Today, Kiwiblog reports:
The GCSB should have reminded the Prime Minister that they had given him a briefing on Dotcom? Ah no! John Key should have remembered he had been briefed and not mislead the public. In my opinion, trying to distance himself from the controversy with disinformation is a sign of gross incompetence. The prime ministers department can only go so far in trying to protect John Key from his own shortcomings, and that's where an inquiry really needs to be focused.
Most of the damage to National over this debacle has already occurred. Clearly the manipulation of making a policy announcement that is harsh and then backpedaling to only implement half of those measures has back fired in this instance. National look to be incompetent in their management of the Christchurch rebuild because they are in fact incompetent. The only way to ensure similar policy announcements are not badly managed is to remove the minister in charge.
Actually we need to get rid of ECan altogether... It presently gives the minister in charge the power to bypass any and all environmental laws whenever he choses. He can ignore the Resource Management Act, water conservation orders and suspend the jurisdiction of the Environment Court without asking or even informing Parliament, which means there's no effective oversight.
Such archaic legislation to implement what can correctly be described as Gerry Brownlee's dictatorship opens Canterbury up to the potential of an abuse of power. Private interests will lobby the minister directly to make decision in their favour, which might not be in the best interest of Cantabrians. Get rid of ECan and reappoint a democratically elected council to oversee the Christchurch rebuild.
Punishing the poor for being poor isn't historically the Kiwi way and we used to be a lot more caring about our fellow New Zealanders. Now we have the right-wing screaming blue murder that to feed, clothe, educate and house children properly will mean an increase in taxes. The thing they seem to ignore is that the long-term cost of not looking after children properly through adequate welfare far outstrips any short term financial gains.
What is needed is a more equitable distribution of wealth and a system that allows the poor to generate their own incomes through work that they're properly reimbursed for. So far the left is providing a plan and showing they give a damn, while the right is caught up in an agenda that has already failed and trying to justify this by peddling the same old propaganda that anybody with a couple of braincells to rub together can see right through.
The claim that there's no real poverty in New Zealand and it's all relative is a terrible case of the emperors new clothes... All they really need to do is get out and about and open their eyes.
When internationally recognized research shows that poverty in New Zealand is worsening, they either ignore or rubbish the result. This ultimately leads to negative politicking where the victims of a failing system are told it's all their fault and nothing changes. As far as I can tell, only a change in government will rectify the issue of growing inequality in New Zealand.
What many right-wingers seem to forget is that financial problems cause domestic violence. Therefore the government needs to ensure poor peoples incomes increase and less children will be abused... It's a simple as that.
What a load of rubbish! The current ETS has been used by National to give subsidies to polluting industries. The Government is facing a significant carbon account deficit because of those subsidies, which will be met by increasing taxes or borrowing more from overseas.
Meanwhile emissions are projected to far exceed targets in the future because of the subsidies National put in place, which actually gives an incentive for many industries to pollute more. We will need to purchase offshore carbon credits to offset industry subsidies, another cost that will be passed onto the taxpayer.
What we need to do is remove the subsidies currently given to polluting industries and then the government can potentially lower taxes. People will pay the true cost to manufacture products, but they will have more money and there will be a proper free market where products manufactured with non-polluting methods can properly compete.
The better management of government accounts will lead to less taxes, and so far only the left-wing show signs of making the changes required to ensure financial, environmental and social security for all New Zealanders. The alternative is more of the same from National, who have proven themselves to be totally incompetent! Their mismanagement is being reflected in the latest poll results, for which they have nobody to blame but themselves.
I think the Govt needs to do a number of things to regain momentum. They include:
A commission of inquiry into the GCSB. The fact three other cases have been disclosed as being of uncertain legality gives the Govt grounds for this. Without an inquiry, the issue will drag on for the next six months or longer. The GCSB, with all respect, has displayed signs of incompetence. It is almost unforgiveable that they took two weeks to recall that Kim Dotcom had been mentioned to the PM at a general briefing. They should have located that within hours, not weeks. I personally don’t believe there has been any ill intent, but there has been enough errors made, that it is difficult to see public confidence being restored without a more rigorous inquiry – not just into Dotcom. Such an inquiry could also review the legal framework around the GCSB, so it is future looking also.
The GCSB should have reminded the Prime Minister that they had given him a briefing on Dotcom? Ah no! John Key should have remembered he had been briefed and not mislead the public. In my opinion, trying to distance himself from the controversy with disinformation is a sign of gross incompetence. The prime ministers department can only go so far in trying to protect John Key from his own shortcomings, and that's where an inquiry really needs to be focused.
