A Gangster’s Charter: Bill English’s “Social Investment” Budget

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NEXT THURSDAY, 21 May, is Budget Day. No, don’t yawn, because if the veteran political journalist, Richard Harmon, is right, then “next week will be a defining moment in the third term of this government and a critical point in its campaign to retain power in 2017.”

That “defining moment” will mark the commencement of the next great campaign in Neoliberalism’s thirty years war against collectivism and the public sphere.

Some will call it privatisation but that’s not really what this next phase is all about. If John Key and Bill English really wanted to privatise the provision of social welfare they would simply shut down the Ministry of Social Development, close all the Work and Income offices, and sell off every one of its State Houses to the highest bidder. The public schools and hospitals would suffer a similar fate.

No doubt most of the Decile 10 schools would be snapped-up at a good price. The big public hospitals in the main centres would, similarly, attract plenty of interest. But all those Decile 1 schools? Who would want to pour good money into them? And provincial hospitals? Not much scope for profit there.

No, what Bill English is planning is something very different from a straightforward reversion to the “night-watchmen state” so beloved of the followers of Friedrich von Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.

It is doubtful that such a radical step would, in any case, save the government very much in the way of expenditure. Casting adrift the poor on such a massive scale would necessitate huge increases in Vote Defence, Vote Police, Vote Courts and Vote Corrections. The money saved by shutting down the welfare state would be offset by the amount spent defending whatever replaced it from the vengeance of tens-of-thousands of desperate citizens with nothing left to lose.

The “Better Public Services Programme” that Bill English launches on Thursday (almost certainly under a new and catchier name) won’t be about relinquishing all state responsibility for the poor, the sick and the young, it will be about funding private entities to provide services which, hitherto, had been provided by public servants.

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In English’s own words to the Institute of Public Administration on 19 February 2015: “Testing for spending effectiveness will be core to this process. If we can’t measure effectiveness, it won’t be funded through social investment. We’ll be systematically reprioritising funding to providers that get results.”

To anyone who’s been following the commissioning of the new privately-run prison at Wiri, south of Auckland, all this talk of “social investment” and “providers” will sound very familiar. The taxpayers have spent millions on the construction of the Wiri facility, and the Government has just announced the laying-off of close to 200 prison officers from around the country in order to supply it with a core of highly-trained staff, but the actual running of the prison has been contracted-out to the multinational firm, Serco. For the next quarter-of-a-century a private entity will be permitted to extract a substantial profit for the provision of a “service” that the state (minus the profit) has, quite rightly, accepted responsibility for the past 200 years.

How has it come to this? Why is the National Government preparing to pay (with our money!) the private sector for taking over the provision of services the public sector is perfectly capable of providing? In essence, the answer is: because in mature capitalist economies like New Zealand’s there’s bugger-all new profit-making opportunities available to the private sector. Hence the growing interest in “social investment”, a new kind of venture which promises to pay the private shareholder a handsome dividend without the necessity of making massive capital outlays on plant and machinery – all of which is supplied by the hapless taxpayer.

This isn’t capitalism in any accepted sense of the word. It is, however, instantly recognisable to any enterprising gangster as an officially sanctioned opportunity for skimming-off-the-top.

A public body contracts a private institution to supply a much needed social service. The latter offers a price – which includes a hefty chunk of cash for its trouble – and then proceeds to utilise every possible means of cutting corners and short-changing its “customers” so that it can (in the unlikely event of being asked) present the public with a passable facsimile of the service it undertook to provide.

Just think about everything that lay behind Tony Soprano’s cynical description of himself as a “waste management consultant”, and you’ll have a pretty good grip on what Bill English and his government’s “defining moment” is all about.

49 COMMENTS

  1. A nice description of the reality underpinning the next round of theft that the common’s wealth will be subjected to.

  2. When you don’t want to go after the rich because they are your mates and cash providers, and you are too scared to go after the middle because they might get angry and create an electoral backlash then there is only one target left – the poor, the sick and the disabled.
    National can call it by any b…..t name they like, but it doesn’t change anything – if you want to make profit out of and carry out social experiments on the lowest rung of society, then you are an a…hole, enough said.

    • You forget to mention that this plundering of the common’s wealth was started by frigging Roger Douglas and the Labour Party over 30 years ago.

