NZ's Labour Party To Embrace State-Controlled Speech

Little’s Hate Speech Laws Will Destroy This Government.

By Chris Trotter
The Daily Blog


Andrew Little has confirmed that the Coalition Government will announce changes to New Zealand’s free speech laws before the election. Clearly, Jacinda Ardern has not been able to persuade her Justice Minister that introducing “hate speech” laws is a sure-fire election loser. Or, perhaps the Prime Minister also believes that attacking freedom of speech is an election-winning strategy.

The timing of Little’s announcement is interesting. It points to a dramatic weakening in the position of Labour’s coalition partner, NZ First. For the first time since the Coalition’s formation in October 2017, Winston Peters finds himself and his party dependant on the good will and protection of the Prime Minister.

The Serious Fraud Office’s decision to launch an investigation into the NZ First Foundation has prompted multiple demands for Jacinda to stand Peters down for the duration. She has been called “weak” for refusing to discipline her Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister – and he is very aware of the political rewards that would flow to the Prime Minister if she decided to give in to his critics’ demands.

If she did give in, Peters knows that any threat to “pull the plug” on the Coalition in retaliation would be met with a cool “go on then”. Being seen to have forced a snap election over the SFO investigation would seal NZ First’s fate. The electorate would punish Peters and his party mercilessly. Jacinda and the Greens, on the other hand, could present themselves to the country as the principled and courageous defenders of “clean” politics. What would undoubtedly be suicide for Peters and NZ First could end up being the making of his erstwhile coalition partners.

All of which adds up to a radically changed power dynamic on the Beehive’s Ninth Floor. From here on out, what Jacinda and her “progressive” colleagues want, Jacinda and her “progressive” colleagues are going to get. Three weeks ago Peters would have shaken his head coldly at the very thought of introducing anti-hate speech legislation prior to the election. Today, he has bowed his head meekly and walked away. The Coalition’s “handbrake” has been released.

Masters of the Universe At Work

It's Your Money They Are Wasting

We have posted several pieces on the NZ Government's "housing policy".  A recent comprehensive article dissects the situation--both past and present.  As a result the Government is in a messy mess.  

We have made reference to the inexperience and general incompetence of the Housing Minister, Phil Twyford.  His only real world experience to date has been in prancing around the world with Oxfam.  He is a big-vision man with small-time experience or wisdom in the real world.  That's been problem Numero Uno.

Secondly, he and his colleagues belong to the socialist mindset that tax payer extorted money thrown at an idea or project can solve any problem.  By spending money, great things will magically come to pass.  There appears to be no commitment to hard nosed, brutal critical evaluation and risk management in policy development.  There appears to be very little, if any, self-critical scepticism.  By throwing money at the so-called "housing problem" all obstacles will be overcome.  Public announcements of "progress" seem to represent little more than boasts, and "big-noting".  What we have been left with is the state's half a dozen Kiwibuild houses which few, if any want to buy.

The houses that have been built in the programme thus far have turned out to be purchased by those who meet certain criteria--in particular they are "middle class" and can afford them.  The question is begged: what on earth is the state doing building such houses for those who can buy them pretty much everywhere on the open market--particularly if they are willing to buy already existing houses in areas that are "middle class".

Here are a couple of excerpts from the article by Henry Cooke, published in The Guardian.

New Zealand's Own Version of Monty Python

Hard to Believe

Can it get any worse?  That's the question which is unsettling many politically aware New Zealanders.  And the answer to the question is, "of course it can get worse".

Here are some descriptions of Debacle Avenue, which runs off  Molesworth Street in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington.

Nightmare on Molesworth St: How Labour's Annus Horribilis Went Viral
Duncan Garner
Stuff

Where do I start? It should have been such a triumphant week for Labour. It was all lined up. Incumbency means advantage Labour. Platform set. Pause. Touch lives. Engage the voters.  All Grant Robertson had to do was choose the colour of the new tie and how close that barber should go on the sides.

It should have been a triumphant week for Grant Robertson - all he had to do was choose the colour of the new tie and how close that barber should go on the sides. It didn't turn out that way.  And with National leaving the books in a healthy state, due to their prudent decisions in the lean times, only Grant the lucky finance minister was left.

How could dishing out $25.6b in new spending across four years blow up in his face?

Labour is Snookered

Winston Peters is NZ's Actual Prime Minister

Below is veteran columnist, John Armstrong's take on New Zealand's unfolding constitutional revolution.  We suspect that he has failed to grasp fully the political pressures, on the one hand, and the de facto changes to NZ's constitution, on the other. 

 Labour Has Been Outsmarted and Outmanoeuvred

John Armstrong
One News

Don’t listen to those who dismiss the current muscle-flexing by Winston Peters as nothing more than the standard fare of MMP politics.  It is anything but.

Were there a handbook covering the mechanics of forming and running a coalition government, the New Zealand First leader would currently be writing a new chapter—one which would be without a happy ending for Jacinda Ardern, her coalition managers and the rest of the Labour Party.  The latter should be worried — very worried.

It is the ongoing conundrum of multi-party governments that minor parties which behave themselves and keep their heads down have almost without exception have had their heads lopped off come election-time.  Peters seems to be experimenting with the notion that minor parties which are far less polite get noticed by voters rather than being suffocated.

If that is not enough to give Labour grief, Peters appears to be engaged in trying to pull off what would amount to a massive shift in power within the coalition.  Forget cracks about cracks appearing in the coalition’s facade.  Peters, for one, will not be going anywhere. . . .

