Back in February 2011, when the Christchurch earthquakes devastated the city and John Key was promising people government assistance to rebuild, a number of unscrupulous companies started operating with the intention of making a lot of money from disaster capitalism.
Not only were these businesses intent on paying very low wages, providing the least amount of services they could and generally delaying the rebuild for as long as possible to extract their pound of flesh, these businesses were often assisted in their destructive agenda by government agencies.
That's one of the reasons Christchurch remains largely broken, with a lack of any state housing, astronomical rental costs and substandard accommodation all adding to people's woes. With dilapidated infrastructure leading to severe flooding and people living in tents, garages and caravans being commonplace, it's not hard to see that the National led government and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority have entirely failed the good people of Christchurch.
To make matters worse, the National led government even took away people’s right to decide who represents them, ensured that insurance companies were bailed out while they failed to meet their lawful obligations to their clients and generally took a dysfunctional approach to the Christchurch rebuild. Furthermore, a lack of proper government assistance and investment also means that the council is now looking at selling assets just to pay the bills.
Why is this the case you might ask? After all, the Prime Minister promised to help out and the government had on paper budgeted a considerable amount of money for the rebuild. In fact it makes good economic sense to ensure that the garden city is reconstructed in a timely manner, because a proper rebuild would add considerably to New Zealand's economic recovery.
One of the reasons for a lack of progress is because of the current government's belief in the free market. This invariably means their neoliberal regime doesn’t fund socially beneficial policy and that's why there's been a complete avoidance on issues such as providing enough state housing in the region. However, the other reason for the government's failure is one that the Prime Minister's confidant and National party propagandist, Cameron Slater, communicates in recently released emails.
On Friday, Stuff reported:
Today, the Prime Minister came out on Breakfast TV and tried to distance himself from the devious and nasty propagandist, Cameron Slater. Suddenly they're no longer best mates, with John Key not wanting his brand to be sullied by such an obviously sick individual. Unfortunately for the National party the association between Key and Slater will be difficult to explain away. The evidence clearly shows that the Prime Minister, John Key, is implicated up to his eyeballs in the scandal.
It wasn't that long ago that Teflon John was saying he was in regular contact with the discredited blogger. We now know that senior staff in the Prime Ministers office, namely Jason Ede, worked closely and extensively with Cameron Slater to anonymously attack their enemies online. In fact the sheer amount of smears Slater has run on behalf of the National party to try and discredit the people they don’t like is a good indication that John Key is involved. When you look at the facts, it's inconceivable that the PM himself wasn't aware of such despicable activity just two doors down from his Beehive office.
The facts speak for themselves; Christchurch, nearly four years after the earthquakes, remains broken with core services the government is meant to provide dilapidated or non-existent, and John Key's mate, Cameron Slater, was gloating at the time of the earthquakes about thousands of Cantabrian's lives being ruined and how this was a good thing for National. It appears that John Key’s failure to ensure the garden city is rebuilt or that earthquake victims are paid out shows that he agrees with his mate, Cameron Slater, when he says the good people of Christchurch are scum and should get nothing!
Thankfully there are other political parties to choose from that don’t hold such negative and destructive beliefs like the National party and their attack bloggers. I suggest that on September 20 you vote for them to change the government into one that Christchurch and indeed the entire country truly deserves.
Not only were these businesses intent on paying very low wages, providing the least amount of services they could and generally delaying the rebuild for as long as possible to extract their pound of flesh, these businesses were often assisted in their destructive agenda by government agencies.That's one of the reasons Christchurch remains largely broken, with a lack of any state housing, astronomical rental costs and substandard accommodation all adding to people's woes. With dilapidated infrastructure leading to severe flooding and people living in tents, garages and caravans being commonplace, it's not hard to see that the National led government and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority have entirely failed the good people of Christchurch.
To make matters worse, the National led government even took away people’s right to decide who represents them, ensured that insurance companies were bailed out while they failed to meet their lawful obligations to their clients and generally took a dysfunctional approach to the Christchurch rebuild. Furthermore, a lack of proper government assistance and investment also means that the council is now looking at selling assets just to pay the bills.
Why is this the case you might ask? After all, the Prime Minister promised to help out and the government had on paper budgeted a considerable amount of money for the rebuild. In fact it makes good economic sense to ensure that the garden city is reconstructed in a timely manner, because a proper rebuild would add considerably to New Zealand's economic recovery.
One of the reasons for a lack of progress is because of the current government's belief in the free market. This invariably means their neoliberal regime doesn’t fund socially beneficial policy and that's why there's been a complete avoidance on issues such as providing enough state housing in the region. However, the other reason for the government's failure is one that the Prime Minister's confidant and National party propagandist, Cameron Slater, communicates in recently released emails.
On Friday, Stuff reported:
Earthquake victims 'scum' says blogger
South Islanders are useless and East Christchurch earthquake victims scum, controversial blogger Cameron Slater allegedly says in emails disclosed by Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager.
Writing to his friend Peter Smith (not his real name) after the February earthquake, Slater says: "The place is f****d, they should should just board it up and close it down."
Smith: A real tragedy, but it will f***k Labour for the election.
Slater: Yep blessings.
Slater: What i can't believe... is how we have to bail out those useless pricks in the sth island, again.’
Smith: I said to someone today National should let them rot, after all they are useless scum Labour voters especially in the areas where the earthquake hit..well hopefully more scum will labour voters will piss off to Australia (and) at least the uninsured get (f***ing) nothing.’
Slater: Those suburbs are hard core Labour...the owners will be Nat voters though and the voters tenants, so the houses are gone and the scum are gone too, and they should get nothing.
Today, the Prime Minister came out on Breakfast TV and tried to distance himself from the devious and nasty propagandist, Cameron Slater. Suddenly they're no longer best mates, with John Key not wanting his brand to be sullied by such an obviously sick individual. Unfortunately for the National party the association between Key and Slater will be difficult to explain away. The evidence clearly shows that the Prime Minister, John Key, is implicated up to his eyeballs in the scandal.
It wasn't that long ago that Teflon John was saying he was in regular contact with the discredited blogger. We now know that senior staff in the Prime Ministers office, namely Jason Ede, worked closely and extensively with Cameron Slater to anonymously attack their enemies online. In fact the sheer amount of smears Slater has run on behalf of the National party to try and discredit the people they don’t like is a good indication that John Key is involved. When you look at the facts, it's inconceivable that the PM himself wasn't aware of such despicable activity just two doors down from his Beehive office.
The facts speak for themselves; Christchurch, nearly four years after the earthquakes, remains broken with core services the government is meant to provide dilapidated or non-existent, and John Key's mate, Cameron Slater, was gloating at the time of the earthquakes about thousands of Cantabrian's lives being ruined and how this was a good thing for National. It appears that John Key’s failure to ensure the garden city is rebuilt or that earthquake victims are paid out shows that he agrees with his mate, Cameron Slater, when he says the good people of Christchurch are scum and should get nothing!
Thankfully there are other political parties to choose from that don’t hold such negative and destructive beliefs like the National party and their attack bloggers. I suggest that on September 20 you vote for them to change the government into one that Christchurch and indeed the entire country truly deserves.
