Winston Peters back on his podium with Covid-19 border closure bombshell
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has clearly been missing his time in the spotlight, using a speech today to drop a bombshell about Cabinet’s decision to close the border – generating headline news and more controversy for the coalition government.
Guess who’s back.
Back again.
Winnie’s back.
Tell a friend.
All I got out of yesterday’s press conference was that Winston was grumpy and in need of bashing the media.
His Party is suffering from Jacinda’s amazing leadership and sucking all the news oxygen meaning NZ First may slide under 5% so Uncle Winston needed to get some headlines.
He bashed the media, told everyone the Ministry of Health called on the effective death warrant of Kiwis stuck overseas by refusing them re-entry and bashed the media a bit more.
It was classic Winston, all huff and puff. What was interesting was his comments on the role of neoliberalism and free trade in building an economy that had no capacity to deal with external shocks.
TDB has been BANGING on about the need to have our own pharmaceutical industry since this crisis evolved so good to see the NZ First research team reading TDB. Normally I’d embrace any politician promising neoliberal reform, but Winston has had 3 years and a billion for each of those years to build that economic resilience and done sweet FA on that front so it feels empty without any actual plan.
You know, like any time you listen to Shane Jones.
While Winston was struggling for attention, the Greens have been announcing something about rail and employing green jobs. There’s no sizzle to the electorate in these ideas to spark voters imagination and it feels like it was cooked up at a communal and joyless vegan retreat between James Shaw and whatever moss passes as their strategist these days.
With the climate crisis upon us and a pandemic exposing the deeply flawed nature of neoliberalism all we have are empty words from Winston and some dour something something from the Greens.
Clearly NZ First and the Greens intend to bore the virus out of NZ.
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I agree with the greens and I am damn sure NZ 1st is on the same page with regenerating Rail in NZ .
Christchurch has been screaming since the earthquakes in 2010 to get a suburban rail system going from Rangiora – Darfield and Timaru in operation But it is hamstrung everytime by the fact we only have a single rail line and until that is fixed it is hamstrung by being uneconomic as they need a 2nd line running from those 3 towns into christchurch to run it outside of peak times to enable it to run and at least cover costs.
So YES GO THE GREENS LETS HAVE SUBURBAN RAIL BACK IN THE South Island.
As for the green jobs.
Thats has been done before.
Anyone remember the TASK FORCE GREEN jobs scheme that National stopped ?
If I remember right you got paid the minimum wage if you were on a Taskforce green job scheme.
SO YES LETS REVIVE IT.
It worked back then and it will work now.
I too am pretty excited at the GP rail plans!
However, they do seem a bit sketchy for so-called “final plans” (I assume that they are dependent on post-election horse-trading). For example (from an admittedly Otago centric perspective):
Where are the high-speed electric locomotives and carriages coming from? China didn’t do so well last time we bought from them; lots of time and money spent bringing that gear up to standard.
What role will the supposedly reopening Hillside factory have in producing these new train systems?
How will the navvies trained in current rail systems deal with the new (untested?) equipment? It’s a tough job, and tired people make possibly lethal errors when dealing with heavy machinery.
Will the projects even be done by a revamped NZRail? A resurrected Ministry of Works? Or contracted and subcontracted out in a private/ public deal?
Will the money stay in Aotearoa, or will it go to overseas workers and corporations who control the patents on the technology?
How do you get that line from Dunedin to (I guess as it’s not labelled) Alexandra? It doesn’t seem to follow the old route up via Middlemarch/ Ranfurly/Galloway. There are a fair few obstacles in the way of a straight line route like that!
Obviously, the simplified announcement hasn’t had a lot of cut-through, with everyone distracted every swoop of the Crow. So maybe the GP ought to get down to brass tacks and release a more comprehensive and fully costed plan (admittedly with provisional estimates pending knowledge of the shape of the looming post-pandemic economic catastrophe)?
We do not have the population in Chch for a stand alone suburban rail system . Why cannot they have a train on the main track for those people coming into town from Rolleston and Pegasus . If the powers that be cannot organise a light rail in Auckland to go from downtown to the Airport there is no show else where .
I like the idea of a Task Force Green as there is a mountain of work that needs doing and there will be the people out there looking for work and there will be plenty with skills that could be used.
We do not want to go back to the bad old days of trying to ring fence NZ made . We do not have the population to support manufacturing of everyday items we need to concentrate on the top end products that earn us money from overseas and trade or way out of the debt that will be racked up due to the virus .
I find it peculiar that for decades ( 1984 onward’s )we have been told ”There is no money to maintaining our health and education sectors so we must hand it over to the private sector”…
this virus has proven that to be a lie.
The money was always there, as it is at present with govt now shoring up businesses to keep them running to pay wages. What was NOT there was an admittance by successive neo liberal govts that corporate’s pay a disproportionately small amount of the tax burden.
