PARLIAMENT | PARTY | GRASSROOTS

Red Alert

Author Archive

How much was Trump paid?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 15th, 2010

Gambling in New Zealand is highly regulated. Casinos and pokie machine venues can’t advertise. The notable exception is Lotto, who can get away with a lot more than other gambling outlets. Can you imagine Sky City getting away with a TV advertising campaign suggesting you could “Trump up your life” by visiting the casino? Me neither.

I think given the extra lattitude that Lotto are given in their advertising it’s important that they’re upfront and transparent in their activities. I’m concerned that they are refusing to reveal how much they paid Donald Trump for their latest promotion. Newstalk ZB has the story.

Which raises the wider issue: should Lotto be treated differently to other forms of gambling like casinos and pokie venues? Are our restrictions on Lotto advertising too light, or are our restrictions on casino and pokie advertising too heavy, or is it a combination of both? Interested in your thoughts…

Tags: , ,
Filed under: policy, regulation
25 Comments

More on home help cuts

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 15th, 2010

Back in February I posted on cuts to home help. My offices here in the Hutt Valley have been dealing with a steady stream of complaints from older residents who’ve had home help hours cut. Last week the Hutt News picked up the issue and on Friday I met with staff from the Hutt Valley DHB to talk about it. I generally have a very good working relationship with our local DHB and I think that overall they’re doing a great job. However on this particular issue I still have real concerns.

The Hutt News article revealed some salient statistics. Between October 2008 and December 2009 reviews of home help to 1950 Hutt Valley elders were carried out. 810 had hours cut, 820 had no change, and just 320 got more hours. In the 12 months to Jan 2009 the DHB spent $3.9 million on home help. Last year they cut $700,000 out of that spend. I simply don’t accept that cost-cutting isn’t part of the agenda here.

Cutting home help is so short-sighted. We should be trying to keep our older citizens in their own homes as long as possible. If a few hours help with the housework and/or grocery shopping helps them to do that then why penny-pinch? More people in rest homes will cost the health system a lot more than a few home help hours will.

Tags: , ,
Filed under: health, public services
11 Comments

Gerry’s dumb decision on smart meters

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 14th, 2010

Gerry Brownlee has decided not to specify a standard for smart meters, denying householders the opportunity to get a little more control over the cost of their electricity. The technology on offer is quite exciting, and it’s a real shame the new meters electricity companies are fitting won’t make use of it. The meters being installed don’t have a HAN (home area network) chip, so they won’t be able to communicate with other in-home appliances to allow consumers to take advantage of using power when electricity is cheaper.

Brownlee’s decision is good news for the electricity companies, who now have ministerial backing in their quest to deny households the opportunity to save money on their power bills. It’s a shame he didn’t listen to the advice of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, who recommended last year that he specify a standard, as many overseas jurisdictions have done. Brownlee is defending his decision by saying that the ripple control system for hot water heaters is an adequate substitute. As my colleague Charles Chauvel has stated “In technology terms, that’s a bit like saying you don’t want an iPod because you still have a perfectly good collection of 78s”.

However, he has got one thing right in that he has agreed to regulate some of the basic data exchange protocols. That will ensure that consumers will be able to make use of new meter technology even if they switch retailers. As an example, I’m currently with Meridian but my meter was installed by Genesis. Meridian read my meter every 2nd month, but if I was with Genesis they would do an electronic reading monthly so I’d never need to worry about ‘estimate’ readings. Hopefully the new rules will ensure that Meridian will be able to use the meters electronic capability, even though they didn’t install it themselves.

It’s a real shame Gerry Brownlee hasn’t used his 3 and a half months deliberating on the issue (the Electricity Commission presented their recommendations to him in early December) to make a more gutsy call. As usual he’s sticking with his head in the sand, stacking up more problems that will have to be dealt with in the future rather than showing leadership today. In the meantime consumers miss out on an opportunity to save money on their power bills. So much for National being the party of choice…

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: Consumer Affairs, Energy
7 Comments

Investment in rail

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 14th, 2010

Last week I posted about the current woes of our rail network, noting that under private ownership there had been a lack of investment in upgrading and maintaining the trains and tracks. In hindsight perhaps the then Labour government should have bought back the whole lot in 2003, not just the tracks, and now we’d be 5 years further ahead than we are. I’m not sure that was even an option back then, but regardless of the history, looking to the future it’s clear a big investment is needed if rail is going to be a viable transport option in New Zealand.

