liberation

NZ Politics Daily - 22 June 2012

Has ACC become sociopathic? The latest revelations about financial incentives for ACC staff who push accident victims off the books could be perceived as being part of a sociopathic – or at least bureaupathic – culture within the government agency. Green MP Kevin Hague has revealed that case managers are paid a bonus for removing long term claimants and says ‘This sort of scheme is symptomatic of a sick culture within ACC’ – see Adam Bennett’s ACC bonus pay for claimant cull. ACC argues that getting clients back to work is the focus, but the obvious next question is: how many of those ‘culled’ haven’t actually increased their work hours but have just been pushed on to a benefit or lost income? For the strongest critique of the ACC policy, read Gordon Campbell’s Scoop article On the incentive payments at ACC. Gordon Campbell argues the policy is ‘not just corrupt, it’s insulting’. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 21 June 2012

Should opposition parties pledge to renationalise companies being partially privatised by the National Government? It’s a question that goes to the heart of the debate over the asset sales, and it’s discussed today by John Armstrong in his column, English puts Labour on the spot during defensive week for National. Armstrong suggests that Labour is being wise to fudge the issue. He says that if a future Labour Government was to reverse the partial privatisation process this would have to be funded out of increased borrowing of perhaps $5-7b, and signaling such an ‘extravagant’ policy would be to ‘shoot itself in the foot’ as it would ‘cut right across Labour’s efforts to portray itself as a careful manager of the economy’. This is also a position pushed on Labour-friendly Standard blog, see for example: The art of the possible. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily: 20 June

National lost the public debate on asset sales a long time ago, but it pushes forward regardless. Surely if the Government could turn back the clock it would not bother going down the path of partial privatisation at all. After all the whole exercise has turned out to be so fraught. This is emphasized today by John Armstrong’s column, National has failed to conquer foreign ownership bogey, in which he intelligently outlines all the ways in which National has lost its way on the issue. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 19 June 2012

Class war: Round Two! It seems National’s response to their bloody nose over class sizes is to get right back off the canvas and have another go at education reform – albeit with a different tactic that won them a points victory last term. The Prime Minister says Parents 'desperate' for league tables, in a clear attempt to get back onside with parents unimpressed with the prospect of larger class sizes. The ‘white flight’ debate over decile ratings provided a good opportunity to promote a public measure of schools based on more than just the wealth of their neighbourhood. The main argument seems to be that league tables are inevitable because the raw information will be public and that it is better for the Government to produce them than leave it to the media to create their own. This is the argument David Farrar echoes in School League Tables.

There are some strong critiques of this position, especially since the raw data for the league tables would be generated from the National Standards programme. Russell Brown has a good analysis of how the latest announcement fits into the development of the policy and says ‘the information that schools have provided can barely be described as data. It is inconsistent, narrow and not subject to meaningful moderation. Even the standards aren’t standard – different schools have quite different written interpretations of what they mean’. Brown compares it unfavourably to the time and effort put into developing the NCEA system – see: Moving from frustration to disgust. David Kennedy has a similarly damning analysis, noting that as well as having some parental support the policy has the virtue of not costing much money – see: School League Tables Lack Logic. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 18 June

Winston Peters is proving to be the fly in Labour’s ointment yet again. Labour has until now had National – and John Key in particular – squirming over the superannuation age. It looked like Labour was leading a debate that would, inevitably, end up on their side. After all, Labour’s new and defining policy of reducing entitlements by raising the age of entitlement to the pension has been echoed by a chorus of commentators and lobbyists. And even the Greens have appeared to be onside for the reduction. But Peters is now, with some success, positioning himself in the box seat to be the defender of superannuation against attacks, and even looking to increase it – see: Peters: make super more generous. Peters says that he will not allow Labour to govern if that party will implement its big changes to National Superannuation. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 15 June 2012

Is it a case of ‘the less said, the better’ for Labour? The next election is a long way out but the trends are all looking promising for David Shearer to become the next prime minister. Apart from the class size controversy, which Shearer and Labour can take credit for seizing on early and exploiting efficiently, the Greens and National have probably had more impact on Labour’s poll ratings. While Shearer has promised to eventually reveal his grand vision, the temptation now must be to revert to that tried and tested formula of being as bland and uncommitted as possible. This is the way most elections that change governments are won – as epitomised by National’s 2008 victory when it posed as ‘Labour-lite’. Playing safe will have it’s own consequences though. Voters may well wonder exactly what sort of government Shearer is likely to lead. Certainly leftwing bloggers Danyl Mclauchlan (The vision vacuum) and Robert Winter (Polls turning; now, where's Labour's vision?) think Shearer still needs to present a coherent programme to inspire voters. Just getting Labour supporters to even turn out on election day is becoming a challenge – see the No Right Turn blogpost, Choice and turnout. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 14 June 2012

‘No worries’ seems to be John Key’s response to the Auditor-General’s office investigation into the Convention Centre tender process. However, as John Armstrong points out, this issue has one crucial factor that all of the Government’s other problems don’t have: ‘The convention centre is the Prime Minister's pet project. He is up to his neck in it. Even the mere hint of anything remotely dodgy will be a huge blow to his credibility - and quite possibly a lasting one.’ – see: Stakes higher with PM's reputation on the line. The ‘business is usual’ response is necessary to avoid appearing ‘defensive and besieged’ says Armstrong but he isn’t impressed with Key’s attitude to the Auditor-General’s decision: ‘The sight of politicians treating the office as little more than a nuisance is disturbing.’ Labour and the Greens have slammed the Government for pushing on with negotiations despite the investigation – see: Convention centre probe: Govt accused of arrogance. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 13 June 2012

