Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Labour's answer to the Zero Tory budget...

WAITANGI, NEW ZEALAND - FEBRUARY 05:  New Zeal...
WAITANGI, NEW ZEALAND - FEBRUARY 05: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key (R) sits alongside Titewhai Harawera, a Ngapuhi elder (L) inside TeTii Marae on February 5, 2011 in Waitangi, New Zealand. Waitangi Day is the national day of New Zealand, which is a public holiday held on February 6 each year to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The treaty is New Zealand's founding document, signed on February 6, 1840. on February 5, 2011 in Waitangi, New Zealand. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
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Zero budgets are what you get when you fail...


 Today, National cut growth forecasts, cut 16,000 jobs from the forecasts and told us our foreign liabilities will soar over $200 billion for the first time ever.
 The Budget shows we get poorer every year because the value of exports don’t cover imports and interest.
 Zero budgets aren’t a sign of success; they’re what you get when you fail.
 This budget does nothing to tackle the tough issues that are holding our economy back. It says we will get poorer every year because the value of exports don’t cover imports and interest.
 After the worst growth in fifty years, the National Government keeps doing the same thing expecting different results. They’ve even cut their growth forecasts from last year.
 Real wage growth doesn’t even reach 2 per cent. No wonder a thousand young New Zealanders every week believe their future lies across the Tasman instead of here. New Zealanders heading off are leaving because of New Zealand’s problems, not Greece’s.
 Fiscal fiddling isn’t going to bring them back.
 In the last three years New Zealand’s GDP has grown just 0.6 per cent. Meanwhile, overseas debt keeps mounting up every year - not just government debt. Today’s budget confirms that the problem is only going to get worse.
 The right place to judge the economy is growth in jobs, growth in exports, and growth in household incomes.
 Labour is prepared to make the hard decisions needed to grow our economy. We’ll create jobs by supporting our exporters and help Kiwis get the education and skills they need to seize the job opportunities of a 21st century economy. We will grow incomes by investing in science and innovation to create more high-wage businesses and make it easier for Kiwis to save for their retirement.
 Outside of Europe, we have had one of the worst performing economies of any developed country, while our major trading partners, Australia and China, haven’t been in recession at all.
 The Government’s strategy is to sell our assets and sell our farmland. Changing who owns what already exists won’t increase our exports.
 New Zealand needs change because wages are too low, Kiwis are leaving, and the Government is bringing in a zero budget.
 Yours
 
 Hon David Parker
 Labour Spokesperson for Finance
 
PS - We've put together this quick video which takes a closer look at what the Government has promised, versus what it has delivered. Take a look.
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Friday, May 25, 2012

Urewera raid suspects not guilty of terrorism but not innocent...

English: AK - NZ
English: AK - NZ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Seat of Government
The Seat of Government (Photo credit: Ewan-M)
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 29:  Labour...
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 29: Labour leader Phil Goff and Deputy Annette King speak to media at Parliament on November 29, 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand. Goff today announced that he, and his Deputy Annette King, will resign effective December 13 and a new party leader will be announced that day. The Labour party was defeated in Saturday's national election, losing nine seats in parliament. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
If the Labour Minister of Police at the time, Annette King, and the Government knew nothing of the proposed raids in the Ureweras, this would constitute police state action, regardless of what evidence they had. NZ is a democracy that is governed by a government, not by its police force. The Labour Cabinet should have been properly briefed before the raids went ahead; because it had the constitutional power to stop those raids. The police would later introduce evidence that would be refuted only on the basis it was illegally obtained. The evidence still exists, but can't be used against the suspects. Its actually a bit like the David Bain case - while David Bain was eventually declared not guilty in a retrial he couldn't be declared innocent. We will learn in due course whether he is entitled to compensation. So the Urewera suspects can never claim innocence, only the fact they are not guilty of terrorism charges, and four of them proven and sentenced on firearm charges.
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Thursday, May 24, 2012

NZ Budget 2012 - what budget, tax the kids' pocket money...




    Budget - what budget? Tax the kids' pocket money?

