The Labour Party hierarchy have just woken up to the reality that with a majority Government, they won’t be able to blame Winston as a hand break to their transformative change…
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warns voters not to expect big Labour Party policies this election
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is warning voters not to expect any large-scale Labour policies this election, as her party’s priority is the Covid-19 recovery.
Ardern, who is the Labour leader, was also critical of her opponents’ plans for government debt, saying what National has proposed means tough austerity measures for the next generation.
Speaking to RNZ this morning, Ardern said voters should not expect a “large-scale range of policies” from Labour this election.
…there are two reasons this Labour Government has not been transformative in the way the progressive left demands and Jacinda promises.
The first reason is big bad Uncle Winston who always taps the breaks to keep his banjo plucking provincial rednecks happy when policy spooks his superstitious voting base and the second reason is because of Jacinda and Grant’s innate Labour Party caution.
I’m old enough to know that the only way you get Labour to be genuinely progressive is you push a gun to their head and force them to do it. I remember how hard Laila Harre had to fight Helen Clark just to get paid parental leave!
The only way to get Jacinda to be transformative is by snookering Labour into a majority Government so that they can’t blame Winston, but what if the progressive left put Labour into a majority Government position and Jacinda and Grant were STILL too timid to be transformative?
There are two answers, the first is that the pandemic itself will demand radical reform whether Jacinda and Grant want it or not and the second answer is that we will know very early on if Jacinda means to sit on her hands. If progressives don’t see Jacinda embark upon a truly transformative 100 day programme, we will know that Labour is not the political vehicle for the change we require.
In that scenario we can acknowledge we’ve given Jacinda a chance and if disappointed by their second term 100 day plan, can immediately begin to plot against Labour.
I argue that the current political spectrum in New Zealand can not radically adapt fast enough to adopt the changes we must make if we are to survive the climate crisis. It will require a radical Political Movement that elects a Party to implement direct political action.
As the climate crisis unfolds more and more people in fury will turn against the current political system too wedded to the economic profits margins of the polluters. It is just a matter of time before the NZ electorate rejects the limitations of the current political spectrum.
In 2023, for the first time in NZ history, Gen X + Gen Y + Millennials will be a larger voting block than the boomers.
2023 is our date for revolution comrades if Labour can’t take the gift of a majority Government and actually do something with that power.
A majority Government removes all excuses, Labour ignore that at their own peril.
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Doing anything much less being transformative means inept wastes of space like Phil Twyford need to go. I don’t think there has ever been a Minister who has achieved less than that turkey.
Think about it, his non achievements have been so thorough that Labour cannot announce a single transport initiative or policy without being laughed at and rightfully treated with derision!
Yes XRAY
We sent this to the Government today hoping they will think rail not roads.
CEAC Support James Renwick Advice Using Rail Not More Roads.
Politics/Environment. increasing transport emissions
Tuesday 4th August 2020, Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
James Renwick claimed today on TV one Breakfast show with John Campbell that NZ is failing on ‘climate change’ is valid, and since James has been for 20 years studying climate change, we at CEAC agree, climate Change as the most significant shift in policy especially transport policy we need to make now to save climate change disaster heading our way, and not to build more roads;
Instead we need to restore rail again as James Renwick advises us again this must occur after the passing of our own Climate change policy in NZ seen in this latest Climate Change “risk assessment report” discussed by James Renwick and John Campbell here increasing transport emissions see discussion at 60 minutes into the video.
From Our Changing World 9:07 pm on 14 March 2019 “New Zealand is failing on climate change”
Professor James Renwick is a prize winner professor in the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.
“The Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ have released their latest report New Zealand’s environment: Environment Aotearoa 2019. It’s great that government agencies are informing us so clearly about what’s happening, as this is a crucial step to taking action. And we sure need action.”
We haven’t achieved much yet, but now is the time for action. Legislation changes and price signals to encourage electric vehicles, better (renewably powered) public transport, more compact urban design”
CEAC welcomes James Renwick commentary on the TV one Breakfast show with John Campbell today 4th August 2020 discussing climate change with James Renwick again as he did on the AM show on TV3 newshub in 2019.
James said importantly regarding our ‘increasing transport emissions’. needing urgent change action.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/09/duncan-garner-stop-climate-change-grandstanding-and-cut-emissions.html
Even James again gave his opinion on ‘NZ being to slow to make climate change policies’, in this presentation today on the TV one breakfast show in which John Campbell had Professor Renwick as a guest who again said ‘we need more use of rail’.
“Despite all the evidence of climate change and environmental degradation, and the clear need to take action, we just aren’t taking action”, writes James Renwick;
The Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ have released their latest report on New Zealand’s environment: Environment Aotearoa 2019. It’s great that government agencies are informing us so clearly about what’s happening, as this is a crucial step to taking action. And we sure need action.
There is little in the way of good news in the report. Urban pollution, water quality, native ecosystems, land use, farming, fishing all have alarm bells ringing. Sitting over the top of these issues is climate change. The report notes that climate change “intensifies the effects of all other issues”. Whether it’s endangered native species, or even national security, climate change has long been known as a “threat multiplier”.
