agree with him. It’s MMP in practice.
L”
Same here, I don’t have a problem the arrangement, just seems like a classic “it’s ok when we do it”
“Monty
November 10, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Does John Drive a Commodore?”
2 by the looks, unimpressed, considering what he can afford, you’d think he would have slightly better taste than that, perhaps something European?
I still can’t make out what the damned text on the picture says.
The problem with being born in the 70s I suppose…
I wonder if you guys will give John Key any sort of break and give him a few months to see how he pans out as Prime Minister.
I’m sure if we look back through your comments over the last few months, we wont find one sympathetic comment for Helen Clark. And comments from the KBR tended more to be about Helen’s face, teeth, billboard photo, or rich pricks rather than any substantive policy difference – maybe excepting tax prior to Nats tax plans being released.
The centre-left currently should aim to keep its achievements intact, and so any time NUFACT decides to invoke hard conservative or libertarian rhetoric or policies, you can be sure that the Standard will keep them disHONEST.
Actually, I think we really ought to save our serious attacks for his coalition partners in a few months when cracks appear in his team. Key is a crass buffoon with little political nous. He’ll dig his own grave.
Still, an odd shovel-full here and there won’t hurt us.
Lefties really are little children aren’t they? Too immature even to recognise their own failings they lash out at others – ooh it was an evil biased media, ooh it was an awful conservative conspiracy against poor widdle Winston.
No recognition of reality.
Hey lefties, this is why you lost. You’re fucked in the head. You don’t understand life, people, societies or economics. In addition, you come across as arrogant – you appear to really imagine you alone have the heart and wisdom to realise “justice’ in this fallen world.
You seem to think you deserve to win because you’re such super people with such pure humanitarian motives. That’s why you never criticised the abrogation of fair play represented by the EFA, because it was for the cause and everything is justified by the cause.
You stupid pricks haven’t even learned the elementary fact of life – that the secret to life is giving others meaningful value so that they can then transfer that value to others along the way. You teach someone how to fish and they will teach others. You give someone a fish and they will eat it and ask for another. By denying them this you degrade their humanity and prevent them from obtaining meaning in their lives by giving them the ability to help others and furthermore, you treat them like an idiot so they think they are.
Lefties do this all the fucking time the world over and for a short time people appreciate the fish. Problem is the only way lefties can get the fish is by taking it off others because they’re too fucking stupid to pull it in themselves (i.e. lefties never actually grow any economy they control because they focus almost entirely on redistributing the fish rather than helping people who are good at catching it to catch even more. Lefties appear to imagine that situation would be weally weally awful because that would mean those awful tewwible people would have far too many fish and we can’t have that can we. That wouldn’t be super at all.)
Moving away from fish to just one of many examples from the real world, where is the education system after nine years of you? Fucking nowhere you stupid fuckhead losers. I bet Te Tiriti is a big part of it but where are the business courses? Nowhere. Lots of courses however on how to get along with others and how to avoid thinking you’re a fucking loser. Yeh that’ll really help people when they start learning how to compete in the real world. Oh right, that’s another maxim from lefty philosophy isn’t it. There are no losers. Hey fuckheads, what’s the point of lying to school children about the way the world works? Isn’t that really really really cruel and indeed, evil? Of course it is.
When things turn to shit as they have, lefties have no answer, simply because the only thing they know how to do is to re-distribute. If no-one else is creating the wealth, they have no fucking ideas at all. That’s why you were dumped you execrats, the country doesn’t trust you because it knows we’re heading into some serious shit where there’s not going to be too many fucking fish and the last thing we wanted was to have a bunch of lefties at the helm giving us no fresh perspectives but still more of the same. Cullen has known about this for several years, bet on it. What has he done? Nothing. Case closed. You lost not because of the media, not because of Hulun’s laughably flawed campaign strategy (snigger), it was because you just don’t get life. You’re actually the worst people in the world, you arrogant naive fuckhead moron fucks.
Kind regards,
reid
[lprent: Despite appearances this is not a graffitti troll. Previous comments have been rational.]
Sheesh why the pity attacks on each others. The election is done and dusted. For the right they need to work out how to keep power. For the left they have to re-organise.
The left need to stop expecting a National led government to stuff up. It may happen but in New Zealand we tend to keep governments for more than one term. We don’t know if that will happen in this case. But I do suggest that rather than waiting for National to stuff up. Why not organise yourselves on policy and strategies to get back in power.
For National and Act and United Future. It would not take a big swing back to the centre-left for them to regain power in 2011.So make sure policies are on the right track to get the voters that voted in 2008 for them to vote Centre-right again.
Policy Parrot:
“And comments from the KBR tended more to be about Helen’s face, teeth, billboard photo, or rich pricks rather than any substantive policy difference”
And comments from this site and the left tended to be more about how slippery and untrustworthy Key is, rather than anything actually grounded in reality – just like the much lauded neutron bomb, it failed to deliver.
There’s an old saying about people in glass houses with stones in their hand, PP, and you really ought to think about it before you get in the saddle of your high horse again.
