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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Dr Muriel Newman
There is no doubt that reform of local government is long overdue. Ratepayers up and down the country have long expressed their anger over the management of local government. From excessive rate rises and excessive debt, to attacks on private property rights, unwarranted costs and restrictions, the imposition of race-based representation… the list of concerns is endless.
National’s back down last week over school staffing cuts was a significant victory for the union movement. Two of the country’s most powerful unions - the New Zealand Educational Institute and the Post Primary Teachers Association - flexed their muscles and the government caved in. This is bad news for not only for children and parents but for the long term future of the country, since improving workforce skills is crucial for faster economic growth and rising living standards
The reality is that a group of radical Maori sovereignty activists had come together with extreme environmentalists and so-called peace campaigners in the Ureweras, to support the Tuhoe “cause”. Combined they created a potent mix of anti-establishment fanatics and career protestors with a potential for revolutionary action.
An annual budget is the main statement of the government’s overall economic and social programme. In his budget speech the Minister of Finance Bill English explained that the National-led government has three main priorities: to build a more productive and competitive economy, to deliver better public services, and to continue the rebuilding of Christchurch.
This year’s budget is to be released on Thursday. It will be delivered against a backdrop of increasing global economic uncertainty, particularly in the Eurozone. Greece is unable to form a government and a withdrawal from the Euro is looking increasingly likely - maybe even from the European Union itself. Youth unemployment has hit 50 percent in both Greece and Spain, while the number of people out of work in the Eurozone as a whole is at a 15-year high of over 17 million. There are concerns over Spain’s banking system, Portugal is sinking deeper into recession, Italy is still not out of the woods, and France has just elected a socialist President who believes that he can spend his way out of his country’s economic woes.
Poverty advocates are crying foul over the fact that the government is even raising the idea of linking the immunisation of children to benefit receipt, even though it is an established practice that works well in many other countries. This is a discussion that is taking place in the wider context of the government’s initiative to better protect vulnerable children. Requiring beneficiaries to immunise their children – unless they are opposed for conscience reasons - is surely part of their obligation as parents. Those who fail to do so are putting their children at risk.
The political nature of the Maori Party's constitutional review advisory panel is in sharp contract to the way in which a major constitutional review should normally have been implemented – through an independent Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by constitutional law experts. Instead we have ended up with a politically appointed panel, heavily weighted in favour of former politicians and Maori academics, but light on legal and constitutional expertise.
Saturday was Tax Freedom Day. As far as the central government tax burden is concerned, Saturday was the notional day of the year when the average New Zealander stopped working for the government and started working for themselves.
The reality is that the world is a far better place today than it was 50 years ago or even a few years ago - and it will be better still in the years to come. The technological and internet innovations that we are currently experiencing are only the starting point of a revolution that is now underway and is transforming our lives on a daily basis.
New Zealand’s ETS is the only country-wide trading scheme in the world outside of the European Union. The EU scheme is not an “all gasses, all sectors” scheme like New Zealand’s, but instead it targets just 43 percent of industrial emissions. It excludes the transport sector, households and small businesses, agriculture, and construction and waste. In addition, the EU scheme is based solely on carbon dioxide and excludes methane, which is such a major part of our emissions profile.
