Hmm someone named Gaylord talking about a soft cock.
I’m sure there’s a joke there somewhere but…nope, too easy, i’m sure there are better things to do with my time.
I often wonder if the left are just so deliberately dim when it comes to economic matter – or if the left really are totally economically illiterate?
The problem with any stimulas package is that it is done off the back of borrowing money. Money that does need to be paid back – with interest – a couple of months before the election Clark was harping on about the evils of borrowing more money. Thanks to the fical fool cullen that is exactly what has had to happen, but Bill English is sensibly doing the minimum in order to smooth the roughest edges of the recession – but NZ is but a cork bobbing on the ocean of the worldwide recession.
The National Government is using this time to position NZ in the best possible position to benefit when recovery happens. Borrowing money for short term gain is not a good idea – and will do nothing but delay the turnaround as the borrowed money must be paid back.
But then again if Labour was in Government (thank god they are not) the writers of the Standard would no doubt be applauding the fiscal fool Cullen no matter what he did.
Monty, the government borrows to stimulate the economy in such a way that we are better prepared to make the most of the next upswing. The analogy isn’t exact but think of it as being like a business raising capital to upgrade plant and equipment. Sure the money needs to be paid back but the upgrade means that not only will the payments be easier to make but there will be profit on top.
Of course we could do what we did in the 90’s and exercise fiscal restraint but what happened then is that restraint further contracted the economy and deepened and lengthened the recession.
That meant we lost skilled workers to stronger economies and that infrastructure and productive capital were run down. That’s a good part of why we have lower wages than Aussie, why we had a massive skills shortage (and still do in some industries) and why we have low productivity.
You’re arguing for a repeat of that fiasco. It makes me wonder if you are being deliberately dim.
monty, I won’t berate you with “fical fool cullen” – gee I make enougfh typos myself – but you do deserve to know how the world today is not command-control anymore for, as they say in silicon valley, it is all about interconnectedness.
Bill English and highly likely the government’s whole leadership – (PM on through all ministrys) is follow a leader C-C – and I would hope they transition quickly to being part of the total solution and not out on their own-ee-oh!!!
You said Borrowing money for short term gain is not a good idea and how right that is, though only virtual collapse of the global banking sector (among which in enzed the government’s lead party would resource major support) has drawn this rather obvious conclusion. Personally I would call that the irresponsibility of follower-dom today.
lprent, not criticising y’follow, but has the type here been set lower ( and changed to sans ) or do I need bigger magnification in my reading glasses..?.
The problem with National doing the bare minimum in terms of stimulating the economy is that it seems their plan is predicated on the idea that this particular economic downturn is only going to last another couple of months and at the most a year.
Talk to anyone who went overseas over summer, like say someone who went to America, and they’ll tell you the recession has hit the country with real power. They’ll also tell you that while masses of people were being fired, laid off and made redundant over there, NZ was basically on holiday and now the reality of the situation is becoming all too clear: the job market has become incredibly competitive with jobs scarce and full-time work a luxury, many companies have put a freeze on pay raises if they’re not making people redundant.
Taking the “sharpest edges” off the recession is not working and won’t work because it’s taking the edges off for people who already have money and high paying jobs, the tax cuts are going to have little or no effect as the cuts are – once again – targeted at the wrong income bracket, it’s kind of like giving a band aid to someone with a bruise while someone with a deep wound bleeds all over the floor.
The Labour government steered the country well by paying down debt so we have the ability to borrow when we need to, around a month ago English almost applauded them for this and said, “This is the rainy day the government planned for,” and yet we have little or no real plans for spending – a cycleway here, a bridge here, a new (un-needed i might add) motorway there – what we have is talks of cuts to public spending like ACC privatization, dropping out of the cullen fund, while reducing workers’ rights and sending people to WINZ. As others have said we need to super-charge the economy with money so we can ride out the recession and be in a better position when the market rebounds, if a large part of our society is unemployed and probably sick because of no ACC or limited healthcare what will we do? Borrow money.
Yes we have to pay back our loans with interest; however, isn’t better to borrow when you need the money to maintain jobs rather than wait until the storm is over and then figure out what needs to be done. National’s plans are going to do nothing but prolong the recession and then when the market gains confidence again it will waste time figuring out what to do and spoil a year or two of economic growth.
whats the number of that apollo that blew up? i notice the cartoonist left that off the “stimulus” rocket. and what happens when you get blasted to space? what exactly has nasa achieved in space for all the trillions they have spent? have they found life on mars, well kind of almost. have they discovered other intelligent life forms out there? no. have they managed to make a return on all that money they pumped in? well, not even slightly. this cartoon is a terrible analogy. at least if the NZ rocket explodes we can pick up the pieces and try again. if the “stimulus” rocket explodes, well i dare say too much would have been invested to do anything but sell anything salvageable to the chinese. kind of like the wellington power system last year.
For a brief moment I thought Tighty had made an overnight transformation from a complete fuckwad into a brilliant satirist. But no, it’s all kinds of fail.
all kinds of fail? you know, what if im wrong, i’ll eat my words. thats an election promise i’ll keep, my pledge card if you will
the obamamessiah has fucked it up. the economic arguments put forward by this website and other left commentators are one-sided and therefore flawed. to increase capacity you can borrow from the bank, but when revenue drops, you cut costs and look at ways to increase future revenue out of current income. only a very fucking stupid stupid bank lends to people/organisations that won’t be able to pay it back. so the “borrow to spend” argument is doubly fucked because, and apparently everyone agrees on this, it’s one of the major causes of why we are in the shit anyway. i wouldn’t expect anyone who supports this to get that though.
of course governments just do what they want, but the long term effects will be the same.
“only a very … stupid stupid bank lends to people/organisations that won’t be able to pay it back”
So if the Government is the only organisation able to ‘pay it back’ (heh, remonds me of something else) does it not make sense for the government to act and keep things moving? Unless you’re Iceland, the Governmet may be the only party able to do anything – is that not a good thing, then, if it acts?
if the borrowing bankrupts the economy, the any bank/organisation/that has lent will be very fucking stupid. well actually it won’t matter as everyone will be screwed six ways from sunday anyway.
Felix, jealous you crack ho? need a hit? go hit manchester street and hang out with your pipe fiendish sister, she might take pity and shout you a blast.
