More than 100 community leaders braved a chilly Sunday morning to hear Phil Goff's response to the Budget in Pakuranga
You don’t have to be a historian to understand and appreciate history in this country.
That rule certainly applies to those Kiwi-Chinese who are relatively new here. What has been shared by that group of people is that New Zealand’s economy is, as correctly observed by Bruce Jesson, “once dominated by people who made things but it is now dominated by people who finance things.”
Even though they are migrant-turned new-New Zealanders, you feel how painful it is to them when hearing Finance Minister Bill English talk about possibly selling community assets such as Kiwi Bank.
The country has walked away from an economy of real entities to that of speculation. For them the Budget smells like: no substance, no plan to grow economy, no plan to create jobs and even no sign of understanding of inter-generation equity.
They like Phil Goff as a man of substance. As Trade Minister he signed the FTA with China, leading to China becoming our second largest trading partner.
In the year following the signing in 2008 our export to China reached $1billion, meaning more money in the pockets of Kiwis.
In 1989, when Phil Goff was Minister of Education he introduced and passed into law legislation which opened the door to international fee-paying students.
Now an entirely new sector called Export Education worth $2.5billion exists in New Zealand.
There are 20,000 international fee paying students in the country from China alone. This is an example of how to grow the economy and create jobs. We are a small country so we must be smarter.
Labour shows the way!
The Budget will turn our progressive tax system into regressive tax system. There is no fairness in the tax cuts, which benefit the wealthy few and throws the crumbs to the rest of the country’s wage-earners.
What was unique about Sunday’s post-Budget meeting with the Chinese community is that lots of new faces who didn’t seem to vote for Labour last time turned up and said they now feel much closer to Labour.
Also members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce told me that the Budget seemed to have no plan to grow the economy. “Tax cuts for company rate sounds good but you will need to earn first – other than the transfer of money we can’t see where the money is coming from.”
More than 100 community leaders, small business owners, opinion leaders and a strong contingent of ethnic media braved a chilly Sunday morning to hear what Phil Goff had to say in response to the Budget.
The audience agreed with Phil Goff that Kiwis have been delivered a tax swindle and that tax cuts should have been fairer on middle and low income New Zealanders. Concern was also shared over the fact that the Budget does nothing to create jobs and the cuts to ECE and Healthcare will leave families out of pocket.
Do they like him because he doesn’t slurp at the start of his sentences unlike another major party leader..?
What it suggests me is: they are more astute than your average home grown Kiwi. In other words Kiwis could learn a great deal from our Chinese migrants.
Remind me when 100 people. Yes just 100 people is somehow representative of New Zealand’s Asian population?
The problem you seem to have is you believe Asians all think the same. Yet if one looks at where Asians primarily live in this country you’ll find the electorates are rather evenly shared between Labour and National MPs.
Oh and if Asians really loved Phil Goff I somehow don’t think his approval level would still be at a shabby 7% don’t you?
gingercrush conveniently forgets to mention they were 100
“Chinese community leaders”. He also conveniently omits to mention that Raymond is talking about the Chinese community -not the rest of the Asian population in NZ. My observation is: most Chinese communicate by cell-phone so they’re not going to be represented in the polls.
Good try gingercrush but your political colours are shining through like a beacon.
Your ignorance is showing through. If you want to talk about Chinese New Zealanders. Then Botany where National and Pansy Wong completely dominated has the largest Chinese population of any electorate.
`100 Chineses Community Leaders’.
Doesn’t the Labour Party leader talk to the `riff raff’ and workers anymore?
Maybe they do like him, but they’re in the minority of about 7% of all NZers.
Maybe the “KIwi-Chinese” should study NZ history and more importantly in this case recent NZ history
Phil was cabinet member of a Government that had a good try at selling a big piece of our community assets in 80s
Has anyone observed the relationship between ‘old-gen’ Chinese and the more recent arrivals?
