National/ACT won the election, fair enough. They won the right to govern and attempt to pass their laws. What they did not win is the right to behave like an elected dictatorship – keeping their laws secret until the last minute then passing them in the dead of night without any chance for the public to have any input. It is clear why they are doing this during the first days of Parliament and just before Christmas, when the public’s attention is elsewhere – they don’t want us to know what’s happening until it is too late. There is an implicit acknowledgement in their actions that they don’t believe their policies are popular, there is no other reason for this rush. In the haste, the laws we are getting are not only bad in their intended effect, they are poorly drafted, which will lead to more trouble in the near future. All in all, this is a betrayal of National’s promise to the New Zealand public. National said Labour was ‘arrogant and out of touch’; they would be open and accountable. Instead, they have been secretive and denied Kiwis their normal rights to participate in the democratic process. The sad thing is that senior Nat MPs warned the Key ideologies against this course of action. Now, by betraying their promises of a more democratic government, they have gone and pissed away their honeymoon and, worse, New Zealanders will have to suffer the effects of poorly-made laws. Here are our favourite posts of the week:
Work Rights? Gone by Xmas
As with any erosion of work rights it will be the most vulnerable workers that are hit hardest…[more]
Training wheels
In these times of economic crisis, we have a government that not only has its training wheels on but doesn’t even know how to pedal. Get braced for a bumpy ride..[more]
Arrogant and out of touch
The Manawatu Standard has a good op-ed piece today on how National has squandered its honeymoon with its arrogant and out-of-touch behaviour on the fire at will bill…[more]
The prideful cowards
I don’t see anything ‘mana-enhancing’ (to use a phrase from the National-Maori support agreement) about voting for a tax increase on the many, many Maori and other Kiwis on low and middle incomes or in Kiwisaver so that a few rich people can get big cuts and then not even having the guts to say why that is a good idea..[more]
Kids need fun, politicians need to think
Ambitious for New Zealand? Only if it can be done by Christmas…[more]
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