      • @ Tuan Nguyen ! Absolutely ! Lest we fucking forget ! The Labour party of yesteryear has some serious cap-in-hand mother fuckin’ shit to do ! ( I just watched a film called The Baytown Outlaws and I’m all fired up ! )

        Labour ? roge ? One ? And the mutha fuckin’ same . Lest we forget .

  3. National are a bunch of gangsters all right. They are right into protection rackets – that is protect your rich mates from the horrible tax collectors.
    The gang consists of Bill “Capone” English, John “Bugs” Key, Steven “Scarface” Joyce, Paula “Bonnie” Bennett, Judith “Mata Hairi” Collins, Nathan “Legs” Guy, Simon “Baby Face” Bridges, and many others.
    Gangs don’t last for ever, and neither will this lot.

  4. Quote from Chris:

    “That “defining moment” will mark the commencement of the next great campaign in Neoliberalism’s thirty years war against collectivism and the public sphere.

    Some will call it privatisation but that’s not really what this next phase is all about. If John Key and Bill English really wanted to privatise the provision of social welfare they would simply shut down the Ministry of Social Development, close all the Work and Income offices, and sell off every one of its State Houses to the highest bidder. The public schools and hospitals would suffer a similar fate.”

    It is best described as PRIVATISATION BY STEALTH! It means more outsourcing, more contracting of many smaller and some larger “service providers”, as they have started to do in social security over recent years. So far these have just been trials, more or less, that is the “official” label put onto it, but “trials” tend to get tweaked a bit and then often become the norm.

    Whanau Ora fits into this, same as the privatisation of corrections and prison services, the contracting out of health and disability services, the use of service delivery companies all over the show.

    This is what they have so far done with sick, injured and disabled beneficiaries they re-assess now, and try to get into work:
    http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16092-work-ability-assessments-done-for-work-and-income-%E2%80%93-partly-following-acc%E2%80%99s-approach-a-revealing-fact-study/

    http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/15463-designated-doctors-%e2%80%93-used-by-work-and-income-some-also-used-by-acc/

    This is what MSD has delivered in response to OIA requests, telling us bloody little about the results of efforts to get mentally ill and sole parents into work, by using contracted “service providers”:
    http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/17163-mental-health-employment-service-sole-parent-employment-service-oia-info-implies-msd-trials-a-failure/

    Try to also search for ‘nzsocialjusticeblog2013’ online, and read more there!

    Look that up, please, it shows how they are dodging answering serious, detailed questions, and force people to file OIA complaints against MSD with the Ombudsman, which takes possibly a year or two to get resolved!

    It is a “murky” business, but some providers make money out of it, if not for enriching themselves or “shareholders”, at least they do well out of it by creating jobs for themselves, as managers, as administrators and service staff earning salaries and fees. This they can do even as “charities”, certainly as trusts, and we know how Sanitarium get around the tax department, being registered as a “charity”.

    They will do more of all this in housing, in other government areas, where it used to be government itself to deliver services. The future will resemble a patchwork landscape of endless private service providers, to some degree competing for a share of the pie of contracts to gain and earn from, and they will ALL be exempt from OIA obligations, so we as the public will have little in the way of scrutinising what they do and deliver, and what the actual outcomes are. At the same time government rids itself of responsibilities and “saves” money and can cut jobs in the public sector, thus also weakening the PSA and other public service unions.

    But such groups as the ‘NZ Taxpayer’s Union’ will embrace it, celebrate it, this will mean Jordan Williams will have endless “expert” interviews and “commentaries” lined up with all the MSM media players, parroting off, how great all this is, and how we “all” will “gain” from the governments supposedly “smart” moves.

    Voters that bother voting (middle class home owners and professionals) will say, hey, great, less taxes to pay, less ACC levies to pay, good for me, more in my pocket, stuff the “riff raff” of “whingers”, I love it, Key and English will get my vote.

    See where I come from? Labour better wake up, and stop trying to compete with Nats for those single minded, selfish vested interest voters, and look at reaching out and motivating the million non voters and resigned, disillusioned former voters, to gain their support, as all else will bring NO real change!

    Bandits, gangsters, manipulators, and English is the mastermind behind this agenda!

  5. In the UK the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the equivalent they have to our WINZ, they now have a new “assessment provider” called MAXIMUS. That US based corporation has various subsidiaries in a number of countries, also in Australia.

