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Section 9 debacle: The real story

Posted by Grant Robertson on February 2nd, 2012

From the New Zealand Herald this morning the real story of the government’s intentions around the treaty clause and asset sales. It seems a draft version of the consultation document was accidentally put on-line.

It showed the Government’s original intention was not to include any Treaty clause at all in the new legislation covering the mixed-ownership model. On Tuesday morning, a sentence was deleted which said the Government was yet to form a final view “but, on balance, favours no Treaty clause”.

Not sounding much like an ‘elegant’ way through as the PM suggested. More like an awkward bulldozer. No wonder the Maori Party were so angry. And in terms of why, well, you heard it here first folks.

The draft also revealed that the main “harm” the Government considered would come from using section 9 was that it would put off institutional investors. It said those investors would not understand it, which would “create uncertainty and have a negative effect on investment in the companies”.

That’s right, follow the money.

And more generally the government’s claims about still having control over the assets are further undermined by another deleted paragraph.

The draft document shows other politically sensitive paragraphs were also deleted at the last minute – including references to the limited powers ministers would have over mixed-ownership-model companies, despite the Government’s majority shareholding, and the aim of the policy being to run them as private firms.

This is privatisation, pure and simple. Core infrastructure assets built up over generations by New Zealanders, currently owned by all New Zealanders are no longer going to be there for us. The handling of the Treaty clause has been a debacle but none of this should shift attention from the real process here- the loss to all of us of our assets.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, asset sales
11 Comments

The Section 9 debacle: Follow the money

Posted by Grant Robertson on February 1st, 2012

When looking to explain the seemingly unexplainable in politics I was once advised by a long standing politician to do one thing, follow the money.

And trying to understand the unexplainable is exactly where I find myself this morning, having just watched the footage of the PMs press conference (below) from yesterday as to why Section 9 of the SOE Act is such a problem in the future arrangements for the partiallly privatised energy companies. Obviously from our point of view the whole debate is somewhat irrelevant because the assets should not be being sold at all. But there is something going on here that needs a bit more study.

To refresh our collective memory, this is what Section 9 says

Nothing in this Act shall permit the Crown to act in a manner that is inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

John Key spends a huge amount of time in the press conference trying to explain to the press gallery that the reason this clause needs to change is that the private sector can not be bound the Crown’s obligation to the Treaty. He says a couple of times that the Crown will continue its obligations, but he simply can not bind the private sector with a “general” Treaty clause.

Notice anything about Section 9? It does not say ‘Nothing in this Act shall permit a state owned enterprise to act in a manner that is inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi’. No, it only talks about the Crown. And isn’t that exactly what the PM says he is still trying to achieve?

It is very curious. As is the whole discussion the PM diverts to as to whether the Section is “symbolic” and “not relevant”. Rather than go through this, I would suggest folks just read Andrew Geddis’ take on this at Pundit.

So why the political gymnastics for a clause that actually only binds the crown anyway? Follow the money. The government is desperately trying to maximise the price for the assets it wants to hock off. It is selling into what might be the most depressed market it could ever sell into. The danger signals are all around. Anything that might look to a potential buyer like a negative will be of concern. An obligation to the Treaty will act like that for some buyers. Just as with the social responsibility obligations, which Mr Key says at the very end of the clip below he has no information as to whether it will continue. It won’t. The government is trying to maximise the sale value. Anything that impedes that is up for the chop.

An interesting Waitangi Day lies ahead.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, asset sales
9 Comments

Oram on Crafar Farms

Posted by Grant Robertson on January 31st, 2012

Rod Oram was on Nine to Noon this morning with a very interesting discussion of the Crafar Farms and the host of problems with the sale. Well worth a listen.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, asset sales
10 Comments

Asset Sales:Treaty Clause to be ditched, what else will go?

Posted by Grant Robertson on January 31st, 2012

Wira Gardiner has taken on a lot of difficult jobs for governments of all hues, but I think hitting the road to sell ditching the Treaty of Waitangi clause from any new legislation for assets to be sold is going to be his most difficult task.

It seems the government regard the Treaty clause as it is currently contained in the State Owned Enterprises Act that covers the companies on the block will be an impediment to sale. Pesky Treaty getting in the way of National’s plan to sell off our future! The easy response from the government of course is to just get rid of it.

This is going to cause major ructions among Maori, and rightly so. Another question for the government to answer is what will happen to the “social responsibility” clause that also governs SOEs?

an organisation that exhibits a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates and by endeavouring to accommodate or encourage these when able to do so

Will it survive in the new legislation for the assets that are being sold?

