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Aotearoa IS for sale |
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Rant time!
So I just saw a graphic by The Greens saying "Our gambling laws are not for sale". Again with the "not for sale" rubbish. "Aotearoa is not for sale" Yeah I have news for you: We have a right wing corporatist government. OF COURSE THEY ARE FOR SALE!!! If you didn't want them to be for sale you shouldn't have voted the most corporatist parties in. Perhaps like me you didn't vote them in, this doesn't change the fact that you're just plain wrong. Aotearoa is for sale, period. Stop saying that it isn't for sale, because it is. You're incorrect. If you're going down that road: What you meant to say is that it should not be for sale! Please use correct wording or I will class you as crazy people completely in denial about the fact your country is for sale. Labour laws, power companies, gambling laws... Yup, this country is for sale. Advertising something that is clearly false is bad marketing. Stop doing it. |
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FYI: Labour party membership not renewed. |
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I got a letter last week saying that my membership expired in January and telling me to renew. I won't renew; here's why:
Despite being ultra liberal/progressive in my politics. I am also ultra conservative with my own money. I don't need the expense.
I am voting Green in the next election. The only circumstance that would make me reconsider voting Labour is if they replace Shearer with Cunliffe. I'll still recommend Labour to my more centrist minded contacts.
I like running this site as independent and unbias. I haven't shunned away from this attitude at all while I was a Labour member. I am loyal to good intelligent ideas, not political parties, which includes the Greens.
Side note on David Shearer, I don't get the impression that things have changed. The public, at least in my circles still view him as useless. He simply hasn't made an impact. Time is running out.
On the other hand Labour clearly needs more voices from the left so perhaps I should have stayed. I also could have provided advice for political strategy, but I still can from this blog. If they choose not to listen just because I am not a party member, well, they'd be very stupid.
As stated before I like running this blog as independent and unbias, so I probably will not join anymore political parties, but I appreciated the encouragement when I did. |
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Shearer in Christchurch and my suggestions for related policies |
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Last Saturday I went to a forum with Young Labour and David Shearer. These are my thoughts.
First thing I notice was Shearer likes to push his slogan and the fact that he was a humanitarian. While things don't really work for me, it was obvious these things connected to the crowd. I think that he could have been more subtle about the introduction of the slogan. Apart from that, which is my own personal preference, Shearer does know how to work a crowd.
Final ideas of the crowd. I thought that some were good, but there was also room for improvements. I personally would have emphasized different points which I will explain below.
One more criticism of Shearer before I explain my ideas. A big thing for me, he was very agreeable but lacked any practical ideas to implement the ideas of the crowd. I would have said something like "You don't like the dictatorship in Christchurch? Labour will consider repealing CERA legislation so democracy is restored to the people". This approach is useful because it gives the crowd something to take away with them; to tell their friends what Labour will/may do and excite people. This opportunity was largely missed. I know it was an ideas forum with a strong emphasis on community input but quick practical policy suggestions would have improved the experience.
So here are my suggestions if Labour is elected.
Housing
Buy run down houses, fix and secure them, convert many into state houses and also sell some off at no profit.
Education
Ditch National Standards and Charter Schools. This wasn't really emphasized but I think they're critically important. Both of these have proven to be absolute failures overseas. I blogged about Charter Schools last week. If Labour doesn't repeal these things, they'll be failing us. I'd work on keeping kids in education and encourage a path way to further education or a career in the later years of secondary school. It is also worth exploring ways that schools can improve critical thinking skills among young people. As for higher education, undo the changes National have done with paying the extra percentages. I'd also lower the percentage for workers who choose to stay in New Zealand, this could even be a temporary measure until other problems relating to the migration problem are fixed. Also I'd find additional ways to subsidize higher education, like an investment fund. Also I personally, in an ideal situation would make all forms of education free, but that's not for current Labour.
Democracy
Repeal CERA legislation and give the most power that is reasonable back to the people.
Speed of Rebuild
Disestablish the Fletcher monopoly, open projects up to other builders and firms. Encourage the new guys to take on apprentices. Additionally offer free training to a big batch of people that want to be builders etc, 20-30% could be out of city who will only temporarily work in Christchurch. This must be done at the start of term. Make sure the buildings are accessible and really secure. Reform the building act, its current state is absolutely laughable.
Innovation, invest/encourage investment in green energy and carbon capture technology. Big money will be here.
Finally jobs and the economy, encourage investment in industries that have long term job possibilities ie not replace easily by machines. Work to reduce poverty drastically by raising the minimum wage and benefits by an equal amount. The economy performs better when people that have the least, have more. The Employment Contracts Act also must be looked at.
