Our mineral wealth is a one-off endowment that belongs to all of us. If we let someone dig it up, it’s gone forever. We shouldn’t let our most precious environments be mined and when we do allow mining we need to get the most for it. It’s not good enough that the mining industry gets away with paying just $70 million in royalties for digging up $6 billion of minerals.
A recent survey of most and least trusted individuals and professions in NZ makes for interesting reading. Politicians as a profession rank down with telemarketers and sex workers. The list of least trusted individuals contains some bad news for the government…
When National get their ideological wish to get a prison privately run here, the most likely candidate will be Australian/UK prison company G4S. In the ‘care’ of these crime profiteers, an Aboriginal man died in a Western Australian prison van, during a four hour ride without ventilation in 50 degree plus temperatures that gave him 3rd degree burns. And that’s far from the only abuse.
I have very mixed feelings about all this scrutiny of the spending of public figures. However, for the record, Supercity mayoral hopeful John Banks now joins the spending club.
Papers obtained by Radio New Zealand under the OIA show Treasury told the Government that investing $100 million in extra capital in Kiwibank would bring the Crown a healthy return. Not long after, Bill English and John Key started talking about selling Kiwibank. It raises the question: if people are so keen to buy are our assets, why would we be keen to sell?
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I’m supportive of the government’s move to end smoking in prisons. I think the real winners will actually be the two thirds of prisoners who smoke. They will be forced to break their addiction. I don’t think there’s any serious justification for concerns that banning smokes could lead to more trouble in jails or that the prospect of not getting any ciggies will be enough to deter crime.
Itching to get back into the markets, and having solved all New Zealand’s economic and social woes in 18 short months, John Key has announced he is putting aside his Prime Ministierial duties to become the country’s head trader in exotic animals.
A British government scientist was recently fired after showing that Ecstasy is safer than horse riding, and definitely safer than alcohol. There is an aversion to all recreational drugs in Western society, with the exception of the old favourite alcohol. Should the fact that Sara Goff wants to have a good night out and had something safer than alcohol be cause for a mini-scandal?
I’m not going to take sides in the dispute between Brian Edwards and Duncan Garner over Garner’s targeting of Chris Carter. Edwards attacks Garner’s professionalism. Garner responds by attacking Edwards’ politics. The level of behaviour all round is unimpressive. The only one who comes out looking good is Margaret Bazley.
Rule 1: Don’t compare yourself to Jesus in any way. Didn’t work for Lennon. Won’t work for you. Rule 2: Don’t keep talking about a negative issue once its reached a conclusion. Rule 3: If you’re going to reduce your entire campaign to smearing your opponent, you better make sure your own house is in order
A few months ago Brian Edwards suggested that TV3’s chief political reporter Duncan Garner was on a personal vendetta against Chris Carter, an […]
National are still cruising in the polls, and no doubt feeling pretty confident about the next election. But ticking the blue box is easy – how firm is that support? We’re seeing big protests against this government. Is there any significant National policy that isn’t attracting popular protest, criticism from the experts, or both?
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The Government’s privatisation by stealth agenda continues – from ACC to Whanau Ora to mining to PEDA to water.
And the fight back is gathering strength.
Australia is looking at quality mark for products from ethical supply chains.
We should too.
An article in the Guardian puts gender politics into perspective, with 1,000 “honour killings” a year in India, according to one recent study. For those who think that the world has moved on – it hasn’t.
An interesting parallel between Kevin Rudd and the Key government’s leadership style surfaced in our papers this weekend. On Saturday, Tracy Watkins had […]
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Before the last election John Key promised the public service would be capped, because that’s what Kiwis wanted. That promise is now lying in tatters as jobs in education and health are to be slashed. With mining, privatisation, and now this, Mr Key shouldn’t act surprised if he suffers from the Rudd effect. This government is getting more and more out of touch.
I’m tired of hearing about the ‘medieval warming period’ and ‘hockey-stick’, which are respectively almost two decades and a decade old. It came up in comments today again, and I get the impression that CCDs are firstly euro-centric and secondly never seem to look at the current evidence. There have been many studies that substantially support the ‘hockey-stick’ and none that support the MWP. The Crock of the Week did this video explaining it…
Peter Sinclair in Crock of the week uses some old classic movie and TV footage to point out the debunking the ‘climategate’ myth. Quite simply this hack of the e-mails hasn’t changed any of the science of climate change and is as ineffectual as most of the anti-science inquisition has been over the last century. It really just shows how pathetic and ineffectual that the CCDs are becoming.
John Key and the Nats are an anti-education government. Everywhere you look education is under attack. The Nats seem incapable of grasping the basic facts – trained, skilled committed teachers are the best way of creating good educational outcomes, and good educational outcomes are the best way of lifting society and the economy.
This week, the Government slammed through the Policing (Involvement in Local Authority Elections) Amendment Bill. It lets Police stand for local elections under the same rules as other public servants. It’s an issue that deserves to be debated. Instead, it was rushed through by this government in yet another shameful act of disregard for transparent government and active democracy.
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Just a few days ago I wrote about schools in Dunedin and Invercargill refusing to participate in National’s flawed, damaging “national standards” process. The boycott is spreading, with the Auckland Primary Principals’ Association refusing to participate in training, and warning of “further action”.
I was looking through the physical versions of this weeks’ newspapers for something yesterday. I don’t normally do that and I saw some bloody odd stuff. Did you know that the PM asks permission from his staff before he does things? Do you what academic means? Because Paula Bennett doesn’t. And do you know statistics are behind the changing number of school children?
With the supercity campaign of their handpicked man, John Banks, in tatters, the Nats have desperately tried to smear Len Brown. Now, the Auditor-General has found there is nothing to warrant investigation. I doubt we’ll be waiting long until the next smear will be from the Nats, because they sure as hell don’t have any other shot at winning.
The point of an ETS isn’t to just blindly pay more, it is to change our behaviour so that we don’t have to. National don’t get it, so they have brought us the worst of all possible ETS schemes. Badly designed and devoid of vision. An ETS with all of the costs and none of the benefits.
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Unique in the world, we task our Reserve Bank with only one goal – keeping inflation in the target range – and give it one blunt tool to achieve it. Adding other objectives would bring us into line with other countries and giving the Bank better tools is long overdue. We need a smarter, more sophisticated approach to monetary policy. It is great to see the Left pushing for it.
It’s been a big day for Julia Gillard. Up late last night with Kevin Rudd and John Faulkner, the ALP’s elder spokesman, doing […]
Predictions anyone?
Go the All Whites!
Well, this is pretty embarrassing for the Attorney-General Chris Finlayson. He’s the (big g) Government’s top lawyer, and he’s just been taken to school by one of those former teachers in Labour’s ranks that National is always mocking. It’s a little bit hard to be confident in the guy’s ability to be Attorney-General when he can’t understand a simple rule and signs false documents.
Kevin Rudd is gone, and Australia has its first female PM.
It’s been a dramatic fall for Rudd, who was so incredibly popular for his first two years in office.
A government whose raison d’etre is furthering corporate interests can be pretty damned incompetent and still do okay, because corporate msm do the […]
