One thing National does very well is spend a lot of time softening the public up for unpopular moves so that the public attention has moved on by the time anything actually happens. Look at GST. The ‘rabbit from a hat’ trick of borrowing for larger income tax cuts served to divert attention from the well-signaled GST hike. They’re running the same strategy on privatisation.
In a move that can only be described as the fox guarding the hen house, the fishing industry has released plans for self-regulation entitled ‘Managing Our Own Ship’. National would be making a huge mistake to hand over more power to the fishing industry and in the end it would be the people who would have to deal with the consequences.
In 2008, Bill English was sprung secretly telling National members that he and Key would sell Kiwibank “‘eventually but not now”. After being caught out, English and Key categorically ruled out asset sales in the first term of a National government and said they would seek a mandate to make any sales in a second term.
Most of this country’s mineral wealth lies under private land, according to the government’s own figures. So, why are the Nats so determined to override public opinion and let their mining allies dig up our precious protected lands? Simple: mining on private land means paying a lease to the owner. Mining on public land is cheaper: we’re played like chumps for bigger profits.
National’s hysteria around ACC last year was focused on creating an air of crisis. Now they’re going to ‘do something’. That something is privatisation of ACC. It won’t work, it won’t save money. The costs of injuries will still exist. Privatisation will put more of that cost on the injured. Added ligation and profits will mean worse cover for more cost.
In 2008 John Key made this crystal clear promise: “That in the first term of the National government there will be no state assets that will be sold either partially or fully.” Now, Land Information New Zealand is proposing the sale of seven high country stations as part of the tenure review process. Key must keep his promise not to sell state assets and turn down this proposal immediately.
Last year, Telecom screws over its engineers. Decides to make them dependent contractors. EPMU wins real jobs for most of them. Better contract conditions for others. But a sh*tload of experienced engineers say screw Telecom and leave the industry. Then the faults start. XT becomes a laughingstock. Customers leave in droves. Next, profit warning.
Kelvin Davis: It goes to show how high the aspirations of some of our Maori leaders are. We now aspire to bung the bros in the hinaki and watch the dollars roll in. The longer and more often we can put them away, the sooner we will be able to afford to expand the prison and lock even more away. With the soaring crime rate and high Maori unemployment everything is coming together nicely.
National’s apologists say we should let private corporations run our prisons because it will save money. But do Public Private Partnerships (privatisation in drag) really save money? The experience here and abroad says no. To put it bluntly, when you rely on someone else to deliver something you need they’ve got you by the balls and the profit motive gives them plenty of incentive to squeeze.
National has announced the location for its first private prison on the same day we find out that they want their working group to look at privatising welfare. Private prisons were signaled by National. Privatising welfare was not. In both cases the victims will be a segment of society that this government and its supporters have actively vilified and the ones with the most to gain will be overseas corporations.
Even Guyon Espiner is concerned about the lack of quality analysis and policy design. If the government were serious about helping families in need it’s priority would be getting people back into work and better pay and conditions for low income workers. The fact that is has gone with this Whanau Ora nonsense shows it has no real intention of tackling the causes of this country’s social ills.
Maori activists who want a better deal on the foreshore and seabed can rest assured that the Maori Party is about to sell them out. Tariana Turia just got herself a shiny new portfolio as Minister for Whanau Ora, whatever it is. Do you really think she’s going to give up a control over a policy that National has agreed to just for her? Do you really think she’ll stand strong on her principles over the foreshore and seabed if it means losing the Crown limo?
The Whanau Ora Taskforce report is out and it fails to even attempt to answer simple questions like ‘why is Whanau Ora the best way to help families’. It provides no evidence it will work. Check out the graphic to the right – what does it even mean? All we do know is Whanau Ora will put public money in unaccountable private hands and be privatisation by stealth.
The first Fabian Society seminar in Auckland last weekend attracted a good crowd watch an participate as some of New Zealand’s top economic thinkers debated how to get the economy working for us. It has been judged a huge success. The next seminars will be in Wellington on Sunday 28 March and in Christchurch on 18 April.
Over at Pundit Claire Browning points out that the National government is trying to get away with a huge con. They promised not to privatise state assets (in their first term), but now they are effectively privatising the biggest asset of them all…
The heart of the telecom XT network?
Seriously though, when the 111 call system fails, lives are at risk…
If Telecom were an SOE there would be cries to privatise it. These repeated crashes of XT simply aren’t good enough. Just the […]
The ‘3 strikes’ policy is the kind of policy you put in place when you want to look tough on crime but you […]
The government is beginning to explain more about its Whanau Ora plan, although it is still startlingly vague considering we’re talking a billion […]
As a senior economist at a respected company, John Carran wrote some apallingly simplistic tripe in his article, “Exorcising the asset sale bogey“, […]
Another government-appointed taskforce of rightwing, market ideologues (this time appointed by Labour, the fools) has reported and, surprise, surprise, their report is a […]
It’s interesting to look at the trend behind the headline 11 point poll lead Len Brown has opened up over John Banks as […]
As expected, Nick Smith has imposed substantial ACC levy hikes on families. For a worker on $40,000 with a car, you’re looking at […]
Although the topic has had a turbulent and confused couple of weeks, it seems that National want to privatise Auckland’s water supply. Govt […]
I think Granny Herald must have shares in Infratil, based on her rubbish editorial today: Particular fervour is reserved for private-sector participation in […]
At this point it seems a bit pointless coming to work this morning. I’m sitting in a dark office with the cheeping of […]
This memo was sent by the Insurance Council to its members in 2005 but it may as well have been sent this week. […]
So – Labour have stood up for ACC. Bravo! History repeats. In the last year of the last National government (1999) they flogged […]
National is going to privatise ACC. As part of the deal for support on its ACC cuts and levy hikes from the Maori […]
It is a reflection of the schizophrenic nature of the Maori Party that one day they’re professing to care about poor Maori who […]
It seems certain National will begin the privatisation of ACC starting with opening the work account to private competition. As happened in 1998, […]
Last Thursday, Colin Espiner was mocking all of us who said that National and other rightwing groups were trying to create a sense […]
A fascinating interview with the Sir Owen Woodhouse in the Herald today. Sir Owen has led an amazing life – after helping supply Yugoslav partisans […]
The Herald’s editorial today largely reads like it was written by Nick Smith and John Judge, so let’s use it as the basis […]
