With its head deep in the rapidly warming sands, John Key and the National government have been rolling back climate change measures. We are not even “fast followers”, we are stand-out obstacles to progress, and subject to international ridicule. On climate change they have made me ashamed to be a New Zealander. They shame us all as a nation.
Dr Russel Norman: Does it not all boil down to the fact that whichever way you cut it, whichever statistics you care to choose, the Government has failed on jobs, unemployment has grown in New Zealand, and the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector has not grown; and is it not time he just admitted it and figured out what to do about it?
David Shearer had Key on the back foot today in the House over Labour’s housing policy. Even Speaker Lockwood Smith sat Key down for going on too long and off the point. He had to be rescued by Chief Whip Michael Woodhouse with a patsy question, but the leadership crack it was designed to bring out fell flat too.
There are some similar things between McDonald’s and New Zealand – they’re both currently run by a clown at any rate – but I didn’t think cynical marketing was one of them. Apparently Key is “lovin’ it” how our rivers and lakes are far from “100% Pure”.
John Key’s crony-capitalist, neoliberal government is failing NZ on the environment, affordable housing, and a living wage. Mana and the Greens are leading the way on affordable housing and anti-poverty campaigns. The Greens still lead the way on pressing environmental issues.
KiwiBuild is an excellent policy that would make a real difference to housing, jobs, and the economy in NZ. John Key’s critique had all the credibility you’d expect from the man whose major economic policy was a cycleway.
So, who won and who lost?
John Key is steaming ahead in selling NZ. He is Obama’s wing-man to extend the TPP into the Asia-Pacific region. Meanwhile, the “Hobbit Law” is taking a heavy toll on many NZ actors. And there are claims that the Hobbit production has been harming animals.
Kim Dotcom claims to have proof that John Key has been lying about him, and he will reveal that evidence in court…
John Key knows his economic failures are coming out in to the open, so he came to The Nation this morning expecting a fight. And he knew his lines well and it all sounded good. If you didn’t think about it. Basically, he said the solution to the fact unemployment has risen by 80% under his failed economic policies was… wait for it … his failed economic policies.
The bunker of stupid is where you go to hide from facts you don’t like. John Key is there, hiding from the latest record unemployment figures. Joining him today is Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew, reportedly denying the rapidly increasing gender pay gap in NZ.
John Key doesn’t want NZ to be a leader in the fight against climate change. Much better to be a lemming (sorry – a “fast follower”) and follow all the other lemmings off the cliff.
I am filled with admiration for our Prime Minister. The latest employment figures are a disaster, and appear to show that this government does not know how to grow the economy. But our Mr Key is made of sterner stuff. He knows in his heart that these figures aren’t to be relied upon, because everything else tells him that things are getting better.
Both John Key and David Shearer have had a bit of a pasting in the media lately. Shearer’s problems are solvable – Key’s are not…
Up to his neck in criticism for his batshit behaviour of late, Key petulantly complained: “I dare you to show me one example where I haven’t discharged my responsibility seriously, professionally and appropriately”. OK Standardistas – help me out here…
John Key and David Brent. Both chilled out entertainers. The resemblance is uncanny.
On Monday John Key admitted in an interview that Pike River Coal compromised safety for profits. On Tuesday Jon Key insisted in Parliament that such a suggestion was ridiculous. Which John Key should we believe? Can he even remember what he is saying from one day to the next? Does he care?
Good to see a prominent and widely respected gay person take Key on for his thoughtless and damaging language.
Among the many failures of human cognition, we’re very poor at taking account of warnings of future risk and consequence. We’ve seen two particularly clear and strong examples of ignoring the warnings in NZ politics in the last two weeks. There are many other cases ongoing…
So John Key had a very ordinary Friday apparently. Not only did he deride a kind international celebrity who took 45 minutes out of his day to spend time with his son as “thick as batshit,” he also was out there telling a radio host his shirt was “gay”. Just to show up how ordinary a New Zealander he is he went on to make a $10,000 bet on the stroke of a golf ball.
John Key won’t be on the West Coast today when the Pike River report will be released. He’ll have a tightly managed press conference at the Beehive, instead. Key promised that he would stand by the Pike River families. He promised that all efforts would be put in to get the bodies out, no matter the cost. It was all hollow talk from a hollow man.
John Key is world-famous for speaking unintelligibly, no doubt. But how do we spot the times when he’s not just being ineloquent, and is clearly parroting lines prepared by someone else?
The UK’s biggest daily newspaper’s lead about Britain’s favourite son today:
Yet another thing the PM is “not responsible” for – add it to the long list. This time it is his “oversight” of the SAS. Or is Key seeking his Obama “gotcha” moment, and a political bounce from it?
Security experts were being rushed to the ninth floor of the Beehive this morning, after a malicious hacker accessed the Prime Minister’s brain. Experts began to suspect a breach of security, after large amounts of data stored in John Key’s brain disappeared.
Questions were again raised about the leadership of David Shearer today, after a giant robot army descended from the skies and laid waste to most of the North Island. As the horde of killer machines spread fire and death in all directions, there was no news from the Labour Party leader about how he would deal with the crisis. Critics of Labour say that Shearer’s inaction is further evidence that he is unfit to lead the party.
Friday funnies – a song for John.
So apparently John Key failed to be “precise enough” when he said he voted for the drinking age to be 20, and actually voted for it to be 18. But then this is all the fault of opposition MPs being ‘pedantic’ with the fact that true doesn’t equal false.
Foss has effectively challenged the PM’s stance on ruling out changes to the age of eligibility for NZ Super. A minor rebellion? A faint flickering of independent and rational thought form within the National caucus?
Key’s just straight up lying to the media now on easily verifiable facts. A 3news poll shows 57% said Parliament got it wrong keeping the drinking age at 18%. Key says: “That’s one of the reasons I voted for it to go to 20 – in line with what the public thought – but Parliament didn’t vote that one.” In reality, he voted split age and, then, to keep it 18.
One of the fishy elements of the GCSB-Dotcom-Key saga is Key’s suddenly very faulty memory. It’s unbelievable what he’s forgotten about such a major issue. Here’s a partial list of things Key can’t recall, isn’t sure about, or doesn’t know – just from his answers in the House and just the last 3 days of questions. Update: got to tip my hat to Te Reo Putake’s name for the PM: ‘DunnoKeyo’
Yesterday, John Key told Parliament in endless detail exactly what the GCSB did trying to check if there is any video of him talking about Dotcom. He knew all of that front to back. But, when it came to a simple question: ‘when did the GCSB realise they had broken the law in spying on Dotcom’. He had no idea. It’s incredible that he hasn’t bothered to learn such a basic fact.
Key denied promising the Pike River families that the bodies of their loved ones would be retrieved. Now that his faulty account has been corrected by new video evidence, he owes it more than ever to the families to do the right thing. Key made the promise – he should honour it.
Remember how Banks’ Police report came out and the statement he gave to the Police was blanked out? And remember how Banks said it was the Police’s choice, not his? Yeah, well that was a lie. Even on the most generous reading of Banks’ words, he was trying to mislead the media. What’s Key’s rule? “A Minister who lies or misleads about his actions would lose his confidence”
Public trust in the police is at a new low. But what of the trust in our government? How much collusion is there between the police, government, spy agencies and foreign governments? However, citizens are also using the technologies of the surveillance society to hold the government and state authorities to account.
