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Simon Lusk + team = Act fail

Posted by Trevor Mallard on June 10th, 2011

Our polling always showed Brash as more unpopular than Hide. His negatives rub off on National as well. But can’t put it much better than No Minister. Pretty sure that Bill English will be saying ” I told you so” to Steven Joyce who was the referee for the Simon Lusk brains trust who initiated this mess.

Dr Brash marched into the ACT party board room and knocked them all for six with what now appears to be fictitious polling figures showing his personal following to be such that he would save the Party from itself and its heinous leader Rodney Hide. All they had to do was sack Rodney and install Don for the hallowed gates of Fiscal Policy to be thrown wide by an ever grateful John Key.

Boy oh boy, were they ever sold a pup! Perhaps the greatest political and tactical mess since Hitler invaded Soviet Russia.

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Filed under: act party
19 Comments

Silly Heather Roy can’t do maths

Posted by Trevor Mallard on June 3rd, 2011

Poor old Heather Roy has fallen for something no one of her experience should. She has signed off a media release drafted by an Act intern suggesting that Labour opposing the Act bill to gut students’ associations has cost the taxpayer a fortune.

Pity she didn’t read it and think first.

The release is predicated on the assumption that Parliament has sat longer than it would have otherwise. It hasn’t. Not one single minute longer. Not an extra cent has been spent.

I understand why she is unhappy. The Labour Party is using it’s ability to delay legislation to attempt to push the bill past the election. Only Act really supports it. The Nats are lukewarm because they know that the transfer of roles to the institutions will increase fees and thereby loan liabilities for the taxpayer. The bill has never had a proper economic impact report.

She has every right to complain about us raining on her parade.

But for a party that is meant to embrace economic realism she needs to understand and then brief her intern on the difference between average and marginal costs.

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Filed under: act party
28 Comments

Key English sacrifice jobs for votes

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 30th, 2011

Bernard Hickey has a talent for expressing fairly complex economic issues simply. He did it again yesterday showing how the productive sector is being sacrificed by the current government’s exchange rate approach.

Saves me doing a more clumsy post on the same topic.

He highlights Bill English’s role in courting Chinese individuals and groups who are interested in buying New Zealand assets.

It is instructive that the Dompost has highlighted the need for international energy privatisation experts. They know that these assets have to go offshore to get anything like their true value. Even with the Key $1000/week for me tax cuts there just aren’t enough rich Kiwis to buy and hold the shares.

A project manager and adviser are being sought for the sell-down, and the Government has flagged two more requests will come next month to establish an expert advisory panel and consultants to undertake scoping studies on the companies.

“We would have financial analysts as good as any in the world but maybe not [with an] international energy capital markets perspective,” said Paul Hendry, director of advisory firm McKinlay Hendry.

“Without question, the Treasury would be advising the Government that’s the only way to go – international expertise, the best advice possible in the world.”

Filed under: act party, asset sales
38 Comments

Lusk, Farrar, Slater, Williams to run anti MMP campaign

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 29th, 2011

A few weeks ago I ran a series of posts which outlined the role the shadowy Simon Lusk in National Party selections, the Brash Act leadership coup and indicated that he was chasing the lucrative anti MMP campaign.

I don’t think I’ve ever had as many National MPs thanking me – for letting them know how someone they trusted was in fact outsourced by Steven Joyce to do work in the coup to put Brash into Act. Many were not aware that he had a role in several selection campaigns some of which was sub contracted to Whaleoil.Many however suspected what polls now show, that Brash has significantly higher negatives than Hide and that women who supported Act would abandon the party. Interesting how Joyce has moved – with this, the Mediaworks scandal and the mess he has made by indemnifying Telecom for UFB losses – from hero to close to zero.

The Sunday Star Times today has part of the story:-

Those behind a campaign to shoot down MMP have killed before.

The right is getting ready to fire both barrels at MMP. A group of activists with links to National and Act are busy preparing a campaign against the electoral system. They are hardened politicos and some happen to share an interest in hunting, shooting and fishing. But it’s not clear if they’ll kill off MMP.
(more…)

Filed under: Attorney-General, Contractors, Elections, Electoral Law Reform, Selections, act party, asset sales, blogs, coalition management, comms & IT, ipredict, national, outsourcing
64 Comments

The 2025 Taskforce

Posted by Chris Hipkins on May 24th, 2011

This year’s Budget offered no plan for the future. Full of cuts with no real gain, it was based on a bunch of optimistic predictions about jobs and growth with very little to back it up. Which makes you wonder why the government have spent over $325,000 on Don Brash’s 2025 taskforce? Clearly none of his recommendations have been adopted.

Following news that the Taskforce was to be scraped, I asked Rodney Hide (the Minister responsible for it) a few questions on how much it had cost, whether he was satisfied with it, and what it had delivered. I asked him whether he was satisfied with the performance of the Chair, to which he gave the underwhelming reply: “Yes, because the Taskforce produced two high quality reports.” Two very expensive door-stops if you ask me.

