Category: Economic Issues
I am an ‘interested party’ in the Marine and Coastal Area Act 2011 and am opposed, mainly on the general principal of equality of rights – but also because I am a keen fishermen and don’t want to see any restrictions on my right to fish.
For nine years in opposition, Labour vilified wealth creators for political gain, only to find their tax revenue now depends on them! It's not easy for a Party that’s beholden to the anti-business trade union movement for funding and electoral support, and totally reliant on the extremist Greens to stay in Government, to revive business confidence.
When the economic engine of a democracy fails, social and environmental imperatives become unaffordable. But rather than fix the economy, politicians have obfuscated and spent more of the nation’s precious capital on political band aids – reinforcing the downward spiral.
Several questions are raised by the development of a “charter” to set out the principles to guide “sound research” practice in New Zealand - including whether the Treaty of Waitangi should have a place in research, and why can’t research funders be relied on to set their own standards for the appropriate use of their money?
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.
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