    Now new information shows how they have been cutting corners, cheated and misrepresented data, while serving for the Australian welfare departments, to try and place people into jobs:

    http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dwps-new-fitness-for-work-provider-faces-fresh-allegations/

    We will in future have similar developments here, I dare say, we already have such things happen here, the useless MSM simply has not bothered investigating and researching, and abuse and misuse has been kept under a tight lid, assisted by the OIA not applying for such service providers contracted by the state!

    • The UK is a good place to look. The recent shortage of beds in the NHS, which right wingers say is because the NHS is inefficient and should be privatised, is a direct result of the privatisation of care homes and ‘care in the community’. Private providers cherry pick the easy, cheaper patients to look and leave complex cases on hospital beds, at greater expense to the NHS.

      The private sector are not very good at doing the joined up thinking required to provide genuine ‘wrap around care’. I’ve worked in public and private sectors so I have experience of both. The private sector don’t have the skills and understanding required to deliver effective services to people who can’t pay for them.

  6. “Social Investment” Budget. This is pure “doublespeak” Language that deliberately disguises, distorts, reverses, or redefines meaning to further an agenda. The term was first coined by George Orwell in his dystopian novel, “1984”. This Govenrment has been doing the opposite of this throughout its office.

    skimming-off-the-top All sorts of privatisations facilitate this like buy the railways extort max income for the shareholders and overpaid execs do no maintenance flog off back to stupid public. Prisons: Charge tops but do just the bare minimum. Claim extra costs and hold stupid public over the barrel.

    The “Better Public Services Programme” Double speak again means underfund and ration the public provision to give away tax cuts then when there are problems outsource to private business that can do a better job. This is proven rubbish from overseas experience which has shown that efficiency and profit and share holders rule not service.

    ” In English’s own words to the Institute of Public Administration on 19 February 2015: “Testing for spending effectiveness will be core to this process. If we can’t measure effectiveness, it won’t be funded through social investment. We’ll be systematically reprioritising funding to providers that get results.” ‘ Means everything now in a budget straitjacket service can bug off. Except you’re rich and you pay for that which was once free. This is level 101 accounting management garbage bullshit!

    The Great Bean Counter strikes again: Thinks he knows the cost of everything but hasn’t a clue as to value of anything.

    • Billion-pound government deals with G4S and Serco probed to see if over-charging scandal goes beyond criminal tagging

      Whitehall review ordered into every deal with two security firms
      G4S and Serco accused of wrongly billing for non-existent tags
      Estimates suggest one in six of 18,000 tags billed for were not real
      Ministers have asked fraud investigators to look into G4S
      Business Secretary Vince Cable admits ‘something bad’ has happened

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2361689/Billion-pound-government-deals-G4S-Serco-probed-charging-scandal-goes-criminal-tagging.html

      ” yet the powers to be gave g4s the all clear and further contracts after the olympic fiasco unbelievable. g4s and a4e have both been exposed for ripping the tax payer off yet cameron and co cant or wont do or say anything why?

      I have worked for a couple of ‘very large global’ security companies and the practice of overcharging was well known. They would only credit back these overcharges if & when the customer identified them. It has been an industry standard for years.

      This is what private companies do. Next it will be Royal Mail making massive profits, it’s not magic it will be run for profit not service to you. Do something now and keep it public.

      Privatisation of Public Serves appears the ideal opportunity for big business to rip us off and the Tories still want Privatisation as much as they can. Could it be they just want to make their mates Rich at our expense?

      Both these companies should be barred from bidding for further government contracts. I’m betting the origins of this came from an accident, where overcharging was done by mistake and when it was realised that civil servants didn’t chase up on it and questioned it in anyway, became an industry in itself, in full knowledge of everyone in the companies. Funny how this has barely been reported when compared to civil servants credit cards. Follow the money to understand why.

      Another example of the pit falls of the Government and their Privatization plans. No real control or oversight of the Contracts, it will make no difference they will still be awarded 10 or 20 year contracts. The Board of Directors and Share Holders will have to take a smaller return this year. These contracts have only ever been about providing he minimum service whilst charging the maximum price. They have no interest in the Service they provide, just an excuse to rip off the Tax Payer. Maybe now some of these people who knock the public Sector will realise why we fight so hard to keep the services public, we don’t charge extortionate prices and walk off with half of it in our back pocket. They should now look into some of the lucrative long term contracts they have been granted to run the Prisons, bet you will find a lot of anomalies in there as well

  7. Congratulations my little Kiwis, you’ve descended so far that you’re almost past the underworld. Now how many hell-realms were there…?