It also turns out that the decision to discontinue the 2025 Taskforce wasn’t made by the Cabinet but was made after “discussions” between the PM, the Minister of Finance, and Hide. In other words, Hide threw his toys after Brash rolled him and the Taskforce got the chop.

Given that the government have spent $325,000 of taxpayer money to effectively write the ACT Party’s manifesto for this year’s election, perhaps now they are rolling in dosh following the Brash coup, ACT would be happy to pay some of it back??

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Filed under: act party, productivity
7 Comments

Labour billboard changeout

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 21st, 2011

labour-billboard-changeout

Previously posted that this won the competition but forgot to put up the winner. Here it is – Hutt Road Wellington.

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Filed under: act party, asset sales, coalition management, national
11 Comments

Smoke and mirror budget?

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 16th, 2011

When I was Associate Minister of Finance cuts had to be confirmed before they were booked in the budget. Looks like the rules have changed to the extent that cuts aren’t even allocated to individual departments, that’s a long way away from saying where the money is coming from.

And this was the government that campaigned on increasing transparency.

So the new policy is – pretend you have reduced the deficit but wait until after the election to say what the cuts are.

Will be interesting to see the media and especially the financial medias take on this.

Also interesting will be whether the Brash/Douglas party will vote for it.

Report from Key’s presser today :-

Targets for individual agencies would be finalised after the Budget and it would then be up to chief executives to identify how to meet them.

“We believe people who understand their own operations are in the best position to make financial tradeoffs and to introduce innovation which genuinely improves public services.”

Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, Budget, act party
20 Comments

An open letter to Brash

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 16th, 2011

Bolger’s former spin doctor (not the one who now runs Radio NZ) David Beatson has done a slightly better reply to Brash than the Key original.

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Filed under: act party, coalition management, national
7 Comments

Budget preview – see John’s reply to Don

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 14th, 2011

It appears that the penguin still has access to the National Party leaders computer system.

John’s reply to Don is here.

Will be interesting to see if we do get a budget that addresses the deficit that has ballooned under National or just tinkers.

Hat tip Prickly One.

Filed under: Budget, act party, asset sales, blogs, coalition management
7 Comments

MMP and the focus on Lusk

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 13th, 2011

I’ve done some slightly cryptic posts over the last week or so following a flow of information from three sources about the role of Simon Lusk, inter alia, in the Brash coup.

Much of that is now a matter of record. The coup was financed by John Banks. Lusk became a consultant following a Joyce recommendation. Franks law firm also provided services. The fee was $30k.

The objective was to reinvigorate Act. No one told Joyce Brash’s negatives are higher than Hides.

It was run while Key was offshore. English was not informed by Joyce.

Lusk has been contracted to help run selection campaigns as well as electorate campaigns. Neither his role nor that of Cameron Slater have been transparent.

The prize now is the anti MMP campaign for which resources are now being organised. $100k +.

Lusk is an expert in political “black arts”. He even does reviews on the topic.

My posts have been designed to get Simon Lusk out of the shadows to ensure we know who is running things, if in fact he gets the contract.

Filed under: Attorney-General, act party, asset sales, coalition management, internet
27 Comments

There is not necessarily anything wrong with using offshore company registration

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 11th, 2011

Lusk

secwatch

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Filed under: Attorney-General, act party, coalition management, national
15 Comments

Texts from Auckland

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 10th, 2011

Txts from Banksy 1

Txts from Banksy 2

Txts from Banksy 3

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Filed under: Auckland, Electoral Law Reform, New Chum, act party, asset sales, blogs, business, by-election, finance, history, humour, informal economy, internet, ipredict, jobs, national, parliament, whaling
16 Comments

Cactus Kate funds Whale?

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 9th, 2011

So the Prickly One  is paying Whale’s legal fees http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2011/05/04/who-feathers-penguins-nest/comment-page-1/#comment-173394, which offshore account does that come out of or is it another brown bag?

I’m not sure if she is the sort of lawyer who runs a trust account – her comments have never struck me as generous, but unclear whether it is her cash or just an agency arrangement.

Filed under: act party, blogs, national, outsourcing
39 Comments

Apologies to Whale

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 9th, 2011

I loved this format on Whaleoil, even if the messages didn’t appeal. Thought we might try a few cut and pastes. . Assume the format isn’t subject to copyright.

Txts from Whale

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Filed under: act party, blogs, national
12 Comments

A lot more than twenty questions and still going Part IV

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 9th, 2011

1. What exactly did Brash get for his $30k?

2. Did Whale and Hooton get cash?

3. What was Lusk’s role in this?

4. Did Joyce contribute or was he just the fixer?

5. How much of it did Banks pay?

6. Was money only paid into NZ bank accounts?

7. What do Leonie Hapeta and Mark Mitchell have in common?

8. Is employing a specific consultant now a requirement to get a contested National Party selection?

9. Is there transparency during the selection process, ie did all candidates know of the consultant and his assistants roles on behalf of those employing him?

