Labour to use GST to reward lazy people

There is no such thing as unhealthy food. There are only unhealthy people who don't eat food responsibly who ruin it for the rest of us.

You could eat a Burger King Breakfast, a Big Mac for lunch and steak and foie gras for dinner every day and still be a healthy weight. It's all about how you look after yourself.

Why is it then that politians think it is a good idea to tax one lot of food more than another. Why do Labour and Green supporters think that people will buy more vegetables if they are taxed less? Why even meddle with the food marketplace in the first place?

If people choose to eat bad food and die as a result, why should this ruin my efforts to run almost every day and to eat whatever I like? Does Labour really think that a typical Islanders diet is going to change that much because Phil Goff has made fresh peas cheaper than the frozen ones? (frozen peas are better than fresh ones)

If Labour and Green MPs are that concerned then why are they not advocating a Government run food distribution centre where people are given healthy food rations? Coke and chips would be out in favour of cabbage and lentils - which of course would make a far tastier gruel. Politicians could be 'encouraging' farmers to grow certain crops and 'promote' a particular diet. A national standard diet could be drawn up by Keith Locke, Nanaia Mahuta and Carol Beaumont (look her up) where healthy food is promoted and eventually fast food companies and sugary soft drink makers will be forced offshore. The Government could then achieve a state kitchen where everybody would recieve the proper nutrition and diet as legislated by the ministry of food.

Of course Labour and Green politicians are not 100% committed towards that end goal. They want to just tinker with the edges and instead drop a tax that won't make a difference. It won't make a fat person pick up a leaf of lettuce instead of a hamburger.
The left are hypocrites in regards to taxes. They scream when we lower income taxes, because it's evil and wrong - but yet will tell everybody the benefits of dropping GST because it encourages people to be healthier.

Surely dropping all taxes and allowing people to spend it on anything they like is the best outcome? What do you think Labour?

Just film the bloody thing in Europe, Peter.

Peter Jackson should do the right thing and get the Hobbit circus out of town quickly. The acting unions are bullying their way hellbent on destroying the Kiwi film industry. They don't care about the films or the actors, they just want to maintain their monopoly and power over film production companies. The Labour Party don't care either, as long as they are seen as helping their comrades in the union movement.

They shot parts of The Chronicles of Narnia in both Poland and Czech Republic but took the majority of the filming for the Prince Caspian Narnia film in Prague and Ústí nad Labem (Czech Rep), Bovec (Slovenia) and a scene in Poland. As the Hobbit is a fantasy film, I see there being no problem at all to relocate this all to that lovely side of the world.

When I drive through these countries, much of it resembles parts of New Zealand anyway - and you don't have the crushing weight of hardline left wing unions hampering your every move. I reckon Peter just follows through with his promise to relocate the films and save the film before the unions kill it.

Fans around the world will thank you for it.

Story here.

Update... and the unions/Labour/The Standard are still fighting......but there is plenty of opposition out there too.

This is also a good article about it from Gordon Campbell.

And another by Rosemary Mcleod

More union curiosity...

From the Press.

Secondary teachers could face day-long lockouts, their union president warns.

The Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) plans action on eight days next term after last month withdrawing from pay and contract negotiations with the Ministry of Education.

Association president Kate Gainsford has warned members the Government may respond by locking teachers out for the day or docking pay for the period not worked.
"This would be an incendiary act on the part of the Government, but also fairly typical of its responses so far," she told the union's annual conference in Wellington yesterday.

If lockouts occurred, teachers would strike for the day, she said.

Education Minister Anne Tolley dismissed Gainsford's comments. "This is scaremongering and has never been discussed."

Seems fair enough. If you don't go to work and actively cause trouble for your employers, they why would you expect to be paid for it?

Best advice to give to teachers. Don't join the PPTA unless you also support the Labour Party. Even then, don't join unless you are more concerned about your union rights than the kids you are supposed to be teaching. Don't ask out loud at union meetings why "children" and "Parents" are hardly mentioned.

No wonder the Labour Party is full of ex PPTA union members and other unsuccessful teachers. Now you know why Labour is so opposed to school results being available to parents, performance pay for good teachers and school zoning.

Whale gets McCartens blessing

Ya see, not all left wingers are selfish power mad hypocrites. Matt McCartens reasons for backing Whale Oil stem entirely for what's best for Auckland residents.

Since when did Kiwis become "snobs"?

Oh no! A snake was found in a room of a Commonwealth Games competitor! The poor South African, fresh from coming from their own football world cup, where gun crime is prolific, car jacking galore, shunting poor people off the streets, unease about security... amongst other perils as illustrated...

Despite this the rest of the world were happy to believe that the nation of Nelson Mandela was capable of pulling off a successful world cup. And in large they did, if you take out those godawful vuvuzelas. Bringing the games to the home of Ghandi is a good thing and will prove so once the journos stop picking away at everything.

Why is it then when preliminary photos come out from the 2010 Delhi games show some not so eye pleasing cleanliness issues and a few construction faults that all the western countries immediately start questioning if the people of India can cope with the games and that the nation is just too "dirty" to be able to host them?

Those Kiwis who have never been to India, and that's over 90% of you, are quite happy to make their own opinions about the conditions there. I can tell you that I found the country an extremely welcoming place. There are more 5 star hotels in India than there are in NZ, and a modern home in India is exactly the same as what you'd find in Auckland today - except possibly no leaking issues in Delhi :) If they say they will create good games they will. They are more than capable to not only deliver safe and happy games, but athletes will also enjoy themselves. Athletes will also need to consider their location and not act like spoilt Government funded elitists and get out there and embrace the country.