If it goes its clearer than ever that these sales are in fact privatisation. The rhetoric about the government keeping control of the assets is empty if the legislation that will govern them removes the protections that give all New Zealanders confidence that the assets are working in the best interests of the country. These will simply be private companies acting without reference to providing a social good for all of us.

These hui will be fascinating. Morgan Godfrey has already noted that support seems to be dwindling among iwi. I know for sure we will be putting pressure on National in Parliament and in the community to stop the sales. Interesting times indeed.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, M?ori, asset sales
11 Comments

The Sad State of Key’s Nation

Posted by Grant Robertson on January 27th, 2012

There is an old joke about the politician who dies, and arrives in heaven to find that market forces have taken hold, and that heaven and hell are offering one day trials so that he can decide where to spend eternity. The politician takes up the offer and spends a delightful, restful day in heaven listening to harp music. He goes down to Hell and has a great time partying, eating, drinking and generally having fun. He goes back to heaven and tells St Peter his decision’s made, its Hell for him. When he gets back there he finds none of the fun, but just a brutal, cold, barren landscape. He seeks out Satan, and asks what’s happened to the Hell he saw the day before, and Satan says, ” you’re a politician you should understand, yesterday we were campaigning, today we’re in office.”

In the election campaign we have just had, the paying down of debt and the return to surplus were big issues. The “show me the money” moment was just one where John Key brandished his credentials to lead us to the promised land of surplus by 2014-15. It was a certainty, and it could happen even earlier. Yet, six weeks on, the dampners are on. Key now says its only a “reasonable probability”. Another $1 billion have been knocked off the forecast. Truth is little is different in the challenging global environment now from when the promises were made, except the PM is not campaigning any more, he is in office. Not for the first time he gave the public the message they wanted to hear about economic growth, but now its time to lower expectations.

The so-called State of the Nation speech from the PM yesterday was a dull and miserable affair. Gone is the brighter future we were all promised just a few weeks ago. What plan there is has at is centrepiece more cuts to the public service. Regardless of the wisdom of those, they will be a drop in the bucket of improving the government’s finances.

No one is underestimating the challenge in front of the government. But what’s happened to the sunny optimisim of our PM? Actually there is every reason to be optimistic about New Zealand’s future if the government is prepared to do things differently. The world has changed, will the government? There is opportunity to reset fiscal and economic policy, and make the investments that will support innovative growing companies, grow our skills base and ensure that everyone reaches their potential.

But there was none of that in the speech. Not just a lack of economic vision either. And as Pita Sharples (yes, he is a Minister in the government) points out nothing on dealing with poverty or inequality. Nothing on the issues that need to be dealt with to unlock the potential of thousands of New Zealanders.

It was a defeatist, sad and tired effort. A bit like an old joke.

Tags: ,
Filed under: economy, inequality, national
38 Comments

The passing of Ben Hana, aka Blanket Man

Posted by Grant Robertson on January 16th, 2012

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I felt a real sense of sadness hearing the news of the death of Ben Hana, known to most Wellingtonians, and others as Blanket Man. Like many Wellingtonians I had a few conversations with Ben over the years. Early on in Cuba Mall when he used to talk a lot more, and more latterly when he enjoyed the sunshine in Courtenay Place, with less to say, but still a nod of acknowledgement.

Ben was a polarising person. For many he was an iconic figure, part of the unique and quirky Wellington. A number of people had close relationships with him, and supported him with gifts and food. The gift of an IPod a few years ago saw him rocking out even more in his own universe. For others how he looked and acted was affronting and challenging and they felt threatened by him.

He was the face of homelessness in Wellington. It is true to say that he shunned the idea of moving off the streets in recent years, and indeed of taking on much in the way of formalised help. He was beyond that, and wanted none of it. But this is a misleading view of the experience of the homeless. For most of the homeless in Wellington it is not such a choice, and indeed for Ben earlier in his life as things went wrong, and he became unwell mentally, and his addictions developed I am sure he would have liked and benefited from some more support and somewhere to call home.

Homelessness is not necessarily about sleeping on the streets, its about not having a stable place to live, to be your base. It is often associated with mental illness and addiction, and there is far too much of it in our city. A number of organisations, especially the Downtown Community Ministry do a great job supporting those who are homeless, but we are falling short.