Tighty,
You can’t make “election promises” you fucking moron. You’re not contesting an election, you’re an idiot on a blog and you write like you’ve been up all night on the pipe. You should expect piss to be taken.
ho ho ho, original, get that off the latest mtv bullshit you obviously subscribe too?
do you know how i know your lying though? last time i was balls deep in your mums mudbutton she told me your still a virgin.
[lprent: Have you been reading the ‘sod? For a second I thought… Read the policy and tone it down or go to a blog where that kind of comment is tolerated.]
yep Obamas putting a Big Rocket = Big Bang into the US economy
Jonkeys putting a sky rocket into our economy with the explosive power of a TOM THUMB (Now I’m showing my age)
that’s a mighty expensive rocket the USA have there, and they don’t have the money to pay for it so they’re going to consign themselves to decades more of debt. Short term gain, long term pain.
I’m so glad we’re not following that lead and only have one decade of deficits to deal with. Anyone who is able to manage their own money knows it should be short term pain, long term gain.
What would make a better cartoon is something concerning Winston Peters NZF most recent election funding rort (no wonder he is loathed).
And also something about Labour’s admission in its return that it cannot be sure of the definition of what is and isn’t an electoral expense, etc. That has to be the biggest joke of the lot. And it is like a smack to the chops imo for those who contend Clark is one the greatest NZers alive. ha ha ha ha ha ha…
really, vto? The electoral return of a party that is no longer in parliament is more important that the global economy?
I don’t think the criteria for Greatest Living New Zealander is “ability of the political party you previously led to interpret the EFA.” otherwise Hillary wouldn’t have been in the picture when he was alive. A bit trite, don’t you think?
MP, you know exactly what I am saying you twister.
Helen Clark and the Labour Party govt rammed through a law which Helen Clark and the Labour Party couldn’t even understand themselves. That is both pathetic and terrible.
And if you think Winston Peters and NZF are more important than the world economy then that’s your prerogative.
Why not a film about the 19th century missionaries? They must have had some fascinating experiences, travelling the world and interacting with different cultures.
Yes Tim, let’s all think in the short term and look for quick fixes.
What’s the old saying? “what got you into this mess will get you out of this mess”.
oh wait – I just made that up and it’s absolute rubbish. Hmm… Maybe a different approach is needed.
I love the talk of this ‘fiscal fool Cullen’ coupled with a stern lecture about how bad debt is. How does that work, Munty? Cullen doesn’t trash our economy, instead he spends surpluses on getting rid of debt. Now we have proportinally low levels of debt and are in a good spot, compared to other countries, because debt is bad, right? Yet Cullen is a fiscal fool – for doing what you’ve just said is good.
Your monocular vision sure has played havoc with your peripheral vision, Monty.
Matthew you appear to be (how to put this delicately)… stupid. Short term pain, long term gain is what I’m advocating. Instead of massive borrowing to try to stimulate the economy we’re better off with a smaller program that doesn’t raise our debt levels through the roof.
Are you telling me you want massive debt?
You’re welcome to think Cullen did something wonderful for us but all I see is squandering of surpluses and criminal covering up of projected deficits. Oh yeah, and being taken for a sucker by Toll.
You’re trying to have it both ways Matthew, and it’s pretty transparent that you simply take an opposite view of whatever the National government does as your viewpoint. It must really piss you off that Key’s government is doing so well 🙂
It makes me laugh, because you can’t help taking the opposite stance and it makes you look (how to put this delicately)… stupid.
Tim, you’re not just stupid, you are really thick (bugger the delicate bit). Please go and learn how to read a balance sheet – comment when you know what in the hell you’re talking about…
You are totally wrong. In essence there were no surpluses.
That was a public perception formed by the Nat’s and Act lying through their teeth and selectively picking the accounts to show what they wanted to see – ie on a Profit & Loss level. If you took it out into the Balance sheet level and looked at longer-term liabilities, you get the specter of liability of the superannuation system that National gave us in 1975. That wasn’t fully funded and without the superannuation fund (that the robber baron Nats wish to raid) would look even worse.
If you looked at that within the mix, then we have been effectively in deficit until some time after 2050. Taxes should have been raised rather than reduced to cover for that liability. The later it is left, then the higher the cost will be to the taxpayers in a few years.
Usually at this point I hear the mantra of better productivity from the right – but that is a matter of faith rather than practice. A prudent government doesn’t cast dice on future generations. Similarly it shouldn’t write budgets with future possible gains being inked in to pay for future liabilities. If you haven’t already realized the gain then it doesn’t exist in prudent accounting.
The fact remains that since 1975 we had rising debt to ridiculous levels. The Nats in the 1990’s managed to slow the rate of increase. Cullen managed to drop it down. This managed to massively increase the effective productivity of the state sector because we stopped paying 25% or so in our fiscal budget on interest repayments (which is what it got to at peak).
Of course I suspect that what we’re going to get from these bozo’s in government now is a merchant bankers budget. Long on speculative hope based on faith, debt and high on risk. But that describes the NACT’s doesn’t it.
vto – course I do – but the interpretation of that is exactly what I said.
I can’t imagine the Peters’ think making a good cartoon though – how would you go about it? I suppose there could be a ‘no’ sign, it’s almost obligatory. Maybe something about him being asked whether he filed his return properly, before he dashes away in a helicopter…
ha ha Felix, don’t know as I haven’t followed that. But if so same call of ‘terrible and pathetic’ applies. Bloody dipshits wasting all our hard-earned taxes on crap for selfish political purposes.
But you imply that you agree that the EFA is/was a joke and terrible and pathetic. Excellent.
edit: dont understand your 1.24 comment but sounds worthy
hang on hang on, you’re taking me off track. All parties engage in legislation for crap self-serving political purposes.
The point, and difference, with the EFA is that the Labour govt couldn’t even understand the law itself. Really, why pass something that is incapable of interpretation? Bad governance in the extreme. That is the biggest joke.
It is like a massive prang to the side of the Clark credibility jalopy.
I haven’t seen the story about Labour not understanding it – but I still don’t think it would rank up there among Clark’s acts, good or bad, as you describe it. Of course it’s your 2c, as you say, and maybe you feel electoral funding really affects your life, somehow. That’s the problem with ‘Greatest’ anything – it is very subjective. I mean hell, people can’t even agree that the Amazon is the ‘Greatest’ river.