Sure they have levels of poverty that will shock anybody who sees them, but the people there live their days by working hard and looking after themselves and their families. Their culture isn't about sitting at home collecting a benefit and mooching off others. If you don't work, you will starve. If you are unable to work through illness or injury, your family will work harder to provide for you.

If I was an athlete or a Kiwi traveller heading to Delhi, I'd be looking very much to getting there and exploring the city and afterwards the country. The people are incredible, the food is amazing and the culture is unbelievable. I am sick of reading the quite racist articles and jokes from my so called open-minded Kiwi countrymen that these games will be terrible. Grow up; the country isn't like what you see on TV.

Now let’s get some medals!

**Update**

Now it seems that some of our athletes are pulling out for "security" reasons. It is so sad that our athletes don't do some homework before making knee jerk responses.

Voluntary Student Membership...are we there yet?

I have worked on the Voluntary Student Membership cause since early 1997. It has been a constant thorn in my side since I went to University. I wasn't aware of the issue surrounding union membership until I asked somebody what it all meant and if I didn't agree with it - if I could leave. I was pretty much floored by the response. An OUSA (Otago University Student Association) executive member told me outright that I was compelled to join and I simply had no choice. That day I decided I wanted to do something about this.

I eventually got to meet people like Kiwiblogs David Farrar and got in touch with people close to the movement from Waikato, The Young Nats, Student Choice and other non political students who felt strongly about the issue and I helped lead a campaign at Otago to inform more students about the problem of compulsory membership. After all, how can one body - that has the same legal status as a bowling club - possibly have the right that they speak on behalf of every single student? How arrogant is that

Now a disclosure. I had also at the time established an Otago branch of ACT on Campus (known at the time as Prebbles Rebels) so I had some right wing tendencies. However, I was still quite young and didn't even think about the VSM issue or lead our organisation into it until we had tried to understand it more.

The response I got from the student body was overwhelming. OUSA went ballistic. OUSA run student newspaper - Critic - smeared me, ACT, VSM at every single opportunity. I would get abuse yelled at me from students far older than me if I walked through the university grounds. Emails sent to me from "anonymous" people calling me every name under the sun. I got more abuse from supporting VSM than I ever did for being a member of the ACT Party.

Everybody knows that when you go to University there is a radical element. The Student union itself was friendly to organisations like the Alliance and Labour Party, the International Socialists, The Socialist Workers and other left wing organisations. They had a political wing called the Education Action Group (EAG) The EAG were a student funded organisation that led protests against the National Govt, send submissions against Government bills and led occupations on the streets of Dunedin and various buildings according to the issue they felt strongly about on the day.?

My brother was also abused by various members of the "OUSA" clique. Critic would publish letters that would say all sorts of defamatory remarks about us - some I am still not going to repeat on this blog. The bullying intensified when the first VSM law was drafted but as it was watered down by New Zealand First, it meant the game was about to change, as student unions nationwide were going to hold referendums to decide their unions fate.

The campaigning for VSM was tough. OUSA and their friends removed every one of our posters. They stole campaign materials; they washed over all of our chalkings. The normal stuff really. We anticipated this. When I say "we". I had a small team of people who were willing to put up with the abuse and to campaign. We had a budget of $200, put up by 2 of us. OUSA spent thousands, but circumnavigated the law requiring both sides to have equal funding by naming their Orientation Week "Compulsory". OUSA also held not so secret sales of "lost property" which led them to have a war chest of at least $30k. OUSA pressured Halls of Residence to not allow pro VSM speakers to talk to their residents. I had a phone call from the student gym manager asking me to put up posters there advising students that their gym will still remain and would still be free (there is a separate levy for the student health and gym which would not be affected by the VSM law) OUSA have shareholding in the gym and instructed management to remove all references to this factual information and we had to remove posters. OUSA embarked on a campaign to stifle any alternative opinions and refused to hold any debates that would allow both sides an equal time to have their opinions expressed. There were also lecturers who would not allow for us to stand up and make a 5 minute presentations. We had to leaflet secretly and wherever we had a chance to, we'd speak up against compulsion.

When the results came in we were pretty crushed. OUSA had spent their money well and we didn't have a chance. When AUSA fell to voluntary membership and WSU were still voluntary we were thrilled that all their hard work had paid off.

I have personally invested a lot of energy and time, along with every other person who ignored the nasty hate campaigns against them to push for freedom on campuses.

Todays report from the select committee was very interesting (pdf), but it also contained outright lies from the Labour Party in their minority report:

Labour intimate that Student Job Search would be affected by VSM. Nonsense. The Government subsidises all but a little bit of the student job search budget. Most universities have separate levies for gyms, health and buildings - and yet Labour say they are under threat.

Labour stated that the current law of allowing a referendum if 10% of students allowed AUSA (Auckland University Students Union) to go voluntary. This is a complete lie. The AUSA referendum was part of a nationwide referendum that the previous National Government put on for all student unions. There was no referendum put in place. Nor did their assertion that this law helped keep OUSA compulsory or that WSU went back to compulsory.

How can the Labour Party stand beside such lies?

Back to the bill, it does offer plenty of time to associations to get themselves sorted out. Furthermore, it has been amended to allow the Universities to collect the levy rather than put this onto the union. This will allow the union time to focus on promoting itself to members, which actually isn't as difficult as your union says it is.