Peters now has the dream job of foreign minister. Yet, he also remains an absolutely pivotal figure in domestic politics.  With regard to the latter, it is obvious there been a major shift in New Zealand First strategy.

Here We Go Again

Crime and Punishment

Garth McVicar has written an opinion piece in the NZ Herald on crime and prisons in New Zealand. 

The saying, "We reap what we sow", highlights the farming experience that if you don't work in partnership with nature, you get a dud crop. It comes to mind when I think about the latest twist in the crime and punishment debate; the number of people in prisons.  The focus on the product of crime, prisoners and victims, gives little attention to the root causes of the problem. That is to say, we are worried by what we're reaping and not enough by what we're sowing.

Minister of Justice Andrew Little wants to find ways to reduce the prison population. Essentially, this will be achieved by softening bail legislation and making parole easier to get.  The result will be more offenders on the streets. The streets will become more dangerous and public safety will suffer as a consequence.

The inconvenient truth about high prison rates is that crime has fallen. New Zealand's homicides peaked at 176 a year but have now declined to around 80 per year and are still falling.  As New Zealand locked up its criminals for longer, the terrible crimes that resulted in the formation of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, such as those against Teresa Cormack, Kylie Smith and Karla Cardno, have declined. But locking people up is a response to criminals, not the complete answer to preventing the creation of criminals.

Violent crime rates are dropping substantially in New Zealand.  Prison numbers are rising.  McVicar argues that there is a causal connection between these two hard statistical measures.  In other words, the reason violent crime statistics are reducing is due to violent offenders being kept longer in prison. 

The extremely liberal Labour Government finds this offensive.  Labour denies McVicar's causal link. Its position appears to be this: when it reduces prison numbers as it plans to do, it will have no effect on the incidence of violent crime in New Zealand.  Rather, Labour's position appears to be that reducing prison numbers will create a virtuous circle whereby reducing the number of people in prisons will actually reduce criminal offending in New Zealand. 

That is an extremely bold position to hold.  But there it is.  Labour in all its glory. 

Actually, in order to get to Labour's naive position, they have to add in a couple of suppressed, or hidden, premises.  Their whole case turns upon these not-so-often-talked-about beliefs.

Top Labour Politician Getting Found Out

Incompetent and Dishonest

What to do with an apparently incompetent Minister of the Crown who appears to be telling lies . . .

The country was assailed several weeks ago with allegations that Middlemore Hospital in Auckland was in dire straits.  It turns out the new government was "spinning"--that is, making things up, distorting the truth, exaggerating the alleged problems, creating a faux calamity.  Why would it do that?  Well, we don't know really. 

At the head of this apparently disreputable and dishonest attack has been the Government's new Minister of Health--one David Clark.  After the media went volcanic over all the allegedly horrible things that have been discovered about Middlemore Hospital, a few wiser heads are starting to ask questions.  It seems that they have been led by the nose ring, pulled and twisted by one David Clark, Minister of Health.

Mark Darrow, one of the Directors of Middlemore Hospital, has been summarily fired by Minister David Clark, despite the Minister never communicating with him at all, apart from the termination notice.  That of itself suggests cowardice on the part of the Minister--and/or fear of the now inevitable allegations of not dealing in good faith.  Here is just one reaction by one reporter who has done a bit more due diligence on our new deceptive and misleading Minister of the Crown.

Government Ban on Natural Gas Deconstructed By Expert

Open Letter re Oil and Gas Exploration

A guest post from Mark Webster of New Endeavour Resources (N.Z) Ltd.
Republished from Kiwiblog

The recent decision by the New Zealand government to stop issuing Permits for offshore oil & gas exploration is misguided and counter-productive.  It is highly likely that New Zealand has sufficient natural gas to support an LNG industry.  Exporting gas to countries that currently utilise coal would have a real, material impact on global emissions, and be a game changer to the NZ economy, enabling NZ to fund the social, environmental, infrastructure, and regional development programmes that the government has prioritised.  The current strategy will have minimal, and probably negative, impact on emissions, while removing a valuable source of revenue, with no substitute identified.

I am a New Zealander and a petroleum geologist.  I started my career as a graduate in Petrocorp and left 13 years later as Chief Geologist. I have worked in the industry for 34 years, in New Zealand and overseas (in Australia, Canada, Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia). I established a company (NER) with two experienced Australian colleagues, specifically to look for gas reserves in Taranaki.  We see huge potential here and have been working hard to develop opportunities, attract investors to NZ, and unlock this resource.  I don’t believe anyone would define us as Big Oil; I drive a 2004 Toyota Echo.

Like most people in the NZ oil & gas industry, I also care about clean air, clean water, and a fair society, and am grateful daily that I am lucky enough to live on these lightly populated and isolated islands. I voted Labour in the last election because, like many others, I was concerned at the growing inequity in NZ, the need for communities to have to provide food and clothing for school kids, the woeful salaries we pay teachers, nurses and basically anyone who isn’t in a position to yield financial clout. I don’t like seeing our youngest and brightest burdened by debt when they successfully complete training or education, knowing home ownership is moving out of their reach and they will be responsible for a rapidly increasing aged population requiring care. I liked Labour’s promises to boost the regions, so Auckland doesn’t become the hippo sitting at one end of the rowboat.

My argument is very simple.