Posts Tagged ‘nick smith’
Smith makes a mess of local government reforms
Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, March 21st, 2012 - 18 comments
Part of Nick Smith’s problem is that he doesn’t understand how to build public support for change before trying to implement it. Instead, he pulls out some dodgy numbers and tries to trick the public. This backfired in the debacle over ACC levy changes when he provoked one of the first big protests against the National government. Now, it’s happening with local government.
Smith to go
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, March 21st, 2012 - 218 comments
Even 1 year ago, there would be no doubt what would happen next. He would have sacked Smith without hesitation. Has Key lost those instincts already?
Updates: won’t comment now but will this afternoon. Needs time to make some backroom deals so that skeletons stay in closets? Smith was been summoned to Wellington. Press conference at 1.45. And He’s gone. They’re trying to downplay the reasons. What a disgrace. Full video of Key offloading Nick Smith
ImperatorFish: Nick Smith Must Go
Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, March 20th, 2012 - 56 comments
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here.
Bye Dr Nick!
Nats’ ACC scandal getting worse by the day
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, March 20th, 2012 - 88 comments
Nick Smith, while Minister for ACC wrote a letter in support of the claims of, um, close personal contact Bronwyn Pullar last year after Pullar threatened to embarrass him and ACC. He says, this was in his personal capacity, even though it was on parliamentary ministerial letterhead. And what kind of coincidence is it that the largest accidental leak by ACC in history went to Pullar?
Our own oil spill
Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, October 8th, 2011 - 15 comments
If we can’t deal with a small oil leak from a grounded ship, what are we doing planning deepsea drilling on a grand scale?
Government to overrule Auckland?
Written By: - Date published: 2:04 pm, September 27th, 2011 - 24 comments
Nick Smith is looking at issuing a “Government policy statement” to ensure that the Auckland Plan complies with their agenda. They may ban the urban limits that are proposed to keep green, productive land around Auckland and help ensure rates stay low and public transport works in a more liveable city.
Slow follower
Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, September 16th, 2011 - 16 comments
When it comes to making any kind of effort to saving the planet from catastrophic climate change I guess being even a “fast follower” was just a little too ambitious for the Key government.
NRT – A permanent dictatorship in Canterbury?
Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, September 15th, 2011 - 13 comments
NRT continues to provide excellent coverage on the governance of Canterbury.
NRT: Making the trains run on time
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, September 14th, 2011 - 12 comments
Eighteen months ago, in what can only be described as a coup, the government disestablished the democratically-elected Environment Canterbury and replaced it with a clique of hand-picked dictators. Nick Smith says that the percentage of resource consents being processed on time has skyrocketed but is that thanks to the dictatorship?
The get ACC levy con
Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, July 12th, 2011 - 14 comments
After coming to office, National cried ‘crisis at ACC’ as an excuse for raising levies, cutting cover, and privatisation. Suddenly, the ‘crisis’ has disappeared and good ol’ National is cutting your ACC levies, back to where they were before National raised them. Now, just forget who put them up in the first place, and tick the blue box in November.
Smith to announce ACC privatisation
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, May 30th, 2011 - 85 comments
Labour’s Chris Hipkins has the inside word: On Wednesday this week, Nick Smith is going to announce what amounts to the effective privatisation of a large part of ACC. You won’t hear the word privatisation uttered from his lips, he’ll use all sorts of other words like ‘competition’ and ‘market discipline’, but privatisation it will be.
NZ takes one more step toward complete biodiversity loss
Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, February 1st, 2011 - 13 comments
In a poor attempt to make it look like NACT are actually doing something about New Zealand’s incredibly high rate of bio-diversity loss , and warnings that our forests will soon be silent Nick Smith has introduced a National Policy Statement on Biodiversity whilst NACT also announces further cuts in conservation funding .
It ain’t easy being green
Written By: - Date published: 12:38 pm, January 31st, 2011 - 13 comments
At his ‘Blue-Green’ conference Nick Smith talked up the Nats’ environmental credentials. Proclaimed a marine reserve … where commercial fishing will still be allowed. And pushed new air quality standards from 2013 to 2020. That will cost 635 lives and a million sick days. Smith says it will save $506m. Guess the ‘Green’ in ‘Blue-Green’ is money after all.
100% PURE…going…going…gone…
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 12th, 2010 - 25 comments
When the 2009 ‘streamlining and simplifying’ amendment to the RMA was rushed through parliament last year, many concerns were raised about new abilities for the Minister for the Environment to use National Environmental Standards (NES) to override local government regulations. Now an NES on forestry is being pushed through. It’s scary stuff.
The Smiths: Getting it Right
Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, September 24th, 2010 - 11 comments
Lockwood and Nick did good work yesterday. So praise where praise is due: Keep it up boys.
Roads of National Party Significance Continue…
Written By: - Date published: 3:14 pm, September 22nd, 2010 - 52 comments
Transmission Gully: A road that makes no economic sense, that will now be forced through extra fast, with reduced consultation.