We observe rising temperatures on land and in the oceans, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and acidifying ocean waters. Those changes contribute to extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, they affect ecosystems across the country and in the seas around us, they make life easier for some pests, and even change the nature of the seasons.
Despite all the evidence of climate change and environmental degradation, and the need to take action, it is clear we aren’t taking action. Per head of population, we are number six in the industrialised world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. New Zealand gets no free pass with climate change and we have as much obligation as China or the US to reduce our emissions.
Part of the problem is intensive agriculture, but another important part comes from the transport sector. We have the highest rate of car ownership in the OECD and those cars tend to be relatively old. Carbon dioxide emissions from transport have nearly doubled since 1990, and carbon dioxide is ultimately the biggest issue for climate change because it stays in the air for so long.
We know we need to turn these trends around. We haven’t achieved much yet, but now is the time for action. Legislation changes and price signals to encourage electric vehicles, better (renewably powered) public transport, more compact urban design, diversification of the agriculture sector and a move away from intensive dairy farming, would all help take us in the right direction.
The costs of doing nothing, or doing too little, will be infinitely higher than the costs of taking action now. If any country can become fossil fuel-free, surely it is New Zealand. Let’s make it clear to the government that we want our economy and society to move towards a totally renewable and zero-carbon future, starting right now. Let’s be the leaders on this, and help other countries do the same.”
CEAC says ‘common sense must now prevail’;
Just seeing the statistics Professor Renwick released since 2019, “Carbon dioxide emissions from transport have nearly doubled since 1990” coupled with more use of rail is a no-brainer for all of us to engage in using more rail and less road freight.
CEAC fully support ‘NZ First and Labour Party Policy’ to restore rail as a cleaner climate change emission transport option for our own citizen’s health and wellbeing security and future.
CG
Agreed.
But there is another encompassing factor to be taken into account if we try and reduce GHG emissions.
This Kiwi scientist lays out limits to possibilities that are well researched and tested.
https://waterqualitynz.info/2019/11/10/limits-to-growth-youtube-talk/
Boy are you going to be disappointed in 12 months time. The economic situation will cause the exact opposite response. Robbo would hate to have his last legacy of bankrupting the country therefore expect the fiscal handcuffs to come on post election.
In regards to the strategy above what happens if the Greens have well and truly sunk themselves post election? Swing your votes behind TOP. And you laugh at fringe right wing parties….
Countries can’t actually be bankrupted. This is true.
Capitalists, on the other hand, can.
Oh, wait, as the government can’t be bankrupted then we obviously don’t need capitalists and they’re really just wasted space bludging off of the rest of us.
TOP is a fringe right-wing party.
TOP is anything but right.
In regards to getting rid of capitalism – has worked a treat in Venezuela. Was exceptional in the USSR as well…
In your ideal world for that comment I just got sent to a gulag in Gore.
All the evidence I read indicates the globalised economic-financial system won’t hold together beyond the end of 2020.
I’m personally preparing for collapse of the system some time between next week and the end of October. Cracks are appearing every where and the fundamentally flawed system has no answers. Jigging interest rates and money printing just make matters worse.
The fourth domino is already tumbling:
https://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly20/bagholders7-20.html
(see image at the bottom of the page)
And then there’s those ‘small matters’ of California, riddled with Covid-19, being on fire again, the hurricane season just getting underway, and large swathes of China being under water, with more rain to come.
Meanwhile, across the ditch, Oz is looking increasingly on the edge of a crumbling cliff, with out-of-control coronavirus and an economy in collapse mode, as the government decides to poke a sick in China’s eye, forgetting the ‘panda’ has massive claws.
All I can say about politics in NZ is that Jacinda is the best of a very bad lot, and apparently is not a complete ‘idiot’, unlike so many of her colleagues and opponents.
Its not all doom nor gloom but a correction within the neoliberal shell. The local cost can be expected to be crippling to some aspects of our so called “economy” as BAU becomes such a burden that change is inevitable.
The question is will the wealthy stymie any correction needed to keep people fed and alive or will they just manipulate so the loss of income for individuals is seen as more money for them and less for the rest.
Much of our investor base is not onshore including the main banks and corporations.
Farmers have a mortgage load and haircuts there will be so painful that rural revolt may trigger a big swing away from any responsible fiscal management that Labour can launch unless banking is taken over by govt and QE feeds directly into govt spending and not through banks.
No matter how the correction takes place it won’t be a quiet shift and will require radical changes and a shift of present wealth into a more public purse.
When changes tick up momentum and signal a process that can be expected to continue for decades at least.
Agree with the post except replace “plot against Labour” with “organise among the people”. It is wide support of communities and direct action from the people, that will achieve the needed changes, comfortable MPs are unlikely to do what needs doing on Sept. 20.
Sure a formal political machine will be needed–could Labour be turned to support basically socialist demands? or will a new “Alliance” type party be needed–getting the numbers from the changed voting dynamics, plus hopefully winning over a few of the codgers too!
