Forget the shonky fundraising practices where he charged $45 to hear him talk about his ministerial portfolio.
Don’t worry about the fact that the one time perk buster spent $60,000 of taxpayers’ money on a round the world trip with his girlfriend, timed to coincide with her brother’s wedding, touring international capitals to talk about the super city and lecture right wing think tanks.
So what that the man who made his career campaigning against MPs’ travel privileges used those same privileges to take his girlfriend to Hawaii, costing $10,000, and quietly paid it back last week, not mentioning it in all the public debate about his round the world trip.
Never mind about his blow-hard bragging to ACT party members that the prime minister “doesn’t do anything” and was highly regarded, while “ACT did everything and we are hated” and that he was amazed at how much he could get through Cabinet, because “you turn up with your papers” and “they are too busy with their own stuff they’re not bothered”.
These are matters for Mr Hide and the voters of Epsom to consider.
What makes me question his fitness to be Minister of Local Government is the barking mad right wing agenda he is pursuing.
With the blessing of John Key’s Cabinet Hide is loosening the controls on the privatisation of water to encourage ‘build, own, operate and transfer’ (BOOT) schemes which will allow private companies to own our water infrastructure for up to 35 years at a time.
This from a Government that has denied they had any plans for privatisation of local government assets, and voted down my anti-asset sales member’s bill because they said there was no threat of privatisation. They said Labour was scaremongering.
Eighty eight percent of Aucklanders are opposed to any privatisation of council water systems. To proceed with this policy after repeated denials of any privatisation plans is dishonest and undemocratic.
But wait there is more. He actually recommended to Cabinet the removal of nearly all controls on the privatisation on water. Never mind BOOT schemes, Hide wanted to open the door to wholesale disposal of water systems to the private sector. And the repeal of obligations on councils to retain control of pricing, management and policy on delivery of water services. He recommended this against the advice of Local Government NZ, and the Ministry of Health. Barking mad.
So should we be grateful Key’s Cabinet didn’t go all the way with Hide’s privatisation agenda and opted for extending private ownership of water assets to 35 years? Should we be grateful for a disaster just because we averted a catastrophe?
Hide is, I believe, unfit to be Minister of Local Government on the basis of his extremist ideology. But you can’t blame him for disregarding the views of the huge majority of New Zealanders. The man only needs 5% of the vote to keep a grip on the baubles of office.
As Prime Minister, John Key is supposed to govern in the interests of all New Zealanders. It is Key who allowed Hide’s resignation threat to determine the Government’s decision on Maori seats in the super city. It is Key’s Government that has imposed their flawed and undemocratic super city on Aucklanders. It is Key’s Cabinet who signed off the plans for water privatisation. He is responsible.
“which will allow private companies to own our water infrastructure for up to 35 years at a time.” – Some people here will be elderly by the time their ownships expire
“He actually recommended to Cabinet the removal of nearly all controls on the privatisation on water”
“The man only needs 5% of the vote to keep a grip on the baubles of office.” – At the moment his party didn’t even get as much as Winnie’s .
beggars belief.
He isn’t fit to be a minister at all. I gave up listening to anything Wodney had to say after he was employed by Investors International in 1999 to speak at a high-pressure sales seminar in Fiji. There was no evidence of his direct involvement in the $10 million scam at the time, but his actions spoke volumes in terms of his judgement.
You know who he reminds me of…batmans nemisis – penquin.
(I wonder if that makes Goff batman and what that makes Key – the riddler, iceman or the joker?)
@Paul LOL
– yes he’s a dead ringer for him. Goff is definitely Batman, of those three I’d call him the joker.
Excellent post Phil, it sums up the whole situation with Rodney very succiently… Although one mistake, he doesn’t need 5% of the vote, he just needs to keep on winning Epsom…
It makes me laugh how he wants referendums on all big decisions, only after he’s inserted a whole heap of tidbits into the legislation against the public’s wishes…
Hypocrite much…
Although to be fair I’m sure he’d (and many other NZers) would call me an extremist because I want all the trains, bus and ferry companies owned and operated by the supercity council…
Winning in Epsom?
I would think Nikki Kay is looking for a safer roost than Auckland Central, which is is traditionally a Labour seat.
Will this be the next ‘Beauty and the Beast’ race ? LOL
National have a real problem in Epsom. It was easy with Richard Worth, they just gave him a high list placing, and the voters got the message.
But now Worth has to be replaced, by a candidate who must not win. If (s)he is already a list MP, or a strong new candidate, then (s)he might be too credible, and ambitious. It’s hard to pick a guaranteed loser, a volunteer to take the fall. The candidate needs a safe list place, or they might actually try and win the seat!
Alternatively, National could abandon the whole charade, and not put up any candidate against Rodney Hide. But that would send a message beyond Epsom, to all New Zealand: National = ACT. The negatives outweigh the positives there, I reckon.
The funniest part of all this is that the leader of the National Party lives and votes in Epsom. I wonder who he votes for?
Put your money on Kate Sutton in Epsom next time around. She has an IQ about 4x greater than Rodney. Die-hard nats are not happy with him at the moment.
I’m afraid Kate (or any Labour candidate) can’t win in Epsom because Labour voters like me vote for the National candidate, as opposed to the National voters who don’t!
It’s a crazy world, where everyone decides which party they support and then votes for somebody else. I support MMP, but let’s amend that “one electorate” rule. It has made Epsom a guessing game, a farce.
