National: the party the insurance companies bought

72 comments on “National: the party the insurance companies bought ”

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1. Paul 1

   4 November 2013 at 7:00 am

   Also owned by the liquor industry, hence the failure to deal with the binge drinking problems in NZ.
   Welcome to the corporatocracy of NZ.
   • Tom Gould 1.1

     4 November 2013 at 8:49 am

     By resorting to his Tory party roots, silly Tim Grafton has now hopelessly compromised the entire general insurance industry in the political and public policy spheres. I’m sure there are Chief Executives of the major insurers grinding their teeth over his amateur knee-jerk response, and they will be carefully planning ways to mend fences. No industry, especially not one so sensitive to public opinion and so integral to the commercial nexus, can afford to make an enemy of the incoming government. I suspect Grafton’s days are numbered.
     • David H 1.1.1

       4 November 2013 at 3:25 pm

       But no doubt the golden parachute will soften the blow. And a nice shiny new job somewhere else.
   • TheContrarian 1.2

     4 November 2013 at 8:54 am

     Our binge drinking culture transcends politics. No party has been able to deal with it.
     • Tat Loo (CV) 1.2.1

       4 November 2013 at 8:58 am

       No party has been seriously bothered to deal with it.

       That one.
       • TheContrarian 1.2.1.1

         4 November 2013 at 9:06 am

         Good point
       • Ad 1.2.1.2

         4 November 2013 at 9:06 am

         Although Conference delegates got reasonably close to drinking the Christchurch whiskey bar dry on Saturday night – just to stop the suffering in the rest of Christchurch of that nasty stuff.
         • Tat Loo (CV) 1.2.1.2.1

           4 November 2013 at 10:23 am

           Ah yes, a very good evening that one.
     • David H 1.2.2

       4 November 2013 at 3:27 pm

       More like no party has wanted to do something about it.
2. Sanctuary 2

   4 November 2013 at 7:07 am

   You buy a prostitute. Enthusiastic amateurs come free.
3. risildowgtn 3

   4 November 2013 at 7:12 am

   Also owned by The Transport Lobby,hence RONS.. Roads of no significant importance

   *We’re on a road to nowhere,shutup and drive*
4. irascible 4

   4 November 2013 at 7:20 am

   Chaung, Chaung went the register as the votes were brought and sold by those who look to corrupt!
5. vto 5

   4 November 2013 at 7:28 am

   But if an electoral system of a country allows big business to donate to parties of their choice, which then provides those chosen parties with far greater resources to turn voters their way, then surely the end result will be big business controlling pretty much everything with their big fat chequebooks…

   Disgusting
   Despicable
   Dirty

   Corrupt.

   The National Party is corrupt.
   • One Anonymous Knucklehead 5.1

     4 November 2013 at 9:10 am

     Support the blackballing of current National MPs, stopping them from trading on their time as MPs to build a lucrative business career. National’s cabinet have largely ignored the financial backers [OAK: he means the ones he represents], MPs will continue to do so unless I can point out the consequences of ignoring donors.

     If donors buy into this, and the next National government does not offer former ministers jobs there will be a clear incentive…

     Simon Lusk.
     • vto 5.1.1

       4 November 2013 at 11:53 am

       That seems to clearly indicate outright corruption.

       And yet we sit idly by in the sunshine, somehow thinking that this sort of thing doesn’t happen in New Zealand.

       If National MP’s have acted according to their donors wishes instead of their constituents wishes then surely that means pretty much every law they have enacted can be subjected to judicial review…..

       What a bunch of pigs
       (apologies to actual pigs, which have far greater standing on the planet than National Party MPs)
6. Paul 6

   4 November 2013 at 7:44 am

   Radio New Zealand giving a lot of publicity to the Insurance Industry and Gerry Brownlee bleating on how it’s not needed. Funnily enough no journalist has questioned their vested interests…
   I becoming less and less impressed with their coverage.
   • tc 6.1

     4 November 2013 at 9:32 am

     Checkout the board of RNZ and is it any wonder. Kings College, former Nat MP’s advisers to Bolger etc etc.
7. Saarbo 7

   4 November 2013 at 7:55 am

   Interesting, there is a good story here for anyone from the MSM that wants to run with it.
8. Jim Nald 8

   4 November 2013 at 8:02 am

   And also, guess whose pocket NZ Herald is in?

