If the aims of National/ACT’s education policy were, genuinely, to to improve the learning, education and career choices for our children, including the ones that are failing at present, they would not be following policies which have signally failed to achieve any of these goals, anywhere else they have been tried.
New Zealand has almost no leverage in 21st century trade talks because we have gave it away in the 80s and 90s. The 12 country TPP is better thought of now as a bilateral US/Japan deal with as many hangers on as would like to hang on. The trapping are still of a 12 country deal, of course. The TPP club is Barack, Shinzo, and nobody else. That’s realpolitik.
The number of reported domestic violence incidents is increasing but amazingly the number of prosecutions is going down at the same time allowing the Government to claim that it is getting on top of crime. And the release of the latest statistics give added support to David Cunliffe’s and Labour’s proposals to treat the issue with urgency.
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Education has become a major election issue. And after Labour’s announcements at this weekend’s congress there is a stark divide, between the enrichment of the few or the advancement of the many.
At Rob Salmond’s briefing to Labour’s Congress over the weekend, he made a point about National’s performance in recent campaigns, which was later picked up in David Cunliffe’s speech.
National has dropped six percent each time. For those interested, here is the data that sits beneath this claim.
It is no wonder that John Key is worried when 3 months out from an election they are sitting on less than 50%, with dead and dying coalition partners.
One of the most prominent battlegrounds in this election campaign will be education. Both large parties know our kids deserve better than the two-tier education system we currently have. Both have clear, costed plans they think can help. And now the public can choose. Actions, of course, speak louder than words. Both John Key and Bill English have chosen to send their own kids to private schools. Asked why John Key said “Their schools have smaller class sizes and are better resourced than most state schools.”.
This post was put up at Imperator Fish on Sunday evening. It looks like Hekia Parata was following Scott’s script today. 🙂
Sure we need a better class of wingnut commenter, as is frequently suggested here. However surely it is more important that we get a better quality of government minister than ones who think that evidence based policies means only the evidence about how well their party is doing in the polls?
Remember when John Key explained why he sends his children to private schools….. and now the Nats and Parata are saying that such advantages don’t work for all Kiwis.
Rob Salmond got enthused over the Labour congress this weekend. We heard a superb set of politics emerge about education, always a core theme for Labour. We got not one but two treats in the form of speeches from our leadership. Both David Parker and David Cunliffe did great speeches, sending everyone home in exactly the right spirit of both pride and optimism. And we now know the campaign slogan…
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David Cunliffe’s speech to the Labour Party congress delivered today.
Livestream details of David Cunliffe’s speech to the Labour Party Congress this afternoon which is expected to announce reduced classroom size by funding more teachers using money clawed back from National’s so called super teacher policy.
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I have spent a large chunk of the this week digging my way into Labour’s fiscal plan after the Liu smear collapsed. I think that the fiscal plan is a work of art, and very classy art at that. Of course you have to read it closely and look at what it is intended to do. I was particularly intrigued about why there was ring fencing of future increases to education and health.
David Parker’s speech at Labour’s Congress today was passionate, comprehensive, and fully thought through. Respected for his intellect, Parker also said “My political heart lies in what has become something of a quaint notion these days, the notion of an egalitarian society. Perhaps it’s because of my Southern Presbyterian roots. It’s not just about equality of opportunity. It’s about decent outcomes as well.” Amen to that.
What stands out for me in the part of Labour’s education policy announced today, is the deliberate intent to make sure that all kids wind up with a personal network capable device both at school and home, and access to the net. At present we don’t. Much of the “voluntary” donations in schools is for computer equipment that kids need to learn from, but is not paid for by the state funding of schools. I was fortunate in that I started computing in 1976. Everyone needs that education now so they can pay for my retirement..
Murray McCully doesn’t accept his responsibilities. He appears to see no need to do more than to blame his officials. Yet his job, under our system of parliamentary government, is to be accountable to parliament for the performance – and failures – of his department. The McCully doctrine appears to be to suppress public discussion on difficult issues and to limit any adverse fallout for their party. Public officials are convenient sacrificial lambs if things go wrong. This is a bad idea.
