A tale of two hospital announcements
There were some notable differences between Labour and National’s accouncements of a new Dunedin hospital…
promises
Predator free NZ – how are we doing?
It has been 6 months since the announcement that New Zealand would be predator free by 2050. But is sounds like nothing concrete has happened yet.
An interesting time for the Republicans
Trump is going to be a figurehead, not a president, leaving governance to an unfettered Republican machine. That machine is no friend of the disenfranchised, never was, never will be. How will Trump’s base react to being betrayed?
Flogging off Kiwibank
Flogging off Kiwibank is not an option.
Read my lips – some new taxes
TPP and the Pharmac reality
Key glibly says that the government will meet increased costs for medicine under the TPPP, but the reality for Pharmac is that its budget is already squeezed. If the TPP goes ahead Key’s promise will quickly be “forgotten”.
What does Key’s promise mean?
Key is already qualifying a promise he’s made on Maori water rights. Does the promise mean anything at all?
The super disaster
On Superannuation Key is in a very strange position indeed, where keeping his word is doing him more harm than breaking it. It’s a disaster for the country.
Juking the stats
There’s some odd omissions from Key’s new ’10 targets’. There’s nothing hard. Nothing about closing the gap with Australia, formerly goal number 1. Nothing about creating jobs, despite 170,000 being promised. Nothing about the cycleway that was going to end the recession. It invites a closer look at the 10 targets. And then you discover, they’ll all happen anyway.
Will Key sign pledge not to sell Kiwibank?
Phil Goff has signed a pledge that Labour will not sell Kiwibank if it becomes government. Other party leaders have been invited as well. I expect the Greens, New Zealand First, Mana, and the Conservatives will (who knows about the Maori Party). But will Key sign? National is secretly itching to sell Kiwibank, Bill English got caught out admitting as much.
Food in Schools?
John Key promised to put Food in poorer Schools across New Zealand to help children to learn. What has he done about it? One cheap, but very well-publicised stunt. Will we see any substance? Or is this another promise like not raising GST, wages catching Australia, or capping not cutting the civil service?
Over promise under deliver
“I also want to pay a special acknowledgement to my friend and deputy, Bill English. What a great job he is doing as Finance Minister. He’s delivered two Budgets that have steered New Zealand out of recession and put the economy firmly back on track to grow and create jobs”. Or has he?…