The body count is mounting rapidly at ACC as at least two Directors and the CEO Ralph Stewart (just 6 months into the job) join the casualty list today – see: TVNZ’s ACC chief Ralph Stewart quits. Judith Collins has finally got around to doing some actual crushing and John Armstrong even thinks she is enjoying herself now the heads have started rolling:  “Few Cabinet ministers like to play to their public image to quite the extent Collins does. She positively relishes any opportunity to display her reputation as one tough cookie. She had earlier walked into the chamber wearing her trademark smile of the cat that got the cream. She was indeed licking her paws” – see: Minister smug over Judge's sudden exit. Armstrong points out that Judge’s resignation yesterday took the sting out of Opposition attacks in parliament – which is exactly what it was designed to do. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 12 June 2012

John Judge had to go. Today's announcement of the departure of the ACC board chief was hardly a shock – see: ACC Board chair John Judge goes. Leaving John Judge in charge of ACC until the privacy breach inquiries were finished – and only then asking questions about ACC’s police complaint – could only be seen as implicit support from the Government, no matter how they may try to avoid saying it in public. So Judith Collins was probably under pressure to find a way to be rid of Judge. She couldn’t allow the ACC mess to fester. After all, National’s political management has been severely tested over class sizes, and Collins’ previous decision to sue Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little was already widely seen to be a poor decision in terms of getting past the bad publicity. Judge’s scalp was necessary to begin the clean-up. But will it be enough? [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 11 June 2012

The tide has turned on National. The party’s six-year period of basking in 50%+ public support is over. National’s popularity is now seriously dented, and its grip on government is clearly challenged. Last night’s TV3 opinion poll was a crucial one in confirming that the party has lost a fair chunk of support in recent weeks – see: TV3’s Greens, Labour rise in latest poll. The poll shows that National has dropped four percentage points – the same as last week’s TV One poll. More alarming for National, the TV3 poll records that as preferred PM, John Key drops to 40%, his lowest rating since becoming leader in 2006. What’s more, the public’s approval of Key’s performance has dropped 4.5% – which adds up to an massive 20% drop from 75% to 55% in just seven months. Declines in leadership support are normally followed by further declines in party support. And for National this metric is incredibly important, because Key is their main asset. As John Hartevelt says, ‘The political magic of Key's personal appeal is not so much National's trump card, as its only card… If his impact continues to decline, there's real trouble… the prime minister is far from a spent force yet, but when his well finally runs dry, National's will too’ – see: Class-size fiasco drowns out royal slam dunk. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 8 June 2012

History will now record this year’s Government Budget as the ‘Backdown Budget’. That’s how significant it is. Virtually all commentators have pointed out that despite the small amount of money that the ill-fated increased class size policy aimed to save, the political implications have turned out to be anything but insignificant. The problem is it took Hekia Parata and the Government a lot longer to realise that. This shouldn’t have been the case with a major Budget policy. After all, wasn’t a ‘run it up the flag pole’ proposal designed to test the waters. Instead it was part of the main government planning document immortalised in print (and even in a smart phone application). And, although the $174 million savings are indeed relatively small, they’re only slightly less than the carefully crafted $197 million surplus forecast for 2014. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 7 June 2012

The backdown over class sizes seems pretty comprehensive and the Education Minister’s humiliation is complete. Hekia Parata was, only yesterday, trying to project steely resolve in the face of mounting pressure. Trying to defend the indefensible for a week did not do her or the Government any favours, and today’s retreat has seemed inevitable for quite some time. So, why the backdown? Probably because criticisms of the cuts resonated with so many middle-income New Zealanders. The Government offended the all-important ‘swing voter’. ‘Middle New Zealand’ has spoken, and the Government has capitulated. Now begins the debate about whether this backdown is a case of the Government being courageous, embarrassed, principled or pragmatic. Certainly National has shown no sign that it has changed its mind about the correctness of its decision or the general logic of its argument. See also Vernon Small and Danya Levy’s Backlash forces Government class size U-turn, the Standard’s Parata to the Headmaster’s office?, and Matthew Hooton’s Govt fiscal strategy to unravel after humiliating education u-turn. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily: 6 June 2012

Bronwyn Pullar has been exonerated by police investigating claims that she attempted to use extortion against ACC. This raises many questions – especially about whether ACC actually used the allegations in a deliberate attempt to distract from their own incompetence – see: ACC used police as smokescreen, say Greens. If so, it only provided a temporary distraction, and looks to have blown up in their faces. The police appear to have unequivocally cleared both Pullar and Michelle Boag, and this represents quite a victory for them – one that Boag is indicating she may further pursue in the courts. [Read more below]

Niki Lomax: The Greens’ post-election celebrations, concerns, and challenges

The Greens are still in a state of post-election euphoria – and they have every reason to be. Niki Lomax attended the Greens’ AGM this weekend, and observed a party – in the words of Russel Norman – celebrating, consolidating and facing their future. This is her guest blog post report on the weekend, covering the celebrations, concerns, and challenges of a party in a growth phase. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 5 June 2012

There won’t be any sandals tucked under the Cabinet table if the Greens are part of the next government. The Green Party’s annual conference over the weekend continued the ‘sandals to suits’ transformation, with the party looking more professional, respectable and successful than ever. What is very clear is that the Greens have effectively given up any pretense that they could form a government with National. Co-leader Metiria Turei launched a direct attack on Paula Bennett and John Key for stripping welfare and education provisions that they personally benefited from in their youth – see Isaac Davison’s Greens launch attack on Bennett and Key and Battle of ex-solo-mums looms. [Read more below]

 

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]