It’s interesting to note that the New Zealand government are one of the few around the world who haven’t included investment in rail as part of their economic stimulus package in response to the global recession. In the US they’re spending $17.7 billion on ‘transit and rail’ to reduce traffic congestion and petrol use. Italy are spending 960 million euro in rail and another 480 million euro in local public transport. Korea are spending KRW 11 trillion on ‘green transport’. The Aussies are spending 1.2 billion on rail, the Canadians 480 million and France 300 million. The list could go on…

Here in New Zealand Steven Joyce is obsessed with roads as if they are the only viable form of transport. Roads are convenient, and for a lot of passenger trips they are the most logical choice, but for freight and suburban transport, rail remains a viable and important option, but only if government backs it. As I noted last week, freight within NZ is expected to increase by up to 75% in the next 20 years – does National want to see all of that going onto the roads? Why aren’t we following the rest of the world and looking to rail to ease traffic congestion and reduce our reliance on imported oil?

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: economy, infrastructure, public services, transport
22 Comments

Go the Coasters

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 10th, 2010

hilton

Joined the big red ‘Axe the Tax’ bus in Westport yesterday morning. Headed down the cost via Reefton, Blackball and Greymouth before heading over to Christchurch. We were very warmly received all the way down the coast. Nobody wants to see GST increased.

Spoke to quite a few retailers who are concerned an increase in GST will act like a ‘double whammy’ by forcing them to up their prices while also reducing the amount of ‘discretionary’ spending money people have left over after they’ve paid for the essentials.

Funny moment at the Bearded Mining Company in Reefton where they handed us a hunk of lead that had been spray-painted gold – they call it National Party gold. Lots of disappointment with the Nats; Auchinvole will be a one-term MP.

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: GST, Tax
32 Comments

Help with home insulation

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 10th, 2010

I’ve been a pretty vocal critic of aspects of the National government’s home insulation programme, but I’m willing to give credit where it is due. The Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) have announced a new scheme that lets people spread their share of home insulation costs over 9 years as part of their rates. If the home owner sells up, the next owner picks up the extra rates bill. This is a good idea.

Under the government’s current deal, someone can get up to a third of the cost of home insulation paid for through a subsidy but they have to stump up the other two thirds (those on lower incomes can get up to 60% subsidy). If the GWRC scheme helps people to cover their part of the cost then that’s good.

I think there are huge benefits in having kiwi homes properly insulated. My critiscism of the Nats scheme isn’t because I think the goal is a bad one. I’m concerned they’ve cut too many corners and are jeopardising quality and fairness. There is more capacity in the market to insulate more homes, but because of the way the government have set up the existing scheme people are missing out unnecessarily, are getting a sub-standard job, or they’re missing out on the full value of the subsidy. If they fix those problems up, then the scheme would be well worth backing.

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: Energy, housing
6 Comments

National’s neglect of rail

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 9th, 2010

Wellington commuters who regularly use our local trains live with the day to day realities of the last National government’s disastrous decision to privatise what was then NZ Rail. Between its sale and eventual buy-back in 2008, very little was spent on upgrading or even maintaining rail services. Some of the trains running on Wellington’s rail lines are literally museum pieces.

The last Labour government started to repair some of that damage. For example the new trains that will start arriving in Wellington later this year were purchased only after central government stumped up most of the cash. The problems that have plagued our local trains over recent months are largely due to the huge backlog of maintenance and upgrading that’s now being done. Had it been done over the past decade and a half we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now.

Like a lot of Wellingtonians, I’m disappointed the new National-led government seem to have so little faith in rail. From the outside looking in it seems as though they want it to fail so that they can carve it up, sell it off, or close it down. They’re now talking about closing down regional lines, what a sell-out. Freight within NZ is expected to increase by up to 75% in the next 20 years – does National want to see all of that going onto the roads?

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: privatisation, public services, transport, wellington
22 Comments

“Axe the Tax” bus hits the Mainland

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 8th, 2010

4393243989_54852612b8

Yesterday the big red Axe the Tax bus was in Wellington. I joined the crew in Timberlea, Upper Hutt where we handed out red balloons to the kids and were warmly received by the parents too. Later in the afternoon the bus was parked outside parliament where quite a few people stopped to chat on their way to the Phoenix game.

