The Government has effectively conceded that the Genesis share float will not meet expectations and is softening New Zealand up to the prospect that only 30% of the shares may be sold. It makes you wonder why they are still going a head with the sale.
National is now targeting David Cunliffe and his family. Metiria Turei was attacked for living in a castle and wearing designer jackets, and now David Cunliffe is being attacked for being wealthy. The criticisms miss the point. There is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy. But there is everything wrong in setting fire to the ladder of social support after you have had the opportunity to climb it.
John Key makes up the figures during a session of parliament for the expected unemployment in coming years when he took office. The apparent reason is to make his governments piss-poor performance running the economy look better. Of course there is that problem that Rob Salmond can link to the December 2008 projections from the Treasury which show John Key to be lying (yet again).
The documentary ‘Mind the Gap’ and an interview with a UNICEF advocacy manager focus on poverty and inequality. Zombie “neoliberal” policies have increased poverty & inequality, damaging the futures of too many children. We will all benefit from good government policies underpinned by a commitment to collective approaches and responsibility.
Local Bodies looks at some (very cool) solar installations and the Greens solar policy. We are now seeing a stark contrast between a Government desperate to support the status quo of increasing charges and large company profits, while the future focussed Greens are truly progressive in their thinking.
Good to see Labour has stood up against National’s “harder-to-vote” revisions to the Electoral Amendment Bill, especially making voters now have to state their name to get a voting paper. The reason for this is to allow scrutineers to more easily challenge a voter’s credentials, and is similar to voter intimidation practices in conservative States in the US. Expect National Party scrutineers questioning more voter credentials in the 2014 election.
The NZ Herald starts cuddling up even closer to the National party. I guess they have definitely dropped that shallow facade of being the “Newspaper of Record”. Mind you, it isn’t a good look when Paula Bennett, the minister meant to take care of children, cuddles up with the heartless hypocrite who laughs at dead children. National really must be worried about this election.
Stuff has an astounding interview with John Key where he reveals he has regular catch-ups with Cameron Slater.
We’ve always known that there were close ties between National and the abomination that is Whaleoil but now we know that the ties go right to the top.
National’s charter schools are predicated on the idea that the public education system is doing a bad job. They’re (over-)funded to do things differently. So its more than a little odd that He Puna Marama Trust’s charter school is simply getting local state schools to do all their teaching for them. They just clip the ticket converting taxpayers money to private profit. Ridiculous corrupt NAct policy.
Local bodies writes on the way that National has been concentrating their personal attacks at the Greens. It is a pretty typical display by National in any election year. But you get the impression they’re going to seriously be dumpster diving for dirt this year – especially Judith Collins. National are getting desperate at their disappearing coalition partners. “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win”
John Key has welcomed Tony Abbott’s confirmation that Australia would extend access to students under the Higher Education Loan Program to long-term New Zealand residents in Australia. But this policy was announced eight months ago.
The NZ Herald has a long history of opposing Maori resistance and supporting colonisation. It has always been right wing with a strong commercial focus & MO. Yesterday it censored news of Waitangi Day protests. Today an editorial spins in slippery style, for the Govt’s failing PowerCo sales.
National’s attacks on Metiria Turei appear to me as being deliberate and programmed rather than an inconsequential argument on the cost of designer jackets.
It appears that John Key is trying to divert attention away from this Government’s appalling record regarding child poverty and Labour’s Best Start and Paid Parental Leave by starting a discussion on what the Country’s flag should look like.
The ratings/sales driven ethos of the corporate MSM skews the coverage of the election campaigns of parties of the “left” and the “right”. Focus on individuals, implying they represent large sections of the population. The left are leading the agenda on inequality.
Following David Cunliffe’s announcement of Best Start New Zealand’s right wing took it upon themselves to show how useless and venal they are. […]
There’s another sign National is getting a bit desperate at the beginning of election year 2014, as they reach in to the Tory trick-bag of voter suppression in the revised Electoral Amendment Bill reported back to the House on 18 December 2013.
John Key was careful in his speech. He and his government have helped themselves and their affluent mates while screwing everyone else. It is pretty clear who has been getting the benefits – since 2010 just the households with at least a hundred thousand dollars income. The bigger the household income, the more National helps. John Key – a liar with numbers.
