Written By:
Mountain Tui - Date published:
10:00 pm, January 23rd, 2025 - 17 comments
Categories: act, Christopher Luxon, david seymour, Donald Trump, national, national/act government, nz first, same old national, winston peters -
Tags: foreign investment, libertarian, overseas investment act, peter thiel, sensitive lands
Note: Since writing this post last night, Luxon has used his “State of the Union” speech to declare his way forward is foreign investment and mining. I wish he weren’t so predictable.
Yesterday, Trump pardoned the founder of Silk Road – a criminal website designed to anonymously trade illicit drugs, weapons and services.
The individual had been jailed for life in 2015 after an FBI sting.
But libertarian interest groups had lobbied Donald Trump, saying it was “government overreach” to imprison the man, and so, as one of his first acts as second term President, Trump pardoned the individual unconditionally.
Libertarianism is of course the ideology that ACT touts – as does Stuff columnist Damien Grant, and the entire Atlas Network.
Peter Thiel too – whose plans to build an 1800 sqm luxury lodge overlooking Wanaka Lakes, was rejected by NZ’s Environment Court. Queenstown District Local Council was also slammed in the process.
I’m going to guess that Thiel is probably not used to hearing “no” in these matters.
But New Zealand’s Environment Court and other parts of the NZ judiciary, including the now de-toothed Waitangi Tribunal, have a proud history of strength, and the protection of NZ’s once core interests – our environment, our communities, our people, our lands, and commitments.
But libertarianism rejects that role.
After all, it’s essentially a group that claims government and the ‘state’ shouldn’t intervene in “personal liberty”, “property rights”, “prosperity” and “freedom”.1
These stated ideals provide an excuse for them to lobby governments to loosen or change laws that don’t serve libertarianism e.g by weakening environmental or worker protections by calling them “red and green tape”.
But policy ideas premised on e.g. cutting red tape have also led to disasters like UK’s Greenfell Towers incident.
Ironically, these same libertarians will commonly implement and enforce laws that benefit their donors/backers e.g push to lower or eliminate taxes for the wealthy and corporate class, or implement policies to favour certain industries and groups
Example – in New Zealand, we’ve seen some of them push hard to benefit landlords and the ECE sector businesses despite the latter policies putting children at “risk” (1News’s December 2024 article on that topic appears to have been wiped from its website)
We can summarise it this way – it’s uber wealthy people running their demands, and in New Zealand, we have the same type of ‘loyal workers’ in government as the US, who are willing to help these uber wealthy – in my personal opinion.
The fact that libertarians were able to get Trump to release their model criminal so early on speaks to their immense power and reach – because of course – it’s a big-money system, isn’t it?
Some people on the left begrudge and attack capitalism, but parts such as healthy and free competition, innovation, risks and rewards, and the like, are not negative aspects in and of themselves.
It’s when the system becomes convoluted, our society’s values and ways of being one-eyed, and resources overweighted towards the few who would game it for their own means – and effectively have infinite resources to do so – that we have the issues we are now seeing.
Of note, the issues were always there – we were all told of them before. But it somehow takes the farcical nature of current politics for many of us to finally take note. That in and of itself, is not a bad thing.
These wealthiest game the system through techniques such: as creating large numbers of special purpose organisations to push political purposes – these include junk tanks, lobbyists, corrupt researchers, they fund disinformation campaigns e.g. on climate denial, run and manipulate media, channel large sums of money through dark money webs, and subsequently, even buy entire government politicians to do their will.
Dr Neal Curtis, who wrote: “The corporate class takes over America” for Newsroom yesterday had this in an unedited piece:
Libertarianism wouldn’t be a huge problem if it was consistent to its stated aims, but in my opinion, it is a danger because it’s used as pretext by some of the wealthiest to do what they will.
As Curtis notes, Peter Thiel, the libertarian, once said freedom and democracy are not compatible.
And if libertarians like David Seymour are all about freedom — well, you do the translation.
This government has 23 more months, give or take, of direct control – and judging by the speed and way it’s done things, it will get it done.
If it’s successful to its aims, by the time it’s finished, no government “red tape” or Māori Treaty, or pesky judiciary, should hold folks such as Peter Thiel back.
That’s the idea and culmination of multiple legislative changes, including the Regulatory Standards Bill, Treaty Principles Bill, Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (see below), Crime (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill etc.
The changes they are making are intentional, and will be effective for libertarianism.
Have no doubt. The big money is here.
1 These are core ideals embedded within the “dangerous” Regulatory Standards Bill – covered by Melanie Nelson and Jane Kelsey
Repost from the Mountain Tui substack article: NZ First — Gone
I called them sucking corporate cock first. But that's a bit rude.