  8. The truly macabre thing is that for all I exalt about the importance to our economy, and future generally, farming is , it takes a dumb , greedy, traitorous cocky with far too many pats on the head and far too few kicks up the arse to fuck us up . Oh , the irony.

    The Double Dipping Dipton Dribbler’s struck again.
    I think the greasy little man has a terrible secret . As does yankee doodle psycho jonky-stien.
    The terrible, terrible Great NZ Institutionalised Lie .

    And here’s where it gets even funkier for the paranoid. I wound’t be at all surprised if in fact the actual Mafia wasn’t involved at some level.

    There is one glimmer of hope however. It’s a feint wee glimmer I admit.

    Neo Liberalism was an alien entity 30 years ago. No one had heard of it and for those who had , they barely understood just how insidious, stealthy and mind-bendingly abstract and convoluted a form it could take . The philosophy trades on logical fallacies and lies wrapped in truths . It’s a very cunning and extremely clever way of fooling all of the people most of the time.

    But now . It’s out in the open and thanks to this fabulous Blog and the internet generally, the ghastly beast has nowhere to hide .

    Just remember:
    “It is always darkest just before the day dawneth.” – Thomas Fuller .

    little billy english and yankee doodle psycho jonky-stien can only get away with what we let them get away with.

    • I love your posts, CB, even if they get posted twice! and I know that deep down you are not an especially violent person, and you are actually quite caring. So I overlook the calls to mass spontaneous mob action, even if I understand why you might advocate it. But I think that the “stein” you append at the end of pino_key-o’s name undermines your arguments and leaves you open to accusations of anti-semitism. There are lots of things I would like to say in response to comments or posts but I try to moderate it. I don’t always get it right.

      • @ Kingi. I don’t know what went on there re my being posted twice ? The weirdy world of the interweb I guess. It clearly has you rattled, my apologies for that.

        Re the ‘ Stien’ thing ? This is war . Get over it . The Zionists are a waring , horrible pack of fuckers and they’re here, in your back yard and mine man. Jonky is a nasty, deviant little Zionist prick in my view and he’d sell his grandmothers ashes to a concreting company if he thought it’d further his ‘ career ‘ . Anti semitic ? I could not give one small flying feathered fuck-ette what you think re semitic’s . I’ll speak my mind thank you very much . ( If you’re genuine, I appreciate the heads-up )

        When I think anti semite I always think the hypocrisy that exists today re the Irish . It’s hilarious, to make a joke about the stupid Irish but poke fun at a Jew and out comes the holocaust.
        When times are less volatile , I’ll be more polite .

        • Go COUNTRYBOY –

          Absolutely agree with you there my friend.

          Keep the truth out there, until it hits and hits hard. Might get some collective action then to challenge and finally take down this bunch of treasonous, mobsters and shysters, destroying the fabric of all that was once decent and fair in NZ.

          Key is a traitor of the worst possible kind. He does his heritage proud! Working for the US, supporting the rogue state of Israel.

          Both nations are the infestation of the world, which has brought about international havoc and mayhem, the real forces responsible for giving life to 9/11 and ISIL.

          That’s where the blame lies for the evil corruption pervading the world at present – right at the feet of USA and Israel, along with their supporting puppet in the form of FJK doing the dirty work on their behalf!

          Keep up the good posts CB. I’m sure your sentiments have plenty of support.

        • Agreed. I don’t swallow the anti-semitism branding of fair criticism.
          I am amazed at the acceptance of deeply embedded propaganda making some myths sacred.

          You have to apply the test “who profits”. and examine all sides no hold barred and not overlook the history and be aware that much of it has been re-written.

          NZ future looks bleak in the hands of the ruling elite who are consolidating their control over Western world including NZ and push their war machine to predate beyond their expanding borders.

          John Key is associated with the core of the hegemony and has worked within their ranks..

        • Hi CB

          The U$ Empire based on the dollar and astronomical military spending has the following units of its geographical reach. 1. Nato, comprising the vassal states of Germany, France and the U$k. 2. Israel whose recent genocide of Gaza was supported 100% by the U$ which supplied more bombs when they ran out. 3. Canada 4.Japan and the Philippines and Taiwan 5. Australia and New Zealand.

