Written By: - Date published: 3:50 pm, September 17th, 2009 - 41 comments
Bill English is not holding up well to the persistent questions put to him in Parliament about shuffling around his financial appearance to rort the taxpayer by claiming $1000 a week in housing allowances. Today, Bill English was stuttering his way through questions put to him by Pete Hodgson. And English again refused to publicly […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:12 am, September 17th, 2009 - 29 comments
Pete Hodgson is continuing to chip away at English’s ministerial allowance story. English looks very uncomfortable as Brownlee and Key cover for him. To my mind, this is yesterday’s crucial exchange: Hon Pete Hodgson: If the Hon Bill English has no pecuniary interest in his ministerial residence, then how come the email I have here, dated […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, September 14th, 2009 - 17 comments
From the firefighters’ protest against John Key’s pay freeze: Really highlights the double standard in a government that tolerates Bill English’s rorts then has the cheek to turn around and tell the rest of us to show restraint. On another note, it was interesting to see in the 3 News piece John Key using private […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, September 11th, 2009 - 44 comments
Phil Goff is quoted today as saying “we made mistakes” with policies that were perceived as “nanny state”: Asked if he would apologise to the conference for the nanny state policies, Mr Goff replied: “I think we want to draw a line under the past and say, yes, we made mistakes, we didn’t listen.” Mr […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:54 am, September 9th, 2009 - 13 comments
As I alluded to yesterday, the claims from John Key that he has slashed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the cost of ministerial housing are rubbish. The media did a pretty good job of exposing the lie (except TV3 who just had some junior reporter toeing Key’s line). Here’s how it works. Ministerial services […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, September 8th, 2009 - 48 comments
And by any other name it smells as bad. John Key has annouced a reform of the rules for ministerial accommodation allowance. A fixed, automatic allowance will now be paid to all out of Wellington ministers of $37,500 a year for their Wellington accomodation (or $30,000 if they own the house), slightly less than the highest spending ministers […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, September 3rd, 2009 - 22 comments
This 2007 quote from John Key is doing the rounds among angry “No” voters: Labour shows contempt for New Zealanders The Labour Government has shown utter contempt for New Zealanders and the democratic process with its plan to railroad the anti-smacking bill through Parliament, says National Party Leader John Key. “The Labour-led Government knows the […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:26 pm, August 27th, 2009 - 55 comments
This must be Minister of Tourism John Key’s idea of a sick joke. Letting Gerry Brownlee run rampant and declare NZ National Parks are now open for mining will not only destroy our natural heritage, but seriously harm our tourist industry. What a legacy to leave for the first PM to take on Tourism portfolio. […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, August 25th, 2009 - 18 comments
I’m surprised that the Maori Party have rolled over so easily on the issue of Maori seats on the Auckland council. I will be even more surprised if the Maori people follow suit. Because they have every right to be angry. Remember what Key said of the Hikoi? The hikoi was sparked over the dumping […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 pm, August 19th, 2009 - 9 comments
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, August 19th, 2009 - 36 comments
Brian Edwards gives his take on our “Photo-op PM”. Demonising Key hasn’t and isn’t likely to work for Labour. It doesn’t accord at all with the public perception of him (as evidenced by the polls) and it positions Labour as negative and nitpicking right at the time the country is looking for positivity and vision. […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, August 19th, 2009 - 12 comments
Apart from when it’s customary, at maiden speeches, valedictories, and the Budget, it’s a rare speech that warrants a standing ovation in Parliament. Phil Goff got one yesterday for his speech on the urgent debate into the deployment of the SAS to Afghanistan. The text is here but it’s the delivery that really makes it*. Competent, […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:43 am, August 15th, 2009 - 40 comments
John Armstrong quotes a man who ran into Phil Goff during Labour’s reconnection tour last week: “Listen, mate. You know we voted these guys in seven months ago. You don’t expect us to come up and say we did the wrong thing yet, do you?” Now, Armstrong takes that as dooming Labour but look at […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, August 13th, 2009 - 19 comments
It’s a rare day that I agree with Bill English but he’s right about the danger of another housing boom. The last bubble has not deflated yet we are already seeing prices start to grow again. There are now projections of 24% growth housing prices over the next three years, in a period when GDP […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:53 pm, August 11th, 2009 - 65 comments
It was a bit strange listening to Key’s interview on RNZ yesterday morning about deploying the SAS to Afghanistan. He kept on awkwardly saying ‘the people of Afghanistan’ rather than just ‘the Afghans’ or ‘the Afghanis’*. The reason soon became clear: “[if they take any prisoners] they’ll be handed over to the Afghanistanian government…. I […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, August 9th, 2009 - 77 comments
Yesterday, John Armstrong talked about the Auditor-General’s 2001 report into eligibility for a Wellington accommodation allowance: the then Auditor-General David MacDonald scrutinised allowances after two ministers – Labour’s Marian Hobbs and the Alliance’s Phillida Bunkle – got into serious strife for claiming out-of-Wellington expenses when they had made Wellington their place of residence by virtue […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:47 pm, August 7th, 2009 - 20 comments
John explains how what he said was taken out of context, and he outlines his views on climate change.