   Latest online so-called “poll” is trying very hard to frame the answers and generate a result favourable to their money friends:

   “What do you think of Labour’s plan for a state insurance company?

   – Great idea. Insurance companies are holding out on vulnerable Kiwis.

   – I’ll support it if it stops profits going overseas.

   – No way. The last thing we need is more Government.

   – No, the costs are too high.”
   • Tat Loo (CV) 8.1

     4 November 2013 at 10:25 am

     I see that National is pushing the meme that Labour is going to “nationalise” the insurance industry. Just like KiwiBank “nationalised” the banking industry eh? LOLZ

     Also they are using the Planet Labour phrasing again…how hackneyed!
     • Tracey 8.1.1

       4 November 2013 at 10:41 am

       And the punter’s will swallow the lie. Nationalisation is the forcing of an existing company into state ownership with little of no compensation.

       Setting up a company to compete with others within an industry is usually called entrepreneurship or allowing the market to set the price and so on by national.

       labour need to start countering the nationalism lies…

       if insurance companies are doing good work and serving their customers well they have nothing to fear from a new player on the block, do they???
       • Tigger 8.1.1.1

         4 November 2013 at 12:11 pm

         Keep hitting the Kiwibank comparison, it’s ‘our’ insurer.
9. framu 9

   4 November 2013 at 8:07 am

   is this the same insurance council who tried to tell me that even though they are forcing everyone to go to sum insured on their house insurance, they are still taking all the risk?

   Yeah – theyre reall smart ones there
   • Tracey 9.1

     4 November 2013 at 10:43 am

     Insurance companies will cream it on sum insured because unless there is a major disaster hundreds of thousands of home owners will be paying for excessive coverage they will never need. No wonder they are all queuing at bendon for new undies.
     • tc 9.1.1

       4 November 2013 at 12:01 pm

       +1 the recent reinsurance under the new policies was an F’n nightmare and they’ll never lose Tracey.

       Had to invest heaps of time reading all the companies policies to discover exactly what you’ve said that we are now way over insured and carry all the risk if we can’t rebuild for that number as they’ve capped their exposure.

       WTF should they profit at all if they have no risk as they’d have this all hedged offshore built into our premiums so even in disaster they’re covered or they do an AMI and fold.
       • Foreign Waka 9.1.1.1

         4 November 2013 at 7:33 pm

         Yes, its a pyramid scam. The only “insurance” that holds some form of credibility in NZ is ACC and EQC albeit some serious sabotage is going n there to undermine the basic coverage of Kiwis and create a problem that is then solved by “privatizing” the SOE’s.
10. Ashley 10

    4 November 2013 at 12:20 pm

    Surely a free market government would welcome a new player if only to test the market competitiveness theory. The fact that the Nats knee jerked a plethora of negativity suggests some cosy little deal will be exposed.
    Quite why this initiative wasn’t suggested by government remains a mystery. The appalling way the insurance ‘market’ has dealt with Christchurch is a national disgrace. NZ could learn a lot from the US, where settlement of a claim has to be completed within 6 months of the incident. A concept no insurer in NZ could even contemplate as they continue to let delay and inflation erode claims value.
11. aerobubble 11

    4 November 2013 at 12:46 pm

    The problem with the NZ housing sector
    is its lack of choice, that the only real choice
    is a expensive non-standard, maybe leaky-cold-damp
    home, no double glazing as standard, even noise
    abatement is optional. The problem is NZ has no choice,
    a competitive market in a very niche area, McMansions
    is proof how corrupt the sector is.