Hippo has no place in Goverment and having the opportunity to take advantage of milking the system. The man is not credible and good folks of Epsom must have been seriously misguided to elect this “joker”
Sammy,
Presumably your concern is that if Hyde gets in, he brings in 3 or 4 other ACT MP’s into parliament with him.
Now that their party vote looks like dropping- the advantages of helping elect a national MP as opposed to 1 or 2 ACT MPs are lessened.
Hopefully Labour Epsom voters will decide to vote for the best candidate (did you seriously vote for Worth??).
Epsom is interesting for National, they might give Aaron Bhatnagar a high list placing and not run a campaign… I think Melissa Lee lives in that electorate too…
Shouldn’t there be a hounding of the PM regarding the behaviours of Rodney and Hone given the pattern of months of hounding of Helen over Winstons trivial problems?
a few elections ago, I really wanted both Winston and Rodney to stay in Parliament as they added alternatives and some really good ideas and opinions that challenged the big 2.
Winston lost the plot .. 2007/2008 and helped bring down Labour (only because they defended him) and now Rodney has become the nemesis of national which combined with the racist comments from Harawira, will really challenge the Nat/Act/MP/UF colition.
ianmac .. I would suggest our definitions of the word trivial are different.
How much money?
I’ve got 25c. That’s about all I’d risk on that statement.
Ha ha, yes that raised my eyebrows a little bit…
IIRC the last time Labour came even close to winning that seat was when it was called Remuera, it was 1987, and Roger Douglas a MoF… Should tell you all need to know about Labour’s chances in Epsom, the Pope himself would lose two to one…
If Rodney’s not a hypocrite and his actions are acceptable by Johnkey then one must wonder at the workings of the collective media mind and the thought processes and ethics that are at work in the PM’s mind.
The only good thing with Rodney is that you know what he stands for as far as right wing agenda, no surprise there. Not like the Nats whose actions vs campaign promises seems to be more and more at odds
Yep, I’d have to agree Rodney is an honest man. I don’t like what’s happening to my country
I miss Helen Clark, I hope you win in 2011, I miss millsy 
Nice post Phil, getting sidetracked by the scandalous stuff is fun but meanwhile the privatization by stealth train is rolling through our local councils.
The next election is going to be unkind to right wing parties in Auckland. Kaye may need Epsom to prevent being a one term wonder, it may be one of the only safe right leaning seats left in the city soon.
Yo may feel that way Dominic but the polls suggest something else…
[...] to yesterday’s post on Rodney Hide’s fitness (or otherwise) to be Minister of Local Government, there is a new [...]
Labour has about as much chance of winning Epsom as National does of winning Mangere.
I have to say that although I feel a bit grumpy at Rodney for using our tax dollars so stupidly on his jaunts around the world, I’m pretty happy he made this decision. It has pointed out what a hypocrite he is, and it will probably make National quite a bit more wary of him.
Which is all a good thing.
The right has a huge problem in Epsom. Rodney is now equally despised by supporters of both major parties. Its a National seat and they would like it back, but are they going to ask nicely for ACT to give it back or are they going to start an ugly fight?
If there is a fight, there will be a huge opportunity for Labour post super city, as Rodney takes his coalition partner down with him.
PS This is exactly what happened in NY Congressional District 23- squabbling between the right gave the Democrats a safe conservative seat.
Rodney really has got it bad..apparently he has been texting the wrong Louise with gems like..
”Missing you..”
and ”Your gorgeous boyfriend is on Close up tonight.”
All I can say is, thank God the “in love ” phase never lasts longer than two years.
Yes, I live in Epsom (unfortunately, stupid electoral boundaries) – and as much as I like Kate (and she is great), I will be voting for the National Candidate, and hoping that they beat Rodney.
I think there is more chance of booting him and his ilk out now more than ever. If Epsom voters can be made to feel ripped off by Rodney for both his junket habits and for the woes of the super city, then we can expect ACT voters to return to the Nats.
I hope there is no time in my future where I will again have to say the words “I will be voting for the National Candidate”.
Can someone point to the last time a 13,000 majority was overturned at the following election?
That majority for Hide is 3,000 more than Helen Clark’s was in Mt Albert and 9,000 more than Phil Goff’s in Mt Roskill.
There are some dreamers on this post.
Gooner, but what’s the Act vs National party vote in Epsom? I think there’s a chance that National could win that electorate back from Rodney, if they really tried.
But I agree that Labour don’t have a hope in hell of ever winning it.
Richard Worth, Rodney Hide ..
Face it, Epsom must be an absolute electoral wasteland! Where is it exactly – somewhere north of Upper Hutt?
Would there be any electorate in New Zealand that has served up two losers of this magnitude in a row? I mean honestly, would you want to live there? If someone asked you what electorate you lived in, how could you avoid blushing?
I think in the interests of fair play, the Epsom electorate should be renamed – once Hide and Worth are gone for good. And that does not mean running Don Brash there as well – three in a row would be the ultimate disaster!
I suppose if you asked residents of Epsom whom they voted for last time, they would be finding it difficult – given that Worth and Hide fought it out last time. Surely this time they will be looking for someone with the good character to serve in an ethical way.
Labour should get in there and try to win Epsom.
They should try, of course, but they wont win… This electorate is one of the ones they could feature in the papers just before elections when they do their “why do you bother electorates” story, like the Labour candidate in Clutha-Southland or the National candidate in Mangere…