Yesterday saw a social media attack on David Cunliffe based on six words taken out of context in a speech given on an important subject. The debate needs to be about the subject and not on right wing framing of the six words. And yes us men need to own the domestic violence problem and work towards solutions.
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One of the core principles of our public service is that Ministers have no role in staffing decisions. This is not the era of Seddon, where a Minister could stack “their” department with cronies and time-servers. For over a century, public sector heads have been statutorily independent in such matters. John Key appears to not understand that independence or just likes stupidly shooting from the hip. In the process he is opening taxpayers up to paying for his mistakes.
Responses to TV3’s miniseries, Hope and Wire, based on the Christchurch quakes & aftermath, are mixed. The opening episodes set up some universal themes: of wealth-seeking individualism versus community solidarity and collaboration. Many in Christchurch are angry that their city, and it’s experiences, have been mis-represented.
I realise that journalists have to show some column inches sometimes to justify their existence on the payroll. However the “Investigations editor” Jared Savage at the the NZ Herald appears to be overdoing that. The latest is Jared’s attempt to puff up three routine immigration letters in 2005. He really must be desperate for those extra inches. There doesn’t appear to be anything about it that holds much public interest apart from a simple desire to smear. Hardly journalism.
It’s true, Labour does have a plan to win this election. And the plan’s a good one. Campaign Manager David Talbot and Polity’s Rob Salmond presented it to members and media this morning at the Loaves and Fishes in Wellington, so it is out in the open. And it doesn’t depend on miracles.
The Expert Advisory Panel on Domestic Violence reported back to the government this week. It says New Zealand’s record is not good enough, victims deserve better, and politicians need to show some real leadership to prevent an escalating series of national tragedies. In essence the governments response has been to ignore everything in the report. It really isn’t good enough.
Labour has today announced its policy on eliminating violence against women and children.
John Key has announced an inquiry into how the ambiguity in New Zealand’s position relating to the Malaysian diplomat was created. And he has already blamed the Public Servant involved while refusing to criticise Murray McCully. Clearly we now have a situation where instead of there being Ministerial Responsibility for the performance of their Department the Government is now entitled to attack a public servant in an attempt to divert political blame.
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Today the government announced the final version of its national standards for freshwater. They’re trying desperately to pretend that these will improve water quality, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is not a “balance” between the economy and the environment. It is destroying the environment for the profit of a few. And I’d like to see political parties making clear statements that these “bottom lines” will be improved, to outlaw pollution and make our rivers safe to swim in.
A young woman was attacked in her own home by a Malaysian diplomat. He attempted to rape her. Despite Malaysia being prepared to […]
The Electoral Commission is saying nothing about apparent police inaction on breaches of the electoral law. Information provided by the Commission reveals that since the beginning of 2011 there have been 113 breaches of the Electoral Act that it’s referred to police for investigation. Not one has resulted in a prosecution. In November, then the prosecution time-limit will kick in, and people will escape justice.
Murray McCully’s Ministerial career must be close to being finished. The ineptitude required to allow a diplomat to use diplomatic immunity when clearly Malaysia was completely indifferent to this happening is considerable. And McCully, who is known as a control freak, claims to have no idea what was happening within his Ministry.
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In its handling of the case of the Malaysian diplomat accused of attempted rape in NZ, the government has marginalised the concerns and sensitivities of the victim. Their own arse covering was given a higher priority. Jan Logie argued for the victim in the House today – government MP’s attacked her for it. [Update#2: the survivor of the attempted rape, spoke to Jan Logie]
It isn’t that often that we put up speeches by politicians. They’re usually aimed at the general public and don’t really get into the guts of the issues in the way that our activist commenters like to argue at – they tend to be political and in this site preaching to the converted. However this speech by Phil Goff is exceptional. It was made at a centre looking at China, and looks at the benefits and risks of our current and future relationships with that country. Worth reading
In short, a report on our intelligence services says that they don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know why they’re doing it, and they’re not doing it well. NZSIS can’t do its core job – security vetting – in a timely fashion, GCSB can’t even count, and they hate each other. Plus they’ve got poor financial management practices and no idea of how much stuff they own to boot. And then they wonder at the level of public hostility?