    But hey, let’s drill down a bit. By making homes so
    one off, piecemeal you could say, the market can suggest
    its vital and virile because it attracts higher prices.
    But its not true. When they put phone lines in, water, to
    homes, they did it all at once, however broadband is being
    done piecemeal and thus demands a high cost from consumers
    (i.e. capping charges).

    Its just another story of the rigged corrupt nature of the NZ
    economy, that the political class shutdown the market in all
    but a few niches and then allow prices to get out of control.

    Key’s government has royally screwed NZ by not rolling out
    broadband a street at a time, not a house at a time. Every time a
    new connection is needed contractors have to dig up the road
    again. That means they have to travel to each street a hundred times
    when they could just go house to house, its makes a joke of the
    whole efficiency cloak of National.
12. Ashley 12

    4 November 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Agreed!
13. Plan B 13

    4 November 2013 at 2:43 pm

    Insurance Council

    Adam Smith hand something to say about this.

    People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.
    • Ashley 13.1

      4 November 2013 at 3:16 pm

      Thank you for joining up all the dots – very insightful and informative. More’s the pity that the wider community doesn’t question the status quo preferring to believe there is no corruption in NZ and that it is ‘clean & green’. Neither is correct.
14. Natwest 14

    4 November 2013 at 3:10 pm

    We already have a Government owned insurer – it’s called EQC and, if their performance through the Christchurch Earthquakes is anything to go on, good luck to those who want to place their asset protection with Kiwiasure.
    • Tat Loo (CV) 14.1

      4 November 2013 at 3:13 pm

      KiwiAssure will be a brand new organisation, with a far different scope of activity to EQC. Also EQC was never geared to cope with something the scale of the Christchuch earthquakes and there was way too much improvising going on.

      We already have a Government owned insurer – it’s called EQC and, if their performance through the Christchurch Earthquakes is anything to go on, good luck to those who want to place their asset protection with Kiwiasure.

      Don’t forget how shit private insurer AMI was. It was the public sector which had to salvage them.
      • Lanthanide 14.1.1

        4 November 2013 at 3:17 pm

        The odd thing about AMI is when it first fell over there were all these people saying “well you shouldn’t have gone with a discount insurer like AMI then! you get what you pay for!” except that AMI’s premiums were pretty much the same as other offerings anyway.
      • Draco T Bastard 14.1.2

        4 November 2013 at 3:38 pm

        Also EQC was never geared to cope with something the scale of the Christchuch earthquakes and there was way too much improvising going on.

        Which is rather odd considering that NZ exists on the Ring of Fire. You’d think that someone would have had the imagination to consider just how much damage an earthquake could do. Hell, all they had to do was look up our history and 1931 really wasn’t all that long ago.
      • David H 14.1.3

        4 November 2013 at 4:36 pm

        I hope so. Because at the moment I don’t carry insurance. I figure it will be a lot less stressful on me to just replace stuff, (Important things like photo’s are in the clouds, Docs are somewhere else.) than to go through the heartache, stress, and bullshit that the insurance companies put in their policies. They are written in a language that’s relationship to English has to be seriously questioned. Maybe Small Print should be a foreign language.
    • Foreign Waka 14.2

      4 November 2013 at 7:52 pm

      It was not so much EQC but Mr Brownlee sitting on his hands and hoping for god knows what. Also there was a problem with getting hold of engineers or any trained builders, electricians etc. That disaster with the red, green, yellow stickers was something else. And to have people wandering around n the winter cold for a toilet and shower was just plain disgusting.
      To move things along some decisive leadership was needed not a consensus to milk this for the later political purpose to privatize. The outcome of this disaster has more to do with political will than anything else.
15. Natwest 15

    4 November 2013 at 3:38 pm

    The “shit insurer AMI” had a great following in Christchurch, where it offered cheap premiums, but failed to buy enough reinsurance to cover it’s liabilities. So how is Kiwiassure going to offer more competitive/cheaper premiums, when it has to buy reinsurance protection from the same market as all insurers? Not buy the required amount, and rely on the tax payer to bail it out when the balloon goes up???
    • Draco T Bastard 15.1

      4 November 2013 at 3:40 pm

      when it has to buy reinsurance protection from the same market as all insurers?