This week the bus hit’s the mainland. I’ll be on board from Tuesday to Thursday. The Axe the Tax campaign is online too, here’s a quick summary of where to find everything:

Tags: , ,
Filed under: Cost of Living, GST, Tax, Uncategorized
19 Comments

Brownlee gets details wrong – again!

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 3rd, 2010

The government’s great details man Gerry Brownlee was reported in the DomPost this morning (article not online) making more claims about the government’s home insulation scheme that just don’t stack up. An Otago University report has argued that the standard of insulation provided isn’t sufficient for homes in colder areas (eg. lower South Island), so Brownlee side-steps the issue by saying there isn’t the capacity to insulate more homes. Actually Gerry, that wasn’t the question! Even then, his claim isn’t true either.

249 businesses applied for approval to deliver home insulation and heating under the government’s scheme but only 60 were approved. I know of a number of businesses that meet the quality standards but were turned away because they weren’t big enough. Gerry ‘bigger is always better’ Brownlee argues there isn’t capacity to insulate more homes but that just isn’t true. If he wasn’t distorting the market by creating monopoly providers there would be plenty of capacity to insulate more homes.

Gerry Brownlee should take the concerns being raised about the scheme seriously. Last month an initial audit by EECA into the scheme said that 63 per cent of the insulation retrofits audited have “problems”, half of which are described in the audit report as “serious”. There have been a string of reports from providers who have had to lay off staff because they were excluded at the last minute. There are suggestions providers who are approved aren’t passing on the full benefit of the subsidy to consumers.

The government needs to look at all of these issues carefully. Brownlee can’t keep bluffing the details. We all want to see more homes properly insulated, but it needs to be done properly. Enough of the cutting corners and PR spin.

Tags: ,
Filed under: Energy
14 Comments

Will smile and wave save rally?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 2nd, 2010

The New Zealand Herald is reporting that John Key is looking at saving the Rally of New Zealand. He is non-committal though:

“It’s a sport that New Zealand has a very long history in, so I’m going to have a look at it and see whether it’s possible for us to play some part. I can’t guarantee we can ride in as a white knight, but we will look at it.”

As I noted previously, the Rally has a large international following and could have great spin-offs for tourism and other economic activity if the government gets behind it and does it right.

Is this just another example of Key saying whatever the person in front of him wants to hear or will he actually follow through?

Tags: , ,
Filed under: sport
8 Comments

Rally New Zealand

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 28th, 2010

I was disappointed to learn this week that the draft 2011 world rally calendar doesn’t include the iconic Rally of New Zealand. The official position of RallyNZ appears to be to wait until the draft schedule is confirmed, but it now looks unlikely we’ll make it.

I was particularly disappointed to learn that the government had turned down backing for the event. This week Gerry Brownlee was trumpeting the fact that the government was sponsoring the World Paralympics Athletic Championships, so I asked him why he wasn’t backing Rally New Zealand. In response he questioned the economic benefit of the event.

The world rally championships is a huge international event, bringing huge TV audiences and offering considerable tourism potential. Media reports suggest those involved in the motorsport industry feel other governments give better backing to the event, no doubt that played a part in our being excluded from the 2011 schedule.

Major sporting events bring huge economic benefits to New Zealand. While we’re all focused on the Rugby World Cup, we’d be mad to overlook events like the Rally of New Zealand, which appeals to a very different (and possibly bigger) international audience.

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: sport
18 Comments

Video: John Key on GST

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 24th, 2010

Tags: , ,
Filed under: GST, Tax, national, video
20 Comments

Brownlee’s shambles cuts jobs

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 24th, 2010

One of the first things the new National government did when coming into office was scrap the $1b home insulation fund that the previous Labour government had planned. Later in the year they finally woke up to the huge value better home insulation can bring and announced their own scheme, albeit smaller. Personally I was pleased they’d seen the value in warming up kiwi homes, but as the weeks and months have rolled on, more and more of the rushed schemes weaknesses have been revealled.