If your student union is set to fail, you cannot blame the politicians. Your student union has had well over a DECADE to plan and make changes to their union. They have been warned about VSM and should have made arrangements to make themselves more relevant to the wider student body. If they have ignored this then you need to blame them, and the previous executives for deliberately ignoring the issues in favour of playing politics with unions, some of which have been in existence for over 50+ years.

There is a lot of anger about this from the left. Of course you have to expect this, especially as much of your support, training and campaigning came from these unions. However fans of compulsion must also remember that our voluntary trade unions are all doing very well now and flourish under voluntary membership. This is a positive sign for them, although in reality the scary thing is that they all probably support returning all workers to compulsory trade unions too. Because of this anger, NZUSA are spreading a lot of inaccurate information around the biggest one now is the one that 98% of students submissions were ignored. This is mischievous as of all the submissions, you'd be hard pressed to find an anti VSM submission not made by a unionist, Labour Party member or somebody not acting on their own initiative.

The sad issue in all this is that NZUSA and the Labour Party are pointing the finger at ACT and Sir Roger Douglas. I have read some frankly disgusting comments written about Sir Roger online that beggar belief and are extremely disrespectful. The reality of it is that many of these Labour MPs were in student associations and used them for their own political ambitions - only now to point the finger at everybody else but themselves. Students don't care about student politics, they don't want their money being spent to fight for free education. They sure as hell don't want to be told by the Labour Party that they must join a pro Labour union in order to get a degree. Students at Otago are being forced to subsidise student media that cannot turn a profit in order to get a degree. Taxpayers up and down the country are being forced to pay for students to join a union that supports Labour, this is despite the country having a National Government.

It is about time this madness stops. Now that the Nats have agreed to support the bill to its second reading it is time to start believing again that there is some sanity in our Government and freedom of association is coming to our campuses. I speak for myself that when this happens I can say that all the bad experiences I went through were completely worth it.

But lets wait until the vote goes through.....


Facebook clippings are from:

Nick Kelly - ex VUWSA president, ex Workers Party, currently radical union leader for Wellington buses.

Gareth Hughes - Green MP

Jordan King - Helps run the student funded NZUSA "Save our services" and Labour Party activist.

Sam Durbin - Grassroots Labour member. AUSA exec member.

And other kind hearted opponents to freedom. I thank you all.

Otago Students know best

The Otago Polytechnic Students Association (OPSA) have realised that they have been scammed by the Wellington based political organisation, New Zealand Union of Students Associations (NZUSA).

They have exercised their right to be a voluntary member of NZUSA and held debates and eventually a referendum in order to see if students also agreed that they were not getting value for money.
After all, this small association was paying $31,000 p/a to an organisaton that didn't care too much about the issues that faced Otago Polytech students - it seems like a better idea to keep the money local doesn't it?

What OPSA didn't expect was the amount of opposition... NOT from the local students. Instead NZUSA sent their "flying squad" down from Wellington to tell students that NZUSA membership "was a strong national voice for students" This is union talk for "more members = more power" but it doesn't mean more power for students - it's more leverage for people like NZUSA president David Do (Princes Street Labour Party) to get a well paid union job when he leaves NZUSA.

OPSA President Meegan Cloughley obviously cares about the students she represents. She isn't an ACT voter and wouldn't be seen dead at a National conference, unless she was outside protesting. She has forgotten all about the politics and has risked upsetting people who she may support in order to give the students the best possible deal for their levies. It seems that the only time NZUSA had any time for her and her student union, was when they told them the money was drying up from their end.

Now if you believe NZUSA, all students are deeply concerned about losing representation and a voice at a national level. You'll also believe that students wholeheartedly reject Voluntary Student Membership (VSM). Given that the numbers of submissions made to the Education Select Committee on VSM from actual students were very low - and the turnout of todays OPSA referendum on pulling out of NZUSA, you'll be scratching your head and wondering if NZUSA have been fibbing all along.

The results of the referendum for OPSA were:

Out of 7100 students - 55 voted. (less than 1%)
The majority voted to leave NZUSA, meaning they will withdraw in July 2011.

NZUSA are telling porkies. They also said that 98% of the submissions made to the select committee were opposed to the bill, but rather convieniently didn't supply the percentages of those who made submissions were not ex student association presidents, executive members, Unionists or Labour Party employees. Take that away and you're left with very few submissions from those who have not had their nose in the multi million dollar trough.

Congratulations to Meegan. We don't share the same political views but we both care about students getting the best deal. With the likelyhood of VSM ocurring in the next few months, I hope to see more associations also saying NO to NZUSA and their Labour Party training ground.

National rewards Cullen with more baubles

You may remember Michael Cullen. Deputy PM in NZ until he and Clark got dumped by the public. Their loss was because of a long held belief from the public that they were out of touch and arrogant. Not to mention, very frivolous with our taxes, a little like John Key and Bill English, except Cullen only had a history degree.

Cullen looked at the polls in 2008 and realised he was a goner. So he renationalised the rail at an upfront cost of NZ$693M. This over the top valuation of the rail, on top of the millions the Government had to pay to maintain it, meant that the incoming National Government had a lot less money to play with. Add to that the deceit surrounding withholding vital statistics about ACCs perilous state in the PREFU (Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update) and you'd think that in other countries, Michael Cullen would have been carted off to jail, or at the very least be facing allegations in a court of law.

Not in John Keys' 2010 New Zealand.

Michael Cullen has just been appointed chairman of NZ Post.