The Crown Financial Statements to the end of November 2013 show that the sale of Meridian and Air New Zealand added hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the asset sales programme. Combined with the cost of the Mighty River Power sale and ancillary costs such as the Rio Tinto payout, the total cost of the asset sales now stands at $440m. National just likes burning the money of the taxpayers for no productive purpose.
John Key presented one great idea in isolation instead of a full election agenda: a desperate attempt to stop the growing discontents with his government. He failed to address underlying problems. Cunliffe will outline a broader political agenda. Turei addresses poverty & income inequalities.
[Updated] Speeches: Key (today ZB Transcript). PM’s speech – untruths, misdirections & corporatisation of education – comment added. Cunliffe on Monday, on greater opportunities for all Kiwis. Metiria Turei’s speech, Sunday – will talk education, environment. Peters responds to Key. Greens response – education. Cunliffe’s Stand-up – audio.
Paula Bennett’s punitive welfare reforms are bad enough (pressuring people into unsuitable work, or off benefits without alternative support); then there’s privatising the scheme by outsourcing enforced work placement to private companies – worse still, to overseas corporates. Devaluing & dehumanising people, communities, & nurturing activities. [Update: APM conflicts of interest]
Some say the economy often responds positively to “confidence”, while lack of it can result in some financial nose dives. But whose confidence is being highlighted in reports of NZ’ “rock star” economy? Not that of workers, beneficiaries – the precariat, say Labour, Greens.
Rob Salmond at Polity on the National Party’s use of public service videos for political ends.
Rob Salmond at Polity has been having a look at Bill English’s “neutral” tax change in 2010…
Bill English recently heralded his tax switch as making net tax more progressive. He lied. It actually made net tax at least $500 million more regressive.
The first results of Paula Bennett’s drug testing of beneficiaries has been released. Only 0.27% of the 8,000 beneficiaries required to be tested either failed or refused to take the test. The testing is a colossal waste of money but is performing an important political role by making the Government look like it is being tough on beneficiaries.
There’s a tussle going on as Obama pushes to seal the deal and to limit Congress’s say on TPPA deals. But, Congress would still have more say about the deals than NZ MPs. It’s about democracy & sovereignty. It could slip under the radar over summer.
The latest report on New Zealand’s performance under the Kyoto Protocol is out and the news is disturbing. Net emissions compared to our 1990 CO2 equivalent emissions are predicted to treble by 2030 at a time where they should be trending to below the 1990 level. And Government policies are shown to be making little difference. Meanwhile a report by Prof Euan Mason advocates that Agriculture should be in the scheme and that with a proper price for ETS credits significant reforestation with attendant benefits could occur. And meanwhile RWNJs continue to show their belligerent lack of understanding of the science of climate change …
Celebrity golf! Which one will get voted off the island first!? Meanwhile the world burns, the poor struggle, and the wealth gap continues to be a blight on our country.
John Key’s great idea for job creation – his cycleway project – has produced some benefits, but is a patchwork production. Some sections will be user pays to fund maintenance. Meanwhile the job creation benefits have been limited.
National’s New Zealand: wage-suppression through one-sided employment law. A jobless “recovery”. Cuts to state housing and to welfare. 265,000 kids in poverty. An indecent society of haves and have-nots. A government chooses, through welfare, health, education and child-support policies, whether all kids will get a good start in life, or whether their prospects will be blighted by their parents. The present government, a government of, by and for the rich, has chosen to tolerate, even exacerbate poverty, rather than impose on their wealthy supporters.
Articles in the Sunday papers online, showing John Key’s “brighter future” is only for the well off, while more people than ever are struggling to get by.
The government & many of its cheerleaders are joining in a re-vitalised chorus of a brighter future right around the corner of “Christmas cheer”. Many Kiwis are struggling with the realities of poverty. How was your year on the inequality scale?
A Herald poll this morning has Labour on 40% with many expressing concern with the asset sales programme. And John Key displays a disturbing lack of numeracy literacy.
A Statistics NZ Census quick stats page is both useful and puzzling. Nearly a 3rd of adults are not in the “labour force”, unemployment stats mask true unemployment, the young and low income women particularly are struggling, distorted occupation categories, and more….. [Update: Occupation categories]