One of the most concerning is the impact it has had on small specialist businesses. It would be natural to assume that a small specialist home insulation business delivering a quality product would stand to benefit from a significant expansion of the market and increase in the number of government subsidies available. Not so, in fact the opposite has happened. The government has arbitarily capped the number of providers, favouring big players like The Warehouse or Hire a Hubby, rather than small specialists. Of the 249 businesses that sought approval, only 60 got it.

I think this is totally unfair. Many of these businesses were previously able to access government subsidies and some had, in good faith, scaled up their operations, taking on new staff (many off the dole) in anticipation of the increased demand. I’ve had many firms tell me about how they’ve had to lay off staff because they can’t compete with the big providers who are getting government subsidies.

I’m very keen to see more homes insulated, and I’m pleased the government is putting some money into it. It’s a real shame that they aren’t doing it fairly and properly. It’s kind of ironic that the ‘pro-competition’ National Party seems to be going out of their way to distort the market and choke off any competition when it comes to home heating and insulation.

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: Energy, jobs
18 Comments

New look at The Standard

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 15th, 2010

Just visited The Standard for the first time in a while and I see that they have a whole new look. It looks promising.

Tags: ,
Filed under: blogs
14 Comments

Improving local rail services

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 14th, 2010

A bunch of people travelling from Upper Hutt to Wellington by train yesterday almost missed the replacement bus because TranzMetro thought that a tiny poster beside the train timetable was enough to alert us to the fact that the trains weren’t running. Nobody got off the bus to check there was nobody on the platform, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of people were left wondering why the trains never came.

I totally understand that the train lines need to be closed from time to time for maintenance and upgrading. I think they’re doing a good job, but why not put big signs on the platform to alert travellers that buses are replacing trains? In this instance it seems TranzMetro were more concerned about sticking with their corporate branding (the poster looked just like all their advertising posters) than communicating effectively with their customers.

It did prompt a bit of discussion about what sort of changes people would like to see to our local rail services. I’ve talked about this with a number of people in recent weeks and here are some of the things on their wish lists:

  • WiFi on all train services so that people can work/play on the train (even if there was a small cost involved)
  • Decent coffee carts on train platforms during peak hours, or on the trains themselves
  • Slightly more room between each seat so that people can work on laptops or read the paper without bashing the head of the person in front
  • More room for bikes (currently only 2 allowed per train)
  • Electronic signs on the platforms saying when the next service is due
  • Step-free access from platforms to make it easier for those with pushchairs/wheelchairs
  • More enclosed shelters on the station platforms
  • Integrated/electronic ticketing (like the Snapper cards)
  • More carparks at some stations
  • More frequent services / more express services during peak hours

Some of these things are coming when the new train units arrive later this year (eg. step-free access, more bike space), while others could actually prove revenue-generating opportunities (eg. user-pays WiFi or coffee carts). Others (integrated ticketing) could save money. I know the Regional Council are working on some of this stuff, but I reckon they could pick up the pace a bit. If we want more people using public transport we should be doing more to make it an attractive/convenient option.

Tags: ,
Filed under: public services, transport
27 Comments

Sharples comment in bad taste

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 11th, 2010

A week or two back I quoted Pita Sharples expressing his ‘grave concerns‘ about National Standards, a policy he and his party had voted in favour of, in fact he had even spoken during the First Reading of the Bill.

This week Sharples was quoted in the NZ Herald saying:

“Sometimes we pass a bill and then we forget we passed it and talk against it. I have to ring the Prime Minister and say, ‘Whoops.’ Or he rings me. But we are still working together.”

Very reassuring to know the Maori Party are so diligent in determining how they cast their votes on laws that will govern every New Zealander…

However the quote in the Herald article that left me speechless was this one:

The Maori Party hoped to be a part of any government, regardless of its leanings. Then he confessed: “Actually, I got so used to the increase in salary I told the Prime Minister you’d better be good because if the other guys get in, I’ll go sell myself over there to keep my ministerial salary. I just got a new house, man – I can’t afford it on a backbencher salary so I’m up for grabs.” Whoops.

Seriously, even if he was joking, this is just in bad taste. All the more so given it came after other comments he had made about having to vote for National Party policies that impacted harshly on Maori on low incomes.