State Owned Enterprises Minister Simon FIGJAM Power twists the knife in even further by stating, "I look forward to working with Dr Cullen to develop NZ Post's strategy to accommodate declining mail volumes and a challenging financial environment,"

Personally I can't see what National were thinking. Why appoint somebody like him to anything after his financial sabotage of our economy? What National should be doing is PRIVATISING NZ Post, not bloody stacking it with treasonous politicians. Little wonder that Cullen hasn't been asked to consult for overseas organisations, he obviously didn't pay the UN enough.

Thanks again National. While your policies were Labour Lite, we didn't expect you to look after them as well.

How to leave Parliament gracefully

After you commit deeds that are referred to by your leader - “"it was deceitful, it was treacherous, it was dishonest, it wasn't even correct, and it was utterly unacceptable to every member of the Labour Caucus."

Do you:

A) resign and apologise profusely
B) Swan off on a 2 month holiday with your boyfriend
C) Linger around Parliament after said 2 month holiday, issuing press releases stating you are still a member of the party despite you being banished and given a new office away from the party?
D) Both B and C

I am not making any excuses for what Garrett did 26 years ago. Creating a passport using details of a dead baby is unforgivable and we know that, so does David.

But he has resigned from Parliament and knows that he made a very bad mistake. He will live with this for a lot longer than the 26 years since it occurred.

Chris Carter still thinks he hasn’t done anything wrong. In fact at the time I write this, he is still in running for his seat of Te Atatu. He is hanging around Parliament despite nobody really wanting him to be there. His colleagues probably wished he left quickly and without fuss that David Garrett did.

Problem is - Labour have Judith Tizard next. This is a woman so despised by her own party that they have actively done everything they possibly can to keep her out. The sad thing is that Judith, is still very much wanting to be back in Parliament despite all this. She wants to come back because she is one of the worse troughers.

This is where ACT will win as we have Hilary Calvert who is entering Parliament. She is able, talented and isn't an embarrassment to her party. She seems to be well rounded and knows what she is on about (more here)

Labour are stuffed. A party of unionists desperate to grab back power, but unable to find talented people within its ranks to freshen up its brand. So desperate to maintain an iron grip on who enters their ranks they piledrived their own candidate into the Mana byelection against the wishes of their very own supporters.

Live by the union sword - die by the union sword.

Labour Blog ironies...

Clare Curran has told people to get out and vote and embrace democracy...

I merely suggested that she look at Mana first and see what they may be a little unhappy with democracy...

Her response? (and my generous apology and response..)

Mind you she may be grumpy as it was 0:20 in the morning.

Grant Robertson on the other hand was wide awake when he wrote that Maori and Polynesian students were much less likely to pass half their University papers over a 2 year period.
Is this the type of positive aspiration that our Labour MPs are going on about? I had to ask Grant, but that pesky night owl Clare was there making sure I didn't say too much...

Is this blog putting into practise the case for Labours "redefining the language"? I didn't think censorship, dismissing truth and ignoring facts was going to be part of it... although it *is* the Labour Party.

At least it is a nice reminder why these people are not in power at the moment.

Keep it up guys. Facts and honesty is for wimps.

Mayor Andrew vs Beneficiaries

Are these the words that one would expect coming from an elected official who is also running for Auckland’s "Super" Mayor?

Simply amazing. What would his constituents think? What about his not so well off constituents?

Statement from David Garrett

In recent days serious matters from my past have become public.

I believe it is appropriate for me now to minimise the damage to the ACT Party and to the government. I have received legal advice to say nothing at all, and while that is probably sound advice in a legal sense, I feel I owe the public a fuller explanation of my actions than has been given hitherto.

From the time references began to be made by journalists to “other charges” I was aware that the media may have obtained details of my discharge without conviction in 2005 for an offence committed in 1984. However as a trained lawyer, I was acutely aware that there was a suppression order in place regarding that case.

While others have seen fit to act as if that suppression order does not exist, as a member of the bar I could not act in the same way. I obtained preliminary legal advice from a QC on what I could and could not say. I was advised that the question was very complex, and while I could speak in parliament under the absolute privilege afforded MPs, to say anything outside the House risked breaching the suppression order.

I was further advised that the only safe thing for me to do in the legal sense was to apply to the North Shore District Court – where my case was heard – for a waiver or discharge of the suppression order so I could be free to speak about my own case. That has now been obtained so I am freer to speak that I was, but issues have arisen regarding the affidavit I swore in that case which means I am unable to discuss that aspect of the case.

I can do nothing to change the past. For any number of reasons, I wish I had not done such a stupid and dreadfully hurtful thing in 1984. When my wrongdoing was revealed, the worst aspect of it all for me was reading the letters written by the mother and sister of the dead boy whose identity I used to obtain the passport.

As a result of my own actions, my political career is almost certainly over, but that is not my greatest concern. The worst aspect of all of this for me is that those who have seen fit to do so have opened the wounds of the boy’s mother and sister all over again. As the person who inflicted those wounds in the first place – however unwittingly – I must take ultimate responsibility for that.

I wrote letters of apology at the time – letters I realised were woefully inadequate, but there was nothing else I could do. I wish to reiterate my profound regret for the distress and hurt my thoughtless actions inflicted on two women, one of whom is elderly. I am simply unable to imagine how it must have felt at the time they first learned of what I had done, and I am equally unable to imagine what they must feel now.