As a 6th-gen ‘Chiwi’, the funny thing is I knew more about the Finn Bros and Dave Dobbyn than most of my classmates at a very prestigious ‘ivy league’ college in mid-1990s ChCh. And most Chinese characters I’m familiar with were learned in Japanese class. ;D
Sorry to break this to you but all the Asians I know (and I have a close association with many through my work) hardly know who Phil Goff is let alone support Labour.
The Asians I know tend to be very hard working, highly intelligent, want to get ahead in life and are to a person National Party supporters.
Monty: that’s very funny because the east Asians I know dislike holding politically obvious positions, and would certainly almost never ever talk to work mates or colleagues about which political party they support since it could easily detract from professional and working relationships.
Raymon: who cares what Phil Goff did in the 80’s. I’m interested in what he is going to do in the 21st century. Time to look forwards, not at ancient history. As for NACT, they are still living in the past: what can we sell off and what taxes can we cut while putting more burdens on average to lower income NZ’ers. Its like watching the first season of Shortland St over and over and over again.
Gingercrush: Pansy Wong/Botany? What % of the Asian vote did she capture there?
Basically east Asians are pretty familiar with the long term economy building formulae used by countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea to become great rich advanced industrial economies (and that’s after suffering from the set backs of devastating wars only half a century ago) and ummm, its pretty obvious that NACT doesn’t compare that favourably in terms of leadership, vision or long term thinking.
@Raymon A Francis – Always a pleasure
“Phil was cabinet member of a Government that had a good try at selling a big piece of our community assets in 80s”
Then he went on to become a fine minister in the 2000s 
And now he will make a great Prime Minister 
- Yep, he was in his 30s, and he regrets the actions of that Labour government.
“Chiwi” Cool word!
@Monty – Maybe they need to be introduced to him then!
P.s. I’ve met him and found him to be a good guy
@Anne – you are a voice of reason
Wot Spud says.
“You don’t have to be a historian to understand and appreciate history in this country.”
Lets forget what happened because it will never happen again..not
Has The Hon Phill Goff ever apologised for his Cabinet decisions of the 1980s
Just the latest spin from people who never learn in this case Labour, doomed to repeat their mistakes
A very good question Raymond. Why indeed?
That’s weird Raymon. Who were the people in the 90’s who denuded the Public Service. They then employed the same people back as consultants at very high fees. Now what was the name of that fellow? Bill um Bill English wasn’t it? But of course he wouldn’t repeat the same mistake would he Raymon? Increase the gap between rich and poor? Nah. He wouldn’t forget his history that quickly – would he?
Raymond said…
Why do Kiwi-Asians like Phil Goff?
I think that Pacific Islanders like Phil Goff too. I like him too as a person, he is really a nice chap. I don’t agree with his politics. Anyway, my parents & my brothers & sisters (where one sister & my parents who all live in Goff’s electorate, Mt. Roskill) have always voted Labour since they set foot in this country. My other sister and 2 other brothers (who don’t live in Mt Roskill) have always voted Labour. I am the only outcast in the family (not a Labour supporter), and we always try to avoid discussing politics at family gatherings since it has always been descended to verbal fights.
Raymond you erally should come up with some statistics if you want to claim that Asian people love Phil Goff.
Here’s a statistic that suggests Asian people don’t support Labour. In the Botany electorate last election, National and Act got 66% of the vote. Labour and the Greens got 27.4% of the vote.
Phil Goff is against the sale of assets and do you see him cosying up to Roger Douglas? No! I trust him to run the country
G
FF 2 
11 !!!
“My observation is: most Chinese communicate by cell-phone so they’re not going to be represented in the polls.”
Wrong Anne. They would have broadband internet access though and in order to get this you need a land line.
Working that particular line as an explanation of why Labour was polling very badly in 2008 in respect to younger labour voting supporters not being polled also didn’t pan out considering the result.
