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Posts Tagged ‘phil goff’

The Future of Auckland

Posted by Phil Twyford on August 20th, 2010

Auckland’s best years are ahead of it.

We can fix the mess Rodney Hide and John Key have made of setting up the super city.  We can invest in a modern public transport system and defeat Stephen Joyce’s obsession with the holiday highway. We can tackle poverty and inequality unlike this Government who have virtually ignored the Royal Commission’s ambitious plans on community well-being. We can build a vibrant, prosperous, job-rich economy. We can revitalise the downtown and waterfront – and build great neighbourhoods and streets and public spaces to match the sublime physical environment.

The Labour team have spent the last year fighting the Hide-Key Auckland jack up. But now we are developing a plan for The Future of Auckland that we will take into the election next year. We will put people at the heart of the super city. And Labour in government will work hand in hand with the Auckland Council – unlike this Government who try to control Auckland from Wellington.

If you want to hear more, or want to help us develop the plan, come along to hear Phil Goff and invited guests this Sunday at the University of Auckland, 3pm Sunday. It is a panel discussion chaired by journalist and blogger David Beatson. Joining Phil on the panel are Ngarimu Blair of Ngati Whatua, songwriter Don McGlashan, ideas guy Mike Hutcheson, and Auckland University’s head of architecture and planning Jenny Dixon.

See here for more details.

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Filed under: Auckland, local government
15 Comments

Cluster Munitions Convention Enters into Force

Posted by Grant Robertson on August 1st, 2010

“Punching above our weight”  is one of the most over-used phrases to describe New Zealand’s international presence, but today’s entry into force of the Cluster Munitions Convention is an example of our ability to take a leadership role in global debates. Along with Austria, Ireland, Mexico, Norway and Peru we were the core group of countries that led the push for a ban.

The convention bans the use and production of cluster bombs.  These are munitions that contain a number of small bomblets and are used to cover a large area and act as a deterent to advances by ground troops.  The reality is that many civilians are affected by them, because just like landmines they litter the ground after conflict is over.

While China, Russia and the US are still to sign up, and the campaign will go on, the fact that more than 100 countries have signed, and now 30 have ratified is a sign that the international community are well and truly behind this convention.

New Zealand government Ministers (particularly Marian Hobbs and Phil Goff) and officials played a leading role in getting the convention finalised, including hosting a crucial negotiations here in 2008.  The real drive has come from NGOs, and in particular from Mary Wareham. Mary has been a tireless campaigner on this issue, and I know just how thrilled she will be to see the convention come into force.

If you want to find out more information about cluster munitions and the campaign to ban them check out this website

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Filed under: Foreign Affairs, disarmament, human rights
4 Comments

The keen to please PM

Posted by Phil Twyford on July 7th, 2010

Does John Key really think New Zealand is about to be hit by a wave of boat people?

“What I’ve said to the Australian prime minister is that we recognise there is a problem, and we recognise that from New Zealand’s perspective it’s a problem that is coming towards our shores at some point in the future.”

Mr Key said that from all the intelligence he had received, this was “a real issue”.

Has he looked at a map recently? There is a lot of ocean between us and them. Short of us putting out the welcome mat for people-smugglers it seems very unlikely they will make it this far.

Phil Goff has said the PM should stay out of Australia’s election campaign debate on what is a very difficult issue.  Key’s very keen to please. We saw that when he was moved to change his mind and extend the SAS deployment in Afghanistan, dazzled by the four stars of General Stanley McChrystal. I am sure Julia Gillard can be persuasive but New Zealand should think very carefully before stepping in to this debate.

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Filed under: Australia
31 Comments

Key stumbles and bumbles on Auckland

Posted by Phil Twyford on April 27th, 2010

John Key was unimpressive in question time today. He seemed unable to defend his Government’s policy on Auckland. Jet lag after Gallipoli maybe? Missing his hoodie? Or just a hard policy to defend?

Following his major speech yesterday setting out our plan for Auckland, Phil Goff asked the Prime Minister some straightforward questions that Aucklanders are asking:

Hon Phil Goff: Why is he giving the Auckland Transport Agency, which is unelected, the right to pass by-laws, but is denying that power to the elected local boards?