I still well recall my horror when I read the letters from the boy’s relatives, one of them in the handwriting of a clearly elderly lady. I do not think I have ever felt worse. There is certainly no excuse for what I did, and I make none.

My second major regret is the damage I have caused to the ACT Party, which has a very important role to play in parliament.

I now want to do the right thing both by the public of New Zealand and the ACT Party. I have therefore this morning advised the leader that I resign from the ACT caucus effective immediately. I want to make it clear that I do so of my own volition. I have been advised that I am entitled to two weeks leave from parliament, and I intend to avail myself of that to consider my future. At this point I simply cannot make a decision on that.
-------------------------------------------------------------

This sums up the genuineness of a guy who believed in a better New Zealand. I received many good emails from him from his weekly newsletter, bursting with good old commonsense and a commitment to fighting political correctness with good policy. He was never truly understood and if this had not come up I believe he would have been a star performer if allowed to carry on. In fact I dare to say even last week before this happened I actually thought that he was doing well to keep out of trouble - and was set to shine! Oops! Either way, I hope that after the 2 weeks is up (or before) that he leaves and ACT can move along to fight another day.

Young Leader or Vandal?

From the Herald...

More than 40 Citizens & Ratepayers election hoardings have been defaced in the past four weeks, with 10 found on Tuesday alone.

A police report reveals that those responsible were 26-year-old Pia McKay, a tutor at the University of Auckland, and 20-year-old Claire Stanton, a student at the university. A 16-year-old from Grey Lynn was also involved.

Surely not the same Pia McKay described by Asia NZ as "one of Asia:NZ's young leaders"?

I wonder how this falls into line with the non partisan and non political beliefs that Asia:NZ have as their mission statement?

I'm sure we'll find out the political affiliation of the other 2 eventually too....

Whale found guilty... how you can and must help.

Cameron Slater risked a lot in order to tell people the truth. While others hide behind their blogs and prefer to write without ever following up on their words, Cameron has put up every single time. Put it this way, his intentions were very clear - why should celebrities be allowed to hide their identity when convicted of crimes?

Why should somebody be given preferential treatment in the court system simply because they have a six or seven figure salary? Why is it ok for musicians and entertainers to touch young children and the general public to be unaware?

Cameron did a bloody noble thing by raising this question, and in response the judge has decided that the rights of paedos, crooks and downright shifty people is more important than the victims and those seeking the truth.

As a result of this, he has been fined $750 for each count, a total amount to $6750, and ordered to pay $130 court costs for each charge. This is despite the fact that Cameron named people and offences that were already in the public domain - how else did he get the information? If you calculate the amount Cameron was charged compared to drunk drivers, thieves, vandals etc, then he was treated quite harshly by the judge... who wanted to make an example of him.

Enough of that, how can you help. After all, he spoke out to defend ordinary Kiwis and fought for everybody to have equal rights when in court and not just the wealthy. Everybody owes him, even a couple of bucks.

30 Mosques in 30 days

I know tensions are high between Muslims and Christians lately, especially in the United States. I am an atheist and believe both religions are as bad as each other - but I like differences as it makes the world a bloody interesting place. I'm a big supporter of spreading factual information about different cultures rather than the usual stupid stereotypes that exist out there.

Kiwis as a whole seem to be especially uninformed about how much of the world operates. I have lost count on the time I have had to explain other traditions and beliefs to Kiwis fresh off the boat.

But I digress.

Two American Muslim gentlemen, Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq set off around the US during Ramadan visiting mosques and blogging about their experiences and interaction with other Muslims and Americans during their interesting travels.

What a good idea to bring more information into the mainstream.
You can view their blog here.

Student reps almost *get* it!

Hell has almost frozen over. Student association leaders are beginning to complain that they are not getting value for money from NZUSA (New Zealand Union of Student Associations) membership.

In fact OUSA (Otago Uni Students Association) and OPSA (Otago Polytech Student Association) have both made vigorous complaints that the money they send to NZUSA is not being used efficiently.
OUSA sent NZUSA $86,169 in 2010 while OPSA sent $31 000. This means that Otago students sent a total of £117,169 to an unelected Wellington based student organisation to "represent" them at national level.

Rather convieniently, NZUSA does not publish its annual accounts online - and if they do, it is remarkably well hidden. However we do know that they have 12 full members and 2 associate members. If OUSA/OPSA are giving them $117+k p/a, then it is safe to assume that the 10 other members are probably giving them about $400,000 more p/a giving NZUSA half a million p/a (not counting associate membership fees) for what is essentially a training ground for future Labour Party MPs (and current)

NZUSA was awfully quiet during the 9 years that Labour were in Government. There were less than a handful of debt protests and the types of street protests, occupations and militancy that normally occur during a National Government were non existent. I would be very interested to know what NZUSA did with the levies they recieved from students over these 9 years, although one would guess that their offices in Lampton Quay soaked up a fair portion of it. Another portion of it has been kept aside for a fighting fund to attack Voluntary Student Membership (VSM).

Spokesmen for NZUSA like Jordan King have been asked repeatedly how much the anti VSM campaign has cost students and have been ignored or responded to with smarmy replies that show exactly how out of touch NZUSA is with the student body. No wonder Otago students feel that they have no control over the money and how well it goes towards serving the students in Dunedin.
NZUSA co-president David Do, yes the same David Do who is a former Chair of Princes St Labour has also waded into this debate by stating that the amount of OUSA fees that go towards NZUSA is approximately the price of two coffees per student ($5)“Through our strong national voice, through your two cups of coffee, we’ve helped achieve wins for you, wins for students, collectively saving you millions of dollars.”

