Bill English has decreed that we’re all going to have to learn to get by without the ‘nice to haves’ as he slashes public spending. Apparently that new austerity is only going to apply to the rest of us, not to Mr English and his colleagues, and particularly not when it comes to where they park their posteriors.
I asked a few questions of the government about their recent decision to upgrade the fleet of ministerial BMWs. The answers were quite interesting. Apparently one of the BMWs to be based in the lower South Island will have heated seats. This is justified on the basis that it will be used for ‘long distance’ and ‘long duration’ movements. Could that be the trips Mr English takes to his pretend home in Dipton by any chance?
Interesting to note that only one of the BMWs has this added feature. Could it be that Mr English asked for it specifically? I know he suffers from a bad back, but surely in this era where the ‘nice to haves’ are out the door, he could chip in and cover his own expenses? Did he ask for this, or did the pixies at the bottom of the garden that he’s so fond of decide that he should just have it?
The new cars will have mobile office facilities and internet access too. One can just imagine Mr English sitting there in the back seat reading the latest Woman’s Weekly and checking his Facebook page. Nice to know that he’s being well looked after, what with the fresh flowers in his office (he’s one of the govt’s biggest spenders) and that nice house in Karori (not with the extra hour a week of cleaning mind you)…
sorry Chris – you seem to be forgetting that the cars were a Labour deal. This has been well thrashed out and the upgrade proven to be the better option within the deal you lot negotiated.
What’s more – if our Ministers can work while they travel this is much better than them sitting doing nothing.
Are Labour really this desperate to find something that the public will see as a negative to close the 20 point gap on the government in the polls.
The original BMW deal was done under the previous govt, the upgrade was all National’s work, as was the decision to order the optional extras like heated seats. Makes Key look like a liar too because he said they hadn’t asked for extras.
Darren – that original deal was done in a different economic time. National could have undone it – there was nothing compelling them to carry through and, given the downturn, undoing it would have been the right thing to do. But they didn’t and now it appears they even improved on the original deal. The issue isn’t the luxury, it’s asking for luxury like this while telling everyone else to tighten their belts.
Nice to see you’re focussing on the really big issues chris. I see you have to win rimutaka, a tall order, to stay in parliament because your party is going to drop below 30%, so you had better start talking about the things that matter rather than pouring vitriol on the government. For goodness sake boy, three years you’ve been trying this shoddy personal politics and it’s not working. Are you trying to blog yourself out of a job?
Nice Chris – this is goint to tip the balance in Labour favour – I can see it now. The BMW deal was extremely good. Talk about flogging a dead horse – so please on behalf of the Right – please keep up this important work, and forget about the real issues – rebuilding the wrecked economy that is the legacy of Michael Cullen.
Petty ramblings like this will insure you will never drive in one. Crap like this is very unlikely to win which from the outside looks like an unwinnable election for Labour anyway. Don’t play the man, I thought you would have figured this out after the last election (muck racking on Key work well didn’t it!)
Monty, stop calling Bill English a liar. Remember, he made some comment about Cullen and his leaving a strong position?
I thought the wrecked economy came from earthquakes and global financial meltdowns- usual righty position. Keep up. Oh, and a strong Australia. Oh, and cheap wage economies. All Cullen’s fault.
But you are right on the central issue. This Govt will be dumped for its economic performance. The BMW is a symptom of poor management and snouts in the public trough. That’s why the economy is itself troughing, in a different sense.
When Key signed off the deal for the Beemers he probably though ‘heated seats’ was about the ‘hot seat’ which is where he wants English to be, 24/7, so he can sack him in favour of his mate and buddy Stevie. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, old John Boy.
Heated car seats are wonderful. I have had them in several of my cars. The only time I rued them was on a very hot day in Western Australia where I had hired a Holden. The damn things were faulty and I couldn’t them off! I was like a crayfish in a pot!
“The BMW deal was extremely good.” Funny at first the PM was very keen to distance himself from it and blamed Labour. Seems odd to “blame” someone for something that was an “extremely good” deal?
As an ordinary voter, I am surprisingly brassed off with the Government for this stupid and selfish decision.
The example of belt tightening should be set from the top. Instead they indulge themselves, while family incomes crash and burn all round them.
Out.
Hopefully a lot of other voters out there will be brassed off, too. Selfish in the extreme, but Key is sharp.
“The new cars will have mobile office facilities and internet access too. One can just imagine Mr English sitting there in the back seat reading the latest Woman’s Weekly and checking his Facebook page.”
Or perhaps more likely, the user of the car could check emails and cope with the massive workload I’m sure you’re aware all government ministers face. Has Labour run out of things the government has done to criticise and moved on to inventing implausible situations to criticise instead?
Kinets/Monty/Robb – when all you National apologists start with the “nothing to see here, move right along” line it’s pretty clear you’re embarrassed, as you should be.
Plenty to see here Chris, someone jumping to conclusions is the first thing I see. The cars should never have been brought, but it really is old news. It’s not going to be an election winner or loser, suggest you focus on the bigger issues but alas I doubt that will happen.
Of course that won’t happen.
The problem for Labour is that although there are bigger issues Labour has no credible policies to deal with them. Other than raise taxes through the roof and get the rich to pay for whatever it is Labour wants to give away to buy votes. Which they know will go down like a lead ballon.
So they are stuck with parish pump issues like this and trying to dig dirt like Mike Williams unsuccessfully attempted to do last time round.