liberation

NZ Politics Daily - 1 June 2012

The stoush over class sizes is turning into a real test of the Government’s ideological commitment to both its education and fiscal policies. As TV3’s Ingrid Hipkiss points out, the Government is not just offside with the usual suspects, the teacher unions, but pretty much the entire education sector: principals, trustees and, crucially, parents – see: Sector revolts against teacher cuts. For further evidence of this growing momentum, Audrey Young cites Gary Sweeney, the President of the Association of Intermediate and Middle Schooling as saying ‘that in his 20 years as a principal, he had not seen such a response to change’ – see: Educators unite to get rid of staff cuts. [Read more below]

 

 

 

NZ Politics Daily - 31 May

Is some work too hard to do when you are in your 60s? Yes, according to Labour which, trying to soften the edges of its push to raise the general retirement age to 67 has said that manual workers should get the opportunity to retire at 60. Maori, because of their shorter lifespan, should also be able to retire at 60 according to the Maori Party – see: Duncan Garner’s Labour says retirement age should be 60 for manual workers. United Future blogger Pete George advocates his party’s flexible system with increasing rates for those that hold off retiring until later but also points out the complications of defining who actually would be entitled to retire when, in Should women be eligible for Super later than men? [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 30 May

‘Must do better’ is the least criticism Education Minister Hekia Parata can expect from her colleagues over the shambolic class sizes policy. She may argue that being heckled by intermediate school principals at their conference today in the midst of it all is punishment enough, but as John Armstrong writes, the entire mess was completely avoidable – see: Class backdown a mess of National's own making. Parata’s performance under pressure yesterday will not do her political aspirations any good. John Hartevelt says Parata ‘ran from questions in the morning and was hapless in the teeth of grillings from the media and the baying Opposition in the afternoon – see: Education minister learns the hard way. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 29 May

Is the proposal to fix the ‘intergenerational unfairness’ of superannuation actually a Trojan horse? Labour’s proposal to raise the superannuation eligibility age to 67 is being met by an almost deafening media chorus calling for National to agree – see: Duncan Garner’s Pressure for John Key to raise retirement age. National appears stuck with an election promise, but it’s giving some signals that it will follow suit in a few years according to Tracy Watkins who says that Key has admitted that ‘National had "kicked the tyres" on whether to revisit his 2008 and 2011 election promise’ – see: Nats thought about pension change. Labour’s proposal is to raise the age in increments between 2020 and 2032 – after the vast majority of baby boomers have already secured their full entitlement. They will get their super at 65 and collect it for their expanding life span, pulling up the ladder behind them.  It is actually the following generation who will pay the boomers’ full entitlement but get less themselves. It’s OK – they are used to it. It is a generation that has had the cradle-to-grave welfare state ladder pulled up higher all of their lives. [Read more below]

 

‘For a richer New Zealand’: Environmentalism and the Green Party in the 2011 New Zealand General Election

The 2011 general election was a breakthrough election for the New Zealand Green Party. Campaigning ‘For a richer New Zealand’, the Greens won 11.1% of the vote, which translated into 14 MPs. Although the Greens had been in Parliament for the previous 12 years, they had never before been able to win much more than 7% of the party vote. This blog post reproduces a version of a journal article accepted for publication in Environmental Politics, written by Niki Lomax and Bryce Edwards. It argues that the 2011 triumph of the Greens can be attributed, more than anything else, to the significant reinvention of the party over recent years. The Green Party that contested the 2011 election was essentially an entirely new and transformed version of the party that formed in 1990 and was first elected to Parliament in 1999. The Greens, originally regarded as a radical, fringe movement of political outsiders and non-politicians, by 2011 had metamorphosed into a much more conventional, moderate, and professional party. [Read more below]

John Moore: ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’ – How the Green Party aims to woo back left voters

Is the Green Party now the nature home for progressives in New Zealand? While the David Shearer led Labour Party is rapidly distancing itself from its brief move to the left under the leadership of chameleon-like politician Phil Goff, the Greens have seemingly embraced a number of leftwing causes. These include: opposition to state asset sales, support to various striking and locked-out workers, and the struggle against growing inequality. So if you are leftwing you should vote Green, right? In this guest blog post, John Moore argues that the Green Party is once again making an opportunistic political shift in an attempt to capture a segment of the electorate. In light of the Greens’ shift to the right over recent years, and the exiting of a number of key leftwing activists from the party including the prominent resignation of Sue Bradford, the Greens born-again leftism therefore needs to be viewed with a large dose of cynicism. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 28 May

Does New Zealand now hold political prisoners in its jails? The imprisonment of Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara on arms charges has outraged supporters who claim their sentences are more about justifying a massive police blunder than a punishment befitting their convicted crimes. TVNZ’s Q+A had excellent coverage of the issue on Saturday including an interview with Police Commissioner Peter Marshall (read the transcript and watch the interview here).