Hon John Key: Because we think it makes sense for the agency to be able to set some initial parameters in relation to the local boards, and that is because, over time, they need to reflect those communities. As that system plays out, I am sure that the Auckland Council will set new policies there.

What?!  It didn’t get much better. Phil went on to ask:

Why is he imposing council-controlled organisations on Auckland City when every other city in this country is able to make that decision for itself?

Why is the Government repealing the requirement for Auckland City to get the consent of Aucklanders by referendum before any privatisation of the Ports of Auckland can take place?

Why is the Prime Minister ignoring the advice given to him by four Government departments, the Auckland mayors as a group, the Auckland chamber of commerce, and the vast majority of submissions to the select committee that the transport agency should be an in-house operation and not one that is passed across to a commercial council-controlled operation?

You can see Key’s answers here in text and in video. What do you think of them?

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Filed under: Auckland, democracy, local government, privatisation
8 Comments

Goff: Labour will give power back to Auckland

Posted by Phil Twyford on April 26th, 2010

Phil Goff set out today what Labour will do to fix the mess National has made of the Auckland super city.

He said Labour will give the power back to Aucklanders to decide what parts of the new city should be run on commercial lines and what should be run in house.

We will restore to Auckland the power to make its own decisions about the structure and powers of the seven council-owned companies that will manage three-quarters of the rates revenue provided by Aucklanders.

Why shouldn’t Auckland decide what goes into its council controlled companies, and what stays out? That’s what happens in every other city in New Zealand.

Four government departments including Treasury advised against setting up the transport agency as a council controlled company and proposed running it in-house instead. They said the Government’s plan lacked transparency and accountability to the ratepayers.

Labour will restore transparency and accountability to the Auckland Council.

We will give the power back to Aucklanders through their elected council to determine what structures they want for Council operations.

Phil made it clear Labour will swing the pendulum back towards local communities, enshrining the decision making powers of local boards in law.

The fundamental difference we will make is we will trust Auckland more, and work with Auckland to sort out the balance between the super council, the local boards and the organisations that control assets like water and transport.

Labour will give power back to local communities.

Labour will legislate to enshrine real decision making powers for local boards.

And we will review the ward boundaries and talk to communities about whether single rather than multi member wards would better ensure that all communities are fairly represented and feel their voice is being heard.

And on privatisation he had this to say:

A real concern I have about the government’s plans is that it is a set up for the ports, airport shares, and even the water system to be sold.

Rodney Hide would be happy to see them sold. He actually admits it, while John key and Bill English tell that to their party members and mates in private but tell a different story in public.

They are sweeping away the legal safeguards against privatisation. The third super city bill repeals the requirement to hold a referendum before the Ports of Auckland can be sold.

The ARC has warned that by transferring Auckland’s assets to council owned companies a future council could sell off strategic assets like the port or the airport shares without even consulting the public as is currently required under the Local Government Act.

Put that alongside the Government’s plan to turn over our water infrastructure to private companies for up to 35 years and you can see the clear privatisation agenda.

Labour believes Aucklanders don’t want to see their community assets sold off.

Labour will restore and strengthen the safeguards in law against the sale of assets.

We will legislate to ensure all Aucklanders have a say in a binding referendum before strategic assets can be sold.

He also signalled that the next Labour-led Government will work hand in hand with the Auckland Council to tackle Auckland’s big challenges.

Labour will make the decisions together with Auckland and we will back those decisions with the resources they need.

Whether it is building a 21st century transport network, or working to end poverty in Auckland, the next Labour-led government will work alongside the Auckland Council in a genuine partnership.

I will invite the Mayor of Auckland to attend Cabinet committees for significant decisions relating to Auckland.

That will give Auckland, where a third of New Zealanders live, a direct voice around the cabinet table before a decision is made rather than simply imposing decisions made without adequate Auckland input.

Not the reported views of Aucklanders as interpreted by the Wellington bureaucrats, but the democratically elected mayor, directly influencing the big decisions on Auckland as they are made in Cabinet.

You can read the whole speech here.

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Filed under: Auckland, democracy, local government
40 Comments

Leaders reply strikes a chord

Posted by Raymond Huo on February 26th, 2010

Phil Goff’s response to Prime Minister John Key’s statement on February 9 has resonated strongly within Chinese and Ethnic communities.

