The Real Cost Of Cheese
Thanks To SO For The Use Of Her Cartoon!
April 1 – A Day To Celebrate
Today sees the start of a number of flagship policies announced by Labour in recent times. The minimum wage officially rises to $12, the company tax rate drops from 33 percent to 30 percent, benefits and allowances increase, and employer contributions to KiwiSaver start at 1 percent.
There is certainly something for everyone in these policies, and it is good to see Labour continuing to roll out progressive and substantive policy. I suspect people all around the country will be celebrating today.
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Key vs Bush: Not That Dissimilar
John Key made a rather curious statement during an interview on Breakfast this morning. During questions from Paul Henry regarding National’s knee-jerk decision to bring forward the start date of their tax cut package, Key said New Zealanders were:
“Hugely struggling to pay their mortgages at the pump”
Butchering of the English language aside, how exactly does one “pay their mortgage at the pump”?
The similarities between John Key and George Bush become more and more apparent every time either of them opens their mouth.
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Roger’s Return
If last week’s announcement by Act that Roger Douglas was planning a return to Parliament sent shock waves around the country, then today’s revelations about what he plans to do once he’s there must surely be like history repeating itself. It seems that Douglas didn’t quite get his fill of the far right agenda he pursued while Finance Minister for the fourth Labour government, and today outlined some of the policies he would like to pursue should he ever make it back to cabinet. They included:
- Privatizing the health system
- Scrapping Working for Families
- Cut between $3-$5b of government spending
- Drop the top tax rate to 33c in the dollar
- Introduce education vouchers for children
One can only assume that those policies announced today are just the tip of a very large and ugly iceberg. We can also expect privatization of education and state owned assets, welfare cuts, and a general return to the “Rogernomic” and “Ruthenasia” policies of the past. Of course, the prospect of Act being in any position to implement these policies in their own right is very slim indeed, but the likelihood of them gaining enough of the party vote in this year’s general election to make them a real contender for a spot in a right-wing coalition has increased exponentially since National began its move to the left. John Key has certainly been slow in quashing any speculation that Act, Let alone Douglas, would have any prospect of a position in a government he leads.
National’s dallying over the issue of Douglas will certainly not have alleviated suspicions of a hidden right wing agenda, nor quelled public fears of the type of Prime Minister Key would be. In fact, it is not hard at all to imagine a National government pursuing some, if not all, of the policies outlined by Act today, especially given the large number of current members of National’s caucus who were great admirers of “Rogernomics”, and were happy to continue his legacy under Ruth Richardson during the 1990s. And while John Key has taken a somewhat silent approach to this, Rodney Hide has been very vocal indeed, today saying:
“There are a lot of people in the National Party who agree with what we are saying.”
That is certainly an indication that John Key will have a job on his hands in trying to ensure that National remains a more centrist party than it has been in the past, especially once coalition negotiations start. While today Key is saying there is no possibility whatsoever that National would pursue a far-right agenda should it gain the Treasury benches, the cards dealt after the election and the strength of his desires to become New Zealand’s 38th Prime Minister could certainly change all of that.
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