MP, its in a statement from the labour party’s auditors in their electoral returns. It was in the media this morning.
You really don’t think passing a law that you don’t understand doesn’t rank up there? I consider it mind-blowingly reckless, criminal, unconstitutional and extremely bad governance. It stinks to high heaven and just rides arrogantly over the people and all who came before Clark in setting up the current governing structure we live under. It aint just my 2c, it’s my $2billion.
Of course nobody on here will admit such. Which weakens this site’s cred as well. But that’s par for the course.
Bit more MP.. You say “maybe you feel electoral funding really affects your life, somehow”. Classic case of MP distortion. It isn’t the electoral funding issue that affects my life, it is the bad governance. Riding roughshod like that is on the path to dictatorship. Recall how many have described and consider Clark? That H….r word that can’t be used on here?
Of course nobody on here will admit such. Which weakens this site’s cred as well. But that’s par for the course.
hah. If people don’t agree with your opinion, then that is damaging to their cred, and just goes to show their arrogance. Good one.
I’ve had the day off, went and saw a band last night, stayed out well past beer o’clock, so I’ve missed this awesome admission from Labour.
But I’m guessing it says something like that they couldn’t always be sure what was an election expense? That’s not an admission that they didn’t understand the law, it’s an admission that they were unsure about how relevant third parties would interpret the law. It’s sort of the opposite of arrogance isn’t it?
I seem to remember that in the big to do about the Auditor General last time around, he was including things as election expenses that made all sorts of people’s eyebrows twitter. If an MP flew back to his electorate for a clinic, but had a campaign meeting on the same trip, the travel costs were counted as election expenses. That sort of thing.
Are you confident that you could detail everything that someone else would consider an election expense?
And politicians pass laws all the time that are interpreted by the enforcement agencies in ways the pollies didn’t anticipate. ‘unconstitutional’ nope.
And the reason I won’t ‘admit’ such, is because I don’t think it’s true. So go drink your beer, and come back when you might want to explain your position, listen to others and accept that people can honestly have different opinions about things than you. You arrogant fuck.
go and check it yourself. It’s the fucking truth. Thats why the last lot got people’s blood boiling and they were turfed out of office.
Its labour that were the arrogant fucks.
They were hated by an awlful lot of NZ that previously had time for them. Clark lost it at the end. This was one of the prime reasons. You still don’t realise that.
Nah not hungover at all. Are you drunk enough to start making sense yet? 😉
“go and check it yourself.”
Learn how to post a link if you want people to know what it is you are talking about.
It’s the fucking truth. Thats why the last lot got people’s blood boiling and they were turfed out of office.
What’s the fucking truth? That no one here will ‘admit’ things you believe to be true but won’t explain, because it’s just your 2c or your too busy at the moment or whatever.
When you first showed up here you were going to ‘educate’ us lefties as I recall. How is that not arrogant? Are you starting to understand that ‘Arrogance’ is a perception thing.
We all get that you think Labour was arrogant. Good for you. So what? All politicians are arrogant. What could be more arrogant than putting yourself up for the job of running the country because you think you know how to it better than everyone else. When an electorate goes sour on politicians for any reason they start to see them as arrogant. It’s not the big causative deal that you seem to think it is. The fact that they were getting tagged as arrogant, is a symptom of their problem, and a magnifier of it, rather than the main cause.
And how is telling me what I don’t realise not arrogant? I know full well that that is how Labour was seen. Big deal.
What I’m wanting to know is why this particular thing that you are talking about today is arrogant, and unconstitutional and what have you. I note you didn’t bother responding to that part my of my comment. If I might be so arrogant, can I ask if I was close in my guess of what it was about?
Yes, my comment was hot tempered, but read your comments today. What got my blood up was your insinuation that commenters here are being dishonest because we don’t say we agree with you.
If you don’t care to apologise, that’s fine, perceptions can be changed to account.
sheesh you guys are sensitive sometimes. the threads posted on here are equally provocative etc at times. what’s the matter, can’t handle your own medicine? i think p’s b you have slanted off on one sentence of mine and gone all unstable.
I addressed as much of your comment as I could vto. Read both my comments and I think I explain my position fairly clearly.
I’m still not quite sure what your point is though. I know you think that the Labour were all evil and arrogant. But you don’t seem to be able or willing to expand on that. And yet you call me a liar if a disagree with you, claiming that I know these things but won’t ‘admit’ it. Or you make big pronouncements about how I am not aware of things, just because I haven’t mentioed them.
I can handle my medicine vto, but can you justify administering it?
I don’t really think the two packages are comparable. New Zealand’s entire population is the equivalent of a large SUBURB of a major US city, with a completely different political atmosphere (the Dems are probably to the right of National, to be honest) and completely different issues. They are really really in the shit over there, they are thinking of nationalizing the banks for goodness sake.
Different stimulus packages represent the different scenarios countries are facing – and it still remains to be seen whether or not Obama’s will work. How much money is involved means jack when we’ve yet to see the results – more money does not nescessarily mean more stimulus. Especially when Americans don’t have a federal welfare system or federal healthcare entitlement which are things we take for granted here in New Zealand. Obama s cutting taxes for 95% of American workers – but that’s like putting a Band Aid on a gushing wound. Increased social spending won’t create jobs when they are losing nearly a million a month.
I don’t think the two packages are really comparable because the situations are entirely different and therefore the packages are too.
Who took a jet around NZ to show how rich he was? Key. Talk about Key’s arrogance, swanning around NZ when he has already been recorded as knowing the recession (depression) was coming over a year ago. (or did Ashcroft help by paying for the fuel?)
Clark was accused of being arrogant because two bodyguards closed off a doorway for the safety of the PM and inadvertently stopped a disabled person from parking closer. Apart from the fact she had no say in it, do you finally get the drift of the worst case of arrogance.
KEY?
You’re right Vto.
Go to the top of the class for finally getting the fact that arrogance is in the eye of the beholder but it is also about Kiwi fairness.
said “Hmm someone named Gaylord talking about a soft cxxk.
I’m sure there’s a joke there somewhere but nope, too easy, i’m sure there are better things to do with my time.”
Bloody idiots. I made one highly specific point re labour passing a law which it didn’t understand, and all that flowed from that, including bad governance in the extreme, arrogance, indicative of why they lost support, smashed cred., etc.
It is pretty simple to understand what I was saying.