     

Prime Minister John Key has denied his Government does not have a plan for growing New Zealand's economy following criticism from the opposition about the Budget.
Key said on TV ONE's Close Up tonight getting back to surplus is the first step to growing the economy.
The Government has targeted a wafer-thin surplus by 2014-15 in today's Budget announcement.
"If you keep borrowing money and spend more than you earn, you eventually not only have to pay that back, but you have to pay it back with interest," Key said on Close Up.
Key said the Government had a whole host of other plans for stimulating growth.
"Whether it's reform of the public sector, extend our mining and gas exploration, more farming, more money in other areas ... I don't think we should be despondent about New Zealand."
Labour leader David Shearer questioned the validity of the targets, telling Parliament: "You get sick of hearing these projections that never actually work out."
He claimed the National-led Government had overseen the "worst growth in 50 years". Green Party co-leader Russel Norman claimed the economy was becoming "more imbalanced".
But Key said New Zealand is doing well compared to other OECD countries.
"Our growth rate, according to most of the economic commentators, is likely to be better over the next three years than the euro zone, the United States, Canada and Japan. The only country that's equal with us is Australia."

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/budget-2012-john-key-confident-over-economic-plan-4898777

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Are we heading for the ECA Part 2?






National's planned changes to labour rules are:
Kate Wilkinson
LABOUR MINISTER: Kate Wilkinson:   Are we heading for the Employment Contracts Act Part 2?
Prime Minister John Key says changes to industrial relations laws being considered by the Government are minor and won't affect the vast bulk of New Zealanders.
Fairfax Media has revealed the Government intends to go further with its changes to labour laws than outlined in National's election policy.
In a new move, Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson wants employers to be able to set the agenda for collective contract negotiations, raising concerns they will be able to walk away from bargaining if unions reject unreasonable demands.
The Government's concerned there is a perception that the current 20-day head start unions are given to launch negotiations creates an imbalance in bargaining.
But Labour's industrial relations spokeswoman Darien Fenton said it was important unions began the process because it set the terms for negotiation and who was covered.
"The first thing unions will have to deal with is an initiation notice from an employer which perhaps excludes half of their members. That's going to create far more disputes than there are already."

Read more here:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6913814/Secret-changes-to-labour-rules

Friday, May 11, 2012

Has there been a worse betrayal from our conman PM...





Key looked the Pike River families in the eye and promised to get their mens bodies out. It was a promise he never should have made. But he did to make people like him. He wouldn’t even talk about it today. Coward. And what of his promise to make things right for Christchurch? Or his promise of an aggressive recovery? Or his promise to help the underclass? Or that brighter future?
And don’t get me started on his “not being against” marriage equality. This is the guy who voted against civil unions (he bravely blames that on his electorate). Now wants to jump on the Obama bandwagon. But can’t actually do it for fear of losing the rednecks. Pathetic. Guess it’s a step up from “wait till my book”.

Has there been a worse betrayal from our conman PM?  He has been called a coward for failing to demand recovery of the 29 men in the Pike River mine in the terms of sale to the publicly owned Solid Energy. Judus Iscariot reincarnated

 


http://thestandard.org.nz/another-broken-promise-from-our-con-man-pm/

Friday, May 4, 2012

The odour of political corruption is increasing to a stench...

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 11:  New Zeal...
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 11: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key meets with ACT New Zealand party leader and member for Epsom John Banks at the Urban Cafe, Newmarket on November 11, 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealanders will head to the polls on November 26 to decide who will lead their 50th Parliament. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 11:  New Zeal...
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 11: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key meets with ACT New Zealand party leader and member for Epsom John Banks at the Urban Cafe, Newmarket on November 11, 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealanders will head to the polls on November 26 to decide who will lead their 50th Parliament. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
There is a growing number of Kiwis who wish this present National government would sink beneath the waves. The odour of corruption is increasing to a stench. This is not the New Zealand that I grew up and lived in during my lifetime.

We want John Banks to be honest enough to admit he received donations from Kim Dotcom in two seperate donations of $25,000 each, anonymously as he has claimed. John key knows whats going on, but needs Bank's vote to ensure a majority when the privatisation of the energy companies is voted on.


http://fmacskasy.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/11-john-banks-winston-peters.png

http://www.abercrombieandfitchonsale.co.uk/
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Aotearoa is not for sale protests...

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Tell the truth John Banks...

In an interview on Radio NZ’s ‘Checkpoint’, ACT President Chris Simmons confirmed that ACT MP John Banks did ask Kim Dotcom to split a $50,000 donation in two.
Chris Simmon, ACT Party President
Chris Simmon, ACT Party President
He told Radio NZ’s Mary Wilson,
He has given me an indication as to why he made that suggestion – and that was that he initially was going to put in $25,000 of his own money and he figured that other people should be putting in the same sort of numbers.”
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