The voters just didn’t like Labour
It is possible that while they may use landline for broadband, they may not necessarily bother putting in a landline phone if they are communicating solely with their cellphones.
“It is possible that while they may use landline for broadband, they may not necessarily bother putting in a landline phone if they are communicating solely with their cellphones.”
And this assertion is proven how? It’s certainly possible but unlikely.
Unless you are referring to naked DSL which hasn’t widely been taken up this makes no sense to pay for something yet not use it.
Maybe Labour activists time would be better spent coming up with policies which would be more applicable to Asian interests than peddling strange theories to defend their lack of support in the first place.
This is actually quite an issue well known to overseas poll takers now. It often means you never get poorer people participating in a phone poll, or the people who do VoIP/mobile phones only.
Also consider that a Dick Smith router can take your one phone line and route broadband to 8 different apartments in a building or hostel. Those 8 apartments aren’t necessarily going to need their own phone, JD.
@JD – Glad you know it’s possible. If someone had their mobile as their primary phone and had it on them all the time and everyone else in the house had one then why would they even bother with their landline even if they had one?
- Excellent points, Loota
Oh yeah, and some people just hear it’s a polling company and hang up.
“It is possible that while they may use landline for broadband, they may not necessarily bother putting in a landline phone if they are communicating solely with their cellphones.”
And this assertion is proven how? It’s certainly possible but unlikely”.
You’ve fallen into a trap of your own making JD.
Having demanded proof of assertion from others, you then go ahead and make unproved assertions yourself.
Anne “they are more astute than your average home grown Kiwi” – the Chinese have been in NZ since 1860s! So what makes one a home grown kiwi? Someone who migrated to NZ at the same time from Ireland or the UK?
And to imply the rest of us are a bunch of dumb you-know-whats just because we choose to vote other than Labour is silliness at best.
Raymond Huo’s – in terms of your suggestion that “[all] Kiwi-Chinese who are relatively new here….like Phil Goff” well, what’s not to like? He’s a nice man. I like him too.
Doesn’t mean I would vote for him or Labour and the polls tell us that the majority of the home grown Kiwi-Chinese (to use Anne’s language) and the newly migrated Kiwi-chinese citizens didn’t vote for Labour in either of the last 2 elections….
Raymon A Francis – well you have been told! And by a man who uses a potatoe as his alias nonetheless!
Mr Goff is apparently ashamed of the things he got up to in his 30s….must be hard having to live with so much regret including dropping the top rate of tax to 33c and saying that this “reduction allows kiwis to keep more of their own money” when quite clearly it meant it was favouring the few not the many…..
Also have to wonder whether this current fan base includes people referred to in this article..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/chinese-in-nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=147&objectid=10541172
Well Rebecca, I think PG has had plenty of time to ponder and reflect upon the neocon free market political adventures of his younger days.
I said “regrets” the actions of that Labour government, not “ashamed.”
“and saying that this “reduction allows kiwis to keep more of their own money” when quite clearly it meant it was favouring the few not the many….” – Glad you think that richies should pay higher tax!
So, Rebecca you’re in your 30s? Are you the same as you were 20 years ago, mmmm?
Nice to know these things.
But maybe you should stop making excuses as to Labour’s unpopularity with Asian voters and start formulating policies.
Whether or not Asians are using their phone line to make calls is not really the point I was making, it was that Labour’s supporters seem to be deluding themselves as to the root causes their party’s unpopularity.
Chinese are very polite people and it is unlikely that they would say to Phil Goff in his face at an official gathering that you and your party suck. Therefore its hardly logical to extrapolate this event to claim widespread support for Labour among the Asian community. It’s just a photo op after all.
In retrospect it’s probably not even in my best interest to have mentioned this being a national party supporter.
JD, I think Labour is plenty popular with Asian voters
And yes, Labour must also look at the root reasons they were voted out in 2008. The electorate wanted a change and to go forwards. Labour has to provide that.