We have a real shortage of emergency accomodation, affordable accomodation and accomodation for those with mental illness. The different agencies involved are getting better at working together to find solutions, but still need to be more coordinated and flexible if we are to truly address these issues. Its not just government either, the community has a responsibility too. Many private landlords will not take on those who have a history of mental illness. I will be continuing to advocate and organise on these issues in Wellington. This is a nationwide issue though, and I believe it merits a select committee inquiry, as Labour has pushed for in recent years.

For me the best memorial for Ben would be that we as a city and community come together to say that we will look after and look out for all the residents of the city. We will make it a priority to deal with homelessness and the issues that lie behind it. We will respect those who are homeless for who they are, and work with them to give them real choices that will address the issues that cause their struggles and put them back in charge of their own lives. RIP Ben.

Filed under: housing, wellington
10 Comments

Christmas Song #4-THE best Christmas Song

Posted by Grant Robertson on December 24th, 2011

I know I said it last year as well, (and thanks to Clare who has held off putting up so I could), but there is nothing that says Christmas to me more than a drunken, somewhat off-key rendition of Fairytale of New York. There is sadness at Kirsty MacColl’s death which was just before Christmas a decade or so ago, but in many ways that just adds to pathos of this track.

For me it makes me think of Christmas Eves in Dunedin in my late teens and early 20s. Belting this out with friends before making the call on whether a candlelight service was really a good idea in the circumstances.

So this is for all my friends who I don’t see or talk to often enough- especially Alex, who can actually sing this and sound like Shane McGowan, in tune. Happy Christmas one and all.

Filed under: Uncategorized
4 Comments

Asset Sales- Information the public should have

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 23rd, 2011

In Parliament as the election loomed John Key and Bill English frequently told us that “Mum and Dad investors would be at the front of the queue” and that 85-90% of the assets would stay in New Zealand hands. I can remember asking (well, shouting) as to how they could guarantee this, what were they going to do to make it happen.

It seems now that despite saying, as Tony Ryall did that “all the advice” is that this can be done, they did not actually ask their economic advisors in Treasury. Instead they relied on the advice of Ministerial advisors and some mates in the financial sector.

Now we only know this morsel of information because the Ombudsmen forced the National Party to release it. TVNZ has been fighting since August to get this information released. What the Ombudsmen has not done is force them to release the five briefing papers that they do have around the planned asset sales.

There are always judgement calls about releasing this kind of information. But the public interest in the days leading up to the election should dictate that the information is released. John Key has said he will take the election result as a mandate to sell our assets. Asset sales are the defining issue of this election, and the public of New Zealand deserve to have all the information when they make their decision.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, Elections, asset sales
26 Comments

Time off to vote

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 23rd, 2011

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It was great to see this sign when I popped into Astoria Cafe in Wellington earlier today. Good on them for making sure that their employees have the chance to go out and vote. Not everyone knows that there are legal requirements for employers to give employees time to go and vote if they are working on election day.

The relevant bit of the law is S162 of the Electoral Act. The guts is that if a person has not had a reasonable opportunity to vote before starting work the employer has to let them go from 3pm for that purpose, and they can not deduct their pay. If they have to be there after 3pm, reasonable arrangements should be made for the employee to be able to take the time to vote. Most employers are aware of this, and are flexible, but its important people know their rights. And the right to vote is one not to be messed with.

Also worth noting that advance voting is available around the country over the next few days if for any reason you are not going to be able to get to the polls on Saturday. The details are here, just click on your electorate.

Filed under: Elections
9 Comments

Eliminating Child Poverty- Labour’s Health Plan

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 21st, 2011

Tomorrow night on TV3 there is a documentary about child poverty in New Zealand. I think every New Zealander should see it. It is a very real depiction of how life is for some of our most vulnerable families. The issues raised about child health and well being are ones we all have to take some responsibility for. Stuff has some preview of the content this morning.

More than 100 New Zealand children who died last year would probably have survived had they lived in Japan, Sweden or the Czech Republic, a new documentary shows….Last year, more than 25,000 children were admitted to hospital for respiratory infections. Doctors routinely treat cases of rheumatic fever and scabies – diseases now rare in Europe.

It is for these families that Labour has made eliminating child poverty our number one social policy priority. When it comes to avoidable hospital admissions (for issues like skin infections and respiratory illness) the National government has removed reducing them as a priority health target. This is wrong. They have increased by 5,000 between 2007 and 2010. The reason targeting these admissions is important is not only are they a proxy for how many children are in poverty, they are also an indication of lack of access to primary care as these infections should never get to hospital admission status.

