Category: imported_guest
Opinion Piece by Dr Don Brash As most readers know, the 2025 Taskforce was set up as a result of the coalition deal between the National and ACT parties immediately after the 2008 election. That deal involved the Government committing to policies which would lift living standards in New Zealand to the Australian level by 2025, and setting up an advisory group both to advise how best to achieve that goal and to report on progress towards it on an annual basis. Those two latter roles are the responsibility of the 2025 Taskforce.
Something very suspicious is happening. The Prime Minister and Attorney-General insist that their proposed new foreshore and seabed law will allow free public access, and accuse Dr Hugh Barr, of the Coastal Coalition, of telling ‘untruths’ when he disagrees. But when the Attorney-General says that he will nevertheless propose amending the bill in order to make things 100% clear, the Maori Party threatens to abandon its support for the bill, Hone Harawira calling ACT’s leader ‘a little fat redneck’. Why might Maori be angry, if things were only to be made clearer, and nothing were actually to change?
One of the most volatile pieces of law in our society is up for review again. The public has till 29th of October to make submissions on the review of child support led by Revenue Minister Peter Dunne.
What is freedom of expression? Without freedom to offend, it ceases to exist, wrote Salman Rushdie.
History tells us that when a government takes on a trade union, there can be only one outcome. In 1912, William Massey’s government famously crushed a strike by Waihi gold miners. The following year, the same administration recruited special mounted constables from rural areas – dubbed “Massey’s Cossacks” because of their riding skills – to subdue striking waterfront workers.
Bilderberg. Whether you believe it’s part of a sinister conspiracy which will lead inexorably to one world government or whether you think it’s just an innocent high-level talking shop, there’s one thing that can’t be denied: it knows which way the wind is blowing.
Public submissions on the government’s Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill may now be made until the 19th of November. Then, after those who wish to speak to their submissions have done so, the select committee hearing the submissions will have to report back to parliament towards the end of February. Presumably this overrides the Prime Minister’s statement that the new bill would be passed into law by Christmas.
Te Atiawa, a Marlborough iwi, proposes a Maori fishing reserve (mataitai) over 99% of Tory Channel in the Marlborough Sounds. This mataitai takes many rights from many people. It robs our children of their future.
The worrying thing about being an economist is that every decision becomes an economic decision. It causes paralytic seizures every time I step into a shop. Just ask the wife. But just occasionally, it does give you a socially useful perspective.
Every 20-30 years the unfashionable, with a few tweaks, becomes fashionable. Surprisingly, this 'fashion cycle' seems to apply equally public policy and even to politics – think NZ First. It all starts with an 'outsider' breaking the mold and if the movement has legs, it may reach a tipping point or 'precipice,' with other early adopters jumping in. If there's real momentum, a critical mass is reached turning what was once outlandish into 'mainstream.'
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