You guys think you have addressed all the bits and bobs? You’re just all hooked up on the charge of arrogance.
You clearly see no problem with a govt passing a law which it didn’t understand.
The EFA and labours involvement in it was total bullshit.
and jumskull, show where I referred to any arrogance or lack of of Key? I was talking about labour towards the end. Nothing else. Don’t imply things that I haven’t said.
Now who can’t take his own medicine? You called everyone here a liar.
I’ve explained in my first comment about the ‘not understanding the law’ business. Perhaps you missed it.
But I’m guessing it says something like that they couldn’t always be sure what was an election expense? That’s not an admission that they didn’t understand the law, it’s an admission that they were unsure about how relevant third parties would interpret the law. It’s sort of the opposite of arrogance isn’t it?
I seem to remember that in the big to do about the Auditor General last time around, he was including things as election expenses that made all sorts of people’s eyebrows twitter. If an MP flew back to his electorate for a clinic, but had a campaign meeting on the same trip, the travel costs were counted as election expenses. That sort of thing.
Are you confident that you could detail everything that someone else would consider an election expense?
Care to address it, or are you still just hung up on me calling your own arrogance out?
oh bloody hell. I did read that but didn’t feel it covered my point so didn’t reply. Do you not recall Kings “law of common sense” call? That was because she could not be sure how the law would apply. You miss my point. The labour govt passed a law it did not understand. That was known at the time (King’s admission). The labour party has then again admitted such in its electoral return last week.
If the govt did not understand the detail of how the law would apply then it should not have passed the law. That is my point. It is bad governance in the extreme. And that is where the charge of arrogance arises.
Not understanding the detail of a law at the time of passing is quite different from a court or A-G making its own interpretation of a law subsequently. The difference is a subtle but major point.
As for my own arrogance??? Ffs you took one sentence where I suggested nobody here would admit that labour conducted such reckless and shit governance and strung that out to …
I absolutely did not call everyone on here a liar.
First answer the question about whether or not such was in fact bad governance. If you decide it is then call the labour lot out on it. If you think it is fine law-making then that is fine but I disagree vehemently. Your answer to this main question, which you re-posted above does not address this subtle question, as I explained. And nobody else has tried to answer it.
No one says that the law was completely well done. Yes Labour bears blame for that, but there is a hell of a lot to go around. The highly partisan nature of the way things went down didn’t help, nor did the media with it’s retarded ‘democracy under attack’ horseshit.
These sorts of laws are always complicated. Always. there will always be grey areas. this is what National seized on, grey areas, that would normally be left up to the enforcement agencies to rule on, in the spirit of the act, with commomn sense applying and what have you, and made out that every instance should be black and white.
Ever bought a beer in a pub when you’re intoxicated? Or with the intent to become intoxicated? Did the bar lose it’s license and have to pay a big fine? No, even though that’s what the law says. See, grey areas, common sense. Bad governance? You make a perfect law.
So, your ‘not understanding’ the law overplays it IMV. you obviously disagree.
So, could have been better, but far from the appalling bad governance you make it out to be. Definitely an improvement on the old Act. It’ll be interesting to see how the Nat’s deal with it.
You keep saying that this was the thing that brought Labour down, but there is no evidence for that. You obviously thought it was akin to H8LER, but that doesn’t mean most people did. There were polls before the election about what voters thought the most important issues were, and the EFA hardly even made the list.
Re you calling folks here liars, which you now deny:
Here is what you said:
“Of course nobody on here will admit such. Which weakens this site’s cred as well. But that’s par for the course.”
In my book that most definitely is calling everyone a liar. You may not have meant it, or just considered it a throwaway, but tough.
Call me a liar, based only on the fact that I don’t agree with you, and I’m going to call you out on it. Yes it is arrogant. Actual arrogance based on a belief that your opinion is the obvious truth that no one could honestly question.
Yes that “fire at will” act, passed without select committee due process seems to have all of those problems. What are the implications for benefits? Will it cause people to avoid employers who offer it (I will) etc etc. NACT doesn’t understand the implications because they didn’t look at them prior to passing the pile of bollocks.
I suppose that you approve of that act’s process right?
No I absolutely do not lprent. If any party or govt does that shit then I will call it shit, be it nats, labour, maori, act etc. They are mostly as bad as each other but Clark and the EFA was up with the worst of the worst in NZ history. Ps b, who cares what the old act said, in case you still haven’t got my point – it is the way in which the law was enacted that shit stinks, not the law itself, which is and has always been my point. (I think the law falls short as well, but that is another story)
Reading your post above, imo you either don;t quite understand the detail of the system and how it should work, or you simply underestimate what went on re the EFA. For partisan reasons it would seem.
Our system has major flaws which allow this obscene concentration of power in the hands of the few at the top. In the end Clark was taking advantage of those flaws. If Key does the same then he will be a smelly arse as well. Muldoon was one.
(fuck this is a good ding dong – reckon we still be cyber friends in the end?)
Anything Labour puts forward is positive and will help people help themselves = economic progress for all.
Anything NAct puts forward is negative and helps only itself, at the expense of those who can least afford it = economic recession for all except those who were quick enough to stow their millions in safe tax havens.
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The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
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IrishBIll: you were banned some time ago. Go have sock puppet conversations with yourself elsewhere.
My thoughts exactly…let the baying begin.
Soon you will see the ill effects of obamas way. Size does matter.
Good cartoon.
While I agree stimulus packages are needed, what is being done about the root causes of what has gone wrong?
Are the same bunch of corporate crooks still going to be running the show five years down the track?
Are they just “waiting for the dust to settle” before its back to business as usual?
“Are the same bunch of corporate crooks still going to be running the show five years down the track?”
Yep. Nothing is really going to change, no “democratic” government in the world has the stones to take complete control of the economy.
Hmm someone named Gaylord talking about a soft cock.
I’m sure there’s a joke there somewhere but…nope, too easy, i’m sure there are better things to do with my time.
I often wonder if the left are just so deliberately dim when it comes to economic matter – or if the left really are totally economically illiterate?
The problem with any stimulas package is that it is done off the back of borrowing money. Money that does need to be paid back – with interest – a couple of months before the election Clark was harping on about the evils of borrowing more money. Thanks to the fical fool cullen that is exactly what has had to happen, but Bill English is sensibly doing the minimum in order to smooth the roughest edges of the recession – but NZ is but a cork bobbing on the ocean of the worldwide recession.