Written By: - Date published: 5:11 am, August 7th, 2009 - 33 comments
Who said this? “if we continue with National’s policies over the next three years we will be able to create another 115,000 jobs and bring unemployment under 6%. These are realistic targets…Labour’s claim that it can bring the unemployment rate down to 3% is also a hoax” It was Bill English in 1999. Of course, […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 6th, 2009 - 72 comments
So there I was, just a walking down the street, and $47,000 just fell out of the sky in tax free readies, bam, right in to my lap! Like I was Bill English or something! What – that never happened to you? Me neither. We have to work for our money. Actually I guess Bill […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, August 6th, 2009 - 70 comments
Over at Red Alert, Trevor Mallard has posted a form that all MPs wanting an out-of-town allowance must fill out. It asks MPs to list their residential address, and asks “Is this residence the place you would normally go to when you are not on parliamentary business?’ If Bill English put down his Dipton farm […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, August 6th, 2009 - 11 comments
John Key has recently acted like a jerk to a young mother worried about what climate change is going to mean for her future and that of her child. Essentially he said that she should stick to what she knew. Bearing in mind the complete lack of understanding that both John Key and his NACT […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, August 6th, 2009 - 26 comments
English, now known by the moniker Double Dipton, has decided to give back half the amount to has rorted so far from the taxpayer. Rather than claim the full ministers’ allowance, he’ll pocket ‘only’ $24,000 a year for living in his own family home, thank you very much. His claim that he didn’t know he could charge […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 46 comments
Are you? a disgraced former minister who resigned from Parliament in shame? a National MP who rents from a National minister (Judith Collins or Anne Tolley for example), claiming that expense back from the taxpayer while the minister simultaneously rents another place, again on the taxpayer’s tab? a private citizen who dares to publicly oppose […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, August 5th, 2009 - 26 comments
Key admits his ministers are rorting the system – exploiting the allowance not for need but just because it gives them a chance for a bit of free cash: “In some instances you’ve got ministers moving out of homes where they might otherwise stay there but the rules don’t really encourage that” So, they’re moving […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, August 5th, 2009 - 72 comments
By telling Keisha Castle-Hughes she should “stick to acting” and keep out of the climate change debate, Prime Minister John Key is signalling to young New Zealanders everywhere keep out of politics. I guess he doesn’t want us to “join the conversation” after all. Speak up, get shot down. That’s the modus operandi of the […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, August 5th, 2009 - 15 comments
Read this: Hon Phil Goff: What analysis did Treasury do on the cost-effectiveness of the national cycleway scheme in producing jobs, and is he prepared to provide the Treasury analysis, oral and written, to members of this Parliament; if not, why not? Hon JOHN KEY: Rigorous analysis was done. Having read that, do you believe […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, August 5th, 2009 - 29 comments
John Key says we shouldn’t be talking about the number of people going on to the dole. He reckons that mentioning the fact that thousands of people are losing there jobs will cause people to lose confidence and hurt the economy. Isn’t the real problem for the economy that thousands of people are losing their jobs, […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, August 5th, 2009 - 35 comments
What would you call it when you collect $900 a week by false pretenses? What would you call it when you tell the Electoral Commission and Ministerial Services that you live somewhere other than where you, your partner and your children actually live and work? And if you did those things while holding an office presumably subject […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:19 am, August 4th, 2009 - 40 comments
We’ve been puzzling over how Bludger Bill can be spending all the $920 a week he is rorting for living in his family home in Wellington on an allowance meant for out of town ministers. I mean, $920 is a crap load of money. If a solo mum can eke by on $200 a week […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, August 3rd, 2009 - 38 comments
What gets me is the entitlement mentality from these senior members of Key’s government. Exactly the same mentality they claim afflicts ‘bludgers’ who get benefits and public servants. Their only response is ‘I’m entitled. I’m not breaking the rules’ English won’t even dip into his $276,700 salary to pay for his own family home. If […]
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