What the fuck is this muppet doing?
So instead of pointing out the horrific failings of this Budget, and believe me folks, there are horrific failings, the media are now exploiting the insane division between the Greens and Labour…
Audrey Young: Budget moves leaves Labour standing alone
If the Budget seemed like smart politics at 2 pm when it was clear National had made yet another raid into Labour territory, by 7.30 pm it had turned into a work of sheer genius when it was clear the Greens were going to support National’s tax reduction law.
Labour alone opposed the bill that raises the thresholds at which the lowest two tax rates cut in.
Even New Zealand First supported it on the basis that some improvement to income is better than none.
It wasn’t calculated genius by National. The Greens’ move surprised everyone, Labour included.
Labour’s finance spokesman, Grant Robertson, didn’t know until I told him, although that was apparently just a communications glitch. Someone in the Greens had told someone in Labour.
While it may seem of little consequence whether the Greens support or oppose a Budget measure than is going to pass anyway, it is important in the context of the election.
With the election only four months away, the Greens supporting the centre-piece of the National Government’s Budget and Labour opposing it is an entirely different context.
It undermines the carefully crafted measures both Labour and the Greens have struck to co-operate where they can and to gain the confidence of voters.
…let’s just count the ways the budget is a total failure before I start in on the Greens…
- National is increasing spending on prisons & military in greater percentages than welfare.
- The tax package is heavily skewed towards high-income Kiwis.
- The bottom half of income earners get 20% of the value of the cuts. The top 10% also get 20% of the money.
- The poorest 800,000 get nothing.
- 500,000 low income working Kiwis get $1 a week net.
- Health gets a real terms cut of $200m
- Education gets a real terms cut of $80m
- It does nothing for housing.
- The extra $2b for infrastructure is only paying for cost blow-outs, not new projects
- Accommodation Supplement increase is a con job
- Cuts home insulation program when we know 1600 NZers die from the cold each year, that’s a death sentence for some of our most vulnerable.
…but we aren’t discussing why the Budget is a real horror story, oh no, we are discussing how the bloody Greens are voting for this Budget!
The Greens have allowed themselves to get played by the National Party who are right now running around telling everyone who will listen that even the Greens support this rip-off Budget, bloody Bill English did yesterday!
I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a dozen times, the Greens have a major staffing problem in terms of tactics and strategy and are effectively chequers players trying to play Chess. It didn’t seem to occur to anyone within the Greens that voting for the Budget would become a major story or how it would be seen as just more division between them and Labour when they are supposed to be looking unified 4 months out from the election or how it gives the bloody National Party ammunition to use consistently throughout the entire election, and of course when they make these dumb decisions, they can’t u-turn once the magnitude of stupidity hits them so they are doomed to nail their flag to the ship of the damned they’ve built.
My understanding from sources within the Party is that there are deep divisions over how James Shaw has run things since becoming leader.
The appointment of a toxic Wellington Twitter warrior like The Ruminator as their communications person, the weird attempt to implement a wonk on budgeting election promises as their state of the nation 2 years ago, their support for Red Peak that only ended up proving how out of touch the Twitter elite are, their even weirder ‘we aren’t radical’ state of the nation last year, their weird decision to look like smug arseholes on the front cover of North & South and their even weirder decision to run against Jacinda are now joined by this idiocy which National will use all the way until Election day.
With allies like the Greens, you actually don’t need enemies.
I have voted Green all my life, but they are making it so difficult to vote for them in September.
They can’t seem to see the endangered forest for the native trees. Bill English must be laughing his arse off.
Serious question time, if these schoolboy errors in political tactics and strategy are all the Greens can muster how the Christ can they be trusted with Executive Power?
Absolutely correct Martyn,
Todays green Blue party does not work with other groups as NGO’s in our experience of late that is why I have voiced my concerns at the current lack of green party loyalty to anyone let alone a strategic political alliance such as the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) they hitched up to last year, but since then as you rightly point out have repeatedly voided that agreement and are embarrassing the other party.
I said the lesson here is to not trust the current direction and style of the administration of the green party today.
I could enlarge on our difficulties with this Green Party over our NGO 17yr efforts to save the regional rail services here in NZ.
But Green Party lack of attendance to our Rail Forum and subsequent focus meetings, and their lack of support for our community efforts are at the very least disappointing, since rail is at the top of transport friendly to the environment emissions.
Green Party are now displaying a distinct lack of support and are lacking now also with communication skill, as you also pointed out.
I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a dozen times, the Greens are middle class wankers.
