Grant Robertson, in the House yesterday speaking on Paula Bennett’s “Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill” – First Reading, gave an impassioned speech. He said many some great points about social obligations and a mutually beneficial social contract (between the state and beneficiaries. However, will the Labour Party’s policies match up to the rhetoric?
What exactly did John Key mean when he said on 31 July – “That is my reading of the police report”?
You, the Prime Minister, have to write personally to 175 employers to implore them to pretty please take some of these boot camp kids so the scheme doesn’t look like quite as much of a failure as it is…
I think that Kim Dotcom is actually a very savy operator. Turning up to Parliament on the second day of questions (not today, when Key won’t be in the House) was inspired. It ensured another day of coverage. Then, his words: “I think the Prime Minister has had to make a choice, am I going to uphold high ethical standards or do I want to remain in power?”
Over the last week, the government’s off-world set of distorted realities has come to the foreground: those of “Planet John Key” and “Planet Paula”. These worlds highlight the way Bennett’s latest welfare reforms wage war on the poor and undermine fairness and democracy.
Shane: …he revealed a meat cleaver from beneath his suit jacket and charged into the front row of the audience yelling “die, you meddlesome crones!” Had he not tripped and fallen over there could have been a bloodbath. Isn’t that a serious incident?
John: That may be the view of some people. But I’ve sought an assurance from Gerry, and he has told me he did nothing wrong. If a minister tells me, “This is my position, and this is what I’ve done,” I accept their word in good faith, unless it’s proven otherwise.
Notice how the only people who “believe” John Banks are the ones who haven’t (and won’t) read the police report? What do we call it, when someone deliberately avoids the reality that everyone knows exists?
Get ready for a week of farce in the House. The Opposition will be peppering Key and Banks on the numerous holes in their position. Key will play dumb. But the Opposition has to plug away with persistent, forensic questions. One of them will crack in time.
It’s a regular gripe of mine about our media that they don’t establish facts. I don’t find the “he said, she said” reporting style in the slightest bit helpful, and indeed encourages us, the public, to see all news as gossip and reduces our respect for our system.
So when John Key says that “John Banks hasn’t broken the law,” he’s lying: tell us that.
John Key is wrong, John Banks has broken the law. He just did not get prosecuted. The return of donations he signed and submitted in 2010 is false, as the Police have stated. He should now correct it, or he is still in breach of the law.
John Banks is trying to blame the Police for the fact that the transcript of his 3-hour interview with detectives over his campaign donations was held back from the OIA release of the Police file. Another lie. It was Banks’ choice for the transcript to be withheld. So much for “nothing to fear, nothing to hide”. And, now, his press sec’s dropped him further in it.
The Police Report into the Banks.com affair, which Labour has distributed to the media, is a gold mine. Banks is shown to be a liar and completely unethical. He insisted that Dotcom’s donation be anonymised. He used the donations, which he had told media he didn’t remember, as an excuse not to help Dotcom while a minister. Banks is lying low now. Key has to sack him.
My OIA request for the Police file of their investigation into Banks’ anonymous donations arrived today. John Key had said the law would be changed if “they could find the time.” Today David Carter found the time to say the law will be tightened before the 2013 elections.It will be very important that all the lessons from this sorry affair can be properly considered at select committee.
Shearer has set out some bold new ideas for education. Key is clinging to failed national standards. Shearer’s views are well supported by the successful Finnish model, while Key’s are condemned by failures in the UK and USA. Does the evidence matter?
We’re back! with a tasteful diversion….
It’s easy to see why Key has forbidden National MPs from attending the national water rights hui – he’s playing divide and rule with Maori. More difficult to understand is the Maori Party’s craven decision to stay away. Hone Harawira condemns them in the strongest possible language.
Key has gone for a gamble again; but not the gamble some of the pundits were expecting. On the asset sales, he’s chosen flight over fight. But the real problem the asset sales face now isn’t Maori action, it’s the state of the economy.
