The Nats have just passed a motion to put the house into urgency to get their ETS passed. What a dog’s breakfast. They have fuelled the fires of division and prejudice by doing exclusive deals with sectors and corporations that shift costs onto poorer and less priviledged Kiwis. In opening up the Conservation estate to select iwi corporations and foreign investors, there will be inevitable suspicion about every other part of the legislation and it’s objectives. Horsetrading to get support for the Bill has been far from transparent and Nick Smith consistently misleads the country with statistics that suit his purposes in both ACC and now around the ETS. Given the statement that farmers are supposed to be the beneficiaries of this deal why does Don Nicolson, President of Fed Farmers, think this whole process “a mess”, “a shambles” and “a growing disaster”, to use his own words. Makes one wonder whether we should start from scratch?? Feds even suggested a carbon/emissions tax. Shame they campaigned against what they called the Fart tax. Hope they show more vision in the future. The country needs agriculture.
The ironic thing is – if Labour were doing this, National would be screaming blue bloody murder.
Yep but they can get away with anything at this stage, National poll ratings are so high that the public at large has switched off.
It’s a long hard road back to power for Labour and to do so they have to appeal to the working class voter’s factory workers etc, the people that should always vote Labour but have voted for the Nats in the last 2 elections.
Whether Phil Goff is the guy to do the answer is pretty much a no, but at least he’s trying with his whole matey matey motorbike image of late.
Of course it passed under urgency, that is what the current leader of the house thinks is the way to do parliamentary business. And the country gets rubbish leglisation.
Has anyone got the hours of urgency for the NACT government at this point?
As for Phil Goff, I think he can win. Labour is not matching a smiley, uncommiting, ‘Hands-off’ prime minister with the same sort of rubbish. Labour went for a leader with experience and competence. That will pay off in the long term.
Perhaps if we’d had a carbon tax instead, eh?
“Whether Phil Goff is the guy to do the answer is pretty much a no, but at least he’s trying with his whole matey matey motorbike image of late.”
The thing about Phil Goff is that the motorbike thing isn’t an image or gimick, he rode a motorbike for at least twenty years.
I think he can do it and I don’t know why people doubt him. Goff 2011!!!!!
Woof! Why not put it under urgency? I mean it’s only a little thing like our environment / economy. Geez what’s the big deal.
There is so much flack about the ETS, but in many cases the science has not been developed to an extent that will economically allow the issues contibuting to the ETS to be monitored and acted upon. Is it not better to work with all parties via further education to target reductions in areas we are already aware of and to change public perception before it becomes law. Change the young and breed it through generations to come, making it the norm by choice not regulation.