Shane tickle every ones dick is just an unlikable tool these days.
Sorry to mention penis so much – but libertarians wave theirs around so much…
The NZ Invest agency they are setting up is a taxpayer funded real estate company. You and me are paying for a state funded Barfoot & Thomson to generate huge profits for already wealthy land and house owners.
If that is not naked corporate welfare, I don't know what is.
Right proper nanny every day.
When I heard about Fox News and others presenting NZ as some sort of gulag during Covid, took me a little while to click that someone was paying for this shit to be spread there. Why would anyone bother otherwise?
Peter Thiel seemed a very likely funder of this disinformation in the rw US media.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/overseas-investment-changes-get-new-zealand-bench
Shane Jones bonds
https://theconversation.com/how-the-fast-track-law-could-expose-future-nz-governments-to-expensive-trade-disputes-229363
The ISDS Protocol
https://theconversation.com/how-the-fast-track-law-could-expose-future-nz-governments-to-expensive-trade-disputes-229363
https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/trade-law-and-dispute-settlement/an-isds-protocol
If wealthy foreigners can more easily acquire NZ assets, perhaps we could invoke the Foreign Interference Act (if it passes).Who designates what is harmful to NZ interests?
We the people ultimately, if we are prepared to stand up for ourselves
I’m beginning to wonder if that old playbook is being rolled out again , collapse the economy so the only alternative is foreign investment and sell off of whatever assets we have left
IMF loans come with a huge cost to social services .(And probably the same applies to Blackrock)
"…that old playbook is being rolled out again , collapse the economy.."
They're not put in to grow an economy that benefits everyone, wealth and power transfer with law changes to cement that in along with alignment along ideological lines such as Waitangi Tribunal etc etc
Key had chch rebuild to offset the lack of economic activity under his ponzi scheme of tax havens and offshore money flooding our housing market for tax free gains.
We always go backwards under national, Luxon’s just firing up the Altas afterburners so the backers can rest assured their CEO has got this.
It feels like more stars are aligning.
Peters will soon have to surrender his Deputy Prime Minister seat to
an upstarthis colleague.Depending on how the rail enabled (public owned) ferry build contracts are received, polling, Seymour's hubris and foreign asset sales, I could Peters sowing seeds of division and strife, ending the coalition.
Time for the opposition to pressure him about those ferries he signed for that Nicola no-boats cancelled.
Crucial infrastructure being torched for political purposes Winston so how are you dealing with that within Nicola's magical fiscal envelope she’s provided for you ?
I've done my bit. I e-mailed Peters and appealed to his dynasty.
I told him my Mum thanks Winston every time her Gold Card gets used and I want the next generation to do the same every time they use the ferry.
Come the winter switch, Winston will seek advantage in independence – yet there's enough common interest on the right to constrain him, so he will need to prop up the status quo whilst keeping his eye on the main chance.
Which is becoming PM in a govt based on resilience strategy. He ought to organise private talks with Roger Douglas to brainstorm a long-term strategy for Aotearoa, using the political slogan Subsidies R In!
I look forward to seeing Rog telling the nation that subsidies are now the way forward for western civilisation. "Yes, I spent many years in the 1980s telling everyone the opposite – but we live and learn."
Love yr optimism Dennis.
The high tide mark for globalisation comment is spot on.
There are neo-liberal failures all around us. I wish some politician would acknowledge that and suggest a shift in a resilient direction for Aotearoa.
Us libertarians don't all sign up to the same raft of policies. Eg I am thankful Atlas Network funded FSU to fight against gang patch ban. But I don't think we need a wash of foreign capital coming in to Kickstart economy. I'd prefer using CGT levers to discourage investment properties.
gotta love a post with Leunig cartoons.
Lux has to do hoopla after a year of flatlining the economy, so his supporters keep faith in neoliberalism instead of realising it's dead in the water. Mining doesn't work unless the cost of extraction is significantly less than your income from selling whatever you extract. Extractors do better in developing countries than here.
Investment by foreigners depends on local owners selling out or selling shares. Nats getting high on selling new road developments have to rely on prospective income streams from those roads: user pays. Devil's in that detail. They must hallucinate the number of future users to get an investment strategy for foreigners into the design.
So can't see much prospect for folks in Aotearoa getting excited about all this. Most of them may feel vaguely reassured that the Nats remain traditional, but so what? Labour is onto it though:
Copy National is all they need to do to satisfy traditional voters, as usual. No point trying something clever – everyone just freaks out.
Media reports suggest our conservation land will be opened up for mining. Expect more on this next week.
I understand the government's view; only tree-hugging greenies use those areas so they must be sacrificed to the economy.
For our native flora and fauna, Shane Jones's mantra "drill baby, drill" means "kill baby, kill".