Agreed JS Bark 100%
And hats off to Martyn, absolutely correct you are,
Todays green Blue party does not work with other groups as NGO’s in our experience of late that is why I have voiced my concerns at the current lack of green party loyalty to anyone let alone a strategic political alliance such as the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) they hitched up to last year, but since then as you rightly point out have repeatedly voided that agreement and are embarrassing the other party.
I said the lesson here is to not trust the current direction and style of the administration of the green party today.
I could enlarge on our difficulties with this Green Party over our NGO 17yr efforts to save the regional rail services here in NZ.
But Green Party lack of attendance to our Rail Forum and subsequent focus meetings, and their lack of support for our community efforts are at the very least disappointing, since rail is at the top of transport friendly to the environment emissions.
Green Party are now displaying a distinct lack of support and are lacking now also with communication skill, as you also pointed out.
I’am a Green, and most definitely working class.
If people don’t party-vote Labour (as happened in too many places in 2014) there will still be good local MPs trying to cope with the results of a National government.
I hope the Greens do well, too, there are still good and energetic people on their list, and we do not want to be dependent on Winston to change the government. But principally the party votes have to stack up for Labour.
Personally I not trusting the Greens with executive powers. This is why the left can not replace Labours ability to manage government departments. The trainng wheels are still on and keep working on yur craft
If you want more of the same vote National or Labour.
Tweedledum and tweedledee.
Haven’t noticed either being that competent in Government.
National have been spectacularly incompetent while being rescued by Christchurch and excessive immigration.
Labour cannot decide if they are a Neo-liberal National lite or a workers party.
If you want real change for the better, vote Green!
Indeed, KJT. Let’s not forget Labour’s luke-warm criticism and acceptance of the TPPA.
The greens are simply idealists with no political savvy at all. Give me labour over the greens every time.
I would trust the Greens ahead of Labour .
Ditto, Garibadi. The Greens are principled. Labour wants to win at any cost. Give me principle any day.
Martyn appears to have such a snitch on the Green party he cannot mention them without writing absolute bollocks.
Sorry about the Greens now cuddling up to Nactional, as we do see it through the Green/Blue haze of the Green Party policies now.
Tell us why the Greens never voiced any concerns over kiwirail closing more “environmentally friendly rail provincial lines” this year such as Gisborne/Wairoa line please??????
Why did Greens assist in converting a northland line to a cycle trail last year also, and the press showed a gleeful Russel Norman sitting next to John Key after riding on that rail corridor now a cycleway??????
Greens environmental policy evaporated that day along with their credibility and we note since then they have not criticised Norman the former Co-Leader for posing on a dismantled railway on a bike next to the disgraced ex-PM – which poses the question.
What are the Greens about to decide to do when the day after the election comes around, – and Greens need to decide who to support then??????
Will it be labour or Nactional?
Result = We cant trust the Greens.
Im disappointed in the Greens, not so much for supporting the budget but more that they did not have some sort of communication with Labour about what they each thought of it, and tactics. Greens probably did not realise how bad the budget was before they supported it.
National are experts at confusion. That’s how they survive and flourish. Lying and cheating and bribing.
Unity and sharing information by the opposition is one way to combat those tactics.
I think the Greens lost their intelligence base when Russel Norman resigned
I’ve been calling their electoral strategies ridiculous for years. Glad to see that it’s finally beginning to sink in with the public. But they should smarten up and for dog’s sake SHUT UP.
I lay the blame for this squarely at the feet of the NZ Labour Party. They didn’t front foot taxation when it’s been clearly signaled as an election issue by National for years. Labour should have started a conversation months ago about the principles and purpose of progressive taxation. Our top rate of tax at 33% is one of the lowest in the OECD. Middle class NZ has no clue or refuses to consider the consequence of lower government revenue and what this means for the long term prospects of high quality, free public services.
It may be forgivable for the struggling and poorly rewarded to focus on the extra $11 a week they’ll get without consideration for the cost but for those of us not in that situation who look to economic leadership from the NZ Labour Party they have been a vacuum of alternatives ideas. The aspirant, 3 home owning, me, me NZ middle class needs to be brought to heel and not given carte blanch on determining NZ economic future.
Public services are not funded by the contributions of NZ large pool of middle and working class workers and their consumption via GST – most with children will have inverted taxes via WWF payments. Public services are funded through “wealth re-distribution”. That is the taxation of highly profitable companies and wealthy individuals whose tax payments contribute by far the greater majority of tax revenue.
But Labour are in no position to explain this to the electorate or make the case for higher taxes and greater wealth re-distribution.