I am reliably informed that two coffees for $5 in NZ is pretty much impossible :)

But this doesn't make up for the fact that NZUSA are not only hiding its budget and making wildly exaggerated stats up about their value for money - but that membership is already voluntary for NZUSA. Why is it that NZUSA exec members are happy to point at the benefits of voluntary membership to their unelected club and yet will not allow individual students that pay student unions over $10million p/a the same right?

It is safe to say that Otago students would be better off if their levies remained in Dunedin. The student economy is priceless in Dunedin and already have significant clout with the local council. OUSA/OPSA will need to think about spending money wisely once VSM comes into place. Sending unaccounted amounts of money to Pene Delaney, David Do, Sophia Blair and Karen Price will not give one penny of benefit to students in Dunedin - especially those who didn't vote for Labour or the Greens.

*David Do - ex chair of Labour Princes St Branch
* Pene Delany - ex WSU exec member (WSU being probably the worst abusers of student elections)
* Sophia Blair - current member of the Labour Party
* Karen Price - long term NZUSA staff member, ex Victoria University student unionist, ex NZUSA womens rep

I rest my case.


See also, OPSA student levy breakdown.

and OUSA financials

Comment FAIL thanks to David "Poneke" Mcloughlin

Exhibit A. Cactus Kate posts about her shock on the rise of domestic abuse during the Christchurch earthquake.

Exhibit B. Poneke, using his real name David Mcloughlin trolled saying quite possibly the stupidest comment on the blogosphere. I suspect David will wake up with a hangover and realise what he has done and delete it.

"Hey this is another great way to bash Maori, but Christchurch is the whitest city of them all so you FAIL BIG here"

Read her post for yourself - where does she state anything about Maori domestic abuse?

Good grief, no wonder David Poneke was ubale to keep his blog together for a long period of time. Whining and stupidity does get uber boring after a while. I guess if you cannot get a job because of your love of buses, and drunkenly passing out in them - then how on earth can you blog and hold down a job as a journalist.

Update

I know that lefties are gutless and once Poneke realises his fail he will probably delete his comment. So I have taken the time to screen grab it.
I wonder if his past employers ever had a problem with his drinking on the job. They surely would have noticed something was off colour when David would point everything back to an anti Maori right wing agenda

Earthquake silliness

Top marks to those who have got out there and rolled their sleeves up in order to get Christchurch working again. People have put aside their political motives and fear of aftershocks and have done bloody well. Jim Anderton, UNITE take note - Christchurch needs positive support, not silly buggers.

What is becoming a little ridiculous is the growing feeling that this is a huge disaster. Cantabrians talking about how their lives have been changed forever and the increasing victim mentality... it's really quite OTT. The earthquake in Christchurch is NOT a disaster.

I saw this on You Tube today


Dreadfully sappy and milking it waaaaay out of proportion. If you want a real disaster then look at Haiti, Mexico or Pakistan. Kiwis are not big on moaning about things, we are better at picking ourselves up and getting on with it. Nobody died for goodness sakes. Property is material, it can be replaced. Lives cannot be.

Here is a better song we should be blasting for everybody to hear.


To donate to the Red Cross NZ fund go here.

To donate to the Pakistan flood relief click here. or here.

A bad day at the office for National

You'd think with the Nats in Government, with 5 ACT MPs that silly laws like getting rid of antiquated trading laws like Easter Trading would be passed quickly.

Apparently not. Apparently even with a centre right majority, Jacqui Dean doesn't have the numbers. The god botherers and union friendly Nats still want to control private enterprise.

You'd also be mistaken that the Nats would leave it to parents when it came to heavy handed liquor licensing laws. But no. The John Key Government is going to restrict hours for private shops to open and shut. Nice work.

But worst still... when Labour bought in anti smacking laws and as a result, 87% of Kiwis voted in a referendum to get rid of it - and it assisting in the turfing out of Labour. We all thought the Nats would follow public opinion and kill the billWrong again. Even worse, the Nats have revelled in demolishing a bill to remove the silly law tonight.

Hekia Parata (Mana candidate for National) states proudly:

National's Hekia Parata said the anti-smacking law was working, and a review had shown that.
"I'm personally applaud the fact that we are opposing it," she said.
Her comrades in the Greens and Labour agreed with her:

"This is a political bill, we have all moved on and it should be removed from the House as soon as possible", Ms King said.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the bill was a waste of Parliament's time.

"It seeks to injure children. Wouldn't we do better by finding ways to build safe, warm homes for them," she said.

A governments role is NOT to build warm safe homes for children. Nor is it their right to tell parents how they may or may not discipline their own children. Even Communist countries didn't encroach upon parental choice. It isn't necessary whatsoever, especially when since passed 20 kids have been murdered.

National now joins Labour as a party that opposes parental choice. Not only in our homes but even choice in schools.

If this is what a steady handed centre right Government is supposed to deliver, we are completely doomed. Key may be a good money manager and can smile at the right occasions, but he would feel equally at home within the Labour Party.

Read: National and Labour join forces again to eliminate choice and National MPs still in the dark ages

Gerry Brownlee is what? Really????

Sent in by a concerned reader...


Indeed.

Why Voluntary Membership will save students

Imagine that every day you went to work your union forced you to put a certain amount to subsidise the food that came out of the overpriced workplace cafe. Imagine they would also ensure you also funded the union newsletter that nobody reads. You'll also be requested to pay for the union leaders to represent you in matters that you don't believe in, plus you'll be levied to train your union bosses so they are up to date with modern protest methods.