Tags: , ,
Filed under: Māori, education
24 Comments

Credit where it is due

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 10th, 2010

Yesterday I blogged about John Key not answering a bunch of written parliamentary questions that I had put to him before Christmas. Well, that obviously rang a few bells over in Key’s office because the answers were hand-delivered to my office yesterday afternoon. Credit where it is due, Key has fronted up, and from a quick scan, it looks like he has given pretty comprehensive answers to most of my questions. I’ll read through them over the next few days and blog further, but in the meantime, kudos to Key for fronting up.

Tags: , ,
Filed under: democracy, parliament
15 Comments

Where’s the Nat front bench?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 9th, 2010

I’ve been down in the House this afternoon listening to speeches on John Key’s statement. Interesting to note that their whole front bench, except for Chris Finlayson, who nobody has ever heard of, seem to have ducked for cover.

Instead we’ve been getting speeches from Pansy Wong and Phil Heatley. Where are the National Party’s big guns? Where is Gerry Brownlee? Where is Simon Power? Where is Judith Collins?

Colin Espiner notes in his blog:

“John Key has sketched out the direction he intends to take the Government this year. Now it’s up to Finance Minister Bill English to fill in the blanks.”

So why has English rushed out of the House? When is he going to fill in the gaps? If today was National’s first big test for the year, then they have failed miserably.

Tags: , ,
Filed under: parliament
20 Comments

Will Key ever answer questions?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 9th, 2010

Parliament resumes today after the summer recess. Hopefully that will prompt John Key to finally stump up with answers to the Written Parliamentary Questions I put to him before Christmas. I asked him 67 questions late last year. In all cases he said he couldn’t give me an answer within the 6 days required by the written questions system, but he assured me I’d get the information as soon as possible.

It’s now 8 weeks since I asked the questions, but alas no answers have arrived. The questions were legitimate questions asking him to account for the spending of his ministers at a time when they were telling us all to tighten our belts.

We saw last year that National Ministers do not practice what they preach on fiscal responsibility and the public deserves to know what they are spending, e.g. the Bill English rort to finance his family home and the last minute changes to let ministers use self-drive cars meant to help them serve their electorates in Wellington.

Labour answered these types of questions when asked by a National Opposition so what is Key hiding?

Here is a quick summary of the topics that I asked Key about:

  • Pay rises for staff working in Ministerial offices (remember other public servants have a wage freeze)
  • Use of VIP cars during National’s first year in office
  • Refurbishment costs for ministerial offices
  • Spending on gifts, beer, wine and spirits by ministers
  • Purchase of self-drive vehicles and related issues
  • Issues relating to Key’s changes to ministerial housing allowances

John Key talks a lot about transparency and accountability but it is all talk. The reality is neither he nor his ministers think that the rules that apply to others apply to them. Key’s ongoing refusal to answer basic written parliamentary questions just proves that.

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: democracy, national, parliament
17 Comments

Home help cuts disgusting

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 8th, 2010

Recently my electorate offices have been deluged by complaints about cuts to home help hours. I’ve asked Hutt Valley DHB what’s going on several times and they have constantly claimed there have been no budget cuts, they are just doing a regular review. Frankly that’s rubbish. From what I’ve seen the cuts are deep and they’re disgusting. They are putting the health and wellbeing of our older citizens at risk.

It’s stupid and short-sighted. More seniors will end up in hospital. More will end up going into full-time care. It will cost the DHB a lot more. I just don’t know what they think they are doing. The families concerned are worried. They’re trying to do their bit to help out but often they’re balancing full-time work with raising their own families. There are limits to what they can do.

The carers are worried too. They’re often the people who have the most regular contact. If I were to ask them who will end up in hospital in the next few months, I reckon they could predict it with about 90% accuracy. Why aren’t the DHB tapping into that expertise. Surely prevention is better than treatment further down the track?

I find it particularly disgusting that many of these cuts are being done over the phone. How on earth can someone tell whether or not it is fair/safe to cut an elderly person’s home help hours based on a 5 minute phone call?

I’ve often quoted Hubert Humphrey’s remark that a society should be judged by how it treats those in the dawn of life (children), the twlight of life (the elderly) and the shadows of life (the sick and the needy). If that’s our measure, then sadly we’re not doing too well at the moment…

Tags: , ,
Filed under: health, social development
11 Comments

« Older Entries