          Financial control comes through the IMF and World Bank

          It is recognised that Jewish persons supporting Israel figure very prominently in the Wall Street U$ gangster class and many have revolving doored into the U$ administration.

          The current U$ plan of World hegemony was authored by Paul Wolfowitz who is a jewish zionist neocon.

          Could go on and on but won’t.

          Point? I strongly suspect that Key being Jewish and a money merchant and neoliberal had doors opened for him by the U$ enabling him to make his 50mill.
          I also suspect he had been chosen to be a future PM of vassal state NZ by his zionist financial and government supporters in the U$.

          The actual evil here is the U$ empire and militaristic Israel and its U$K supporters. Simple Jewish people themselves are horrified at the zionist atrocities, we must differentiate between them. E.G. Chomsky is jewish but a big critic of zionism.

        • Well said ,….and you’re right….this is WAR! CB….you’re posts are refreshingly honest , blunt , and to the point.!!

          No more namby pamby politically correct excusing these scumbag pricks.

          A scumbag is a scumbag no matter what race , creed ,sect , colour or whatever else.

          And if you re some sort of globalistic anti democracy , anti national sovereignty Zionist – then you’re a class A scumbag and need to be named and shamed.

          And if you are…..you should count yourself lucky that’s all you’ll get – if I had my way with all these globetrotting warmongering Zionist traitors – Id slam them all before a Nuremberg style court and have them all convicted for treason.

          Starting with John Key himself first.

          • Don’t forget Nuremberg happened AFTER the war had been fought and won.
            So who’s going to start it here, you’d better be damn well organised from day one and have a good plan to make sure your cause isn’t hijacked by other agendas.
            I can’t see revolution happening in NZ unless things get really bad, even then China would likely “step in to protect their citizens” and things would be 100 times worse.

        • I am genuine, CB, and judging by many of the comments it seems like it is an issue that needed flagging…. and there are many different takes on it. We don’t have to all agree on everything. Me, I want the Key gang gone, I want them to prise Jason Ede out from whatever rock he is hiding under, I want to know why Sabin resigned, and I want to know how much actual wealth is tied up by respective MPs in Aucklands property market. I work with decent people who have been sideswiped by the fruits of neoliberalism, and I watch them struggle to rejoin a workforce that will offer them minimal wages and probably not enough hours, like about 30, because it is better than being on the dole, but financially, not a whole lot better.
          I want us to return to a democratic socialism where there is more equality, and justice, and freedom and society is more caring, more employment, and less elitism, cronyism, skimming off the topism, greed, unemployment, selfishness and bully-boy behaviour, both amongst our elected representatives and amongst society.
          Thank you Chris Trotter for another chilling piece of truth.

  9. The truly macabre thing is that for all that I exalt about the importance to our economy, and future generally, farming is it takes a dumb , greedy, traitorous cocky with far too many pats on the head and far too few kicks up the arse to fuck us up . Oh , the irony.

    The Double Dipping Dipton Dribbler’s struck again.
    I think the greasy little man has a terrible secret . As does yankee doodle psycho jonky-stien.
    The terrible, terrible Great NZ Institutionalised Lie .

    And here’s where it gets even funkier for the paranoid. I wound’t be at all surprised if in fact the actual Mafia wasn’t involved at some level.

    There is one glimmer of hope however. It’s a feint wee glimmer I admit.

    Neo Liberalism was an alien entity 30 years ago. No one had heard of it and for those who had , they barely understood just how insidious, stealthy and mind-bendingly abstract and convoluted a form it could take . The philosophy trades on logical fallacies and lies wrapped in truths . It’s a very cunning and extremely clever way of fooling all of the people most of the time.

    But now . It’s out in the open and thanks to this fabulous Blog and the internet generally, the ghastly beast has nowhere to hide .

    Just remember:
    “It is always darkest just before the day dawneth.” – Thomas Fuller .

    little billy english and yankee doodle psycho jonky-stien can only get away with what we let them get away with.

