Mondayisation Bill passes
As expected David Clark’s private member’s bill to “Mondayise” holidays passed its final reading this evening. The vote was 61 to 60 with National and ACT voting against.
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
The view from Australia
Sometimes a certain distance gives the clearest view. A piece on PM John Key from Australian newspaper The Telegraph.
Key’s power price record
Spooked by tomorrow’s joint announcement by Labour and the Greens on policy to cut power prices, National is trying to claim they have solved the problem. Get real. In the past year, household electricity prices rose an average of 5%, that’s over six times the rate of general inflation. By my reckoning, the average power bill has risen 16%, or about $300 a year under Key.
The Greens, electricity & sustainability
The Greens and Labour are planning a joint announcement on their policies on power prices. Both parties want to bring down costs of electricity. The policies of the two parties will also have some differences. How will it mesh with Green Party policies on sustainability?
Feed the Kids – Big Breakfast
Tomorrow Mana’s Feed the Kids campaign is running a Big Breakfast event to feed 2000 kids. Contact the organiser if you can help.
Labour’s electricity reforms will be bold
A joint Labour / Green announcement on plans for the electricity sector will be made on Thursday. My prediction is that the plan will be bold.
Telecom’s little dictator
Telecom’s $1.3 million a year CEO has announced a pay freeze. Says workers who don’t like it should quit. The rich fuck’s already sacked a thousand workers, now he thinks he can dictate the terms of employment contracts. I’ve got news for you, arsehole. Employment contracts are bargains between worker and employer, not diktats from rich dickheads.
A float with no %name%
The Nats have spent $48.7 Million of our money “preparing” Mighty River Power for sale, and they couldn’t even get the very basics right.
GCSB changes – outrageous anti-democratic
Key has announced changes to the GCSB roles that will include assisting business and the police in spying against Kiwis. it is anti-democratic, and will increase lack of accountability of the intelligence and crime fighting services.
Asset Sales: Orcon
It was announced today that Government-owned Orcon was sold off last Friday.
Seeking a wormald to the truth
Dotcom has promised some significant revelations from this week’s court proceedings. This morning his lawyer focused on Grant Wormald, the role of the police Special Tactics Group, and the truth. Is the GCSB is off the hook? Meanwhile, Key has been claiming he is “honest and upfront”. [Update – Key’s announced changes to the GCSB outrageous & undemocratic]
Key and Thatcher’s ghost
Caveat emptor 2
Labour’s put out a release saying power prices are too high and “signalling that the future Labour Government will make changes to the sector so that New Zealanders considering purchasing shares in Mighty River Power, which go on sale tomorrow, are aware of that before investing”. In other words, ‘we’re gonna cut power prices, and the electricity companies’ profits will be hit’.
Defence Force Members Are Workers Too
The Court Martial of Flight Lieutenant Dan Pezaro by the NZ Defence Force is making me uneasy. The internal Court of Inquiry into […]
Networks of influence
John Key is into networking and schmoozing with the wealthy & influential. He’s given special attention to the entertainment industries, GCSB, intellectual property & commerce. He crossed paths with Warner’s people the year before the Hobbit dispute, but never played golf with Dotcom.
Dress code
I must have missed the memo on the beneficiary dress code.
Diplomacy, you’re doing it old school
Have you noticed that we have very few visits from leaders of major countries to NZ these days? I was thinking about that watching Key give himself ’10 out of 10′ for his trip to China and reading Audrey Young’s piece, which basically asks ‘what was all that in aid of?’ Key’s junkets always seem to be ‘goodwill’ visits with no real goals or diplomatic outcomes.
3D Manufacturing
It seems that 3D Printing is really starting to mature. Such printers are becoming smaller, cheaper and more capable. It’s only a matter of time before builders become obsolete. A lot can be done with the diffuse energy of the sun. Although it has a ways to go 3D printing is the next level in manufacturing.
Poverty Watch 27
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week we continue with the 2012 report from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. In current news a new UNICEF report stresses the huge impact that the choices of governments can have on poverty. Our government quite literally does not want to know…
Caption competition
The stealthy dismantling of democracy
John Key’s government has been gradually dismantling NZ’s democratic processes. Various activities this week are a major part of a frightening shift: a Bill enabling mining conservation land; punitive social security Act; Key’s control over NZ’s “intelligence community”.
Sums it up, really
National’s 3 quarters of the way through its time at the crease now. And what has it achieved? A record debt pile. 300,000 jobless. 100,000 underemployed. Rising poverty. 1,000 a week fleeing to Australia. A new housing bubble. A record high dollar that’s killing our businesses. And falling household incomes. A list of articles on Stuff sums it up.
External review of Wellington City Council outsourcing needed
The Wellington City Council has agreed to a review of the outsourcing.
But that review needs to be independent.
NRT: Paula Bennett giggles at child poverty
The government doesn’t measure child poverty, so has no way to tell if it is getting better or worse. Hilarious right? Paula Bennett certainly thinks so. “Gosh!”
The Key-Fletcher trail
The PM, Fletcher, the GCSB – questions need answering: why, when, where, who? It’s all about intellectual property, global commerce and international networks. From London to Aus 2009, to NZ 2010, then down the rabbit hole to Dotcom, Hobbits & uncertain links with complex global money mazes.
Attention Mum and Dad investors
Labour’s Clayton Cosgrove reveals that when selling Mighty River Power shares, brokers will get twice the commission for selling to a foreign buyer. This will send ownership overseas and drive up prices for Kiwis.
Security: social, financial, personal, digital
Yesterday more planks in the NAct raft amounting to major changes, were before the House. These undermine democracy, fairness, the security and rights of individuals, and increase hardship for those on low incomes. Ardern on Social Security. Cunliffe on child support, privacy breaches & trust.
True Blue Worker Hate
Any day now the Government will announce more changes to the Employment Relations Act. These changes will drive down wages and undermine the […]
I thank Margaret Thatcher …
… for her major contribution to my political education: of the need to combat the extensive, destructive power of the “neoliberal” elites. I lived in London during the entire time Thatcher was prime minister. It was a time of major change; of political activism; of hope; of disillusionment.
Youth rates – good and bad employers
The Nats’ youth rate wages (“for when the ‘minimum’ wage just isn’t low enough”) come in to effect next month. Some of the big youth employers are making their intentions known. You may wish to vote with your wallet.
Kiwis at centre of money maze: Hager
Today a Nicky Hager article puts Kiwis are at the centre of the global money maze exposed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. He traces developments after Wine Box, the involvement of lawyers (including one ACT-aligned blogger), and some BNZ & ANZ staff… and more.
Investigative journalism is not dead
Congratulations to Duncan Campbell, Nicky Hager, et al involved in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for doing such a great job on the Gobal Offshore Money Maze. The maze includes NZ & Aussie. The investigation used sophisticated digital technologies.
Poverty Watch 26
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week we continue with the 2012 report from the Office of the Children’s Comissioner, and in current news a World Bank report on eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.
WCC outsourcing vote – the results
Yesterday Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown cast her vote for the first stage of out-sourcing to continue with the result that the street cleaning and gardening work has been outsourced.
That’s 27 jobs gone.
More pay for them; bigger bills for us
Ryall has announced that Might River Power top brass will be receiving massive pay rises, in relation to the sale of the powercos. The directors have multiple positions, and questions have been raise about the past of one or two of them. They benefit; we pay.
Will Wellington’s Green mayor outsource council jobs?
Hard to believe, but despite having a Green Party mayor the Wellington City Council is about to outsource work currently done by council […]