 

The Commissioner’s explanations are not convincing according to Tim Watkin (See no evil, hear no evil, insist there is evil) who says that while Marshall claims ‘that police are "very clearly vindicated" by the sentences this week… at the same time he can't say who was at risk, which buildings were being targeted or what the plot was’. He says Marshall almost appears to be ‘willfully ignorant’ of the inconsistencies, particularly the allegation that then-Opposition Leader John Key was a named target and yet went into a remote marae in the Ureweras just two months before the raid. [Read more below 

NZ Politics Daily: 25 May

New Zealand is a tougher place to live in because of the Government’s latest Budget. There are plenty of losers and few winners, leaving a balance sheet that is pretty dismal. Those badly affected by Bill English’s latest decisions include families, smokers, kids in paid employment, farmers and students, and today there are literally hundreds of articles detailing their losses. Tracy Watkins sums up the bad news nicely: ‘Bill English's fourth Budget pinches the pennies, raids nearly every piggy bank and even plunders the Government's rainy-day fund. No-one, it seems, is safe – even kids with an after-school job have been frisked for extra revenue to help fill Government coffers’ – see: Budget 2012: Cough it up. Similarly, TV3’s Duncan Garner puts it like this: ‘It's the penny-pinching, paper boy Budget.  A million here, a million there. No one walks away from this budget without getting hit in some way.  No matter how small – we've all gone backwards’ – see: Robbing the paper boys to pay the Bills. [Read more below]

 

Post-Budget analysis: "The Yawn Budget"

The race to name the Budget seems to have been won by Vernon Small: it’s ‘The Yawn Budget’ (http://bit.ly/JpaZwL). There’s many variations on this theme that have been announced today by various pundits and political players. John Armstrong labels it A most forgettable (and dull) Budget (http://bit.ly/JpcPh5), and uses words such as ‘forgettable’, ‘dull’, ‘boring’. Bernard Hickey seems to call it ‘The Steady-as-she-goes Budget’ (http://bit.ly/Jpbmr5). Herald business editor Liam Dann (@liamdann) (http://bit.ly/JpbAyC) has tweeted that it’s ‘The Seinfeld Budget’ i.e. ‘A Show about Nothing’. Political strategist Mark Blackham ‏(@mark_blackham) (http://bit.ly/JpiZ0X) has tweeted to say that it’s The "plain pack" Budget i.e. as with plan packing of cigarettes, ‘No National branding, but we all know what's inside’. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily: 24 May

The race has already begun to attach a folksy label to this year’s Budget and capture in two or three words what it’s all about. John Armstrong’s bid for the title is ‘sweet and sour’, reflecting how each unpalatable cut is balanced with a sweetener. He thinks this approach has worked so far and that with the outcry over cuts and increased charges effectively minimised, today’s fare will be fairly bland – see: 'Sweet and sour' approach averts Budget outcry. 

 

‘Bach, boat and beemer’ is Patrick Gower’s pick for an catchy handle, reflecting Bill English’s hint that he will be closing down on tax loopholes such as tax write-offs for holiday homes – see: Bach, boat and beemer targeted in Budget. Such measures will make easy headlines for English and make it easy for headline writers. But the measure is unlikely to harvest large amounts of extra revenue or cause real concern for the most affluent New Zealanders. [Read more below]

 

Geoffrey Miller: Is taking gifts from lobbyists ever a good idea?

David Shearer has defended taking free hospitality from SkyCity at the Rugby World Cup by saying he didn't know at the time about the ‘convention centre for pokie machines deal’. If this is really true, then Shearer is, at the very least, guilty of incompetence, as the deal was announced in June 2011 and he is an Auckland MP. The deal was covered by the media at the time in June 2011. The alternative is somewhat worse for Shearer, namely that he was in fact fully aware of the news of the deal in June 2011, but somehow, in May 2012, fell victim to the rather contagious and virulent malady spreading through the New Zealand parliament: the 'cannot recall' disease. In this guest blog post, Geoffrey Miller warns against politicians receiving corporate gifts and says they should declare them more quickly than they do. [Read more below].