How they voted, some wise words on the range of christian belief, and credit to John Key.
Key’s claim that illegal euthanasia is happening in NZ has sparked outraged denials from medical professionals. But Key, of course, is not backing down. Once he’s opened his mouth he knows that he knows best.
What a craven cave-in. Lobbied by big booze, Collins has given in. Alco-pops will be left to the industry to regulate. It’s not a good look. Key wants to give the pokie industry free rein, and Collins wants to give the booze industry free rein, which means more families suffer, and more hospitals are overrun. As leaders they both get a fail.
Waitangi Tribunal says Government must halt asset sales until Treaty issues sorted, and Tom Scott gives a progress report. National’s wheels are coming off.
Key owes it to the families to provide them with an explanation as to what purpose remaining in Afghanistan serves.
I/S at No Right Turn on Key’s made up numbers.
It has been an interesting week for the leaders of the two main parties – one I think that they would both rather forget.
As usual it is the kids who will suffer.
Man, this brighter future sure is sweet. In just four short years, all the country’s problems are solved and the Prime Minister has literally nothing left to do. For a lark, he spends his time playing DJ. Oh… wait. Update- There’s a #DJJohnKey hashtag trending on Twitter in NZ. The Greens inviting suggested songs for Key to play. Pretty funny suggestions coming through.
“At all times, Ministers are expected to act lawfully and to behave in a way that upholds, and is seen to uphold, the highest ethical standards. Ultimately, Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister for their behaviour.” – The Cabinet Manual. John Banks lied to reporters, and the public, while a minister. That’s not upholding the highest ethical standards. When will John Key hold him to account?
Key says the local elections law is an ass. Presumably, he knows what that phrase means: it delivers unjust results. Key thinks its unjust that Banks has escaped justice for his anonymous donation rort. Well, John you’re not helpless. Banks lied to media. He lied to you. He said he hadn’t solicited the donations. Didn’t know about them. He did. He lied to you and New Zealand. Sack him.
Many of those who participate in the comments here at The Standard also run their own excellent blogs. We regularly feature No Right Turn and Imperator Fish Today we’re reposting (with permission) pieces from two other blogs that attracted some attention in Open mike recently. First up here’s Frankly Speaking…
Finally the truth is out. Gaynor and Armstrong agree – National Party politics are the real reason for asset sales. They make no sense economically. They are not about debt reduction. Key’s asset sales are a political bribe – nothing more and nothing less.
Matt McCarten doesn’t pull any punches, comparing Banks to both Phillip Field and Winston Peters.
National is threatening to veto a Labour bill to extend paid parental leave, claiming it costs too much. At the same time, they’re trying to defend writing a blank cheque for looters’ bonuses. And they’re getting nasty about it. Maggie Barry attacked Jacinda Ardern for not having children yet while John Key had a hissy fit at anyone who questioned his looters’ bonuses.
John Key’s grasp of his own asset sales policy is being revealed to be shakier by the day. He doesn’t know how it would hurt the government books. He flips his position on water rights each day. He doesn’t know how much a looters’ bonus of free shares would cost. And, yesterday, he didn’t even realise that $56m is budgeted to cover sharebrokers’ fees for the looters.
Loyalty Scheme: $360 million.
Brokerage Fees: $90 million.
Advertising/PR: $30 million.
Iwi Settlements: $unknown.
Lost Revenue: $100 million/year.
Key has been giving different messages on the water rights issue to the Maori Party and to the wider public. No one knows what, if anything, his “promises” mean. Why isn’t the Maori Party (which has been burned before) seeking urgent clarification?
On Breakfast just now, Petra Bagust asked John Key what’s so great for the economy about listing our assets on the stockmarket. A good question. In his answer, Key tried to make out that floating these companies on the stockmarket would give them more cash to grow. But not a cent of the revenue will go to the companies and Key knows it.
