Written By:
Steve Pierson - Date published:
6:22 am, January 22nd, 2009 - 11 comments
Categories: economy, john key, national/act government -
Tags:
After three years of solid growth, the latest stats show international tourist numbers collapsing 8% last November compared to November 2007 due to the global recession. Goldman Sachs forecasts a drop of over 5% this year and more in 2010. Like all economic projections since the world tipped into recession, these numbers are likely to be revised down as the data keeps getting worse.
None of this is National or Labour’s fault – they didn’t make the oil and commodities super-spike, they didn’t make the subprime crisis. But it is the job of our National Tourism Minister, John Key, to react. This ain’t a problem that tax cuts for the rich can solve (not that any problem is) so it will be interesting to see whether this pony has more than one trick.
The hundreds of thousands of Kiwis who depend on the tourism industry for their livelihoods will be waiting for a sign of an appreciation of the problem, a hint of a plan, or, better yet, to see some sort of policy from the Minister. Unlike John Armstrong, I don’t think all those people will be congratulating Key for playing clever politics if he makes them wait much longer.
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.
Of course the response from Key’s apologists here will be “if people don’t have the money to come here there’s nothing he can do”. And that’s that.
The trouble with a having a market worshiper in government is that he will, as usual, defer his governance to the market. Maybe hold a conference or two but really you don’t want to meddle with these things.
Or is Key finally going to show us some of that “ambition for NZ” we heard so much about last year?
Policy? Oooh, Policies. Yeah, we got loads of them. Just gonna hafta wanna wait till the melee settles and we’re in.
2009.
Right. Policies. Do we have any?
No
Fark!
captcha: concerning is.
Certainly rather!
Yes it will be very interesting to see what the new Tourism Minister comes up with. I have to admit all seems pretty darn quiet on the governance front. And he did campaign on doing things. Best he hurry up before the public cottons on …
Just interested in what you would do SP if you were in John Keys shoes at the moment?
Infused, I can’t speak for SP but if you look at the next post you’ll see exactly what I’d do.
infused. I didn’t appoint myself Tourism Minister, John Key did. He’s got a department and he can consult with the industry. I’m no expert on tourism but I’m sure there are things he could do if he could be bothered.
As for what he should do in his role as PM for the broader economy, we’ve discussed a number so far on The Standard and I for one have more ideas that I just have to get around to writing up.
He wanted these jobs, he promised sunshine and rainbows for all. It’s his responsibility to actually start governing.
Since falling over and breaking his right arm, the Goober has been desperate for some relief. The Herald sent over Armstrong to give him a hand. Who knows how long its going to take for him to cum right.
Infused said:
Just interested in what you would do SP if you were in John Keys shoes at the moment?
I know you weren’t asking me but, if you were, I know that at least I would be able to tie the laces all by myself.
He wanted these jobs, he promised sunshine and rainbows for all
Bullshit – can you provide a link stevo. We need more than “I’m no expert on tourism but…”
Stop being a soft cock Goff clone and come up with some viable alternatives.
mike, what?
Key didn’t want the jobs? Or he didn’t say he’d do better than anyone else could?
See, I thought Key would have actually had some ideas BEFORE he took over the job. At the moment he looks lost and confused in this area, at exactly the time the industry needs some direction.