The media’s handling of Labours Best Start policy announcement in January of last year and its handling of National’s recent budget announcement of a $25 a week increase for beneficiary families provides an interesting contrast.
The Standard was mentioned on Back Benchers last night by Crusher Collins. From her comments it looks like we are doing our job properly.
Let them eat cake.
Interestingly two stories have broken during the presentation of the Budget. John Campbell has quit TV3 and a further hair incident involving John Key has hit the news.
Andrew Little in Parliament being all poetic about the night before budget day.
Only a quarter of the world’s workers have permanent jobs. A worldwide trend away from secure jobs risked “perpetuating a vicious circle of weak global demand and slow job creation” that has dogged many countries since the 2008 crisis, the ILO reports. Decoupling of wages from productivity has led to a loss of aggregate demand the report estimates at $3.7trillion.
Young Labour has proposed that there is public funding for hormone replacement therapy and gender reassignment. Jonathan Coleman described the proposal as “absolutely nuts” but it then emerged that there is already some public funding for this treatment. And the media tried to suggest that some off the cuff comments by Labour MPs is evidence of division.
Rob had a couple of great posts on National & Housing yesterday, as they are all over the place on it. Still trying to point the finger at Helen Clark because average house prices in Auckland rose $219,000 in the 9 years of the last Labour government; but it’s no longer crisis after a further $313,000 rise in 7 years of National.
We the people only learned of Treasury projections on the costs of inaction on climate change (up to $52 billion) because someone screwed up a redacted document. We were never meant to know. And National’s Minister for Climate Change Issues statement on the matter is that Treasury should have done a better job of hiding this vital information from the public.
Creepy Key has dodged a question from the Green Party about any contact he may have had with the New Zealand Fox News Herald in the lead-up to Rachel Glucina’s hit job on the cafe worker who’s ponytail he pulled.
The Herald has praised David Cunliffe with changing public opinion about the introduction of a capital gains tax. And rubbished John Key’s suggestion that the announced limited tax on increasing housing values is not a capital gains tax.
National’s policy opens the door to more effective capital gains tax, thus irritating investors and their base, while probably not achieving anything in practice. The worst of both worlds. Bonus question – does this policy effectively underwrite losses when the property bubble bursts? Plus another bonus John Key lie!
The levels of poverty and inequality in NZ are a disgrace. Apparently the budget is to “arrest the decline”, but we have heard such promises again and again from Key.
According to John Key the proposed tax on capital gains if a property is sold within two years of purchase is not a capital gains tax, there is no housing bubble in Auckland, and the proposed new tax does not represent a complete about face by the Government.
National appears to be doing an about face on a Capital Gains Tax for housing.
The latest attacks on the left involves the right claiming that left activists are too angry and hurting labour’s chances in the UK as well as New Zealand.
Back in March 1988 David Lange had a clear idea about what lay ahead for New Zealanders as the long-term consequences of Roger Douglas’ psychopathic worshipping of the metaphysical Invisible Hand gradually materialised.
Simon Bridges wants to ease Auckland’s congestion by investing more into local roads and less in rail. And by the looks of things he wants to politicise transport funding in a way that has not occurred for decades.
The Auditor General has decided that Katherine Rich, head of the Food and Grocery Council which includes Coca Cola as well as Alcohol and Tobacco interests has no conflict in being a member of the Health Promotion Agency, a quango with the role of supporting healthy lifestyles.
Labour’s Finance spokesperson Grant Robertson gave his pre-budget speech this morning. “So, what would a responsible government be doing in the Budget next week?”…
Chris Finlayson has described a comment made by John Key as “wild eyed stuff” on National Radio,
Spy watchdog Cheryl Gwyn has announced an investigation into circumstances surrounding possible spying on our allies by the GCSB in support of Tim Groser’s tilt for the top WTO job.
One of the biggest political deceptions in our lifetime? Or just an honest mistake by our noble Finance Minister?
“National’s talk now is about how achieving surplus was an “artificial target” and that getting a surplus is “like landing a 747 on the head of a pin.” A lot of effort has gone into glossing over the broken promise. But I see it for what it is – one of the biggest political deceptions in a lifetime.”
ACT’s David Seymour is acting all surprised about the damaging consequences of right-wing policies. It’s like he’s seeing the world for the first time.
For the sake of reference – Nye Bevan was a Labour mp and the architect of the British NHS. Michael Sheen’s speech was a defense of that institution, but the underpinning message is, well…
An excellent summary reposted with permission from Dim-Post. “Seems to me that one of Labour’s biggest problems – both here and in the UK – is that they’re faced with an opponent that is (a) better resourced than them and (b) uses those resources to make themselves far, far better at politics than their left-wing opponents.”
PM’s staff threatening people on Twitter. Such a good look.
Radio New Zealand’s Todd Niall has investigated figures recently advanced by Simon Bridges and Nick Smith used to attack Auckland Council and has discovered that the figures are somewhat rubbery.
There’s a major and rather obvious contributory factor to UK Labour’s failure in the UK general election that doesn’t seem to have drawn any comment. Until now…
The English Election campaign and the results felt like a rerun of the New Zealand 2014 election campaign. Slick Crosby Textor designed attacks on Labour’s stability and on the leader and an imbalance of resources contributed to the result in both cases. How does the left counter this?
Like a punch drunk boxer, the pollsters didn’t see it coming. Three leaders could be writing their resignation letters over night. David Cameron is pinching himself at how easy it all turned out. And Scotland had another referendum.
Some brief thoughts on the UK Election and what can be learned.
Update: Ed Miliband resigns. Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage have also quit.
From the I kid you not files Mike Hosking believes that Auckland Council is to blame for the housing crisis, not immigration, not favourable tax conditions for landlords, not the global financial crisis and not the lack of restrictions on home ownership. And he believes that Nick Smith should step in and Roll Auckland Council.
113 more jobs to go at Solid Energy’s Stockton Mine. Bill English killed Solid Energy, these job losses are his.
If National were serious about their “social housing” spin they would place restrictions on the use and resale of these houses. Without such protections its just another privatisation of public assets.