 

NZ Politics Daily: 23 May

Is Labour still fighting last year’s election? David Shearer’s limited announcements on economic policy have carefully been aimed to boost Labour’s image as a fiscally responsible government-in-waiting. This clearly constrains them as they attack the Government’s Budget tomorrow. The problem may be that the world has moved on and ‘fiscal responsibility’ is becoming synonymous with ‘austerity’ – policies that are becoming economically and politically less fashionable by the day. There is clearly a majority of voters who think the Government has got it wrong or are unsure about the current economic approach according to Vernon Small and Tracy Watkins (see: Support for economic direction wavering). This would suggest there is fertile ground for a credible economic alternative, and there is no doubt Labour has plenty of ammunition with which to attack the Government. But they also need to provide a strong point of difference in order to be seen as a real alternative government. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 22 May

Quickly accumulating unwanted baggage is a reality for most travellers. On his journey towards the Beehive’s 9th floor David Shearer, the ‘non-politician’ elected with no political baggage, is quickly getting weighed down. Shearer’s office, along with Government politicians, are no doubt poring over the Labour Leader’s previous statements about political corruption in light of the daily revelations about Shane Jones’ involvement with William Yan (aka Bill Liu), currently on trial in Auckland. Revelations in court yesterday show the link goes further than just Jones, as Shane Phillips (also known as Shane Te Pou), a professional Labour Party fundraiser, had close links with Mr Yan, taking Yan on a trip to Hawke’s Bay which included a visit with then Labour Internal Affairs minister Rick Barker. His brother also worked in Shane Jones’ office. Phillips claims to have filled in a citizenship form on behalf of Mr Yan, the accuracy of which is central to the prosecution – see: Edward Gay’s Millionaire knew immigration statements were untrue, court told. The article, along with others – such as Jared Savage’s Labour links to Yan emerge in court – illustrate how well-connected Yan was to the Labour Party. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 21 May

Jobs and growth versus fiscal responsibility - that’s the major dichotomy characterising political analysis and debate in the lead up to this week’s Budget. Brian Fallow asks today in the Herald, ‘Which is the economy’s biggest problem right now: too much debt or not enough work to go around?  That is the basic question the Government faced as it prepared this week’s Budget’ – see: Dealing with debt key to recovery. Similarly, today’s Herald editorial says ‘Governments around the world are in the same dilemma: whether to give lacklustre economies an even greater stimulus or demonstrate budgetary control’ – see: Budget likely to test resolve on economy. This Government has clearly chosen in favour of fiscal responsibility, and that’s going to be the key message pushed all week. 

 

In contrast, Labour, the Greens, and other critics are going to be pushing for a priority to be placed on creating economic growth – and to a lesser extent, jobs. You can see a foretaste of this in David Shearer’s very nice catchphrase: A ‘zero Budget this week is a recipe for zero growth’ – see: Adam Bennett’s Zero Budget means zero growth – Shearer. John Armstrong also says that the focus of debate ‘will shift to the adequacy or otherwise of National's economic growth strategy’ – see: Backlash lurking in Govt austerity march. According to Armstrong, National is going to have to rely on ‘Steven "Minister of Everything" Joyce’ and his new super-ministry to create the required growth and jobs. Labour’s not alone in pushing for greater job creation, interestingly, Business New Zealand’s Chief executive Phil O'Reilly has called for a ‘much sharper focus on job creation’ – see RNZ’s Business NZ to hold Govt to its goal of returning to surplus. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily: 18 May

The Judith Collins defamation action is starting to look like a cross between the Teapot tapes and the McLibel trial. The Minister has finally filed the legal proceedings against Labour MPs Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little who, for their part, both seem determined to milk it for all it’s worth – see the two items by Danya Levy: MPs laugh off Collins' lawsuit and Little tells Collins to send in the 'thugs'. Clearly Little and Mallard sense that this legal action can only embarrass the Minister and her Government, and are set on turning the process into a circus with their hijinks, bluster, and jovial disregard for the matter. 

 

Graeme Edgeler writes in his blogpost, Sanctuary!, that being ‘served’ your legal papers is a rather quaint, bizarre and ‘fun’ part of the whole procedure, so who can blame the Labour MPs for enjoying the theatrics. But he takes issue with the notion that MPs cannot be served defamation proceedings while in the Parliamentary complex due to parliamentary privilege. Instead Edgeler suggests that ‘unless they’re planning on being unfindable for next couple of years, it might be better to get it over with. If the case is as likely as they claim to prove embarrassing for the Minister, one might wonder why they don’t want to bring it on’. Furthermore, as Adam Bennett reports in Little out to embarrass Collins over court action, ‘should the pair avoid being served in person several times, lawyers could apply for a court order allowing the papers to be simply taped to their front doors’. [Read more below]

 

NZ politicians on gay marriage (on the record)

Recently we have seen some New Zealand party leaders and MPs come out in support of same-sex marriage – albeit often with qualifications. When I interviewed politicians in my Vote Chat series last year, I asked them about this issue, and their responses can be viewed on YouTube. In the blog post below, I summarise their responses and provide links through to the particular video clips where they give their views on gay marriage. I also roughly rank the various politicians who participated in Vote Chat – from those that were most enthusiastic in supporting marriage equality through to those that clearly oppose allowing same-sex couples to marry. [Read more below]