And thanks for the advice, its very kind of you
What has suddenly turned you so feral Rebecca. Have a ‘I hate Labour’ attack coming on? Take a couple of aspirin and
go to bed. You’ll be okay by the morning.
I love you Anne
So who here still buys the pretense of “I’d love to vote Labour at the next election, they are going to have to win my trust back first. In the mean time, wasn’t the Budget just the best ever, I’m really pleased with it!”
I am not the same person I was in my 20’s or 30’s. I think that’s a good thing, as I am sure the people who surround me are pleased for it too. I’ve thought, said, and done things which now make me shake my head at myself.
I actually hold only a handful of the beliefs I held back them, most of them in relation to fairness and justice. Those core beliefs remain but how I act on thme has changed markedly.
I think it’s good to be able to let go of beliefs that cant withstand the challenge. I hope we are better at letting them go as we get older. I know it’s not always the case.
But a world where it’s about hammering heads against beliefs that are different to ours with the goal of making/wanting them to see things the way we do, is pointless. This is something I try to keep at the forefront, never more so than on a blog like this.
Loota no need to be a snarky bully; if Labour can validate the issues raised by such people as myself, show they are not hypocrites & provide us with new rhetoric back up by substance then I would be open to voting for them again.
Can’t see this happening any time soon if all the posts on here are anything to go by. Silly me for having so much faith in a politician’s word – for believing that when they say they want to reconnect with the voters, that they actually mean it. Yes they let non party faithful comment on here but they rarely acknowledge let alone validate anything we say.
Anne wild generalisations are enough to bring on an attack from anyone that has an ounce of common sense. Perhaps it was just an awkwardly put sentence but judging by past comments I couldn’t help but assume you intended to convey the implied insult…apologies if I was being presumptuous.
JD I think that you make a good point. In fact, choosing not to express ones real views to people face-to-face such as politicians is probably quite common across all cultures – just in the same way many people don’t complain to the manager at a restaurant when their is something wrong with their meal!
P.s Spud – to answer your question I will respond by saying Phil Goff made those choices in his 30s, a time in your life when you should know who you are, what you want from life, which direction you want to go and most importantly, what your values are.
I can guarantee you that my values – values which I have had all throughout my 20s, will not change in 22 years time. That is because my values can’t be sold out to the highest bidder – not saying Mr Goff has done this, but more that politicians in general seem to have values that are based on what gets them the biggest chunk of the voting pie rather than coming from a moral compass. They seem to swing more than a pendulum.
Rebecca – should Labour validate your pleasure at seeing the vast majority of tax cuts going to the tiny minority of tax payers? And the ECE cuts too? You were pretty pleased about those measures, which places you – IMO – as a natural National supporter. Labour could win you over by replacing their red with blue, but why would they?
Now, I haven’t seen you hold National to account for their electioneering broken promise re: NOT increasing GST. But I understand that cheering the home team on regardless of their little indiscretions is quite natural. GST is a tax which hits the lowest income the hardest – so increasing it is understandably not a priority concern for a National supporter.
A pity, because personal growth and learning from experience is a good thing.
Even odder then that I haven’t seen you attack the captain of the home team John Key for going back on his pre-election promise not to increase GST. That was a good ol’ pendulum swing caught on candid camera.
Loota of course I wouldn’t call Nat on GST as I agree with it. Increasing it after 21 years and compensating the benefits etc is a fair move. What a shame the powers that be didn’t demonstrate the same kind of empathy for the voter when they increased GST in 1989.
And considering that Phil Goff not only supported the tax cuts of 1988 but said they were for the many not the few, well of course I would expect him and the Labour party to validate this now.
Further, all his speeches have indicated he wanted to move taxes at the lower end of the scale. NACT has done this.
How Labour continues to say these cuts were for the few not the many is beyond me – unless of course Treasury is only right when they support Labour? That when they say the low & high incomes will both be better off by 0.7% they are lying?