And EVERYBODY seems to forget that prior to 1984 ( neo liberalism ) we had all of those things and much , much more. And we also had many , many millionaires, by the way. And we paid far less for basic’s from utility’s such as power and water…
No, the country’s not too small, the wealth creation potential is still there,… its just that its been siphoned off to overseas fat cats, that’s all.
So guess who’s got to take the big fall when the economic downturn juggernaut kicks in?
Hint: it wont be the nation of NZ and its peoples, not if any politician knows whats good for them.
Green Party announcement:
“We’re proposing a $1 billion package over three years to rapidly scale up investment in people and nature. The proposed package will support local communities, iwi, businesses, NGOs, councils and DOC to employ thousands of people across New Zealand to restore and look after our natural landscapes, native bush, birds, waterways and coast.”
Good step into the right direction. Huge potential for further development through forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, horticulture, fruit crops, etc. PLUS all sorts of related cottage industries, and housing construction.
Massive initial investment in rural Early Warning Systems and localized ITC infrastructure, and for local disaster risk reduction measures is required, too.
A very good subject for the parliamentarian greens to develop a joint policy priority supported and driven ahead by all team members.
Promising.
Certainly does seem promising especially if those endeavors work toward a more NZ investment in itself. That’s what we want. No more big foreign corporate’s pillaging our resources for a song while our people languish on the unemployment benefit, or on insecure casual labour minimum wage contracts and remain without good warm homes for their family’s.
Winnie’s back.
Of course Winnie’s back , because he never ever left! And Martyn stop bashing Uncle Winston because he has a need to bash the media. It sure beats fishing any-day. You realize he,- like the rest of us,- hasn’t been able to participate in their favorite pastime for near on a month?
That’d drive anyone spare.
And ease up with the ‘having 3 years’ to do this or that stuff.
How long did John Key have to wreck the country and impose his particular brand of USA style corruption over the place? – NINE YEARS ! Go a little easy on Uncle Winston. He’s had to work around every neo liberal numb-nut govt for decades. And got spat on every step of the way.
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Pub Politics Live from Chapel Bar – Cannabis Referendum Debate
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And next time you air a cannabis debate , please don’t let us see too much of the human side of them. I actually found I liked all of them. Even David Seymour with his slow drawly base voice. He was not altogether unreasonable. Paula Bennett was just like that deeply convicted (hopefully) conservative Aunty at the family reunion that has firm views…Chloe maintained incredible alacrity, positive, passionate, and lightning fast in converting thought processes to speech with incredible recourse to stats, figures and examples…I think she definitely held the day.
Chris however, we missed much of what he said because the microphone wasn’t working.
But one thing I noticed that didn’t come up was how Holland, who have long legalized / regulated pot has managed to work through the issues. Why do we always look to the USA , Australia or Canada for goodness sake’s?
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Resisting State Surveillance & The GCSB, Town Hall Meeting
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And this to me was crunch point. All those marvelous speakers back then, each and every one of them. From Nicky Hager to Uncle Winston , Jane Kelsey to Marama Davidson, Russel Norman to Kim Dotcom and others. The guy who ran a IT company who broke down midway through…was marvelous.
These were just some of the many people who stuck their heads out into the firing line, including yourself, Martyn. All to safeguard our democratic rights which we so often take for granted. And you know, I have a Biblical faith and all I could do was offer a blessing on each person and their family’s. Years after the fact of that town hall meeting.
Now my point is this : We’ve heard it before parliament is a hostile place. And any politician who stays in parliament long enough is bound to make a few stuff ups. And we so quickly forget the good they did. Or the good they try to achieve today in their spheres of influence.
Marama’s speech was great in that she tied modern surveillance into historic cases of governmental abuse , especially with Maori and other indigenous peoples around the globe. Hone Hawera’s speech was a breath of fresh air. So natural and un-contrived.
All of them were great. And Uncle Winston too.
Where would we be without all these people, including yourself , Martyn.
This is a note of appreciation, basically. Of reminiscing, and of remembering, – however, – of always being vigilant. I will always oppose the neo liberal far right, and always side with the Left / Center Left.
But yes it seems that people always leave things to the last minute sadly. I’m the same often…it seems to be a human trait. Which , like Chamberlain seeking peace to avert WW2,…at any price , this is the way we as humans tend to roll. Because of the unknown , because of the costs, because of the political risks… but risk it we must.
It is not without good reason the SAS have as their motto..”Who dares, wins”.
Best thing to come from the Greens in ages. Finally seem to have remembered that they are called the Green Party not
the Woke Party. A brilliant idea that would benefit all of new zealand. So I guess “wasn’t the Muldoon era fantastic” Peters will do everything he can to stop it .
I think it was either Bryan Bruce or Ross Muerant who said Sir Rob Muldoon was the last true socialist PM recently. And I’m inclined to believe it. Certainly the last Keynesian PM. And if we had a Sir Rob Muldoon, a Norman Kirk or a Bill Rowling back here now as I’ve said before, – I’d probably vote for him / them in a heartbeat over all the rest of all these neo liberal pretenders of the last 35 years. But only on the condition, that we have the Greens in the mix in some way.