Labour will restore the reduction of avoidable hospital admissions as a priority target. We will also make child health a priority by

  • enrolling all children with a Well Child provider before birth so that we have continuity of care for all babies
  • 24/7 free primary care for all under sixes (and we are funding this, unlike National)
  • enhanced B4School Checks and a mop up service at school for those who don’t get them
  • requiring District Health Boards to adopt child health implementation plans with nationally agreed measurable outcomes and targets that are monitored by the Ministry of Health.
  • developing systems during pregnancy to identify children who are vulnerable, and then ensure that the relevant levels of support are in place to support and optimise parenting.
  • strengthening the Health in Schools Programme, including social workers, starting with low decile schools, with the aim of expanding the programme to higher decile schools as resources allow.
  • 10 year plan to improve access and affordability of dental care, starting with a package of free dental services for pregnant women.

And the rest of the Childrens Policy agenda that we have released. You can find all the details here.

This is an issue that it is already past time to take decisive action. National do not seem prepared to do it, Labour is.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, children, health
14 Comments

When Simon met Deb

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 20th, 2011

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There have been quite a few stories from the election  campaign of candidates not showing up to election meetings, but it seems to have been a particular problem in Tauranga.   I will hand over to Labour candidate Deborah Mahuta-Coyle to tell the story from up there.

We had heard on the grapevine that Simon Bridges wasn’t planning to front any candidates meetings during the election campaign. We shifted meeting dates, community groups offered to work within his availability- but after 6 cancelled candidates meetings in a row, people were angry their MP wasn’t fronting. They wrote into papers, some calling him arrogant, and many asked him to front up.

So me, Ian McLean from the Greens, Brendon Horan from NZFirst and Jayson Gardiner from Mana decided if Simon didn’t have time to come to us- we would go to him.

At 2pm today we as Tauranga Candidates arrived at one of Simons scheduled street corner meetings.

The look on Simons face when he saw us coming. He promptly turned his speaker phone on, and just yelled over us. Refused to even consider a short candidates meeting and only took questions from his supporters!

We clearly shook him up a bit as he yelled that Nationals tax system was fairer because drug dealers paid tax and when he claimed he had door knocked in a poorer area of Tauranga- a woman had him up about it and said in the last 3 years she hadn’t seen him once!

Our street corner meeting/ impromptu candidates meeting started with 5 national party supporters and ended up hosting over 30 people!

Simon scurried off as soon as he could- but I bet you he was worried at every street corner meeting after that one that we would turn up again.

Good on the other candidates for getting together on this one. Candidate meetings are time consuming, and we have a lot of them here in Wellington Central, but they are part of the democratic process. Even John Key managed to get to a couple of them, so surely Simon could have too?

Filed under: #ownourfuture, Elections
25 Comments

Ten Policies You Might Have Missed

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 17th, 2011

Labour has released the major planks of our plan to get the economy working for New Zealanders; taking the tough decisions for the long term, keeping assets, addressing the spiralling cost of living, and giving kids the best start in life.

But there has also been a lot of other policy, big and small,  released that shows the hard work done by spokespeople across our portfolios to address the issues in specific sectors. I know there is a lot happening, so here are ten policies that have already come out that you might not have heard a lot about, but address issues that are of significance to many New Zealanders. There are of course loads of other policies, and inclusion in this list is no indication of relative importance, just to give you a flavour.  You can check out all the policies, here.

1. Labour will provide an additional 5,000 fees-free training places for 16 and 17 year olds over 3 years, including 1,000 that have a M?ori mentoring element and 1000 with a Pasifika mentoring element. (YOUTH AFFAIRS)

2. Labour will work with the ITO sector to develop a Creative Industries Apprenticeship, as part of the Modern Apprenticeships Scheme. (ARTS, CULTURE and HERITAGE)

3. Labour will amend the Holidays Act to 2008 settings to protect the rights of workers to time  off for rest and recreation and ensure that all NZ workers have access to 11 days off on pay for recognised public holidays, including Anzac and Waitangi Day. (WORK AND WAGES)

4. Labour will invest $75 million over four years in “e-learning? for low-decile schools, with priority going to schools with year 7 -13 students and the capability to deliver an effective programme . This includes Government funding for students to have individual use of a
mobile device. (EDUCATION)

5.Labour will immediately restore $13 million cut from ACE funding to improve access to adult and community education. (TERTIARY EDUCATION)

6. Labour will create a world sanctuary area in the EEZ around the Kermadec Islands by way of giving this area marine reserve status.(CONSERVATION)