The National Government is using this time to position NZ in the best possible position to benefit when recovery happens. Borrowing money for short term gain is not a good idea – and will do nothing but delay the turnaround as the borrowed money must be paid back.
But then again if Labour was in Government (thank god they are not) the writers of the Standard would no doubt be applauding the fiscal fool Cullen no matter what he did.
Monty, the government borrows to stimulate the economy in such a way that we are better prepared to make the most of the next upswing. The analogy isn’t exact but think of it as being like a business raising capital to upgrade plant and equipment. Sure the money needs to be paid back but the upgrade means that not only will the payments be easier to make but there will be profit on top.
Of course we could do what we did in the 90’s and exercise fiscal restraint but what happened then is that restraint further contracted the economy and deepened and lengthened the recession.
That meant we lost skilled workers to stronger economies and that infrastructure and productive capital were run down. That’s a good part of why we have lower wages than Aussie, why we had a massive skills shortage (and still do in some industries) and why we have low productivity.
You’re arguing for a repeat of that fiasco. It makes me wonder if you are being deliberately dim.
Great graphic!
monty, I won’t berate you with “fical fool cullen” – gee I make enougfh typos myself – but you do deserve to know how the world today is not command-control anymore for, as they say in silicon valley, it is all about interconnectedness.
Bill English and highly likely the government’s whole leadership – (PM on through all ministrys) is follow a leader C-C – and I would hope they transition quickly to being part of the total solution and not out on their own-ee-oh!!!
You said Borrowing money for short term gain is not a good idea and how right that is, though only virtual collapse of the global banking sector (among which in enzed the government’s lead party would resource major support) has drawn this rather obvious conclusion. Personally I would call that the irresponsibility of follower-dom today.
lprent, not criticising y’follow, but has the type here been set lower ( and changed to sans ) or do I need bigger magnification in my reading glasses..?.
The problem with National doing the bare minimum in terms of stimulating the economy is that it seems their plan is predicated on the idea that this particular economic downturn is only going to last another couple of months and at the most a year.
Talk to anyone who went overseas over summer, like say someone who went to America, and they’ll tell you the recession has hit the country with real power. They’ll also tell you that while masses of people were being fired, laid off and made redundant over there, NZ was basically on holiday and now the reality of the situation is becoming all too clear: the job market has become incredibly competitive with jobs scarce and full-time work a luxury, many companies have put a freeze on pay raises if they’re not making people redundant.
Taking the “sharpest edges” off the recession is not working and won’t work because it’s taking the edges off for people who already have money and high paying jobs, the tax cuts are going to have little or no effect as the cuts are – once again – targeted at the wrong income bracket, it’s kind of like giving a band aid to someone with a bruise while someone with a deep wound bleeds all over the floor.
The Labour government steered the country well by paying down debt so we have the ability to borrow when we need to, around a month ago English almost applauded them for this and said, “This is the rainy day the government planned for,” and yet we have little or no real plans for spending – a cycleway here, a bridge here, a new (un-needed i might add) motorway there – what we have is talks of cuts to public spending like ACC privatization, dropping out of the cullen fund, while reducing workers’ rights and sending people to WINZ. As others have said we need to super-charge the economy with money so we can ride out the recession and be in a better position when the market rebounds, if a large part of our society is unemployed and probably sick because of no ACC or limited healthcare what will we do? Borrow money.
Yes we have to pay back our loans with interest; however, isn’t better to borrow when you need the money to maintain jobs rather than wait until the storm is over and then figure out what needs to be done. National’s plans are going to do nothing but prolong the recession and then when the market gains confidence again it will waste time figuring out what to do and spoil a year or two of economic growth.
Vinsin. Great summary! I wish I could do that but my brain hurts at the vast conflicts of economic opinions.
whats the number of that apollo that blew up? i notice the cartoonist left that off the “stimulus” rocket. and what happens when you get blasted to space? what exactly has nasa achieved in space for all the trillions they have spent? have they found life on mars, well kind of almost. have they discovered other intelligent life forms out there? no. have they managed to make a return on all that money they pumped in? well, not even slightly. this cartoon is a terrible analogy. at least if the NZ rocket explodes we can pick up the pieces and try again. if the “stimulus” rocket explodes, well i dare say too much would have been invested to do anything but sell anything salvageable to the chinese. kind of like the wellington power system last year.
My god, i think the rocket went completely over your head Tighty. Fail!
I want some of what you are on. Thanks.
Pretty sure it’s meth.
Hahahahahaha!
For a brief moment I thought Tighty had made an overnight transformation from a complete fuckwad into a brilliant satirist. But no, it’s all kinds of fail.
Oh, and nice comment vinsin, spot on.
all kinds of fail? you know, what if im wrong, i’ll eat my words. thats an election promise i’ll keep, my pledge card if you will
the obamamessiah has fucked it up. the economic arguments put forward by this website and other left commentators are one-sided and therefore flawed. to increase capacity you can borrow from the bank, but when revenue drops, you cut costs and look at ways to increase future revenue out of current income. only a very fucking stupid stupid bank lends to people/organisations that won’t be able to pay it back. so the “borrow to spend” argument is doubly fucked because, and apparently everyone agrees on this, it’s one of the major causes of why we are in the shit anyway. i wouldn’t expect anyone who supports this to get that though.
of course governments just do what they want, but the long term effects will be the same.
“only a very … stupid stupid bank lends to people/organisations that won’t be able to pay it back”
So if the Government is the only organisation able to ‘pay it back’ (heh, remonds me of something else) does it not make sense for the government to act and keep things moving? Unless you’re Iceland, the Governmet may be the only party able to do anything – is that not a good thing, then, if it acts?
if the borrowing bankrupts the economy, the any bank/organisation/that has lent will be very fucking stupid. well actually it won’t matter as everyone will be screwed six ways from sunday anyway.
Felix, jealous you crack ho? need a hit? go hit manchester street and hang out with your pipe fiendish sister, she might take pity and shout you a blast.
Good idea, I’ll do that as soon as I’ve finished with your Mum.
[lprent: Felix – there is no call for that. Tone it down]
Tighty,
You can’t make “election promises” you fucking moron. You’re not contesting an election, you’re an idiot on a blog and you write like you’ve been up all night on the pipe. You should expect piss to be taken.