I read an article a few years back now that placed Sir Rob as left of the Greens as they were at the time of that article and are now, – and more aligned with MANA !!!
THAT’S how far this country has drifted towards the far right !!!
Calm down , hombre, only time will tell if it was the right move. And that information was based on models at the time. Of course,… she could have just taken a holiday and simply said ”Yeah keep going, she’ll be right mate”.
”Just a few more hundred deaths,… now,… whats for lunch?”…
As for both Greens and NZ1, hopefully there’ll be some details around policy they intend pushing for well before the election.
There’s been a hint or two, but not ambitious enough for my liking – such as
a shakeup at Ear Newzullin. How about actually taking it back given its able to do so. Even with the necessary reductions required to international travel, we’ve got a duty to Pacific neighbours. Could even gift a couple of 787’s to the Ear Force and get rid of those 757’s that keep breaking down.
As for rail, there’s a wealth of opportunity – third railing in places, passenger rail between the Triangle (Hamilton Tearanga Auckland); lighter passenger rail (such as tramtrains) in the BoP; even North Dunedin to Mosgiel Earport; North ChCh – to Lyttleton, Rolleston and beyond;
restore that Gisborne link properly; extend the Kapiti Line further. Do it all with the resurrected Ministry of Works and railway workshops
Personally I reckon tramtrains would be a better option for passenger rail to Auckland Earport (running down say Wyllie and Puhinui Roads
And as Winnie says, start making a few things again (where they can be made within 15% of the international price) and properly train, apprentice and pay the existing workforce.
Let’s see some details
Well, you have to hand it to the Greens. No other party manages to promote non-solutions to our environmental and social predicaments the way the Greens do.
Amongst the many lunatic ideas that are totally non-green that the Greens have promoted were:
Biofuels -converting food into fuel to keep vehicles running. Never mind the appallingly low Energy Return on Energy Invested or the fact that we use fossil fuels to generate food. or that we might like to eat food instead of converting it into fuel.
Tourism, as a ‘sustainable’ (their word, not mine) component of the NZ economy. Yeah right! Humungous carbon footprints associated with air travel and nasty emissions injected right where they do the most harm. Of cruise ship spewing filthy exhaust into the air because ships use bottom-end petroleum products high in Sulphur and other contaminants. That’s on top of all the emissions associated with the construction of hotels (all that concrete and steel) and the emissions of vehicles on the roads.
Quantitative Easing (printing money via computers) to stimulate the economy. In other words printing money to stimulate destruction of the environment and increase life-threatening emissions.
Various forms of so-called renewables that are dependent on fossil fuels for their construction, maintenance and replacement (when the solar cells efficiency drops too much; when the bearings of wind turbines need replacement etc.) And I’m sure the Greens don’t want to talk about the carbon debt such appliances incur, or bird strikes, or the light pollution that is contributing to the insect apocalypse.
So now the Greens are promoting a new set of anti-green, anti-environmental proposals
‘fast intercity rail improvements as the type of climate-friendly, job-creating project that should be prioritised for post-COVID-19 economic stimulus investment.’
And lying about it. Climate friendly???!!!
How does the production of steel and concrete for construction and the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity count as climate friendly???!!! Yes, NZ does generate a fair portion of its electricity by hydro but an awful lot is generated (at around 35% efficiency) by burning gas, leading to inordinately high CO2 emissions.
How does getting the wage slaves back onto the treadmill count as socially responsible??!!!
How does ‘economic stimulus’ reconcile with the need to drastically reduce energy consumption and move towards very local self-sustaining communities?
Don’t get me wrong, trains use mush less energy per capita than private vehicles moving the same number of people the same distance. But to imagine infrastructure constructed over the next decade will be of any utility 20 years from now (when the Earth is undergoing thermal and biological meltdown) is to be utterly deluded. Indeed, I personally think the global economy will implode well before 2030 because of resource depletion and the accumulation of waste, and that abrupt climate change is going to hammer humanity in ways most people cannot image very soon.
Daily CO2
Apr. 29, 2020: 417.21 ppm
Apr. 29, 2019: 414.11 ppm
.
Herr Zensor loves to block comments, ‘independent’ opinions? More Sieg Heil I reckon.
I’m having a purge @Marc.
I’ve come across a set of che guevara berets left over from our resistane fighters (without the stars), and a carton of Zigzag yellows.
Even bloody Cuba doesn’t want them these days – they’re too busy living in reality of day to day living. Is there some way I can get them to you?
Oh no not again Marc. Compared to some of my hum dingers that make it past the daily fire wall yours must be absolute rippers. Keep you chin up buddy.
Are those opinions worth seeing?
Ask yourself. I’ve had plenty blocked but I’m not crying.
Ask Herr Zensor perhaps
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