Thankfully in our workplaces we are free from the shackles of compulsory workplace unionism, a relic of a time where union power was enhanced and funded by the Soviet Union. Now we are spared, mostly, of bullyboy union bosses holding a country to random putting families, friends and New Zealanders against each other. Don't believe the revisionists - the union movement in NZ and worldwide have been probably the most divisive and militant organisations in our history.

Where we are lagging behind is where we should have started many years ago, and that is at our university campuses. Universities are always regarded as a hotbed of radical socialist activity - where being right wing is deeply unpopular. Apathy has seen the power of the student unions diminish to a point where every student union holds little to no relevance to the majority of students and most certainly cannot claim to speak on behalf of its members. This apathy has been the very reason why the last bastian of compulsory unionism in New Zealand still remains. Student unions are now a training ground for aspiring Labour and Green politicians and a social club for social outcasts who blindly follow an almost extinct socialist agenda.

It has come to a point that these people have made compulsion such a non issue that even "Torys" don't consider freedom of association as a priority anymore. Although one could argue that the current Government has shades of all colours to its policy platform, it is disgraceful that modern politicians see compulsion as unimportant. In fact the Labour Party were the last party to free people from unions, the law society became voluntary under Labour... and National have sat on their hands as freedom isn't a priority.

Since philosophy isn't a strong point of the National Party I must appeal to their economic side. OUSA has in their latest edition made some very compelling arguments to why compulsion isn't working and is costing students a lot more.

Critic, the newspaper at Otago have reported many things that may help this point become clearer.
OUSA have increased its annual compulsory levy from $159.64 to $211.88 an increase of $52.24. A shockingly hypocritical increase considering OUSAs fierce opposition to course fees. They justify this that they needed a contingency fund for Voluntary Student Membership (VSM) however this is crazy. OUSA has known about VSM for over a decade and did nothing. They have taken over ten million dollars off students in this time and yet have nothing in the cupboard despite repeated warnings.

OUSA have also increased funding to its media units, Critic (paper) and Radio 1. This is in response to Planet Media who runs the media failed again to break even. So on top of heavily subsidising student media and selling advertising, the paper still cannot turn a profit. The lame excuse being rolled out is the credit crisis. I call that a crock. In Dunedin the University holds enormous clout and power over the economy. How can a newspaper that has considerable advertising AND a subsidy on top, fail to fund itself? Worse still, students must fund student media (which is distributed free to everybody in Dunedin) in order to get their degree. Students who may only read the Otago Daily Times who study a few papers a week are being forced to pay for a newspaper thaty cannot fulfil a basic requirement to its owners.
Instead Planet Media was rewarded with an extra $64,000 in subsidies. No wonder there are so many past OUSA ex members in the Labour Party and in trade unions.

OUSA also actively competes against private enterprise in the city by giving away free USB sticks.

If you thought this was a bunch of kids playing make believe politics, you'd be right. They generously cut executive training and travel from $20k to $12k. But this doesn't take away that much of this training is no use to the wider student body and the travel involves usually is for events that support the Labour Party a party soundly rejected by students nationwide despite enormous support, indirect funding and work provided to them by OUSA and other compulsory student unions. In short, freeing students from these shackles will save students if student unions continue to behave in this reckless way.

I think its time that OUSA called time on compulsion and credited students with the good sense to join it on its own merits. OUSA say that students are clever for choosing to come all the way down to Dunedin to study - such a pity that they think students are unable to choose whether or not to join a union, something that they will be required to do when they enter the workplace.

I will soon post my analysis of the VSM submissions presented to the select committee. Unsurprisingly, those who supported compulsion did so with such venom and with such hatred of choice and freedom of association. Little wonder when workers were given a choice on union membership that they ran the other way. The problem is that these people who promote compulsion are acting in a way that is guaranteeing that students will not want to join. They are shooting themselves in the foot for ideological and not logical reasons.

So when VSM wins we have our current student politicians to blame for making their unions so unpalatable to join. You only have yourselves to point the finger at.

London today... thanks to the unions

The London Tube Union, RMT is once again holding the city to ransom. Apparently only 17% of them voted in the ballot, but union insist support is rock solid.

Commuters are not happy.

See also, BBC - commuters complain

and Autumn of discontent begins...

and Rail bullies cripple capital

This sums up the feeling in London right now

Matt McCarten

I don't agree with probably most of what Matt stands for, nor do any of my fellow right wing bloggers. He stands for an era that ended when the Soviet Union collapsed.

But everybody is human. Nobody is invincible. Every human deserves respect when it matters. Matts admission that he may be gone due to terminal illness touched a chord with bloggers from all over the political spectrum. As it should have.

Contrast this to a post on Dim Post on August 12th. which I also highlighted on my blog to show what sorts of people the NZ left are. Danyl was revelling in Sir Ron Trotters death and was egged on by his mates, including Malcolm Harbrow from No Right Turn. Malcolm has a history in gruesome obsessional behaviour about right wingers dying, including Sir Roger Douglas and Baroness Thatcher.

What is it about the left that make them such utterly miserable pricks? Matt McCartens illness is a terrible one and I will put aside the fact that he was equally disrespectful to Ron Trotter and has called for the assassination of Sir Roger. After all, like it or not, but the right do actually care about other people. The left have fooled people for too long that they have a monopoly on caring for others. Just pop down to a picket line, an Alliance Party meeting or outside a National Party conference and you will soon see what I'm talking about.