  10. ‘Social investment’ was a term first thrown around in the 1970’s by academics when the new right was ganging up to cut social spending. Social spending was social investment (capital) eg schools hospitals etc, or social expenditure (cost of running costs hospitals schools, state housing, welfare etc).
    The new right argued that cuts to social spending were necessary to reduce the tax burden on profits that were falling as the capitalist economy stagnated.
    To achieve this market forces (cost/benefit analysis) were introduced to justify cuts. These cuts were resisted by the unions who were undermined right up to the 90s when the ECA was used to destroy the power of the unions.
    “More market” empowered consumers of social spending to become administrators (Tomorrows schools) pushing for schools, then hospitals, and now social welfare itself to become mini SOE’s, state owned enterprises that had to balance their shrinking budgets and compete with the private sector.
    But there never was a free market in the history of capitalism and market forces just allowed sections of consumers the opportunity to become small business owners living off state subsidies.
    The real payoff was the cuts to taxes on profits, diverting the blame for a stagnating economy onto the state workers, weakening the unions that defended state workers, and the empowering of an aspirational, entitled, middle class that now constitutes the dead centre of NZ politics around which both the main parties revolve.

  11. This is what disabled persons in New Zealand may also face, should National ever manage to win a fourth term:

    http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dame-annes-warning-to-disabled-people-be-afraid-be-very-afraid/

    So is it perhaps time for Labour to come clean on welfare policy, and take a damned clear stand against what this Nat led government has been presenting us for too many years?

    We have been waiting two elections, and heard almost zilch from Labour about welfare policy, that is such affecting those that are not falling under the “child poverty” catch call headline (being sick, injured and disabled, sole parents and ordinary jobseekers).

  12. Good wrap on NatZ next assault on our last remaining assets – defined as “Essential services”.

    You said Quote;
    “In essence, the answer is: because in mature capitalist economies like New Zealand’s there’s bugger-all new profit-making opportunities available to the private sector. Hence the growing interest in “social investment”, a new kind of venture which promises to pay the private shareholder a handsome dividend without the necessity of making massive capital outlays on plant and machinery – all of which is supplied by the hapless taxpayer. This isn’t capitalism in any accepted sense of the word. It is, however, instantly recognisable to any enterprising gangster as an officially sanctioned opportunity for skimming-off-the-top.”

    I would say emptying they have been emptying the public asset barrel and “skimming off the bottom now”.

    Some may call it skimming off the top!

    Fact is that the nasty NatZ are now near the end of our asset barrel to flog anything else off now!

    So when the barrel’s finally bare, and we are all destitute, where do these corrupt crappy phoney political masters all flee to next?

    Obviously the power and high they experience when they see us all gutted by their will to destroy as they crave the next public asset place to rape & pillage?

    Will they actually flee the country to avoid persecution on the gallows when the public finally wakes up from their slumber and see they have sold the country out from under their feet?

    You are right NZ is in big trouble now.

  13. Yes….ever since the easy to get at gold was mined from the rivers…the cashed up ones started forming the big mining company’s. The age of the small gold miner had ended.

    So opportunism went the same way.

    I use this an analogy. Because historically ,….that is what happened in simple terms. And the same is true today.

    Except that cunning and devious minds have connived to extract even more ‘ gold ‘ from a society once wealthy. Using the tool of neo liberal economic theory…all manner of deconstruction …under the guise of strange new catch words such as ‘ testing for spending efficiency ‘…

    A typically coded set of words to sound important , fiscally responsible ….yet is total gobbledygook and even more so – totally deceptive.

    This is par for the course for neo liberals. They have a long track record of lies such as this. In that they cannot deny the historical facts.

    We were sold the lie from people such as Jenny Shipley , Ruth Richardson , Roger Douglas ……and all the rest of this screaming brigade that such things as ‘ prices for electricity will come down due to more competition ‘.

    Yet we all knew….this country was NEVER big enough to have adequate ‘ competition’.

    And they knew that.

    And they also knew that and that exactly the opposite of their statements was actually the truth. It was a ruse… simply to transfer the public wealth to themselves and offshore corporate’s. Same with Telecom. Exactly the same.

    They are liars. They have no interests or loyalties to this country . They are globalists. Which means a nations borders and sovereignty become nothing but a token gesture….the all pervading motive is to deconstruct ANY barrier to their corporate agenda.

    Therefore they are traitors. And guilty of treason.

    Its that simple.

    It is more than often a fact that a private company will place the facade of ‘efficiency’ before the public ( as do political exponents of neo liberal theory )…yet we all have witnessed in this country the exact opposite…as that company commissions its bean counters as one of the first acts in taking control on how to cut costs .