Wow Ried, that’s like 3 years of worth of kiwiblog’s hatred, misinformation, delusions and lies all wrapped up into one post, what a pity that reality entirely contradicts what your claiming, then again given your perspective of reality we can hard blame you. Oh and limiting educational opportunities is a policy of the right, helps them keep themselves and their families in positions of privilege.
Hey lefties, this is why you lost. You’re fucked in the head. You don’t understand life, people, societies or economics. In addition, you come across as arrogant
What a gem! I think I’ll get it printed and framed.
Ried, next time you write a comment on here can you use something other than fish. Seriously while i was reading your comment i kept feeling hungry, which meant i couldn’t give your fine penmanship the attention it deserves. Maybe next time you could use a pie, or a cake – oh see know i’m getting hungry again. Oh, tell you what, i’m allergic to nuts, use nuts in your next comment.
Keith- while monty may see things differently than you, that’s no excuse for behaving so poorly. I’d say “grow up”, but I know from experience that doing so simply doesn’t work for everyone to gain the maturity they need đ
Perhaps it did. Perhaps it didn’t. But if Key slips up at the beginning of his term, wouldn’t it be equally as fair to be judgemental of his policies and leadership in the same way? Let’s face it Monty- we have a fundamental disagreement on economics. The Left thinks we should spend more during a downturn, the Right thinks we should spend less. If we lose our economic momentum that is all that’s keeping us from REALLY feeling this global recession, then I hope you’ll be ready to admit that something went wrong.
Keith- while monty may see things differently than you, that’s no excuse for behaving so poorly. I’d say “grow up’, but I know from experience that doing so simply doesn’t work for everyone to gain the maturity they need
fuck off! đ
[lprent: Banned 2 weeks. Read the policy. I’m always happy to increase it if you want to argue.]
Mike “I know what I’m doing” Williams has just declared a $100,000 donation from fishing magnate Peter Vela yet disclosed this after the election. Labour also received $60,000 from the EPMU yet disclosed this before the election.
Both donations were apparently received on the same day.
Is he working for the National party?
What is really impressive is the fact that he is clinging on to his directorships. Employment with Owen Glenn beckons.
Labour lost because
1) as Steve Pierson noted they spent political capital on very expensive low return projects like the anti smacking bill. Either a bad assessment of the political cost or a bad assessment of the value of the law.
2) The attacks on key. They effectively advertised Key, without sticking much mud to the Teflon boy. (I might put this down to being out of touch with the views of swing voters).
3) Poor advertising – take a leaf from the green booklet – the Mary add was particularly bad and depressing. It amazes me that parties in NZ have such mediocre ads and billboards.
4) too much defense of Winston – no issue with not firing him – but why spend political capital actively defending the anti-asian immigration man? And getting Glen upset…
Whoar also raises an interesting option of selling Cullen as the man for a crisis. Risky – but much better than just negative campaigning against Key.
Vinsin,
I think it may have said something about left leaning governments not being able to deal with great depressions….
“you make a strong case Lampie. I’m only glad the majority really understood your thinking last Saturday”
What a great comeback, take your little bleeding heart act to kiwiblog. You shelfishly went on about taxes are too high. No compelling argument on why, just your individualist thinking.
Education is within reach because of the last administration. This country IS one of the best business environments to start and operate SMEs hence why we have a very high number of entrepreneurs compared with most countries. You will find that in your OECD stats!!!!
Don’t tell me about business as I will shove my commerce degree up your arse!!!
Good on you for taking up/doing studies though. Take advantage of the loans scheme if you are working full time and doing part time studies, this spreads out payments over the years for you with slight admin cost of $50 (might be cheaper with paying up front depending on fees)
Dear Reid,
Wow, that was a lot of anger.
I hope that after your rant you feel a whole lot better because it looked like you had a lot of pain and frustration pent up in that head of yours.
Also from your writing it seems you are very scared and you have every reason to be because we are heading for a terribly scary time. We are heading for a depression far more dangerous and deep than the 1929 recession. In fact you might find that we are heading for the collapse of the US empire leaving us stranded on an island very far from the rest of the world.
You might find that export will cease, money will dry up totally and tourism (Is John Key really going to be the minister of Tourism? Well be prepared for rich pricks to buy up great swaths of land) will be a thing of the past. No more stuff coming in and no more stuff going out. Very scary indeed.
So while your all relieved and happy about having dumped that heavy load let’s see who created the economic hardship that is coming our way.
Let’s start with the first possible culprit you point at: Labour and more specifically Cullen because he according to you knew about it three years ago.
Three years ago when I first arrived here my husband and I decided not to buy property and go off the grid because we saw the writing on the wall and since I have to assume that if a little person like me can see it coming a man like Cullen and even more so an intelligent women such as Helen Clark must surely have known. What could they have done about it?
Well, they could have been frugal, Oh oops they were. No big tax cuts for the rich like in the US. (Does it mean the rich got poorer and the poor richer under Labour well actually no, the rich grew richer and the poor poorer under Labour though so your fish thingy goes a tad awry there. This is a rapport on income distribution in NZ I found, it’s from 2004 but it hasn’t gone any better fro the workers who’s job’s went overseas so I think it only went down hill from there.)