On a total side note, the forum gave me an idea that I could do with my own Christchurch oriented site. I'll work on this over the next month. |
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An open letter regarding accessible transport in Auckland |
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I will be sending the below letter to Auckland councillors, it is posted as an open letter on this site.
I'm from Christchurch and find the transport system in Auckland for disabled people disgusting.
First taxis, you can't just call up and get one on the same day. If people have a spare of the moment gathering how are people supposed to get there? This can be at somebody's house or in town. If they do get a taxi they're stuck to a set time which impacts their freedom. More taxis should be on the road so that people can order one 1-2 hours in advance.
What about buses? Well many parts of Auckland are hilly so traveling to bus stops won't be exactly fun for people in manual wheelchairs. I have an additional complaint, what's up with inaccessible buses? How can you call something public transport if members of the public can't get on it? It's nothing short of discrimination and a possible human rights issue. If a person waits for a bus and it's inaccessible it could be extremely annoying, then they have to wait for another bus. All buses should be accessible and you should move to do this.
Thanks for reading and you should take action.
Thane Pullan
Facebook Campaign |
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National disasters in education |
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Novapay is a disaster. The new payroll system was designed to save money because it uses less staff to maintain but the system is faulty and contains hundreds of errors, some major. The system is a lemon. I'm a web developer, if I released a faulty product with hundreds of errors, I'd probably be sued, and rightfully so! This was exactly what the government did, it was irresponsible.
My question is why do we need a third party system to handle payrolls? Can't we just expand Parliamentary Services to include other government employees or get KiwiBank to create a solution? Surely KiwiBank could handle paying people, it's a bank! A bank that we own, there would be less corporate profits and less corporate profits almost always makes things cheaper on the taxpayer.
It looks like the government is thinking about dumping Novapay, which would make this whole exercise a waste of time.
Charter Schools are another disaster. National is implementing them because of the Act party which is just a convenient excuse to implement them anyway as firstly they didn't really need Act to form a government and secondly they gave their other partners virtually nothing, they could have done the same with Act wasn't going to side with Labour and would have voted for right wing legislation regardless of being in government.
Charter Schools, like National Standards do not improve the education system. Only about 20% of Charter Schools perform better than public schools, about double perform worse and the rest perform no better than the public versions. Charter Schools that perform better only do so by accepting only the best academic students and/or expelling the non performing ones. This also gives the impression that state schools are worse. Charter Schools are a poison on the education system.
Charter Schools are in reality just a way to funnel taxpayer money to corporations. They are a scam. They usually have very high administration costs and offer no benefits to the people at all. If you're truly concerned about getting value for money with taxpayer money like I am, then you would want nothing to do with Charter Schools. Tech companies are also lobbying for more Charter Schools in America so they can get the schools to purchase their products.
I find it sick and disgusting that they're using the earthquakes to implement Charter Schools in the effected areas. "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention." |
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Prison Labour |
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John Key's plans for increased prison labour are terribly misguided but does have some up sides.
It's helpful that prisoners develop skills to use outside of prisons, this does help with rehabilitation, I'd prefer to see an alternative rehabilitation plan. Using prisoners as a source for cheap labour at the time when the incompetent economic policies of this government have risen the mainstream unemployment rate to 7.3% is simply madness.
If the jobs were minimum wage jobs, after the economy is better, then we could have that conversation. From what I know about prisoner jobs overseas they pay the prisoners much less than minimum wage and deduct "accommodation" expenses. I don't get the impression that our local scheme is any different. Prisons have become the local version of China in many parts of the world. I think that China has worse safety regulations, but in terms of pay, companies can now just outsource to prisons.
John Key should be focusing on optimizing high wage employment for mainstream New Zealand instead of creating low wage jobs for prisoners. This, combined with the counter productive "Starting Out" wage makes it clear he's living up to his 2008 statement of "We would love to see wages drop" |
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The War On Cats |
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Gareth Morgan is waging war on cats; fun for everyone!
Despite reports he doesn't want people to kill their cat. Although by using phrases like "Cats To Go" and "NZ Without Cats" It was inevitable that some people would jump to the wrong conclusion. I don't know if this was done deliberately to gain attention to the issue, I certainly hope so otherwise this is a massive miscalculation.
He is still using the same language. This language must be working, but I still think the branding is all wrong for this campaign. It should be more educational based and use less anti-cat language. "Cats To Go" - Must go!
The problem with cats is they kill large amounts of wildlife, especially native birds. If a species is nearing extinction we must consider capturing some and putting them in a safe haven.
I don't know how effective education will be as people are people, some won't little, others won't care.
If all else fails we should consider legislation like they have in Australia. I think that this option should be used as a last resort and education will reduce the problem by a certain percentage. I don't know if the percentage will be enough. We should also consider having cat licenses and deal with the stray cats.