Significant change to the Christchurch schools debacle. It could well be that all the changes are justified, and sensible in the long-term. But the way it was done has resulted in such ill feeling, that the Government needs to go for less change there. People know some stuff has to change, but go for the essential, not the “ideal” in terms of efficiency.
Most of the damage to National over this debacle has already occurred. Clearly the manipulation of making a policy announcement that is harsh and then backpedaling to only implement half of those measures has back fired in this instance. National look to be incompetent in their management of the Christchurch rebuild because they are in fact incompetent. The only way to ensure similar policy announcements are not badly managed is to remove the minister in charge.
Amend the ECan legislation to make it a hybrid body as the Commissioners recommended. When not even the Commissioners are wanting to stay on as a purely appointed body, you have to ask why would the Govt do this?
Actually we need to get rid of ECan altogether... It presently gives the minister in charge the power to bypass any and all environmental laws whenever he choses. He can ignore the Resource Management Act, water conservation orders and suspend the jurisdiction of the Environment Court without asking or even informing Parliament, which means there's no effective oversight.
Such archaic legislation to implement what can correctly be described as Gerry Brownlee's dictatorship opens Canterbury up to the potential of an abuse of power. Private interests will lobby the minister directly to make decision in their favour, which might not be in the best interest of Cantabrians. Get rid of ECan and reappoint a democratically elected council to oversee the Christchurch rebuild.
Deal with the child poverty campaign (which is in fact a campaign for higher taxes and more welfare). National’s policies around welfare reform, national standards, reducing child abuse, better domestic violence laws are in fact all about reducing real child poverty, and giving more kids a better start in life. The left’s only answer to these issues is tax and spend. They won’t confront the much tougher issues of welfare dependency, the bottom 20% of students etc. National will. But National is not making the case well enough, and allowing the left to define child poverty as being just about “relative poverty” which in fact is just another name for income inequality.
Punishing the poor for being poor isn't historically the Kiwi way and we used to be a lot more caring about our fellow New Zealanders. Now we have the right-wing screaming blue murder that to feed, clothe, educate and house children properly will mean an increase in taxes. The thing they seem to ignore is that the long-term cost of not looking after children properly through adequate welfare far outstrips any short term financial gains.
What is needed is a more equitable distribution of wealth and a system that allows the poor to generate their own incomes through work that they're properly reimbursed for. So far the left is providing a plan and showing they give a damn, while the right is caught up in an agenda that has already failed and trying to justify this by peddling the same old propaganda that anybody with a couple of braincells to rub together can see right through.
The claim that there's no real poverty in New Zealand and it's all relative is a terrible case of the emperors new clothes... All they really need to do is get out and about and open their eyes.
When internationally recognized research shows that poverty in New Zealand is worsening, they either ignore or rubbish the result. This ultimately leads to negative politicking where the victims of a failing system are told it's all their fault and nothing changes. As far as I can tell, only a change in government will rectify the issue of growing inequality in New Zealand.
What many right-wingers seem to forget is that financial problems cause domestic violence. Therefore the government needs to ensure poor peoples incomes increase and less children will be abused... It's a simple as that.
Position the left as the party of higher costs for struggling households. People forget they want to ramp up the ETS so petrol and electricity prices increase. They want more inflation, which will hit struggling families. They want more taxes.
What a load of rubbish! The current ETS has been used by National to give subsidies to polluting industries. The Government is facing a significant carbon account deficit because of those subsidies, which will be met by increasing taxes or borrowing more from overseas.
Meanwhile emissions are projected to far exceed targets in the future because of the subsidies National put in place, which actually gives an incentive for many industries to pollute more. We will need to purchase offshore carbon credits to offset industry subsidies, another cost that will be passed onto the taxpayer.
What we need to do is remove the subsidies currently given to polluting industries and then the government can potentially lower taxes. People will pay the true cost to manufacture products, but they will have more money and there will be a proper free market where products manufactured with non-polluting methods can properly compete.
The better management of government accounts will lead to less taxes, and so far only the left-wing show signs of making the changes required to ensure financial, environmental and social security for all New Zealanders. The alternative is more of the same from National, who have proven themselves to be totally incompetent! Their mismanagement is being reflected in the latest poll results, for which they have nobody to blame but themselves.