They could save our tax dollars so when the time came they could make sure the workers and little people of this country were protected, Ooh oops they did.
They could have public free healthcare in place so the little people could afford to see a doctor too when they needed it, Ooh oops they did.
So you can’t really blame Labour.
So what did cause the coming collapse of our financial system, if it wasn’t Labour or this countries workers?
Well, it started with the subprime crisis. Somewhere along the line banks decided that is would be a good idea to give money to people who had no money to pay back their loans. That started around about 1987-1988.
And while they gave money they created out of thin air to poor people to buy houses they collected those mortgages and told dimwits like New Zealand investments firm owners that they could buy slices of the derivatives they created on top off that and told them that this was a good idea because “house prices would always go up” (remember that one?)
So banks created this crisis and who have we voted in? Ooh oops John Key.
One of those selfsame bankers who was involved in exactly the trade which is causing the financial collapse.
John Key who headed a department in Merrill Lynch in the late nineties which developed innovative and complex new products.
John Key who was shocked at Merrill Lynch’s exposure to the subprime crisis in October 2007 and didn’t get back to Cullen about it in order to save NZ in a bipartisan way.
John Key who never created any wealth other than parasitical money creation out of thin air.
John Key who thinks nothing of almost collapsing his own countries currency and to lie about it twenty years later.
You know what Reid? If Cullen was supposed to know that I’m sure John Key was in an even better position to know what was coming. Hell, he was at the very root of it. So what you reckon should he have done something to prevent it from happening? Or is he exempt from having to deal with the consequences of his own behaviour.
And for those of you thinking that I accuse John Key from being the sole perpetrator of the subprime crisis, think again. No, of course JK was not the sole perp but he was heading the department of debt from one of the most aggressive parasitical subprime and derivative banks ever.
Nice to know that the fox is going to run the hen house, eh Reid?
travellerev, was Mr Key ever self-employed during his career in the money industry? or just worked for others?
travellerev,
“somewhere along the line” = when the “leftie” Clinton Administration told them to.
So it WAS a leftie’s fault!
You can’t blame a market for a faliure caused by regulation.
Lampie,
He was the managing director of debt, Global head of foreign exchange and European head of bonds and derivatives. That is an awesome level of seniority in a bank such as Merrill Lynch and with it comes a huge level of responsibility and control over it’s finances. He was not the boss of Merrill Lynch but in his position and as an upon invitation only advisor to the Federal Reserve of New York it is save to say he knew exactly what he was doing and how it would pan out in the end.
It was the same speculative bubble/burst mechanism that caused the first great depression after all.
theodoresteel,
You are absolutely right about the Glass Steagall act being repealed in 1998 under Clinton.
As far as I’m concerned the Dems and the GOP are just two head of the same dragon though. Nothing lefty about Clinton. Just another pawn for the banksters and the military industrial complex.
The joke’s all wrong, anyway – John’s already had access to the BMWs, as leader of the opposition – and used them 5% more in the last year than our outgoing PM herself.
theodoresteel,
Of course you can blame the scheisters who lobbied for neigh on 11 years spending between 100 to 200 million dollars to have the act repealed so they could go on a rampage. They are nasty, greedy and dangerous individuals who for their own greedy benefit destroyed our economies, waged two wars and made a killing in the process.
And we just put one of them in power.
reid, not that such a comment deserves a response, but I’ll give a short one.
Your analogy used ‘fish’, showing that redistributive politics get people fed, and that’s it. I don’t imagine that you actually believe this to be the case, as it was an analogy. So what if you used something like… doctor visits. Redistribution doing something that increases productivity, reduces long-term costs and means those who ‘create the weath’ have a wealthier society to which they can sell goods and services, and a healthier population which will better be able to be gainfully employed.
I could give another dozen examples that illustrate the same if you need them – and I think you do.
I reckon you haven’t spent a lot of time thinging about any of this, your whole comment (17-year-old tantrum vitriol ignored) was exceedingly one-dimensional and simplistic.
With much sympathy,
Matthew Pilott
Travellev: Again an interesting simplified run-down, that I can understand. (I cannot think that Reid would read it as he is not able to be objective. When I stripped away Reid’s invective there was nothing much left except Key-like slogans.)
It will be interesting if History will eventually enlighten the populance in a credible way ?
Travellev: By the way, I paste your assessments onto my own file because it would be a pity for it to be lost in the archives. In due course they could be valuable.
Reid, Reid, Reid… (Comment: November 11, 2008 at 12:30 am)
Wow! us Lefties are arrogant? You should really re-read your own rant.
Anyone would think your man, your saviour hadn’t won, anyone would think you didn’t get just exactly what you wanted.
Hmmm not very gracious of you.
Please come back and comment when your right-wing ‘fishing teachers’ have lost the next election. Because I’d looove to hear how angry you are when you don’t get what you want.
Hugs