The speech has been “heavily” quoted in the Chinese-language media in NZ and been at the heart of many political debates in the community.

Last Friday Phil Goff gave a comprehensive interview with Auckland-based WTV on various issues including GST, R&D, how to grow economy and “catch up with Australia”.

Common sense would tell that if the Government is serious about catching up with Australia we need to look after the bottom 50 percent of wage earners not the top 5.

In New Zealand, the total income earned by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers is about 17 percent proportionally, and the total tax they pay is 12 percent. While in Australia the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers pay the same proportion of tax of 12 percent, but the total income they earned is 25 percent.

To put it in lay-terms, Australia’s bottom 50 percent of taxpayers have a bigger share of the total income, which means income is more equally distributed in Australia before tax is taken into account.

If National are really keen on closing the gap with Australia, the focus must be on the bottom 50, not the top 5.

Feel free to use this translated version of Phil Goff’s speech.

And to the National supporters that read this, if you read Phil’s speech with no prejudice, you will see why Phil has been so warmly welcomed by Kiwi-Asians.

During the huge Chinese New Year Celebration on Saturday 13 February attended by over 65,000 people, I was proud to learn that Phil Goff had more photos taken from the crowd than the Prime Minister himself!

(more…)

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Filed under: Labour Party, asian, economy, ethnic
10 Comments

Come on John, where’s the passion?

Posted by Sue Moroney on February 1st, 2010

Joining 250 other Hamiltonians in 27 stifling degrees to listen to Phil Goff’s scene-setting speech last week, I was struck by two main revelations:

  1. It’s not true that Hamiltonians desert the city for Coromandel beaches in January and;
  2. NZ needs a leader with passion and substance (like that displayed by Phil in his speech).

What stuck in people’s minds after Phil’s speech was the passion he has for delivering to the many, not the few.

I have watched John Key “ho-hum” his way through a few speeches now, and everytime I have been underwhelmed.

I know he’s working hard at cultivating the “clown at a BBQ” kinda cosiness, but watching him do an official speech is a bit like being a wedding guest during the best man’s speech.

You know he thinks its his job to embarrass the bride and groom, but you hope he won’t cheapen the occasion too much.

I think NZ deserves better than that.

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Filed under: Labour Party
21 Comments

East Coast road trip – Day 2

Posted by Moana Mackey on January 5th, 2010

I’ve already blogged about Pa Wars here, and the next day we continued around the East Coast on SH35 finishing up in Opotiki.  Here’s what the AA travel website says about this must-do journey:

Driving the East Cape from Opotiki to Gisborne is an epic journey through some of the most awe-inspiring landscapes in New Zealand.

(…)

Journey past mile after mile of beautiful bays, big surf beaches and quaint little townships; experience a way of life unhurried by the conventions of the modern metropolis. View historic buildings, kept true to their original plan through generations. You may even venture into the mountainous heartland via snaking trails through native forests, trout laden streams and towering palisades.

(more…)

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Filed under: Uncategorized
5 Comments

Pa wars 2010

Posted by Moana Mackey on January 3rd, 2010

At the beginning of January, thousands converge on the tiny (but rather spectacular) East Coast community of Tolaga Bay for the annual ‘Pa wars’ - the Ngati Porou inter Marae sports festival hosted  by Te Aitanga a Hauiti and the entire Uawa (Tolaga Bay) community. The event is held at Tolaga Bay area school and supported by all the Marae of Ngati Porou and the Ngati Porou Runanga. Events include tennis, touch, swimming, athletics, trivial pursuit, volleyball, karaoke, line dancing, ripper rugby, basketball, chess, golf, euchre, housie, and much much more.  There’s something for everyone no matter what your age or ability.

Pa Wars has been going since 1995, and is a time to celebrate family and community “in a fun atmosphere of friendly competition and healthy lifestyle”. 

This year I headed up with Phil and his wife Mary, and Rick Barker. We were joined later by Annette and her husband Ray.  Parekura was also there judging and helping to run the event. Phil attended last years Pa Wars too and people were really pleased to see him back again this year.  I expect the National Party will turn up next year given it’s election year! To see what a great day it was check out the photos I’ve posted after the break.

