The meaning of utu
Aaron Gilmore has promised ‘utu’, or reciprocation, against a select band of National insiders. What’s going on behind the scenes?
Politics
political parties
Claudette Hauiti
After a brutal smear-campaign from Key, Gilmore is gone. Nothing he did made him unfit to be an MP ,* but lying to Key meant Key had to get him out of the caucus or look weak. And the only safe way to do that was have him resign. That done, we get Claudette Hauiti. Who’s she? Well, here’s a measure of her calibre. In a 2010 Auckland local board competition, she came 10th out of 12.
Key’s no-shows – protecting Brand Key
Who was missing from the Mighty River and SkyCity launches? Being seen at the front of positive government stories is a big part of the PM’s job, unless concerns over protecting Brand Key override that. The fact Key has been a no-show at these two announcements of central planks of National’s agenda tells you a lot about what the Nats’ polling says about them.
Banks to stand again
John Banks has announced that he will stand in Epsom again at the next election. That is, of course, always assuming that he doesn’t get chucked out of Parliament first.
What’s done can be undone
SkyCity will get more pokies and cashless gambling in return for building the convention centre that it always wanted to build. (…excuse me, I’m just trying not to puke watching Len Brown on Breakfast as he shrugs off the problem gambling increase from this deal…) The convention centre will be a white elephant. SkyCity should know that what’s done can be undone.
Update: Anyone buying in to the Nats’ “Labour did it too” line should read Russell Brown’s demolition of that lie.
Sky City, pokies and corruption
Key and Joyce made sure Gilmore was out of the way before they announced their dubious Sky City for (more) pokies deal. The pokies system in NZ is rife with dubious goings on. It’s bad for low income families, communities and their children. [update: responses]
Gilmore Goes
Aaron Gilmore has given into pressure from his National “mates” and resigned.
Poverty Watch 30
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, and “sympathise” with those poor Herald readers who are just sick to death of all those beggars on Queen St…
Nats sign up for KiwiBuild?
KiwiBuild has already been a success, scaring the Nats in to producing, in conjunction with Len Brown’s Auckland, a more significant housing policy. The “Unitary Plan” is woefully short on detail, but it concedes that KiwiBuild’s target of 10,000 new homes a year is easily achievable (I guess it’s only impossible when Labour propose it).
John Key’s disaster capitalism
The latest Household Labour Force Employment statistics are out, and on the surface, look good for John and Bill. But this is driven by improved employment in Canterbury over the last quarter. Grant Robertson says, “Disaster recovery is not a plan for jobs”.
MRP sale fail numbers
Here are the numbers that sum up the MRP sale fail – foremost among them the $1,000 that the government has spent per Kiwi investor attracted.
What if Gilmore quits?
Stuff is reporting that John Key is signalling for Aaron Gilmore to stand down. What are the possible implications? [update: information about Claudette Hauiti, next National’s list]
Shearer’s pre budget speech
This morning David Shearer gave Labour’s “pre budget” speech. No new policy, but plenty of good one-liners and a strong statement of Labour’s position.
GCSB Bill: & Dotcom versus FBI, “NZ Intelligence Community” et al
John Key is using “urgency” to push through his anti-democratic Big brother GCSB surveillance Bill. Dotcom’s lawyers have released a 39 page white paper making a range of allegations against the FBI, Obama & NZ authorities. Peters is keeping his cards close to his chest. Update: Peters’ calls government “bully boy” & will vote against the Bill.
Gilmore’s position now untenable
From a text exchange leaked to Newstalk ZB it seems that Aaron Gilmore has lied to the PM. The ball is in Key’s court now…
Nats have held us back for four years
We’re in yet another round of talk of “green shoots” of economic recovery, complete with the hype of an optimistic budget. Maybe they’re right this time, but the recovery, when it does happen, will be in spite of the National government, not because of them. All National have done is hold us back for four years.
NRT: The spy bill
The new GCSB spy bill is out. For the short version, as @lyndonhood commented: “Admittedly it will be easier for the GCSB to act within their legal boundaries if they don’t have any”. For the long version see the excellent I/S at No Right Turn…
The cost of a US Harvard education: global land exploitation
US universities’ budgets partly rely on endowment funds. Harvard University investment activities in poor countries exploit people and lax regulations, damaging communities, the environment & economies. They are one of the biggest foreign owners of NZ land.
