Category: Economic Issues
The Economic Development Minister recently dismissed surveys showing business confidence is at its lowest level in a decade, as "junk”. In doing so, he revealed the deep seated anti-business sentiment that pervades the Labour-led Government - along with an alarming ignorance over what makes a country prosper.
There is growing concern that local government is becoming more ‘activist’. Unfortunately ratepayers are not at the heart of their motivations. Before looking at examples, let’s examine how the new Labour-led Government is dealing with some of the constraints being faced by local authorities.
LGNZ have embarked on a “Climate Change Project" focused on adapting and mitigating "climate change" – properly described as man-made global warming. When faced with a potential risk, the rational approach is to make sure the risk is real, assess its magnitude, decide if anything needs to be done, and if so, what is the cheapest and most effective solution.
There are just over 20 days left to send the Government a message that you are not prepared to accept the economic consequences of their Zero Carbon Bill, which comes at a very high economic cost to all New Zealanders, reducing jobs, growth and living standards.
The use of alarmism to justify the introduction of damaging new laws and regulations is a political strategy that sadly, is much more commonly used in New Zealand today than most people realise. The methamphetamine decontamination scandal is a classic case, where over-the-top scare tactics have been used to justify heavy-handed and overly restrictive regulation.
The big methamphetamine clean-up scam that was spectacularly busted last week is a story of a government’s failure to use evidence to create policy. It is also a story of politics. The bust came from the PM's chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, who reported that there's never been a documented case of someone getting sick from third-hand exposure to meth.
In the lead up to the last election, Labour’s policy manifesto signalled a dramatic change in direction for the country if they became the Government. The broad signs are already there that the new coalition’s unusual cocktail of radicalism and popularism is the greatest risk that this country has faced in years.
On October 23rd last year New Zealand First leader Winston Peters announced that he’d chosen the most radical left wing coalition in this country’s history to become our new Government.
With the Government’s climate change policy agenda set to impose huge financial costs on households over time, it is little wonder that global warming scaremongering is now being ratcheted up.
In economic terms, New Zealand’s isolation has long been seen as a major handicap. But in terms of ‘climate change’ alarm, isolation is proving to be its greatest asset.
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