I hope the suffering isn't too great for Matt. I hope he goes out fighting like he always does.

Jim has lost it... I mean seriously lost it.

As his mayoral campaign has had a major shock, Jim Anderton has resorted to desperate statements in order to shore up his support.. which is waning quickly.
Apart from salivating at the idea of an economic upturn in post earthquake Christchurch, Jim cannot seem to keep his mouth shut.

When questioned about the ridiculous comparison that Bob Parker was reminiscent of Rudy Giuliani as he viewed the ruins of the city - Jim was in combative mode.

But asked about the comparison between Mr Parker and Mr Giuliani, he responded: "What happened to Rudy? Where is he now?"

What happened to Rudy? Since 911 he has been a very busy man. He ran for the Republican nominee for President, his legacy meant that New Yorkers were safer and better off, recieved awards, recognition and respect all over the world. A complete opposite to the angry bitter has-been Socialist from Christchurch.

Jim has no right to even try and belittle Rudy Giuliani, and isn't even fit to clean his shoes. And people think he is Mayor material? Come on Christchurch!

Story here.

The miracle of Christchurch...

No... not the miracle that there were no deaths... but even better, that Christchurch may avoid an even bigger threat. Jim Anderton as mayor.

Of course its racist!

I don't know why John Key and Maurice Williamson are apologising for remarks made that opposition to foreign ownership was often linked to the ethnicity of the foreigner.

Of course it is.

If we had nice, quiet Scandinavians coming in and buying bits of land, or some polite Canadians..perhaps we'd be a little more forgiving if a bit of land was purchased.

Instead, thanks to Winston, the Green Party and our own inherant racism - we are all shit scared that the big evil Chinese are going to buy everything with their new wealth. It's either them or the "filthy rich Americans" that everybody in NZ seem to hate or some other cash rich Asian with their fat wallets ready to invest.

Personally, I wouldn't bother unless it was some decent farmland. Then I'd also bring my own workforce. God knows how difficult it is when you have unions who want employers to not fire shit workers, and a benefit culture that is embarrassing to our Asian neighbours.
Kiwis can be very racist, the fact that people are pining for Winston Peters, including journalists - and that he may or may not have been courted by members of both major political parties show that there is a place for him in Parliament... every nasty, racist, criminally corrupt bone in his body.

The Greens are just as bad. Considering they themselves imported their ideology from the Soviet Union and Communist China, I am shocked at their attitude to any form of investment in NZ. They are even against the idea of Kiwi companies exporting jobs to poorer countries. Their math is absurd. They don't care about consumers at all - they want everybody to pay more, regardless of their ability to, so that only Kiwis own the land in NZ and Kiwi companies stay in NZ and employ only Kiwis.

As for the unions, Matt McCarten is equally as racist. He will also rail against foreign investment but on the other hand he is only too happy to prey upon the uneducated masses that come to NZ seeking better opportunities. He has no problems recruiting these people for his union at all. Don't even get me started about the Maori Party, who National joyously jumped into bed with. Theirwhole party is based upon the same "principles" that the white South Africans embarked upon all those years ago.

John Key should admit it, Kiwis can be extraordinarily racist. He is a well travelled man - he cannot pretend that Kiwis are all happy with different races and faces. New Zealand has to pull its head in and stop the jibes about Asians and instead look towards them as inspiration, both culturally and economically.

See - PM says Maurice was joking...

U2 Tickets

Quite funny to read that U2 fans are all upset that they had to pay a $19 surcharge on top of their $39.99 tickets. $39.99 is damn cheap for U2 tickets - in fact so is $58.99.

However you wouldn't find me in the crowds watching that band. I don't particularly like their music and I especially don't like Bono. I wonder how much of the stuff he talks about he actually believes in. I quite enjoyed it when he had to eat his words about President George W Bush.


I wonder if he will ever pay his taxes in Ireland?


See also War on AIDs and Bush

Web designer?

Is anybody out there a web designer? I need some help with a little code and a general tidy up of the blog. Plus, as I have apparently set myself up on Networked Blogs on Facebook - I am wondering why my posts are not showing up there. Grr.

Pop me a message in the comments thread and I will get in touch with you. Thanks!

A "safe" level of debt?

It still looks pretty high to me... I'm not an expert, but while it seems we are heading in the right direction imagine if National committed itself to no new spending and some proper fiscal restraint?

New Zealand is among only a handful of advanced economies where the government's budget is best placed to deal with "unexpected shocks", an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report says.

The National government has been criticised by the opposition for increasing debt to fund tax cuts during tough economic times.

But the IMF staff report released yesterday found New Zealand had the second smallest government debt out of the 23 advanced economies it analysed, suggesting the country's budget would be well-placed to deal with future shocks.

The Washington-based institution examined a country's "debt limit" based on its historical track record and its current debt level, which it describes as the "fiscal space".

"Among the advanced economies, Australia, Denmark, Korea, New Zealand and Norway generally have the most fiscal space to deal with unexpected shocks," the report said.

Australia had the smallest debt of 9.4 percent of GDP in 2007, 15.5 percent in 2009 and a projected 20.9 percent in 2015.

The next smallest was New Zealand at 17.4 percent, 26.1 percent and 36.1 percent respectively

Fiscally, I'd rather live in low tax havens like Hong Kong or South Korea. These places seem to trust workers with their own money. When will NZ learn?

Story here.

Mallard... the way we all see him....