Perhaps a liver too, mines playing up.
ho ho ho, original, get that off the latest mtv bullshit you obviously subscribe too?
do you know how i know your lying though? last time i was balls deep in your mums mudbutton she told me your still a virgin.
[lprent: Have you been reading the ‘sod? For a second I thought… Read the policy and tone it down or go to a blog where that kind of comment is tolerated.]
The words are to, you’re and Mum’s. Moron.
yep Obamas putting a Big Rocket = Big Bang into the US economy
Jonkeys putting a sky rocket into our economy with the explosive power of a TOM THUMB (Now I’m showing my age)
Every one of NASA’s Saturn V rockets flew successfully, even in testing.
P.S. CAPTCHA: organization women.
(Today being http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/ pay equity faxathon day)
that’s a mighty expensive rocket the USA have there, and they don’t have the money to pay for it so they’re going to consign themselves to decades more of debt. Short term gain, long term pain.
I’m so glad we’re not following that lead and only have one decade of deficits to deal with. Anyone who is able to manage their own money knows it should be short term pain, long term gain.
That is a partial cartoon and misses a whole lot. I don’t rate it
Aww, did you want to see all of the big shiny rocket?
(sorry vto, couldn’t resist)
ha ha, silly.
What would make a better cartoon is something concerning Winston Peters NZF most recent election funding rort (no wonder he is loathed).
And also something about Labour’s admission in its return that it cannot be sure of the definition of what is and isn’t an electoral expense, etc. That has to be the biggest joke of the lot. And it is like a smack to the chops imo for those who contend Clark is one the greatest NZers alive. ha ha ha ha ha ha…
really, vto? The electoral return of a party that is no longer in parliament is more important that the global economy?
I don’t think the criteria for Greatest Living New Zealander is “ability of the political party you previously led to interpret the EFA.” otherwise Hillary wouldn’t have been in the picture when he was alive. A bit trite, don’t you think?
MP, you know exactly what I am saying you twister.
Helen Clark and the Labour Party govt rammed through a law which Helen Clark and the Labour Party couldn’t even understand themselves. That is both pathetic and terrible.
And if you think Winston Peters and NZF are more important than the world economy then that’s your prerogative.
vto,
Why not a film about the 19th century missionaries? They must have had some fascinating experiences, travelling the world and interacting with different cultures.
What great stories!
Yes Tim, let’s all think in the short term and look for quick fixes.
What’s the old saying? “what got you into this mess will get you out of this mess”.
oh wait – I just made that up and it’s absolute rubbish. Hmm… Maybe a different approach is needed.
I love the talk of this ‘fiscal fool Cullen’ coupled with a stern lecture about how bad debt is. How does that work, Munty? Cullen doesn’t trash our economy, instead he spends surpluses on getting rid of debt. Now we have proportinally low levels of debt and are in a good spot, compared to other countries, because debt is bad, right? Yet Cullen is a fiscal fool – for doing what you’ve just said is good.
Your monocular vision sure has played havoc with your peripheral vision, Monty.
Matthew you appear to be (how to put this delicately)… stupid. Short term pain, long term gain is what I’m advocating. Instead of massive borrowing to try to stimulate the economy we’re better off with a smaller program that doesn’t raise our debt levels through the roof.
Are you telling me you want massive debt?
You’re welcome to think Cullen did something wonderful for us but all I see is squandering of surpluses and criminal covering up of projected deficits. Oh yeah, and being taken for a sucker by Toll.
You’re trying to have it both ways Matthew, and it’s pretty transparent that you simply take an opposite view of whatever the National government does as your viewpoint. It must really piss you off that Key’s government is doing so well 🙂
It makes me laugh, because you can’t help taking the opposite stance and it makes you look (how to put this delicately)… stupid.
Tim, you’re not just stupid, you are really thick (bugger the delicate bit). Please go and learn how to read a balance sheet – comment when you know what in the hell you’re talking about…
You are totally wrong. In essence there were no surpluses.
That was a public perception formed by the Nat’s and Act lying through their teeth and selectively picking the accounts to show what they wanted to see – ie on a Profit & Loss level. If you took it out into the Balance sheet level and looked at longer-term liabilities, you get the specter of liability of the superannuation system that National gave us in 1975. That wasn’t fully funded and without the superannuation fund (that the robber baron Nats wish to raid) would look even worse.
If you looked at that within the mix, then we have been effectively in deficit until some time after 2050. Taxes should have been raised rather than reduced to cover for that liability. The later it is left, then the higher the cost will be to the taxpayers in a few years.
Usually at this point I hear the mantra of better productivity from the right – but that is a matter of faith rather than practice. A prudent government doesn’t cast dice on future generations. Similarly it shouldn’t write budgets with future possible gains being inked in to pay for future liabilities. If you haven’t already realized the gain then it doesn’t exist in prudent accounting.
The fact remains that since 1975 we had rising debt to ridiculous levels. The Nats in the 1990’s managed to slow the rate of increase. Cullen managed to drop it down. This managed to massively increase the effective productivity of the state sector because we stopped paying 25% or so in our fiscal budget on interest repayments (which is what it got to at peak).
Of course I suspect that what we’re going to get from these bozo’s in government now is a merchant bankers budget. Long on speculative hope based on faith, debt and high on risk. But that describes the NACT’s doesn’t it.
Obama like Key is in the business of stimulating profits.
Have a read of Michel Chossudovsky’s recent article
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12517
vto – course I do – but the interpretation of that is exactly what I said.
I can’t imagine the Peters’ think making a good cartoon though – how would you go about it? I suppose there could be a ‘no’ sign, it’s almost obligatory. Maybe something about him being asked whether he filed his return properly, before he dashes away in a helicopter…
MP, do you not agree that a govt ramming through a law that it doesn’t understand itself and is incapable of interpretation is a joke?
Are you talking about the Wanganui gang insignia law? I fully agree.
ha ha Felix, don’t know as I haven’t followed that. But if so same call of ‘terrible and pathetic’ applies. Bloody dipshits wasting all our hard-earned taxes on crap for selfish political purposes.
But you imply that you agree that the EFA is/was a joke and terrible and pathetic. Excellent.
edit: dont understand your 1.24 comment but sounds worthy
Was just being a smart arse really – don’t mind me.