      It doesn’t have to.
      • Natwest 15.1.1

        4 November 2013 at 4:07 pm

        Oh, but it does!
        • Draco T Bastard 15.1.1.1

          4 November 2013 at 4:51 pm

          There’s a law saying this? Or is this just you talking out your arse as per usual?
      • Naturesong 15.1.2

        4 November 2013 at 4:13 pm

        Interview on Q&A yesterday, DC stated they would buy reinsurance on the international market to limit exposure.

        Like Clarke (who I personally did not like – but thats another story), Culiffe oozes competence so I would expect to see it set up properly.
        • Foreign Waka 15.1.2.1

          4 November 2013 at 8:10 pm

          Excerpt from a letter relating to the Christchurch Earthquake and AMI being sold.
          http://thechristchurchfiasco.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/understanding-what-happened-to-ami/

          “The reinsurers behind the private insurers expressed dissatisfation with this scenario.
          AMIs reserves and reinsurance were above the industry recognised levels, but AMI were in effect given to IAG, removing effective competition and assuaging the reinsurers who back the large private insurers.
          This government sold out AMI to cover up their failure to heed the advice of the EQC board and its consequences when the February 2011 quake exposed the gamble they had taken”

          And who was involved in the sale? Yep, Mr Bill English.
16. Tracey 16

    4 November 2013 at 3:56 pm

    But but but ami had the crusaders rugby stadium name they must be good
    • Natwest 16.1

      4 November 2013 at 4:11 pm

      They were (so called) good, until they fell over leaving their customers in the crap! You get what you pay for – cheap is not always best. Remember that when you are buying from KiwiAssure.
      • Naturesong 16.1.1

        4 November 2013 at 4:17 pm

        So instead of buying naming rights to stadiums and paying dividends to policyholders Kiwiassure can spend that money on the oppropriate amount of reinsurrance
17. Plan B 17

    4 November 2013 at 4:12 pm

    One day maybe the whole AMI story will come out.
    Some points however
    1. AMI was owned by its policy holders
    • Naturesong 17.1

      4 November 2013 at 4:23 pm

      Basic overview:
      http://thechristchurchfiasco.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/understanding-what-happened-to-ami/
    • David H 17.2

      4 November 2013 at 4:39 pm

      And run by someone on a Massive Salary, and a board and a chairman to pay for doing fark all. and how much were they paid when the company went bust??
18. rod 18

    4 November 2013 at 4:54 pm

    I thought the insurance companies bought the National Party just before Muldoon got in, in 1975.
19. North 19

    4 November 2013 at 8:43 pm

    The sky DID fall in with Kiwibank……….didn’t it ?
    • Jim Nald 19.1

      4 November 2013 at 9:37 pm

      Yes it did /sarc … for the Aussie banks who would otherwise be making bloody more ….. “Big Aussie banks rack up $31b in profits” (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11151371).

      Apparently, times are bad. And the banks are making just that little bit of profit. Imagine if times were good.
20. Fisiani 20

    4 November 2013 at 9:29 pm

    The nationalist socialists of the Left are old hat. The State always knows best.

    British Labour Party in 1918 adopted Clause IV
    To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.
    • McFlock 20.1

      4 November 2013 at 9:37 pm

      And for many people the proof that Blair had destroyed labour and bought the thatcher delusion was when they revoked Clause IV.

      Clause IV is one of the finest objectives and government can have.
21. Fisiani 21

    4 November 2013 at 10:02 pm

    Cunliffe is rebranding Labour as the Clause IV party with nationalistic Kiwi this that and everything. What next, will it be Kiwifood to stop the evil Countdown and New World ripping off the Kiwi battlers/
    • felix 21.1

      4 November 2013 at 10:09 pm

      Breaking up monopolies/duopolies really rubs fascists up the wrong way, doesn’t it?
      • Fisiani 21.1.1

        4 November 2013 at 10:29 pm

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_longest_suicide_note_in_history

        Communist leaning Leftists like McFlock and felix never learn from history.
        • vto 21.1.1.1

          4 November 2013 at 10:51 pm

          Oh but they do

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_financial_crisis

          and here

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

          and here

          http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4858410/Government-announces-500m-bailout-for-insurer-AMI

          and here

          http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/7066704/SCF-bailout-means-lessons-not-learnt

          would you like more?