Every middle class kiwi is an aspirant millionaire and Labour are too scared to confront this banal mind set.
Don’t blame the Greens who’ve never held office and are clearly giving themselves strategic options. This is down to the NZ Labour Party which is crying out for a Jeremy Corbyn.
The Greens have to be blue/green they have to support continued growth, which due to peak energy is now only via immigration, and the continued destruction of our land via cows.
Kiwisaver needs growth.
To admit our continued growth and destruction of our environment is wrong, would mean the end of Kiwisaver, they are never going to swollow that cup of cold sick.
To maintain the statuesque, we must have a dumbed down populus, telling the general dumb public that voting will change things, when the options we have are the same as they have always been, Fuck the environment, or fuck the environment, is just playing their game, which is 100% stacked against all of us, and your children.
And as we know most people are happy with this situation.
I’ve been loathe to comment, and I probably still should refrain, but as someone who supported Labour over many years, and then took the bold step of giving my Party Vote to Greens at the last election – being utterly sick of having to vote for the least worst option, and after delivering pamphlets for them and acting as a scrutineer (now THERE’s a fucking story in itself) – this looks very untidy.
And as someone who has worked in the corporate world – including for banks, as well as the Public Service, and in various ‘jobs! jobs! jobs!’ as a working ‘class’ peon – this shit really worries me.
I’m hoping that behind closed doors, there is some serious thinking going on amongst Green Party ranks.
– Sure James Shaw and Grant looked tight on Q+A.
– Sure all those that think they’re connected and and ‘in the know’; the sympathisers who misconstrue that as ’empathisers’; ……….
– The Green Party Apologist-in-Chief over on TS (check out today e.g. with TWO posts) trying to look rational and in deep thought with all the ambition (and probably creds) as an academic.
– With the MSM such as it is (and presumably with the Green Party having the nouse to understand the way it is)
The signals they’ve sent seem to me to be a bit naiive.
And what worries me more (having worked in the Corp World and the PS in managerial positions – such as it is these days) is whether or not James Shaw is not just another Greenwasher. It’s easy for that Corporate world to rub off.
I’m also worried because I seem to be seeing less of Metiria Turei fronting, and more of James (in the MSM of course)
And I’m not the only one getting worried – there are those I know who’ve been amongst the staunchest of GP suppotas.
I suspect even MT might be getting worried privately (just as someone who amuses hisself observing people and their foibles)
Funny thing about that thing we call that broad Church “The Left”, or even its identity-politics-driven equivalent that ” Martyn had a phrase for – is that in recent times, they have a habit of shooting themselves in the fucking foot at crucial moments.
It’s not down to a lack of intelligence either – more to do with ego and ambition and competitiveness, and probably even a lack of experience (as arrogant as that may sound – I don’t care!).
I hope in the back rooms there are some serious discussions going on because for the missing million, the car and GHuznee Streetn motorway under-bridge dwellers, the indigent – indulging in any form of escapist activity they can get their hands on; etc., etc, the non-voter ….. it might actually dawn on them (as they occasionally glimpse only the MSM) they’re not doing themselves any favours.
(The P freak real estate agent, or immigration consultant, or IT professional that frequents the local branch of Mermaids is always going to keep voting for the National Party drug till their bubble bursts)
As for the Green Party – does anyone know who the fuck is giving them advice? Is it Mathew Hooton? or Weka?, or even Simon Wilson maybe – who the fuck is it?. They’d be better off just trusting their naked instincts – even in this world of spin and bullshit that they obviously think is necessary (THAT FUCKING AWFUL MAGAZINE COVER for e.g.)
Is it just that MT needs a bit of a lay down and that mother should pour the tea with scones and cream whilst father fronts it with the ‘big boys and girls’? Has some fuckwit decided that James should be the one to front the MSM such as it is? in order to give him some experience and promote a profile?
Sure as shit that whilst I might somehow consider giving them a vote in future – in this MMP environment, I’ll not be climbing hundreds of steps delivering pamphlets and battling gated-properties (or do they think James already got that under control), or indeed reading emails, UNTIL they sort their shit out.
I suspect they’re being advised by some PolSci grad (from some Uni with declining rankings), and with a huge student debt, parked up at mummy and daddy’s house or maybe in the dark shadow (but trendy address) of the Aro Valley attending weekly recordings of the commercialised BackBenchers.
If that is the case, they’d have been better off choosing someone from the local meatworks with all its horrors, or a someone that’s actually cleaned up some of the shit resulting from the current government’s policies.
Pontificating Rythym! (to the tune of “fascinating Rythym”)
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