(more…)

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Filed under: M?ori, community, health, sport
7 Comments

Super city problems pile up on eve of third bill

Posted by Phil Twyford on December 13th, 2009

The Government’s third Auckland bill is due for its first reading this week. With each new bill and each new decision they seem to create yet more problems.

That is why Phil Goff has today called for the Prime Minister to intervene to sort out Rodney Hide’s mess.

While the Minister of Local Government and fallen perk buster is riding the roller coaster at Universal Studios, and trying in vain to get face-to-face bodybuilding advice from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the super city is turning to custard. Let us count the ways:

  • The Government gave the Local Government Commission an impossible task by allotting only 20 councillors and requiring Rodney and Franklin have their own wards. The result: unequal voting strength between wards, and a right wing gerrymander across the city. Why is it acceptable for the vote of someone who lives in South Auckland to be worth only three-quarters of a vote in rural Rodney?
  • Aucklanders will be woefully under-represented. The super city changes will cut the number of elected officials by half. Ratio of elected representative to population 1: 5,152 1:9,638. (In France there is an elected official for every 120 people, in Germany the ratio is 1:250; in Britain it is 1:2,600.) David Thornton reckons the number of council officials has increased 30% in the last five years. Never mind how difficult it will be to get access to a councillor when something goes wrong. This is a huge shift in power from elected representatives to unelected council staff.
  • The Government’s insistence on two-member wards and only 20 councillors has forced the Local Government Commission to shoe horn suburbs with no community of interest into the same ward. Most striking is the Orakei-Maungakiekie ward which combines the wealthy eastern bays with working class Maungakiekie. Without doubt some communities will be unrepresented on the new council.
  • Aucklanders still do not know whether the local boards will have significant powers. We know they won’t have any legal status or staff. No regulatory functions. No role in transport including local roads or footpaths. The Council will be able to delegate powers down to the boards but not on matters it thinks better dealt with regionally. This is really the litmus test. Without local boards with genuine powers we are staring down the barrel at an all-powerful 20-member Council.
  • Iwi are threatening to boycott the statutory board for Maori. Is it any wonder? It is a talkshop with no decision making powers.
  • The Government is planning to wrap 95% of the Council’s operations including the all important transport agency into seven commercial entities run at arms length from the elected councillors. The public will have precious little chance of holding their elected councillors to account for the work of these entities.  Each of them will have their own CEO and board. How’s that for duplication and silos – two of the things the whole exercise was supposed to reduce.
  • Campaign spending limits that would allow the mayoral candidates to spend $580,000 in the last three months of the campaign. This is in excess of the parliamentary limits and can only benefit the rich and those backed by business.
  • The third bill will strip away the anti-privatisation protections against the sale of Ports of Auckland shares. This follows Hide’s announcement that he will amend the Local  Government Act to allow private ownership of water infrastructure for up to 35 years.

Is it any wonder Franklin, Papakura and northern Rodney are making last minute bids to secede?

The bill is due for its first reading on Tuesday. Aucklanders will have an opportunity to tell the select committee what they think in the New Year. In the mean time John Key would do well to intervene. If he doesn’t his super city project risks going down the gurgler with Rodney Hide’s credibility.

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Filed under: Auckland, legislation, local government
27 Comments

Cluster munitions ban passes into law

Posted by Phil Twyford on December 12th, 2009

It wasn’t quite the Christmas truce of 1914 but a kind of peace broke out in the House on Thursday with the passage of the Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill. It took a bill banning a truly nasty bit of weaponry to bring about such cross-party togetherness.

Cluster munitions have caused tens of thousands of deaths in the the last forty years, many of them innocent civilians. Dropped from the air they disperse large numbers of bomblets, many of which don’t detonate and then lie on the ground for years like landmines waiting to go off.

Over the past couple of decades these hideous weapons have been used by the US in the first Gulf War, the invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the former Yugoslavia; and by Israel and Hezbollah in South Lebanon. During that last conflict my colleague David Shearer was the UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon and witnessed the effect of cluster munitions first hand. He spoke movingly about it during the debate.

With Marian Hobbs and then Phil Goff as Disarmament Minister New Zealand was one one of the seven-country core group under Norway’s leadership that led the charge for a Convention on Cluster Munitions. The convention was opened for signature in December last year. It takes 30 countries to ratify it before it comes into force.  Now that our law has been passed, ratification can take place this week, and New Zealand may well be the 25th.