Yeah the “fire at will” act really tops the cake for that approach.
hang on hang on, you’re taking me off track. All parties engage in legislation for crap self-serving political purposes.
The point, and difference, with the EFA is that the Labour govt couldn’t even understand the law itself. Really, why pass something that is incapable of interpretation? Bad governance in the extreme. That is the biggest joke.
It is like a massive prang to the side of the Clark credibility jalopy.
I haven’t seen the story about Labour not understanding it – but I still don’t think it would rank up there among Clark’s acts, good or bad, as you describe it. Of course it’s your 2c, as you say, and maybe you feel electoral funding really affects your life, somehow. That’s the problem with ‘Greatest’ anything – it is very subjective. I mean hell, people can’t even agree that the Amazon is the ‘Greatest’ river.
MP, its in a statement from the labour party’s auditors in their electoral returns. It was in the media this morning.
You really don’t think passing a law that you don’t understand doesn’t rank up there? I consider it mind-blowingly reckless, criminal, unconstitutional and extremely bad governance. It stinks to high heaven and just rides arrogantly over the people and all who came before Clark in setting up the current governing structure we live under. It aint just my 2c, it’s my $2billion.
Of course nobody on here will admit such. Which weakens this site’s cred as well. But that’s par for the course.
Anyway, its almost beer o’clock.
Bit more MP.. You say “maybe you feel electoral funding really affects your life, somehow”. Classic case of MP distortion. It isn’t the electoral funding issue that affects my life, it is the bad governance. Riding roughshod like that is on the path to dictatorship. Recall how many have described and consider Clark? That H….r word that can’t be used on here?
hah. If people don’t agree with your opinion, then that is damaging to their cred, and just goes to show their arrogance. Good one.
I’ve had the day off, went and saw a band last night, stayed out well past beer o’clock, so I’ve missed this awesome admission from Labour.
But I’m guessing it says something like that they couldn’t always be sure what was an election expense? That’s not an admission that they didn’t understand the law, it’s an admission that they were unsure about how relevant third parties would interpret the law. It’s sort of the opposite of arrogance isn’t it?
I seem to remember that in the big to do about the Auditor General last time around, he was including things as election expenses that made all sorts of people’s eyebrows twitter. If an MP flew back to his electorate for a clinic, but had a campaign meeting on the same trip, the travel costs were counted as election expenses. That sort of thing.
Are you confident that you could detail everything that someone else would consider an election expense?
And politicians pass laws all the time that are interpreted by the enforcement agencies in ways the pollies didn’t anticipate. ‘unconstitutional’ nope.
And the reason I won’t ‘admit’ such, is because I don’t think it’s true. So go drink your beer, and come back when you might want to explain your position, listen to others and accept that people can honestly have different opinions about things than you. You arrogant fuck.
woooo… still hungover P’s b?
go and check it yourself. It’s the fucking truth. Thats why the last lot got people’s blood boiling and they were turfed out of office.
Its labour that were the arrogant fucks.
They were hated by an awlful lot of NZ that previously had time for them. Clark lost it at the end. This was one of the prime reasons. You still don’t realise that.
“woooo still hungover P’s b?”
Nah not hungover at all. Are you drunk enough to start making sense yet? 😉
“go and check it yourself.”
Learn how to post a link if you want people to know what it is you are talking about.
It’s the fucking truth. Thats why the last lot got people’s blood boiling and they were turfed out of office.
What’s the fucking truth? That no one here will ‘admit’ things you believe to be true but won’t explain, because it’s just your 2c or your too busy at the moment or whatever.
When you first showed up here you were going to ‘educate’ us lefties as I recall. How is that not arrogant? Are you starting to understand that ‘Arrogance’ is a perception thing.
We all get that you think Labour was arrogant. Good for you. So what? All politicians are arrogant. What could be more arrogant than putting yourself up for the job of running the country because you think you know how to it better than everyone else. When an electorate goes sour on politicians for any reason they start to see them as arrogant. It’s not the big causative deal that you seem to think it is. The fact that they were getting tagged as arrogant, is a symptom of their problem, and a magnifier of it, rather than the main cause.
And how is telling me what I don’t realise not arrogant? I know full well that that is how Labour was seen. Big deal.
What I’m wanting to know is why this particular thing that you are talking about today is arrogant, and unconstitutional and what have you. I note you didn’t bother responding to that part my of my comment. If I might be so arrogant, can I ask if I was close in my guess of what it was about?
Yes, my comment was hot tempered, but read your comments today. What got my blood up was your insinuation that commenters here are being dishonest because we don’t say we agree with you.
If you don’t care to apologise, that’s fine, perceptions can be changed to account.
sheesh you guys are sensitive sometimes. the threads posted on here are equally provocative etc at times. what’s the matter, can’t handle your own medicine? i think p’s b you have slanted off on one sentence of mine and gone all unstable.
I addressed as much of your comment as I could vto. Read both my comments and I think I explain my position fairly clearly.
I’m still not quite sure what your point is though. I know you think that the Labour were all evil and arrogant. But you don’t seem to be able or willing to expand on that. And yet you call me a liar if a disagree with you, claiming that I know these things but won’t ‘admit’ it. Or you make big pronouncements about how I am not aware of things, just because I haven’t mentioed them.
I can handle my medicine vto, but can you justify administering it?
I don’t really think the two packages are comparable. New Zealand’s entire population is the equivalent of a large SUBURB of a major US city, with a completely different political atmosphere (the Dems are probably to the right of National, to be honest) and completely different issues. They are really really in the shit over there, they are thinking of nationalizing the banks for goodness sake.
Different stimulus packages represent the different scenarios countries are facing – and it still remains to be seen whether or not Obama’s will work. How much money is involved means jack when we’ve yet to see the results – more money does not nescessarily mean more stimulus. Especially when Americans don’t have a federal welfare system or federal healthcare entitlement which are things we take for granted here in New Zealand. Obama s cutting taxes for 95% of American workers – but that’s like putting a Band Aid on a gushing wound. Increased social spending won’t create jobs when they are losing nearly a million a month.
I don’t think the two packages are really comparable because the situations are entirely different and therefore the packages are too.
Vto
Who took a jet around NZ to show how rich he was? Key. Talk about Key’s arrogance, swanning around NZ when he has already been recorded as knowing the recession (depression) was coming over a year ago. (or did Ashcroft help by paying for the fuel?)
