Fascinating news tonight that businessman John Palino has decided to step down from the Auckland Mayoralty race and instead run as a Councillor in the Franklin Ward…
On Saturday I attended a Mayoral debate hosted by the Howick Residents and Ratepayers with Mayoral candidate John Tamihere and current Mayor Phil Goff.
What I heard from Mr Goff at that meeting convinced me that he has no idea what is really happening in Auckland and that for him to continue in his current role would be a disaster for the people of Auckland.
He has presided over a city that is simply not coping with the challenges that we have in terms of public transport demands, traffic congestion, lack of infrastructure for housing developments and his oversight of the CCOs, where he has allowed unaccountable bureaucrats to run amok.
For some time I have been considering how I can best effect change to make a difference to this city. I have come to the conclusion that change is needed so drastically that my candidature for Mayor could prejudice the opportunity to make real change, so I am withdrawing from the Mayoral contest because I want to give John Tamihere the best possible chance of providing Auckland with the strong leadership it badly needs.
I believe I can make a useful contribution to the leadership of Auckland by standing in the Franklin Ward where the current Councillor, Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore has sacrificed the interests of his electorate to prop up Mayor Goff’s administration.
…Palino gained 22 387 votes in the last Mayoralty election and his stepping down alongside Victoria Crone and no sign of John Banks means Tamihere could take all the right wing vote, centrist vote, some of the Left, large chunks of the West, some Māori vote and Pacifica vote.
If Goff’s team weren’t taking John seriously before, they should now.
Integers? Cambridge Analytica or McCarten?
Well if Tamihere had a good think, promised he won’t privatise water and somehow showed he can be trusted on that promise, he would win.
Cause no one likes smarmy Goff. People still remember he was the “Minister of Unemployment” during Rogernomics.
And Tamahere is remembered for something not particularly nice he said on radio.
Palino simply realised he does not have a shit show, so chose to take the second best option to try and get voted into a public office.
I have NO faith in Goff and Tamihere, they are both talking much crap and promising stuff they will not keep. Neither of them has the answers and solutions Auckland needs.
Aucklanders continue to be a deluded lot, living in some belief that nothing much will change, and that life will carry on as per usual. They expect some improvements that they will not have to pay much for, but that is as deluded as one can be, Auckland is a screwed up urban project, it is a big fail, and will end in a massive disaster for most living in the area.
They are all hooked to the growth mantra and that will also involve population growth, while water is short in supply already.
To change the way things need to be done you need to first of all get Central Government on track, but we see how stuffed up their performance has been and is.
Much talk, little action, little change, increased growth of population, more pressure on services and resources, and project costs, such as for the City Rail Link, they explode.
If Tamihere ditched any privatisation or part privatisation of Auckland assets if he is elected and agreed to let the kids travel free on the buses (not just on weekends like Goff’s bribe) then he might win.
Goff is not popular and pretty much stands for nothing apart from neoliberalism. He redacts his own reports from his own councillors.
Unless you use the airport you seem to be getting nothing from the petrol taxes and rates going to AT!
That’s a whole lot of shame on Goff right there isn’t it
Indeed,we need to be highly critical of those who shamelessly pushed Rodgynomics,because just look at the results….
Investment from private sector in Water means Privatiation eventually.
John seems fairy green not to savvy that.
Privatising public water infrastructure is a dangerous proposition I agree. It is extreme dependant on intelligent voters. For that we will need a growing savings pool so we don’t have to go offshore for investors.
The NZ Government have little robust regulation in place to safeguard people’s savings. For NZ bank deposits we are one of the few countries that don’t guarantee them if the banks goes under. Kiwisaver has high fees and 20% of profits goes out to the banks. The financial crisis took many people’s life savings and only political issues mean you can get them back aka bailout of South Island firm South Canterbury Finance to keep those votes safe. Most people outside of that one, never saw a bean back. Our share market was allowed to be a Wild West for years, that people like the business round table could manipulate.