    And then after buying up a SOE for a song, inheriting the infrastructure for next to nothing , making redundant workers, stripping that asset back to its skeletal core , having remaining workers on deunionised flat rates…then ramping up charges for its services to the public…becuase there is NO competition…

    We end up with a substandard, unmonitored , deregulated monster protected by legislation , layers of high powered legal litigants ,….sucking the very blood out of the tax payer.

    THIS is the modus operandi of the neo liberal.

    THIS is the lie.

    THIS is the treason.

    • And might I continually remind the NZ public….this budget…is coming from the man known as the ‘ Double Dipper from Dipton ‘…who once stated a few years back…..

      ”We should be glad we have a LOW WAGE ECONOMY because this encourages foreign investment ”.

      It would behoove anyone getting lulled into a false sense of security regarding this Bill English to remember that statement.

      NEVER FORGET IT .

      THIS is where this mans loyalties lie.

      Never mind the public stunt of boxing for charity in order to woo people into thinking he’s a nice guy…and how ‘ so brave of him ‘….

      POPPYCOCK!!! …martial artists up and down this country do the same every night of the week.

      And don’t forget the rubbish of Rodney Hide either…with his dancing…the same motives were at the core…

      Both dancing and ‘ boxing ‘ are not at fault..and perhaps they genuinely enjoyed the experience. But we are not so easily fooled. The counterpart to those ostentatious acts is John Key and his ‘ beer at the barbie one of us ‘ facade that his spin doctors have cultivated.

      None of these people are ‘ one of us’.

      They are globalistic corporately motivated anti – sovereignty advocates.

      They are not loyal to you , New Zealand….and whatever you do…never forget this fact and always view these deceivers for who they really are with their hidden globalist corporate agendas ….

      And you will observe that 9 times out of 10…..the truth doesn’t lie on what they’ve just stated….but in fact is exactly the opposite.

      Do this….and you will start to see the truth….do this….and you will be armed with a necessary and healthily democratic cynicism towards those who would seek to undermine your liberty’s , prosperity , your family’s well – being ,…indeed…your very nations future.

  14. You are so very right. For my sins I have experience in this kind of private provided public service and it is a farce.

    The cash cow namely the taxpayer will pay over the odds year in and out for whatever the service is.

    The taxpayer will never get what they want or pay for.

    It will be quickly evident to anyone in that organisation that it would have been far cheaper to leave it to the public service. It will never be evident to the public because this will be well concealed.

    The provider will lease everything right down to ball point pens.

    They will have virtually nothing invested.

    The provider, in an illusion of professionalism, responsibility and the “right attitude” will have wall to wall (literally on every wall) corporate mission statements and goals on such subjects as paramount safety, partnerships, leadership, expertise and community responsibility amongst others all to give but they will all be hollow words and nothing more than a giant mound of bullshit for public display.

    The lack of expertise and the need to maximise the return to its shareholders will see breath taking corner cutting and if I am not mistaken barely concealed law breaking omissions or acts along with negligence.

    There will be a plethora of problems hidden on a daily basis based on their lack of expertise and personal investment.

    And it will have unbelievable layers of management, all siloed and all designed to look like they care. However the CEO or similar will be the only one who says what goes. Staff will be ignored.

    We will be the losers, make no mistake and I wonder how many National MP’s or other shadowy National figures within the party are going to do very well from this privatisation. Its the only reason anyone apart from a fool would do this.

  15. One the telly the other day there was this housing cluster of State homes,looking bran new on this section of land just outside the city of Auckland.They had been purchased by this new form social housing group,the ex State homes where purchased by this group for $8 thousand per home,the spokes person for the social housing group said,they where bashed and in a sad state of repair,that they had spent considerable time renovating to be worthy of habital.The spokes person Maori,went on to say,these homes we are offering are affordable ownership at $195 per week to own over 17 years with on site fruit vegetables at at affordable prices.The caveat,no Alcohol smoking or drugs.

    So its would seem that its ok for our government to sell off State homes to a collective cultural settlement,when State homes construction had never that intent.

  16. Thanks Chris, Your contribution really brings out feelings and emotions.
    The comments above are honest and powerful. Thanks to the commenters as well.

    On the backs of the poor and disabled and the seniors and the vets our mob of gangsters,
    so wonderfully named by Marcus, do not completely grasp a few simple facts.
    Private institutions running the show and PROFIT (AGAIN) BEFORE PEOPLE is their mantra.
    Meanwhile suffering; suicides; violence and poverty dominates many communities.