Another Kiwi, Mary Wareham, who works for New York-based Human Rights Watch, has played a key role in the international campaign to ban cluster munitions, as she did in the international campaign to ban land mines. It was great to see Mary in the gallery as the ban was passed into law. Like they did with the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines, the international NGOs have played a key role sparking public opinion, and pushing governments to act. The Aotearoa-NZ coalition led by Wareham strongly influenced the final wording of the bill through its submission to the select committee. (more…)

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Filed under: Foreign Affairs, disarmament, international, peace
9 Comments

Talking about it

Posted by Clare Curran on November 27th, 2009

We can choose our future based on principle and with the interests of all New Zealanders at heart.

Or we can have a country where one New Zealander is turned against another, Maori against Pakeha, in a way that Labour strongly rejects.

I know which one I choose. And I believe that all New Zealanders feel the same way.

Have we got to the point where talking about a difficult subject such as the relationship between Maori and Pakeha becomes labelled as “playing the race card?”

I’ve always believed that talking about the hard issues is better than not talking about them. Which is why I am staggered and disheartened by some of the media’s response to Phil Goff’s speech yesterday.

My colleague Grant Robertson has called for a mature debate about these difficult and challenging issues, and the media have an important role to play in that.

I want to believe that we can do that. I believe that one of the things that’s wrong in our society is that we don’t talk enough about the big issues, and the hard issues. Such as taxes and why we pay them; about death and also about race.

As Phil Goff said yesterday;

In times when our community is challenged, we look to our leaders to articulate our hurts and our hearts.

What we need right now is leadership and courage. Not dismissiveness, divisiveness and shallowness.

Let’s have some wisdom and reflection, and some honesty. We must never say that we shouldn’t talk about something because it’s too hard.

All that does is make it fester, build resentment and ultimately result in dissension and distrust.

That’s not the country I want to live in.

I ask our media, our commentators and our wise heads to think before they speak, not have kneejerk reactions and to reflect on the importance of this issue. Please read carefully what Phil Goff and others in our Labour caucus have said.

This is too important to trivialise and sensationalise. But we must talk about it.

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Filed under: M?ori
36 Comments

Monetary Policy Reform

Posted by David Cunliffe on November 19th, 2009

Phil Goff’s landmark speech to Federated Farmers today is a highly significant step.

It has three major themes:
- boosting technology to grow productivity in our primary sector
- a strong stand on including agriculture in the ETS (given NZ’s emission profile ag can’t be left out);
- ending two decades of consensus on monetary policy.

This monetary policy announcement is historic.  It will help shape Labour’s economic policy into the next election and beyond.

The core problem is that the officail cash rate (OCR) acting alone has not achieved inflation control alongside reasonable stability of exchange rates and money supply.  Combined with an imbalanced tax structure, high real interest rates helped suck in hot money that drove the housing bubble.  

That was great for banks and baby boomers who already owned houses, but bad for productivity, the foreign debt and younger Kiwis trying to realise their dream of home ownership.

The writing is now on the wall: New Zealand has to earn more, export more, save more and be more resilient: combining a sustainable environment and a decent society with a real plan for growth and high skill, high value jobs.

Kiwis can’t just keep borrowing ever greater amounts of foreign capital, then periodically electing National to flog off what’s left of the family silver to cover the debt.

Government debt is not the principal problem (although the Nats are planning to massively increase it through pollution subsidies to big emitters). Private debt is.  And the way out of that quicksand is more savings combined with monetary policy that achieves a better balance between inflation control, growth and external stability.

These are tough problems, and more work is being done to learn from overeas experience and to refine solutions.

It is important to note that Labour will continue to support an independant, full service central bank. We will continue to fight inflation and guard against inflationary expectations. There will continue to be an important role for the OCR.

But as the recent banking Inquiry rightly pointed out, the OCR should not bear the whole weight of adjustment on its own, nor can one instrument be addressed at several objectives. Complementary tools are required.

We can’t expect exporters to thrive with exchange rates swinging from 35c US to 76c US in a year.

We can’t grow without serious investment in smarts and technology that give us in-country commercialisation and manufacturing capability.

And we can’t deepen domestic capital markets through an effective tax subsidy to real estate speculation, or a banking system that is 97% owned offshore!