Banks are unregulated here, fail to have risk management in place aka our largest lender ANZ was censured by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand for persistent failure to comply with rules around modeling risk-capital requirements. Later it was revealed arguably smoke screens around ‘stealing’ expenses from their CEO that they did not discover for 9 years, and the emergence of bizarre property transactions by ANZ staff at lower than expected amounts. Nothing to see here, obviously, let alone a massive fine and investigation so they don’t do it again. Well with an ex PM in charge of ANZ, they can get away with doing what ever they like without any real penalty!
Banks have cosy relationships with organisations like commerce commission so they ‘self regulate’ which shows that in leaked documents BNZ were expecting around 700 million fine in OZ for failure of protocol around money laundering, in NZ the banks documents rated a fine from NZ regulators as ‘minor’. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/114664719/bnz-struggled-to-abide-by-antimoney-laundering-laws
So weirdly when people are being ripped off and not taken care of by the financial industry they either don’t bother saving or try to get it offshore or into something physical with a use, like property, which obviously incenses the financial industry that feel they should be micromanaging NZ savings with their patchy track records.
What are we saying here? It’s as if you, and I are saying it’s the same financial product that try’s to be its counter action. We see the action in products that are deprived of its malignant properties, coffee with out coffee, milk with dairy and meat with out haemoglobin and so on. We get sex with out sex on porn sites and war John Key we get war with out war. And I think this is the same with multi-culturalism where we have the other with out the other.
It’s as if everything can be enjoyed if we are deprived of its dangerous properties. So we can have God just with out his scriptures. We can have nicotine but not THC. Or we can have the meat with out the industrial farming and the list goes on.
So we must strive for happiness and a well being budget but in order to enjoy a full life of happiness we must avoid the excess, help others and take care of our health and so on. So precisely when you want to enjoy full happiness dedicated to your own enjoyment and self pleasure, then we end up in a totally regulated society. I never thought we would get to a point that is as regulated as today’s society.
Bomber as an ex Aucklander now in Christchurch there is one major difference in mayoral candidates standing down here.
A progressive candidate.
Goff , Tamihere and Palino ( who has given it away ) are all right wing.
John Minto is challenging Dalziel for the mayoralty and giving the people who bother too vote a centre left candidate with a sensible program for a city still scarred by numerous earthquakes and severe poverty.
The people of Auckland need a real alternative rather than the same old neo liberal approach that has delivered nothing of substance too the mounting problems Auckland is grappling with.
That said i do miss my old town but not the gridlock , and if by chance you are stuck in traffic you can admire the snow on the Alps while you are waiting.
There is the odd shake now and then but you just ride it out.
There isn’t even Penny Bright alive anymore.
The reality is there is so little political talent in the centre left that Chloe can be 22, come 3rd in a mayoral race but still manage to become 7th on the Green Party list to become an MP with a year which also coincided with a massive drop in votes for the Green Party.
Politics in NZ seems to be determined by perceived image than results or policy which could explain why NZ has got into the position it has, pretty much free falling in any social measures in the OECD, thinking that having circa 270,000 new residents/work permits (not even talking about the supposed 4 million ‘tourists’ living here) given out per year does not effect housing, infrastructure or pollution and seemingly not at all concerned that there is probably only circa 500,000 Maori in NZ so that every 2 years there are more migrants living and working in NZ than the entire Maori population, many of which can switch to permanent residency and citizenship very easily by work, marriage or being a relative, and have the voting rights.
Surprise, surprise, the census was underfunded and no meaningful data is coming out.
The wokies haven’t noticed yet, because numbers aren’t their thing. There are record numbers of Maori MP’s in parliament but they haven’t noticed either or maybe don’t care that their voting power is going down, down, down…
Tamahere = Right Wing what shit are you smoking Mosa ?
Don’t forget all the Mainland Chinese colonists voting for Far Goff, particularly as that traitor signed the Free Slave Agreement with the Han Chinese dictatorshit 😉
Lest We Forget
The Asian Community will be voting for Goof so there is 500k votes for a starter, you are right Castro !
Goff is an old Neoliberal from back in the Lange-Douglas Era when Neoliberalism was unleashed on NZ Society, remember the old African saying ” A leopard never changes it’s spots ?”
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