7. Labour will therefore direct Solid Energy not to proceed with its liquid fuels lignite mining proposal.(ENVIRONMENT)

8.We will continue to participate in Trans-Pacific Partnership talks but reiterate our commitment to retaining Pharmac in particular as a bottom line item which must not be traded away. We feel similarly strongly about intellectual property provisions. (TRADE)

9. Labour will increase all one-officer Police stations to at least two officer stations. (SAFER SOCIETY)

(and for Clare) 10. Labour will bring the TV broadcasting industry together to establish a consensus for new Technical Delivery Requirements and a unified national standard for (volume on TV Ads) all broadcasters that reflects international best practice. (BROADCASTING)

Filed under: #ownourfuture
8 Comments

The demise of Brand Key

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 17th, 2011

Credit where it is due. The creation of the ‘brand’ that is John Key has been impressive. The state house “back-story”, the “just one of us” media strategy complete with beer slugging and commercial breakfast radio japes, the pragmatic, “relaxed” approach to the job.

But it seems in a few short days, under the pressure of an election campaign, much of the good work has unravelled. This morning on Firstline Duncan Garner made some very interesting observations that John Key seems to have ” lost all the character of the past in showing spontaneity”, “never seen him like this in the past, starting to see the changing face of the PM”.

Key has, as other PMs before him, assiduously worked the media, and has made them his friends. Over the last few days he has shown the worst of a ‘politician’ response to a self made political disaster, all but accusing them of having a conspiracy against him.

John Armstrong sums it up in the Herald this morning. The PM has lost control of this issue and is trapped by his tactic of referring it to the Police. But more than that his approach is running totally counter to the brand developed over the last few years

Key’s abrupt ending of his press conferences looked like the pressure is getting to him. It made him look shifty and weak

And shifty and weak is not part of the brand strategy. As they say, a week is a long time in politics.

Filed under: Elections, national
92 Comments

Having it Both Ways- Key on SM

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 16th, 2011

I have been meaning for the last few days to link to this article from Jon Johansson on John Key’s views on MMP and SM.

In classic indirect Keyisms, he says while “not entirely unhappy with MMP”, and that he likes proportionality, he “slightly prefers the characteristics” of SM. Johansson proceeds to tear Key apart because SM is not seen as a proportional system, and he thinks that Key is trying to manipulate the referendum result.

Johansson asks what Key might like about SM.

Is it the characteristic which sees SM reduce the equality (and thus fairness) of every New Zealanders vote? Is that what he likes?
Is it SM’s inability viz-a-viz MMP to promote the effective representation of women? Is that what he prefers?
Is it SM’s inability when compared to MMP to provide effective representation for minorities?

The whole article is worth a read as Johansson really lays in, and finishes with this thought

Key’s political risk is significant here. I cannot think of another issue that can so quickly reduce him to looking like merely another grubby self-interested politician than seeking to manipulate voters over the referendum. It’s not a good look – it’s as non-prime ministerial as it is party partisan – and if others view him and his poorly thought-through actions similarly, and stripped of his brand strength, what then really is there left?

Disclosure: In my personal capacity I have stated on a number of occasions that I strongly support the retention of MMP.

Filed under: MMP
18 Comments

Just the facts

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 16th, 2011

You have already seen some of our campaign ads on capital gains tax,asset sales, free healthcare for under sixes and the Auckland Rail Link

Here is our latest ad. It focuses on the record the current government in failing to address unemployment and the exodus to Australia, and on the broken promises on GST. It finishes with Labour’s commitment that we will not sell our assets.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, Elections, asset sales
4 Comments

It’s About Jobs

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 15th, 2011

There is one issue that comes up at almost every meeting, in every town that I have visited in this election, and that is Jobs. Either the general lack of them, or the kinds of jobs that might bring home the children(and grandchildren) that have left, and seem unlikely to return.

Today Labour released our plan for jobs. Its six points and it brings together some key strands of our policy that we believe will drive job growth. The six areas are

• A savings scheme that will provide new investment for New Zealand businesses;

• Support innovation to develop new products to sell to the rest of the world;(including restoring the R and D Tax Credit)

• Change monetary policy to support exporters against a volatile New Zealand dollar;

• Help unemployed youth into training and apprenticeships;

• Stimulate the economy by putting money into the pockets of those who need it;

• Making Kiwi jobs a consideration when issuing government contracts.