Someone is lying about MRP float
The “market specialists” say that the loony left have scared of all the Mum and Dad investors. The “investment sources” say the Mums and Dads are signing up in droves. I’m so confused! Why oh why would those nice “market specialists” be lying to us about the effects of the Labour / Green electricity policy? I just can’t work it out…
It’s all in the “game”
Supporters of the sale of the powercos, portray the Labour-Green NZ Power policy in terms of political strategy and game-play. They focus on the “market”, risk, profits & “fat cat hatred”. They avoid dealing with the guts of the issue: fuel poverty, income inequality & damaged lives.
Poverty Watch 29
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. We also take a look at Mana’s Feed the Kids campaign, and the difference between the Nats’ glib promises in opposition and their actions in government.
Political vision?
Today’s NZ Herald editorial on Auckland’s up-coming mayoral election campaign, says Brown has vision, but Minto and Williamson lack it. What sort of vision should the left provide in the up-coming local authority elections around NZ, and in NZ’s parliamentary elections in 2014?
Caption contest
NRT: National’s future coalition options
No Right Turn points out the inherent flaw in National’s election campaign (and Vernon Small’s analysis of it). A future National government has no good coalition partners. Even the mythic (and likely to be epic if it happened) National/NZ First coalition faces the problem of three parties competing for the same group of economically nationalist and socially conservative voters from slightly different directions.
Key goes negative
John Key has gone hard negative, with his rants about North Korea and communism, and now an attack on the Greens. Negative is where you go when you don’t have a positive story to tell the electorate. I wonder if the Nats’ internal polling has got Key spooked…
The NZ Herald – advancing Auckland backwards
To the Herald the Fourth Estate must be a greenfield development on the outer margins of Auckland: a Dickensian space, hiding the poor from the upper middle-classes. The Herald lacks critical balance & equal weighting for diverse views: it scaremongers about the Akl Unitary Plan & undermines public transport.
Happy International Workers’ Day – have a pay cut
The Nats have chosen International Workers’ Day as the day that legislation allowing employers to slash youth wages takes effect. According to the Same Work Same Pay campaign “Youth rates failed to create jobs in 1990 when youth unemployment reached an all time high” and “the burden of the Government’s failure to drive job growth is now being put on young people”. Protest action is planned.
75 workplace deaths a year ok then?
The Independent Taskforce on Workplace Safety finds the New Zealand workplace health and safety system is “not fit for purpose” and is an indictment of employer self-regulation. An average of 100 people die each year in New Zealand, and the Taskforce thinks National’s target of reducing workplace deaths by 25% by 2020 is modest – I think it means the government still doesn’t get it. One death at work is one too many – zero tolerance should be the policy.
NRT: “The worst of the worst”
I/S at No Right Turn on the difference between what was promised of the “3 strikes” law and the way it is being used in practice.
NRT: National hates families
I/S at No Right Turn on the Nats’ excuses and choices as they oppose the extension of paid parental leave.
It’s not us: it’s the big banks
MSM articles show the big Aussie banks are making record profits, Kiwis can save, and Adam Smith worshiping think tanks are not to be trusted. Cunliffe & Norman said it a while back – NAct policies and government spending cuts are not the answer.
Poverty Watch 28
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 recent news the effects of the welfare cuts are showing up, and rheumatic fever is on the rise…
We would love to see wages drop
Key said “we would love to see wages drop”. Sure enough National’s anti-worker employment Bill is designed to have that effect, as stated in a Cabinet briefing paper.
Strikes: One Law for All
National’s Labour laws announced today have new sanctions on workers’ strikes: parties will have to provide notice of a strike, and employers will have a new right to fine workers for “partial strikes.” Also today the Herald’s Insider reports business reaction to Labour’s NZPower and invokes the threat of capital strike, posed as a threat to an elected government’s right to govern. If Simon Bridges wants to see fairness, then capital strikes by business should surely face the same constraints as worker strikes.
$250k for failed Job Interview
I like my employer, and they’re not ungenerous. But I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t spend $250,000 on helping me to get another job – and one that I’m a long shot for at that.
As Tim Groser’s employers, you’ve got to wonder just how generous we as voters are being. And why either he doesn’t think we’re good enough employers and wants to leave, or why National want rid of him.
Meanwhile: US, intellectual property, GCSB
In his meetings with Ian Fletcher, Key’s main aims and activities are hidden in plain sight. They connect with US-led initiatives around digital copyright, intellectual property and commerce. Recently there have been some worrying developments in the bigger picture: GCSB, ACTA, TPPA, SOPA, CISPA.