A very good authority has indicated that despite Bill English repaying the money he (or his iffy trust) received from Ministerial Services he has not withdrawn or amended the form he lodged with the Speaker indicating that Dipton is his primary place of residence.
I wonder why. Is it on legal advice because of the investigation? Or because he knows Key would require him to repay that $250k? Or another reason?
Or two of the above?
Or all three?
Will he be attending the Ranfuly Shield celebrations this weekend? Its just a short drive diwn the road. Would be a good photo-op for him.
Yeah thought he would have driven down from home in Dipton to welcome the boys at the airport. Maybe he was too busy with electorate appointments.
move on Trevor .. this thread you are maintaining is boring the general public .. only Blog/Parliament TV watchers even know it still being discussed, and only by you, so .. unless you have something concrete to submit, you are looking desperate and dateless.
This has become some sort of personal vendetta .. and what will happen if you “win” and he goes? You will end up against a stronger replacement in Joyce or Power.
LOL
Maybe he forgot, the poor dear seems to be forgetting a lot lately, all that communting takes its toll.
I meant commuting, my brain is munted.
I remember the last time or two a Finance Minister was removed – Roger Douglas (sorry, Sir) in 1988 and Ruth Richardson after the 1993 election (precipitating a byelection in Selwyn in 1994). Both were cataclysmic events and resulted in a complete change in the government’s direction. So the stakes are always high when a Finance Minister gets wobbly – and English is looking decidedly wobbly right now.
Maryan .. the Sir comment seems touchy. Sir Roger was a very senior member of the Labour Party and brought massive change to the NZ political world (admittedly, he and Prebble were 2 reasons I lost faith with labour but that’s a whole story on it’s own). Most of the changes he made have been kept meaning no subsequent Govt, left or right, have reversed his changes. Why not?
By the way, I was so proud to see Sir Howard Morrison buried with such an honor. You seem to be keen to have denied him that privilege .. sad
Gee, for such a Unhelpful comments H. Fee Clare thread Jabba, you sure do have a lot to say.
This is the form that Margaret Wilson and her successors signed off on, is it? There was and is no secret about English’s living arrangements at the time.
C’mon, you know the issue has been out of the media spotlight for weeks, you are flogging a dead horse.
Exactly swampy. Why do you think they started R A. For items that arent in the media spotlight . And for the base ,we love it
Just because it has dropped off the radar, doesn’t make it right. It just means that there are other things to fill the column inches, like the set up job the National / Act parties are doing on ACC.
I’ve read the form Bill English filled out, and I’ve had an opportunity to check the Wellington phonebooks from the last decade for other information. It is clear to me that Mr English’s claim warrants investigation by the Auditor General. Has she decided to do so?
The Auditor General was meant to indicate about a fortnight ago if she was going to proceed to a full investigation. My gut feel is that she is more concerned than Bill would prefer her to be and that she is doing substantive as opposed to preliminary work.
And jabba remember the MSM have asked some of their previous questions based on Red Alert and I’m sure eventually someone will check and see if Bill continues to benefit by pretending he lives in Dipton.
hi Clare .. don’t delete comments from H Fee for my sake .. I’m a big boy, and yes I do have a lot to say .. jabba isn’t just a play on my initials. Not for your sake Jabba. Just sending a signal Clare
Don’t worry Jabba, it was nothing derogatory – I merely quoted, word for word, what you had written. Not sure what the censoring was for.
We need to find a new intolerance for unacceptable practices and behaviors of our MPS and especially with regard to benefits and perks.
That intolerance should apply across all sectors of society by the way. The tax deductibility of losses by speculators is as repugnant to me as those cheating on our benefit system, politicians with their noses in the trough or those committing insurance fraud.
We have lost our since of “society” and a commitment to our collective welfare and replaced it with, “its all about me”.
Interestingly the left sees what the right does wrong and is blind to their own failings and surprise, vs. versa.
The fact is we all need to be reminded that taking what is not ours is theft. You can dress it up any why you like you are taking from others to benefit yourself and that’s wrong.
Our tax laws on deductibility of losses from secondary property’s is a classic example. Those that do it feel “untitled” but why? They have lowered their tax, there by shifting that burden to others and when the property is sold they get to keep the unpaid tax portion and put it in their bank account (capital gains tax would fix this). That sounds like institutionalized theft to me and with zero gain to the broader economy. No jobs are created, no foreign exchange earned, but there is an increase in our national debt, the exchange rate and thus a loss of export revenue or a permanent loss of export companies, prices of houses are pushed beyond the reach of genuine home buyers and so our kids leave the country to seek a deposit. Unintended consequences, but someone has to address it.
Selwyn .. hard to argue against
Not everyone who deals in property are evil money grabbers, or wealthy though.
Correction, not evil, just money grabbers.
Slightly off subject but…
Did anyone see the advert. on TV1 around 6.30pm today featuring Bill English doing a promo. for TVNZ7? It came across to me as an ‘unofficial’ promo. for himself and the National government!
Yes I did!!! It was so partisan it was scary! I thought journalism was supposed to be impartial and fair! So much for democracy!
How about some comments by those actual politicians on the $12k entertainment allowance that requires no supporting info, heavily subsidy on pensions. Politicians that have been and are allowed to take partners with them, without any concern who is paying the bill. This appears to me to be an ongoing personnel attack with no obligation to put a halt on the rorts that YOU ARE ALL the recipients of.
What I would like to know is: Did John Key give Bill English the okay to do that commercial for TVNZ7 and was there any payment involved?
Again I have no time for the perks etc but has anyone else noticed the changing tone coming out of the Government at the moment re the dollar. Silver lining says Bill English…Confidence from the market…..Nothing we can do says Bollard.
Picked this up from Asianinvasion (below). Its strong words but these comments from Bill English are really stupid.
That’s It!
I have been patient about Bill English.
No more. This STUPID comment needs calling out. Which means English will now be on my watchlist of STUPID politicians.
Bill English is “relaxed” about the high dollar. Well good on ya Bill you clearly are NOT an exporter trying to keep their heads above the “tsunami” (don’t you love how every bloody thing is now a “tsunami”?).
“The dollar is one way the market is telling us Australia and New Zealand have performing economies, because relatively speaking we are,” Mr English told Canterbury business leaders yesterday.
Taking a five-year average, the New Zealand dollar was the highest it had been since the 1960s so concerns about the dollar did have some historical basis, Mr English said. “What can we do about this? In many respects not much. We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got the story clear.”
No Bill English the high dollar means New Zealand is a pimple on the ass of the world’s casino and so with a floating dollar and a miserably small economy relative to the rest of the world is the gambler’s preferred currency.
In one paragraph he claims the dollar is a measure of achievement of the economy then in the next paragraph he tells us there’s nothing much he can do about a high dollar.
No more.
Looks like Bill & John have an issue. Thinking out loud. Great at brain storming sessions and in the shower. But like a few things should never be done in public.
Bill and John have “sessions” in the shower?
I know for a fact that if the $ stays where it is or goes higher, my work place is gone burger adding something like another 1300 people on the dole and many 100’s, possibly 1,000’s more as collateral damage.
For everyone who thinks that this BE thing has to be flogged to the bitter end. His arrangements were signed off by Labour’s speaker as well as National’s. There just comes a time when you have to understand, this issue may be big to you but it is not going to win you any brownie points from the electorate. As they say, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Sorry to hear that, jabba.
So Swampy I think all you have established is that English has been making the same declarations as to his primary place of residence for years. Don’t think you are helping him much. Do you have a view on why he hasn’t filed a corrected form?
thanks spud, tough times aye