Category: Politics
2008 was the coldest year this century. This is not an aberration as the global warming industry would have us believe. The world has been on a cooling trend since 1998 and there is now growing scientific evidence that governments around the world should plan for colder not warmer temperatures.[1] Yet, as is typical of emotion filled movements, it is hard to imagine cold hard facts getting in the way of the vested interests’ headlong rush towards costly and useless global warming taxation schemes – even here in New Zealand.
It is difficult to comprehend just how dark the economic clouds that are bearing down on New Zealand really are. The problem is, that with New Zealand going into recession early last year - well ahead of the global financial crisis - our economy was already on a downward track with little resilience to cope with such a massive international downturn.
This is traditionally a time of year when we commit to new personal goals. The energy and sense of perspective we bring back from summer holidays, combined with the ticking over of the calendar, put us in the right frame of mind for resolutions. This year I believe we New Zealanders should also make a broader, collective commitment. We should commit to a measurable goal for our nation.
The next few months will be critical for the new government. It’s a time when the expectations of change must be honoured.
Whenever we try to assess the meaning and significance of particularly horrible cases, such as that of Nia Glassie in New Zealand or Baby P in Britain (between which there are several parallels), it is important to bear in mind that there is nothing new under the sun, that some people have always done terrible things to others, that some humans have always behaved with the utmost cruelty, that there has never been a golden age of universal benevolence and good will to all men, and that no social system will entirely eliminate the human capacity for evil.
Such was the noise over a law change to introduce a grievance-free trial period for new employees, that you could be forgiven for thinking that the new National Government was outlawing the trade union movement!
When I first visited New Zealand in July of 1990 at the invitation of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, one mission stood out above all. My job was to find some sensible way to stem the ever increasing tide of regulation in Kiwi employment markets. Ironically, the immediate target of that visit was the then Labour Party’s recently enacted, but short lived, system of “pay equity,” which would put the government in the happy position of deciding the relative wages for men and woman in all the different kinds of jobs thrown up by a modern economy.
New Zealand is now emerging from nine years of creeping socialism. During those nine years, we have been told that the state knows best how to run our lives - and our country. Whether it is what we eat, how we bring up our children, or what sort of light bulbs we can use in our homes, laws have been developed to control our behaviour.
In the first party leaders’ debate on TV One during the election campaign, Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper tackled National leader John Key on the subject of the 1981 Springbok tour. He wanted to know what Key’s position had been.
As a result of the global economic crisis and growing concerns about its impact on the New Zealand economy, the Reserve Bank is now required to issue a Financial Stability Report twice a year. These reports are designed to not only provide details on the soundness and efficiency of our financial systems, but enable a more open assessment on whether the Reserve Bank is achieving its statutory prudential purpose.
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