          I think we can learn from this that far right economic extremists don’t learn from history. They just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over and over. And expect socialists to bail out the failed capitalists. This National Government has acted in a socialist manner and bailed out more privately owned businesses to a far greater extent than any government in NZ’s history.

          some people never learn
        • Fisiani 21.1.1.2

          4 November 2013 at 10:53 pm

          SHANE Yeah, I mean, it’s a bogey figure. There are other ways we can assist small business. But if you want to know where the real brown shirts are, they’re in the big end of town, who treat— who treat ordinary garden variety Kiwis as commodified labour—

          CORIN Like who?

          SHANE Supermarkets for a start.
          http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/labour-leadership-debate-5551817

          Referring to supermarket owners as fascists
          • Tat Loo (CV) 21.1.1.2.1

            4 November 2013 at 10:56 pm

            Your point being?
          • McFlock 21.1.1.2.2

            4 November 2013 at 11:09 pm

            you tories are so fucking out of ideas that you’re an inch from recycling the dancing cossacks ads.

            Get a truly competitive insurance industry? Nah, bitch about leftists.

            Regulate industries so that workers aen’t expected to die on the job? Nah, they need to be forced have a “Captain Hindsight” inquiry. And bitch about leftists.

            Adapt NZ for a no-fossil future? Nah, push through exploration in areas deeper than the Deepwater Horizon. And bitch about leftists.
            • Tat Loo (CV) 21.1.1.2.2.1

              4 November 2013 at 11:21 pm

              Labour Party = Leftists = Communists = Stalinist Gulags!!!

              That was a quick tour of NAT wingnut political reasoning.
        • Tat Loo (CV) 21.1.1.3

          4 November 2013 at 10:54 pm

          Oddly enough, it is National which is sinking in the polls.
          • Fisiani 21.1.1.3.1

            4 November 2013 at 11:04 pm

            Which part of National rise did you not read in the pinko favourite poll?http://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll?to=b6912c8233db485c8b66c63cfa57447c
            • McFlock 21.1.1.3.1.1

              4 November 2013 at 11:14 pm

              Sorry, is this the poll where the left dropped a couple of points and was still capable of sitting on the government benches if an election were held tomorrow?
              • Fisiani …

                4 November 2013 at 11:29 pm

                Rising is called sinking by Tat Loo. I await an admission of error.
                • vto …

                  4 November 2013 at 11:37 pm
                  • Tat Loo (CV) …

                    4 November 2013 at 11:41 pm

                    I actually watched that through to the end. That’s 51s of my life that I am never getting back, and I blame you.
                    • vto …

                      4 November 2013 at 11:47 pm

                      hee hee sorry. dogs are very funny to watch sometimes though. so simple. so applicable to fisi.
                • McFlock …

                  4 November 2013 at 11:45 pm

                  0.5% is not a “rise” if it’s within the MoE. I await your admission of error.
                  But the trend is a definite sinking feeling for the nats.
22. Richard McGrath 22

    8 November 2013 at 12:55 pm

    Poor old Jim Anderton:

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1311/S00031/they-said-kiwibank-would-fail-too.htm

    Has he forgotten that Kiwibank, which he mentions in the first paragraph, is associated with Kiwi Insure – an insurance company?

    http://www.kiwibank.co.nz/personal-banking/insurance/

    Looks like Davy boy didn’t notice it either.

    If Kiwibank is not just another arm of the Labia Party, perhaps they should consider litigation, as Silent T’s ‘KiwiAssure’ sounds more than a little like Kiwibank’s ‘Kiwi Insure’ doesn’t it?
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