With this said I'm not sure an economist time is spent wisely on wars with the SPCA. |
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Children/Paula Bennett |
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Tuesday night was a rare occasion that I caught the mainstream media on 3 Nightline. They were talking about how Variety have started up a child sponsorship programme for New Zealanders.
The need for this is disgraceful. Typically you hear of child sponsorship programmes for the third world. For $30 a month you can feed and educate a child in Africa. Things are so bad in New Zealand that we now require this service.
What's more disgraceful is Paula Bennett's reaction. She said something along the lines of "I am happy that there are people out there willing to help."
Paula Bennett, this response is disgraceful.
It is the role of the government to care for the vulnerable and needy. If New Zealand school children now need a private sponsor to get things for school etc then the government is clearly failing to meet its social obligations.
Are they happy that families are so poor that they are failing to bring up kids without a private sponsor?
Are they happy that unemployment is so high and many kiwi families can't find work?
Are they happy that even if they find work their incomes will be 20%+ lower than Australians.
If the answer is no, why aren't they doing something about this? |
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This is not McDonalds John |
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Absent minded John Key must be confused again.
This is not McDonalds John. Tourists don't spend $5 to come here, they spend thousands. In part because they think we're so clean, green and beautiful. The reality is we're not, but many think we are. It is therefore in our best interest to maintain this reputation and put in a decent effort to maintain our environment. This government has largely failed, but so did Halen Clark's Labour government.
If you don't care about the environment, you may care about the economy. 1/10 of the working population is employed in tourism related industries. Keeping numbers up by doing a little for the environment would be a good thing.
It is curious how National got in when 70% of respondents to a survey done last election said that the environment was one of the most important issues. Anybody who seriously cares about the environment would run a million miles away from National with all their mining, drilling, fracking, gutting of environmental obligations. I guess the environment is important to New Zealanders on an extremely superficial, non-serious level. Sure, there are other factors for voting, but National is a crap choice for them as well. There is another few possibilities, people are misinformed about National and the environment. Alternatively they view Labour as the same, which isn't really that far off when you consider the Clark Labour government. If you're willing to entertain these possibilities then you must accept that the environment is important to New Zealanders too.
So let sum up, the environment is apparently important to most New Zealanders. it's definitely important for tourism. Yet our Prime Minister equates the 100% Pure thing to a slogan by McDonalds, nice. Someone should tell him we deserve better than being compared to a $5 burgers and fries marketing slogan. |
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Shearer/Labour, their problems and advice |
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OK I think everybody gets it, I don't like Shearer. I like him even less now that he vanished Cunliffe to the back benches. My vote will almost certainly go green in 2014, however for now I am holding on to my Labour membership despite having absolutely no intentions of voting for them in 2014.
Despite this, I am giving some friendly advice to the Shearer crowd.
Shearer has a problem, aside from what I have mentioned previously. Actually it's not just a problem with Shearer, but the entire Labour Party. The problem is that Shearer is a magnet for negative media attention, and this extends to the wider Labour Party. They can get bad media coverage very easily, but good media coverage is rare. From Chris Carter last election to Sua William Sio to Trevor Mallard scalping tickets. These are certainly stupid counter productive stories and certainly Shearer's actions over the past three days certainly brought again the famous Labour media soap oprah.
Cunliffe also played it badly, he should have shut the leadership talk down promptly. He failed, but Shearer fanned the flames by calling a vote and vanishing Cunliffe.
There was NO challenge of leadership, if you think otherwise please find me a transcript and prove me wrong. Perhaps it's with Shearer's tape of John Key that he has been unable to produce.
You made a fantastic speech Shearer, but it doesn't fix the underline problems that turn people off, anybody who think it does is entirely delusional and may as well campaign for the moronic republican party of absolute clowns.
So fix them! Your #1 priority should be to get extensive media training and fast! People are noticing that you're bad at interviews, bad at debating. Your absolute first priority should be to fix your flaws in these areas. If you can't then it's almost certainly a third term for National. I am not comforted by a single speech.
Issue #2 quit the media soap oprah and tell that to all MPs. Tell your MPs. to behave or get out. Whines to the media and person dramas do not help your party, at all. This message clearly isn't sinking in. Shout it at Hipkins especially!
#3 listen to your members and affiliates, after all they're probably be voting for you.
You've lost me, don't lose anybody else.
So, do I have faith that he will drastically improve? No. His actions won't fend off a leadership challenge if he continues to under perform. If I am wrong and he has made no improvement, he'd get slaughtered by John Key in the election. If in the unlikely event that he makes drastic improvements, which I am not ruling out. I can't say I'm terribly enthused given his attempts of policies before the conference. First though he and Labour need to work on the issues I have outlined. I also have little doubt that Labour will continue to be an embarrassing circus freak show in the media. Do prove me wrong. |
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