    We the people need to remind ourselves and them over and over that —

    Privatization is wrong ! ! —- AND NEEDS TO BE STOPPED NOW
    Perpetual war is wrong —– AND NEEDS TO BE STOPPED NOW
    Deep Sea Oil Drilling —– HAS GOT TO BE STOPPED
    TPPA is wrong —– FLUSH IT DOWN THE TOITY
    Fracking is wrong —– UGLY UGLY SICK DISGUSTING MADNESS
    HAARP IS SO VERY WRONG AS IS NATO AND MILITARY STYLE VIOLENT POLICE

    Mega corporations based in greed are cowards and their buddy Banksters
    need to be AND ARE presently being exposed and prosecuted.

    I feel, we need to stop complaining and judging and speak our and act more & start taking back our country.

    TIME HAS COME TO BRING BACK SANITY AND STOP THIS MADNESS.
    Follow Iceland and others who are paving the way. Kick the crooks out.

    We can not accept that we are the ones who are or will be loosing. Together we can unite and are strong.
    They are powerful, yes, but they are out numbered and we need to speak out and act out and be positive.
    Falling into their web of lies and propaganda and mind control can be changed by choices and willingness.

  17. And the same is being done with charter schools; the State pays to have buildings and facilities erected; then private companies take over the running – effectively a state sponsored, taxpayer-funded subsidy which no other business in NZ gets.

    All under the guise of “buying a service” which the State can perform perfectly well.

  18. “waste management consultant”

    Plenty of dung needing to be managed coming from this government

  19. The solution is simple- STOP paying income taxes, to a Government that is clearly corrupt, spying on you, covering for sex offenders to win elections (no I haven’t named one, but take your pick), and engaging in war crimes and genocide overseas with your money (terrorism). They want privatisation? Well, they have gst and petrol taxes- and corporate taxes- billions to work with. period. Thats user pays. No more income taxes, let people work and keep their money- and let small business thrive and employ. If you are on the dole- best go back home and live with Mum, and get a part time job- there will be thousands more coming available- as soon as we wipe income taxes altogether.

  20. “If we can’t measure effectiveness, it won’t be funded through social investment. We’ll be systematically reprioritising funding to providers that get results.”

    All disabled should watch out. The system around support is already in complete chaos and it isn’t due to lack of measurable goals.

  21. See distasteful Fairfax has now gone on to attack pensioners in promotion of their beloved Labour and Gutless Little Andy. They reckon pensioners are living in luxury, while the overbreeding for monetary recompense, they represent, are being disadvantaged at their expense. Well leeches of the left, the majority of pensioners have had the guts taxed out of them over the years, and most are deserving of a few crumbs, also most having to face interest rates on property purchases up to 30%. Come on lazy unemployable bludgers, stop breeding and start feeding what tyou have produced, don’t expect current taxpayers, and past overtaxed members of society, to subsidise your bedroom behaviour and your self-entitlement mentalities. Why does this media outlet always find the need to get comment from either useless taxpayer-funded academics, or fiscally challenged losers, like the current rainbow spokesman for finance, Robertson? I, personally do not begrudge my taxes going to support retired pensioners, but I take exception to funding bludging layabouts, and so-called refugees, who are overloading our infrastructure, education, health, and housing, being unprepared to do anything to support themselves.

      • Introducing compulsory birth control may be the only answer to these overbreeding leeches, after all, they only do it for the money, not the love of the child. Good Lord, they want us to feed them, so they can go pubbing, clubbing, and drugging; just the reason why decent people don’t support their mentors, Labour.

        • You sure you didn’t make a spelling mistake ….when it should have been Mortien?

          Spray em all down like cockroaches , eh mate?

          Better not spray too hard though cos one day it might be your kids or your grand-kids….or friends…who end up unemployed…

          That’s the problem with trying too hard to sound off like the proverbial hard rightist…..you set yourself up for a fall every time.

        • Oh look, a troll. Pity the stop-breeding programme wasn’t implemented with your parents, Mortense. Lead by example, eh what?

          As for overtaxed, well, Mortense, if you did a bit of research instead of indulging in your parroted ignorance, you’d know NZ was one of the least taxed countries in the world. And judging by the growth of child poverty in NZ, it shows.

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