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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Dr Muriel Newman
Under the guise of ‘compassion’, the agenda is all too easily captured by vested interest groups that are promoting welfare policies that will increase dependency on the state, rather than reducing it.
Earlier this month a public wharf on Matakana Island, off the Tauranga Coast, was blockaded with barbed wire and fence posts. A sign placed at the front of the Panepane wharf said, “Bugga Off.”
Earlier this month, a gift shop owner on Waiheke Island was called a racist, for selling golliwogs. The situation has been described as “Political correctness gone mad”.
The ability to challenge ideas in a free and unfettered manner – even at the risk of offending others – is the foundation of liberty. Yet these days, the pressure within New Zealand society not to offend others, is increasing. For those who call a spade a spade, their fundamental right to free speech is now under real threat.
As you and your family head off to the coast this summer, you might want to consider how long it will be before Maori tribal groups are dictating access rights to your favourite beach. Few holidaymakers will realise that ownership of the beach they are visiting is under claim.
Welfare reform requires great care. Of all policy areas, the unintended consequences of getting it wrong can be devastating, especially for children.
Over recent weeks the plight of Manus Island refugees and the Prime Minister’s offer to take 150 has dominated the news. The media’s obsession with the refugee issue is reminiscent of their incessant promotion of Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party in the run up to the election.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised to address New Zealand’s flagging productivity growth. According to the Productivity Commission, the country is being held back by our persistently weak labour productivity growth, which was the fourth lowest of all OECD countries between 1995 and 2014.
Following on from the controversial way the new Government was formed - whereby kingmaker Winston Peters chose a coalition of losing parties instead of the winning National Party - the 52nd Parliament also got off to a controversial start.
If anyone was hoping the election would deliver some form of reprieve from the hundreds of overlapping claims for the foreshore and seabed, resulting from National’s disastrous Marine and Coastal Area Act, they will be sorely disappointed.