Labour is on the move to solve these hard problems. Good on you Phil – great speech!

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Filed under: Uncategorized
24 Comments

The politics of abuse #2

Posted by Clare Curran on November 18th, 2009

Example of abuse in the House today where the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key used his position to spuriously accuse Labour leader Phil Goff  of racism and then to allege Greens Co-leader Metiria Turei had done the same.

Forced to withdraw and apologise twice. Firstly to Phil Goff, then to Metiria Turei. Is this the kind of behaviour we condone? Should not the Prime Minister be showing an example in the House?

Posted on the politics of abuse a couple of days ago. This is an example.

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Filed under: politics
25 Comments

First Bob Jones now Prebble talking up Labour

Posted by Trevor Mallard on October 30th, 2009

I’ve previously linked to a Bob Jones article picking a Labour win in 2011.

Here’s a link to the Prebble piece at Gauntlet.  He notes that Labour got more votes than National in 1978 after a massive defeat in 1975, he says inter alia:

Back in the present, Phil Goff is a much more impressive figure than Bill Rowling was. He is smarter for a start, and is a much more experienced politician going into an election, having 15 years prior experience as a successful minister, compared to Rowling’s three years and John Key’s single year. Goff has fought far more elections than either man. Experience counts.

Take the Mt Albert by-election which is the only head to head comparison we have of Phil Goff versus John Key. Labour’s polling two months out only gave Labour only a very slight lead.

Goff and Key then took the major decisions that turned a possible National win into a Labour landslide. Both Leaders selected their candidates. Phil Goff picked David Shearer who did not put a foot wrong. John Key picked Melissa Lee who was the wrong candidate even before she opened her month and proved it. Very few Koreans live in Mount Albert.

Both men had a big say in who organised the campaign. Goff relied on Labour’s hardened professionals who run a textbook campaign. John Key made the bizarre choice of a cabinet minister, Jonathon Coleman, as National’s campaign manager.

Some claim by-elections are a more reliable guide than polling. The by-election shows how soft National’s support is and how in a general election a 5.85% % two-party swing is enitrely possible. It raises serious questions about John Key’s leadership in a campaign.

If John Key was more experienced, National would not have contested the Mt Albert by-election. National under Muldoon did not contest Sydenham when Norman Kirk died, thus depriving Labour of a contested victory.

We could not believe it when the Nats decided to contest Mt Albert – most of us thought it was going to be a Green v Labour race.

After appointing Michael Cullen to a string of boards it then becomes hard to argue he was a disastrous financial manager. Similarly, supporting Helen Clark for work at the UN lends credibility to Labour. Credibility, the feeling that a party can be trusted to be in charge of the country, is political gold, and is what elections are won with.

Subsequently, Labour won twelve new seats. No party that had just lost government has ever gained a dozen new MPs. They mostly come from Helen Clark’s office where are they trained to be professional career politicians who will do what it takes to win. Their youth and enthusiasm is revitalising the party.

Well they don’t mostly come from Helen’s office but they sure have hit the ground running. They are very very good and over time we will see the results of that.

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Filed under: blogs, by-election, democracy, labour, national, public services
50 Comments

Missed opportunity in NYC

Posted by Phil Twyford on September 27th, 2009

John Key used his speech to the UN General Assembly to announce New Zealand is making a bid for a seat on the Security Council 2015-16. Labour supports the idea of going for a Security Council seat, in fact the preparatory work began under the last Government, but the PM is going to have to do a lot more that is real and positive if a bid is going to get any traction.

Unfortunately Mr Key’s speech to the General Assembly was long on apple pie statements not terribly well backed up by policy and actions.

He said “Climate change demands innovation and a global response. The world cannot afford to contemplate failure at Copenhagen.” And yet his Government is taking an underwhelming emissions reduction target of 10-20% by 2020 to Copenhagen, a figure that if adopted by the rest of the developed world would be insufficient to get China and India on board as must happen.