10. Does Whale get paid for all his endorsements of candidates?

11. What do Upston, Gilmore, Woodhouse, Lee Ross, Lotu Iinga, Wagner and Blue have in common?

12. Does Bill English realise that he is being undermined by these processes?

13. Did Goodfellow know his parties party’s consultant was moonlighting with Brash?

14. Has the team offered their services to any other party this year?

15. Did Key know of Joyce’s involvement, and if so did he tell his deputy?

16. What did Joyce say to Lusk last Wednesday night after they were rumbled?

More to come…………

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Filed under: Auckland, Book Reviews, New Chum, act party, asset sales, blogs, censorship, coalition management, comms & IT, national
49 Comments

Twenty questions Part III

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 8th, 2011

Simon Lusk1Simon Lusk2

1. Who is this guy?

2. At whose funeral were arrangements made?

3. Who was the matchmaker?

4. How much did Brash pay and who funded it?

5. Was support for Joyce part of the agreement?

ps. Might end up being more than twenty questions at the rate the tips are coming in.

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Filed under: Auckland, New Chum, Wikileaks, act party, asset sales, blogs, coalition management, comms & IT, humour, internet, ipredict, media, national, parliament, politics, whaling
36 Comments

Don and Hone’s sideshow

Posted by Grant Robertson on May 8th, 2011

This morning I finally got around to watching Don and Hone on Close Up. I did so in the context of everything else that these two got up to last week (comparisons to Hitler, calling each other racists, re-writing the Treaty, eulogies for Osama, subsequently withdrawn).

Fundamentally I felt sad watching them together as the debate went back down the divisive approach to race relations. There is so much for New Zealanders to be focused on now, re-hashing this debate is just not it. Of course we need to keep working on race relations in NZ, but the Brash/Harawira approach is not it, and it is not where New Zealanders are at.

The day after the programme I travelled through South Taranaki with Phil Goff and our candidate up there Hamish McDouall. We talked with people in small towns like Manaia about their struggles to make ends meet, to get jobs, their desire for apprenticeships for the young people in town and for better funding for the school. We went on to Hawera where we met business people who were working hard to climb out of the recession, social service providers hit by government funding cuts to anti-violence programmes which are more stretched than ever. We heard about the pensioner who had not eaten for two days so she had enough money to pay her bills.

Don and Hone will no doubt try and out extreme each other, pump up the rhetoric, and scratch about for votes to give them an extra MP or two. In terms of the campaign, we will be focusing on dealing with the issues we heard in South Taranaki. Giving people a vision and a plan. Getting government priorities in line with people’s priorities. That’s a plan that will give New Zealanders some hope that they will get a fair go, an economy that works for everyone, a job, and a good future for them and their families.

Filed under: act party, economy, inequality
15 Comments

Twenty questions Part II

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 7th, 2011

Williams and Lusk

1. Who are the pair in the photo above?

2. From which book is the following quote ?

Lusk then wrote: ‘Bryan, make sure you find out about what they are going to do with the Greens’. The Brethren ‘dusted up the Greens in Tasmania, did a good job there’, and so were ‘considering… going after the Greens’ in New Zealand as well. This shows that by early June National MPs had been told about the Brethren’s proposed anti-Green Party advertising and confirms the link with anti-Green leaflets that were distributed anonymously in Tasmania the year before. The September 2005 New Zealand and October 2004 Tasmanian anti-Green Exclusive Brethren pamphlets were almost identical. Lusk went on to express concern about anti-Green campaigning because he was counting on Green voters to split the vote in Napier and help his National candidate win. ‘They could hurt our chances in Napier if they go after the Greens,’ he wrote, ‘we need as many Greens votes as possible to win the electorate race.’31

Two weeks later, another Lusk email reveals that actual copies of the Exclusive Brethren election advertisements were being shown to National Party MPs. ‘Bryan some of the ads we were discussing in Napier were shown to a selection of MPs yesterday. Apparently there were some very nervous people after hearing them.’32 The reason for the nervousness was not explained.

3. Hint for question 2 here.

4. Who was a go to man between National and the Brethren?

5. How did the other guy get swipe access to Parliament to be Brash’s factotum?

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Filed under: act party, asset sales, coalition management, national
28 Comments

A Brash reminder on minimum wage and benefits

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 7th, 2011

Brash on Health 2

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Filed under: Cost of Living, act party, children, coalition management, inequality, low pay, minimum wage
27 Comments

Twenty questions Part I

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 6th, 2011

pp2

1. Whose party was this?

2. Who is the person in the background?

3. Did Farrar know there were in fact three celebrations on that night at the same party when he decided to go?

4. List the celebrations.

5. Did Farrar report back to Bill English afterwards?

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Filed under: act party, coalition management, national
32 Comments

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