Watch the USA too, their shitstorm is going to hit right about now, with the $600 cheques and Eviction moratorium ending. Will desperate, homeless, hungry, people organise constructively like BLM, or turn into rampaging mobs?
I am not happy that Martyn is unnecessarily bagging Jacinda. She has done a lot for this country and I am sure much will be achieved once the toxic Greens and bad Winston are out of the picture and Labour has a majority. Don’t post negative articles like this.
The truth hurts…….the left finding out the Jacinda & Grant follow the same financial principles as John and Bill……priceless
When did ‘John or Bill’ do this:
More than a billion $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$ in this years budget
DOC Govt NZ 2020
?
No, Frank is right – Jacinda & Grant follow do the same financial principles as John and Bill. And that is the principles of capitalism.
To get the change that we need we need to get rid of capitalism (the private ownership of assets that can be used to procure rent) and Labour won’t do that.
I’m not sure Frank would be aiming to get rid of capitalism either. (Can correct me if I’m wrong.)
El Draco I disagree with you. John Key and his successor were following the principles of a plutocracy. Jacinda and Grant are not doing that.
Kheala but john and bill didn’t have any principles
Thing is, their principles, their values are money. For them, is all about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$s. This means that most of the principles they may have once have held are sold to the highest bidders.
john and bill didn’t have any principles
“The only way to get Jacinda to be transformative is by snookering Labour into a majority Government so that they can’t blame Winston, but what if the progressive left put Labour into a majority Government position and Jacinda and Grant were STILL too timid to be transformative?”
So what exactly has Winston done to prevent this transformation? Or is it really that Grant has prevented Winston’s transformative moves?
This article lacks a few important clarifications.
1/ What constitutes a transformative government? What would this government have done to demonstrate to the author’s satisfaction that it was transformative?
2/ What as Winston done to prevent these things from being done?
3/ What policies does the author believe they should be announcing under the existing circumstances ?
D J S
BB’s analysis has so many similarities to the US. When the so called ‘good guyesses’ finally get power, they do stuff all … I’ll rephrase that ..lol.
I think that Jacinda’s strategy is under the circumstances exactly right. What lies ahead in the next year is unpredictable except that massive transformations to the world are entirely predictable. Just how the cookies are going to crumble is anyones guess but they are sure to crumble. So dealing with the pandemic and it’s financial aftermath (if there is an aftermath implying an end to covid) and the underlying financial crisis it is obscuring is going to be more than enough to deal with. Any wild promises beyond that would be irresponsible.
If the electorate wants Judith to take responsibility for the next 3 years then democracy will have given us the government we deserve.
D J S
Any wild promises beyond that would be irresponsible.
Again, I totally agree with David Stone.
It’s as if we are all on a ship on a very stormy ocean, a planetary-wide storm. Every nation on the planet is caught up in this storm. Our own one is being steered calmly and competently. Unlike almost all others, it is riding out the storm safely.
100% Kheala I agree with your logic.
Who cares what Martyn says LABOUR VOTER he is just like many others trying to be relevant and provoking. Perhaps his party of choice is languishing in the polls. I think too many politicians and political commentators have under estimated how much Covid has effected many NZers mentally. We will see soon as peoples moods and state of mind will be reflected in the voting outcome. Why do I say this? because I believe the majority of NZers do not want our borders open yet.
Isn’t it funny how some people regard discussion of reality as ‘being negative’.
I can just imagine Captain Blythe, having been set adrift in a long boat hundreds of [then] miles from any islands and thousands of miles from any outpost of civilisation, with a few member of the crew still loyal to him, announcing, “Fear not my fellows, sanctuary is just over the horizon.”
Or perhaps Winston Churchill in mid-1940, Britain having lost most of its army’s equipment at Dunkirk and facing the onslaught of the Luftwaffe with a depleted air force, announcing, “Okay chaps, we’ve nearly got them beaten and another push should do it.”
‘If way to the better there be, it exacts a full look at the worst.]
“https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thomas_hardy_152301
Apologies for my clumsy, in-a-hurry typing. And the slight miswording of the website.
‘If a way to the better there be, it exacts a full look at the worst.’
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thomas_hardy_152301
Dr Colin Campbell, co-founder of ASPO paraphrased that as
“If there be a path to a better future it begins with a full look at the worst.”
This consumeristic, energy-squandering, highly-polluting society has been in the habit of not looking at anything other than rosy projections of BAU, and is now paying the enormous price for that arrogance and stupidity.
I don’t see any signs of arrogance and stupidity in Jacinda -just very poor advice most of the time (Covid-19 response being a notable exception).
How we get past the gatekeepers of dysfunction is the crux of the matter.
We probably can’t get past the gatekeepers until things get so bad that the sheep notice there is no pasture left.
By then it will be too late for BAU but the gatekeepers will try.
Do you mean like our brighter future BG we already had smile and wave from our smiling assassin John, who quit.
Jacinda and Labour have not merely “done something”, they have put NZ on the world map.
A Reminder, by John Oliver
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