Nats try ‘thinking green’ on for size
Written By: - Date published: 3:26 pm, July 29th, 2010 - 4 comments
It’s taken me a few days to post on this opinon piece from Pattrick Smellie but it’s still worth reading! There are signs that Nick Smith is trying hard to improve the Nats environmental credentials, Gerry Brownlee notwithstanding. But Pattrick Smellie suggests it is not that simple:
The ETS is a price signal
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, June 25th, 2010 - 44 comments
The point of an ETS isn’t to just blindly pay more, it is to change our behaviour so that we don’t have to. National don’t get it, so they have brought us the worst of all possible ETS schemes. Badly designed and devoid of vision. An ETS with all of the costs and none of the benefits.
Our Water Our Vote
Written By: - Date published: 6:47 am, June 14th, 2010 - 31 comments
Sunday saw another big protest against the government. An estimated 3000 people turned out in Christchurch for the “Our Water Our Vote” rally to protest National’s attacks on Canterbury’s democracy and environment.
Nats plan to subsidise greenhouse polluters
Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, April 29th, 2010 - 21 comments
National is predictably planning to put the cost of polluters’ actions on to the rest of us by canning the major parts of the ETS. This stupid game of pass the buck is played out all over the world – polluters refuse to accept their responsibilities, governments refuse to act – as more greenhouse gases are pumped into the atmosphere, locking us in to economic and ecological devastation.
Canterbury’s dictators
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, April 23rd, 2010 - 91 comments
No Right Turn’s typically forthright take on the sacking of the ECan councillors and the makeup of the government’s appointed directors.
RNZ reveals ACC privatisation agenda
Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, April 23rd, 2010 - 71 comments
National’s hysteria around ACC last year was focused on creating an air of crisis. Now they’re going to ‘do something’. That something is privatisation of ACC. It won’t work, it won’t save money. The costs of injuries will still exist. Privatisation will put more of that cost on the injured. Added ligation and profits will mean worse cover for more cost.
Help a brother out
Written By: - Date published: 1:21 pm, April 20th, 2010 - 19 comments
Nick Smith’s brother, Tim Smith, was up on 21 charges from Environment Canterbury at the same time as Smith was ramming through the abolishment of the democratically-elected council. Smith should have told us of this apparent conflict of interest. I guess when you’re part of a government that’s hiding the fact its 3 strikes law will encourage murders, this seemed like a small thing.
Paying MPs’ court costs
Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, April 7th, 2010 - 22 comments
I don’t have a problem with MPs being able to get public funding for court cases arising from their professional activities. You wouldn’t expect private sector employees who are taken to court over their actions in their job to be forced to pay their own way. But what a sense of entitlement Gerry Brownlee has.
‘Dig & hope’ – Nats’ great plan
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, March 25th, 2010 - 43 comments
National’s mining policy is ‘dig and hope’. That’s the only conclusion one can draw after Gerry Brownlee and Nick Smith admitted National has no idea of the value of the minerals supposedly under the protected lands they want to dig up. Remember, this is National’s lynch-pin economic policy. They are we have dig up these protected lands for the sake of the economy but have no idea of what’s there.
ACC levy hikes another step to privatisation
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, December 11th, 2009 - 79 comments
As expected, Nick Smith has imposed substantial ACC levy hikes on families. For a worker on $40,000 with a car, you’re looking at $150 more a year. I would say that would take a large bite out of most people’s tax cuts but the fact is most people didn’t get a tax cut from National. […]
Public rage at govt policies and lies
Written By: - Date published: 11:43 pm, November 30th, 2009 - 21 comments
On Nightline just now there was coverage of a meeting held by Nick Smith in St Heliers. Two interesting things: 1) there was an astounding level of anger, even vitriol, against him and the government over the ETS (from both sides of that argument), over the shabby backhander for selected iwi to buy Maori Party […]
Armstrong on Calamity Nick
Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, November 25th, 2009 - 10 comments
Wrapped in a bit of fluff, John Armstrong has some pretty damning things to say about Nick Smith today: He can be headstrong. He can be unpredictable. He can sometimes be the veritable bull in the china shop. He is prone to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. His cockiness can land him […]
Give the snip snap to the zip zap plastic fantastic? Yeah right!
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, November 12th, 2009 - 23 comments
Brian Fallow has a great post over at Granny Herald this morning. “Emitters on bludger’s end of deal” deals with the way that the NACT government has been loading costs onto future voters and taxpayers. On superannuation: By siphoning off and investing around another 1 per cent of GDP while the babyboomers are still in […]
Smith still lying with numbers
Written By: - Date published: 12:03 pm, October 19th, 2009 - 7 comments
Last week, David Parker asked Nick Smith what the “whole-of-life cost to ACC of all new claims” for the last year were. Smith’s answer surprised everyone because it made no sense. He told us that claims made last year alone would cost $7 billion over their lifes. If that were really so, ACC’s liablities would […]
Smith out-does Tolley as most incompetent minister
Written By: - Date published: 2:22 pm, October 16th, 2009 - 16 comments
While we’re all aghast over Nick Smith’s shambolic handling of ACC and his ‘people are killing themselves for cash’ comments, let’s not forget he’s also making a total botch up of climate change policy too. As Marty discovered, National’s ETS will cost us $73 billion in added debt by 2050 and it’s being rushed through […]
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