The Prime Minister headed off to New York saying he would push the anti-nuclear issue. In his speech he noted the historic moment to advance the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation agenda, and said New Zealand stands ready to play its part. But then…no punchline, only that New Zealand would continue its support for next year’s review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty which aims to stop nuclear weapons from spreading. No mention of the growing call for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, which would get rid of all nuclear weapons including those held by the US, Russia, China, Britain and France. A missed opportunity. (more…)

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Filed under: Foreign Affairs, international
5 Comments

Phil’s speech

Posted by Trevor Mallard on September 13th, 2009

A good speech, well delivered and very well received:-

My wife Mary, whom I fell in love with when I was 18, and my partner since we were teenagers. Too often she shoulders my obligations for me when I’m not there.

Caucus colleagues, delegates and guests. I want to tell you the story of the woman who taught me why I should be Labour. 

When I was a child, she told me about the years of the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, when jobs were scarce, money was tight and times were hard for families. (more…)

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Filed under: labour
12 Comments

Conference starts…..

Posted by Trevor Mallard on September 11th, 2009

The Labour Party conference starts with sector days. I’m at the affiliates. Biggest group I’ve seen in the nearly 30 years I’ve attended. Interesting discussion of  complementary roles of social partnership/accord and industrial approaches.

Real issues around the position of the low paid, methods of growing the cake to ensure wealth for all and questions of New Zealand ownership.

Phil Goff, Helen Kelly and Andrew Little have all made presentations. Phil and Andrew have ten other sector groups to talk too. Really good talks tailored to audience but with themes which I am sure will be reflected in the plenary speeches.

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Filed under: democracy, labour, public services, redundancy, union
29 Comments

Goff on Afghanistan

Posted by Trevor Mallard on August 18th, 2009

This is a very good speech – went down well with all sides in the House this afternoon:

Putting the lives of NZ troops at risk by deploying them into a combat zone is not a decision taken lightly by any Government.

Nor is it an issue to play politics with. It is too serious for that.

For the same reason, it is an issue that demands careful analysis – of the risks, of the benefits to be gained, of whether this is the most effective response to the situation we face.

There are times when it is necessary to resist aggression and to fight to protect ourselves and to stand up for what we believe in and what is right.

Thousands of New Zealanders in my parents’ generation laid down their lives for their country in the Second World War.

In Opposition I have endorsed and in Government contributed to decisions to deploy our Defence Force personnel into combat zones.

After returning from East Timor as a UN monitor in the 1999 referendum, I strongly supported the decision of a National Government to deploy troops to that country.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I was closely involved in decisions to send troops to the Solomons and SAS forces and our Provincial Reconstruction Team to Afghanistan and redevelopment to Timor Leste in 2006.

Read the full speech after the break…

(more…)

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Filed under: labour
15 Comments

Where to from here?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on August 15th, 2009

John Armstrong has an interesting column in this morning’s Herald on the challenge ahead for Labour. It came to my attention because he quotes my Red Alert post on small business, although my Google Alert actually referred me to the ODT version, where the sub-editors have given me a sex change. 

Armstrong quotes one of the people Phil Goff met on the streets of New Plymouth who remarked “Listen, mate. You know we voted these guys in seven months ago. You don’t expect us to come up and say we did the wrong thing yet, do you?”

That sums up the present state of New Zealand politics. National won the last election quite comfortably. Kiwis are fair minded people and will be willing to give them a fair go at the job before they pass judgment. I expect that will be reflected in the opinion polls for most of the current parliamentary term. I would be very surprised if we make much of a dent in the poll gap before election year. But I’m not worried about that either.

New Zealanders will next get the chance to weigh the pros and cons of a Labour-led or a National-led government in 2011. They will judge National on what they have delivered and all parties what the respective parties are offering for the future.

In the meantime our role as an opposition is to keep the government honest. We need to highlight what they are doing and the impact of the spending cuts they are making.

At this point in the electoral cycle nobody expects to see new detailed policies from Labour. But they do want to see us out and about listening to their concerns and reconnecting. That’s what Phil Goff’s “Touching Base” visits have been all about. It’s also why the Labour caucus has visited places like the West Coast, Wanganui and New Plymouth.

We need to keep listening. We need to talk about our values, rather than giving laundry lists of specific promises or commitments.

There is no doubt in my mind that victory for Labour in 2011 will be tough. But our party is in great shape. Our members and supporters are upbeat and ready for a vigorous campaign.

Meanwhile National is busy breaking its election promises, bullying its critics and implementing policies it didn’t dare put before the public before the election. All that will be starting to add up by the time 2011 rolls around.

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