The details behind each of these policies is in the attached document. This is about an active government that works with business to create jobs instead of sitting on the sidelines. Its an important building block to owning our future.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, economy, jobs
15 Comments

John Key’s “cheap shot”

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 15th, 2011

It just felt wrong to me when John Key decided to compare the taping, accidental or deliberate, of his conversation with the systemic phone hacking of the News of the World. It’s no real surprise that someone connected with that case, the lawyer for the victims has spoken out describing John Key’s comparison of the recording of his conversation with John Banks with the NOTW phone hacking as a “cheap shot”.

There is a difference between the News of the World hacking into someone’s phone to find out private information and seemingly – whether accidental or on purpose – effectively a journalist investigating some political statement.

I am certainly not condoning covert recording, but I felt uncomfortable when I heard the comparison to NOTW made by John Key. This was an orchestrated media stunt gone wrong, and is not even close to the intrusive, criminal behaviour in the UK.

Then, tonight on TV1 John Key made a comparison to the idea of high profile New Zealanders being recorded talking about a child considering suicide, that being published, and then the child committing suicide.

This just makes me even more uncomfortable. I had given credit to Key for saying he wanted to see coordinated action on youth suicide, but trying to draw that issue ( under which media have operated almost without fail in line with strict reporting guidelines) into what is a political situation seems wrong to me.

These comparisons and claims are all a smokescreen to John Key not wanting to be caught out for what he said to John Banks. He should wind back the rhetoric and just front up to what he said.

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Filed under: act party
17 Comments

Cuppagate- Game Changer?

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 14th, 2011

Interesting to read Jonathan Milne from the Herald on Sunday’s account of the cuppagate tape.

Milne says

But the potential disclosure of the contents of that conversation – held only a metre away from the closest reporters – could yet throw a rocket into this election campaign. It is a game-changer.

And therein lies the problem. I am sure as hell not endorsing covert taping of anyone. But this was a major media stunt in a campaign. It was designed to be a public event. As David Farrar has noted if the tape reveals something where Key or Banks is saying one thing publicly and another thing privately, then that gives strong reasons in the public interest to know what was said. Milne uses the langauge “game changer”, which indicates there is something here.

Milne goes on

But it’s the sheer range of comments in Key and Banks’ discussion that is breathtaking – and the pair’s assessment of the prospects of National, Act and NZ First.

Perhaps leadership in ACT discussions? Maybe a discussion about future asset sales? Whatever, this episode has more to play out, and the all guns blazing approach of National against its release indicates there is something of public interest in those tea leaves.

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Filed under: #ownourfuture, act party
28 Comments

The Double Negative Endorsement

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 12th, 2011

What a curious circus act yesterday between John Key and John Banks. The thing that struck me was the nature of the “endorsement”.

First, John Key appears to want National voters in Epsom to vote for John Banks, or so the media tells us. That is National voters except for him, John Key resident of Epsom, who won’t be voting for John Banks.

Not quite the “clear message” to the voters of Auckland. This is compounded by the use of the well known tactic of clarity and certainty- the double negative. In this case, “not unhappy”.

In the end I think how people vote is a very personal thing but what we are clearly saying is we’re not unhappy if National voters decide to vote tactically

Does that mean ‘happy”, does that mean something less than happy. Who knows? But its curious. If you want people to vote for him, have the guts to actually say it.

And where was poor old Don Brash in all of this. Key is reported as saying he thinks Don Brash is “flexible” and not extreme like Roger Douglas. That is a very recent change of tune from the man he described as ‘hard core’ and ‘very right wing’ over the last couple of years.

Maybe we can put the double negative down to the 0.7% poll that will be out this weekend for ACT. I guess that’s what is a called “not an ideal result.”

Filed under: act party, humour
41 Comments

Health Policy- Reaction

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 10th, 2011

Had a good launch of our Health policy yesterday. The full policy runs to nearly 30 pages. You can find all the details here. From my point of view it was the culmination of a hectic nine months or so that I have had the portfolio. I have listened to health professionals and service users all over the country, and this is the result.

I make no apology for the focus on prevention and more affordable primary healthcare, especially for children. That is how we will help New Zealanders stay healthy, and avoid the need for more expensive treatment further down the track. You will see that in our list of priorities, finding efficiencies in the system is high up the list, because it is essential we do that. We also can not ignore the cuts to services that have occured because the funding has fallen behind inflation and population growth.

In any case, here is a story from Checkpoint last night that covers some of the reaction to the story. I am really pleased the focus on dental health has been picked up.

Filed under: #ownourfuture, health
16 Comments

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