Clark was accused of being arrogant because two bodyguards closed off a doorway for the safety of the PM and inadvertently stopped a disabled person from parking closer. Apart from the fact she had no say in it, do you finally get the drift of the worst case of arrogance.
KEY?
You’re right Vto.
Go to the top of the class for finally getting the fact that arrogance is in the eye of the beholder but it is also about Kiwi fairness.
vinsin
March 6, 2009 at 8:54 am
said “Hmm someone named Gaylord talking about a soft cxxk.
I’m sure there’s a joke there somewhere but nope, too easy, i’m sure there are better things to do with my time.”
Who let vinsin loose with time travel?
Captcha: 18th MADMAN
Bloody idiots. I made one highly specific point re labour passing a law which it didn’t understand, and all that flowed from that, including bad governance in the extreme, arrogance, indicative of why they lost support, smashed cred., etc.
It is pretty simple to understand what I was saying.
You guys think you have addressed all the bits and bobs? You’re just all hooked up on the charge of arrogance.
You clearly see no problem with a govt passing a law which it didn’t understand.
The EFA and labours involvement in it was total bullshit.
and jumskull, show where I referred to any arrogance or lack of of Key? I was talking about labour towards the end. Nothing else. Don’t imply things that I haven’t said.
Now who can’t take his own medicine? You called everyone here a liar.
I’ve explained in my first comment about the ‘not understanding the law’ business. Perhaps you missed it.
Care to address it, or are you still just hung up on me calling your own arrogance out?
oh bloody hell. I did read that but didn’t feel it covered my point so didn’t reply. Do you not recall Kings “law of common sense” call? That was because she could not be sure how the law would apply. You miss my point. The labour govt passed a law it did not understand. That was known at the time (King’s admission). The labour party has then again admitted such in its electoral return last week.
If the govt did not understand the detail of how the law would apply then it should not have passed the law. That is my point. It is bad governance in the extreme. And that is where the charge of arrogance arises.
Not understanding the detail of a law at the time of passing is quite different from a court or A-G making its own interpretation of a law subsequently. The difference is a subtle but major point.
As for my own arrogance??? Ffs you took one sentence where I suggested nobody here would admit that labour conducted such reckless and shit governance and strung that out to …
I absolutely did not call everyone on here a liar.
First answer the question about whether or not such was in fact bad governance. If you decide it is then call the labour lot out on it. If you think it is fine law-making then that is fine but I disagree vehemently. Your answer to this main question, which you re-posted above does not address this subtle question, as I explained. And nobody else has tried to answer it.
Is it bad law-making or not?
No one says that the law was completely well done. Yes Labour bears blame for that, but there is a hell of a lot to go around. The highly partisan nature of the way things went down didn’t help, nor did the media with it’s retarded ‘democracy under attack’ horseshit.
These sorts of laws are always complicated. Always. there will always be grey areas. this is what National seized on, grey areas, that would normally be left up to the enforcement agencies to rule on, in the spirit of the act, with commomn sense applying and what have you, and made out that every instance should be black and white.
Ever bought a beer in a pub when you’re intoxicated? Or with the intent to become intoxicated? Did the bar lose it’s license and have to pay a big fine? No, even though that’s what the law says. See, grey areas, common sense. Bad governance? You make a perfect law.
So, your ‘not understanding’ the law overplays it IMV. you obviously disagree.
So, could have been better, but far from the appalling bad governance you make it out to be. Definitely an improvement on the old Act. It’ll be interesting to see how the Nat’s deal with it.
You keep saying that this was the thing that brought Labour down, but there is no evidence for that. You obviously thought it was akin to H8LER, but that doesn’t mean most people did. There were polls before the election about what voters thought the most important issues were, and the EFA hardly even made the list.
Re you calling folks here liars, which you now deny:
Here is what you said:
“Of course nobody on here will admit such. Which weakens this site’s cred as well. But that’s par for the course.”
In my book that most definitely is calling everyone a liar. You may not have meant it, or just considered it a throwaway, but tough.
Call me a liar, based only on the fact that I don’t agree with you, and I’m going to call you out on it. Yes it is arrogant. Actual arrogance based on a belief that your opinion is the obvious truth that no one could honestly question.
Yes that “fire at will” act, passed without select committee due process seems to have all of those problems. What are the implications for benefits? Will it cause people to avoid employers who offer it (I will) etc etc. NACT doesn’t understand the implications because they didn’t look at them prior to passing the pile of bollocks.
I suppose that you approve of that act’s process right?
No I absolutely do not lprent. If any party or govt does that shit then I will call it shit, be it nats, labour, maori, act etc. They are mostly as bad as each other but Clark and the EFA was up with the worst of the worst in NZ history. Ps b, who cares what the old act said, in case you still haven’t got my point – it is the way in which the law was enacted that shit stinks, not the law itself, which is and has always been my point. (I think the law falls short as well, but that is another story)
Reading your post above, imo you either don;t quite understand the detail of the system and how it should work, or you simply underestimate what went on re the EFA. For partisan reasons it would seem.
Our system has major flaws which allow this obscene concentration of power in the hands of the few at the top. In the end Clark was taking advantage of those flaws. If Key does the same then he will be a smelly arse as well. Muldoon was one.
(fuck this is a good ding dong – reckon we still be cyber friends in the end?)
Monty
March 6, 2009 at 9:15 am
I always thought economics was really easy.
Anything Labour puts forward is positive and will help people help themselves = economic progress for all.
Anything NAct puts forward is negative and helps only itself, at the expense of those who can least afford it = economic recession for all except those who were quick enough to stow their millions in safe tax havens.
That applies to countries as well as people.
Jum
do you have a brain? can you think for yourself?
Or is it simply a case of labour good, national bad with you?
If ever there was an example of a sheep from Animal Farm its you.
Ha! You’re using lines from burt! And you’re calling people stupid? If I may quote we burty back at you – pot/kettle…
Again, love this reply function – it lets me be very clear which rightard I am schooling…
Robinsod
who is this Burt and what lines am I using?
I was replying to Jum, and I have not called anyone stupid. How are you schooling me?
Suggest you need to read what is written a bit more carefully before you reply.
vto
Have a cup of tea and a lie-down.
ha ha, been trying but the steam coming from my ears has clouded the way to the kitchen. tell me – is jum a type of banana?