ECE cuts – you read the article I was so kind to reference, surely you now at least get why so many parents actually think ECE & Labour’s 100% funding for fully qualified teachers was a have – a have that had little benefit for our children and in fact, has been proven to cause harm?
Labour of course will try & dispute this based on the rather one-sided and completely inaccurate Competent child study from the early 2000s…
In terms of personal growth – this is synonymous with self-awareness but not necessarily a change in values!
If your values are based on a moral compass and common decency then there is no need to change them.
Considering how many times you lot get snarky & resort to personal insults – subtle or otherwise – at those of us to dare to hold you to account for the many outrageous statements you make where life for you was clearly one big beautiful happy experience in the past 10 years because your beloved Labour was at the realm, well then I would say you have a lot of personal growing to do.
I love debates but this pettiness is just getting boring.
Speaking of boring pettiness…
Remind me how you criticised Helen Clark’s teeth again
Of course – parents were upset because the ECE facilities that they were leaving their children at had fully qualified teachers. I saw that march on TV “reduce the number of qualified teachers looking after my toddler” was the chant, yes?
As for proven to cause harm – didn’t I mention that when you put your scientist hat on you should not take research findings out of context? I mean, a child being left in care proven to cause harm compared to what? Being looked after full time by a stay at home parent?
Oh thats right – you mentioned that your friends plan years in advance before having children, save up hard and can therefore afford to keep one parent at home for at least a couple of years and not use childcare at all.
Good of you to know such highly structured life planners. That of course is not reality for a lot of people who find themselves as parents, especially if they are younger and have not had the means or the time to build up that safety net.
Again, not your problem as a National supporter since it is an issue which affects worst those on lower incomes.
So you gave John Key a pass for lying about NOT increasing GST because it was an action which met your values, the ones which will last you the next 22 years?
“And yes, Labour must also look at the root reasons they were voted out in 2008. The electorate wanted a change and to go forwards. Labour has to provide that.”
At least someone here possess small shred of introspection as to the current root cause of its situation.
Seriously, some posters here get too caught up in irrevelent detail. Politics is all about the big picture and motivating people. I still can’t believe that some actually took the time to rebut what was flippant remark.
I hope this isn’t representative of the Labour party because it’s hard to get inspired by humourless drones. Maybe if Labour had a grasp of the of the next big idea it could do it but simply making statements without any content or defining yourselves as simply against National is useless.
If you had someone like Mike Moore as you leader then maybe I could possibly even bring myself to vote for Labour.
@Rebecca – I suspect he knew what his values were but made the mistake of following Douglas
He’s definitely not ever going to go back to those days now so there isn’t a problem. 
You say your values won’t change in 22 year’s time and I’m sure you mean this but you’re not yet in your 50s yet so …
p.s. I still hold out hope for you.
JD said:
Man, you are dropping gems here. I have to largely/wholly agree.
Except perhaps I would be more lenient at this stage of the electoral cycle as the job of the Opposition is to – oppose.
But yes, by the end of the year, much more will be required from Labour. Labour will not be able to win next year based on being against the Budget’s tax package or even complaining about ECE. It **will** have to provide more inspiration, more humour and more vision.
Spud – Rebecca is one smart cookie no doubt about that!
That’s the cab sav talking.
In keeping with the asian theme in the immortal words of Deng Xioping ‘it doesn’t matter if the cat or black or white as long as it catches the mouse’.
If you understand that then you should pretty much understand what we require of politicians should not be contingent on whatever party they belong to.
NZ at this point in time needs national for the sole reason that as a country we’re in a holding pattern and the party which does the least damage in this most interesting of times should govern until it becomes clear what’s going to happen next. I can readily admit that Key has done not a hell of a lot but sometimes that’s a good thing in the circumstances.
life’s too short for politics.
Peace.
@Loota – Yes, Rebecca is smart
But I don’t agree with her. Except on the merits of $1 shots 
It’s great that Asians or Pacific Islanders like Goff, but white people seem not to like him much.