Labour have still not shown the electorate any real policy and simply relying on Chippy beating Luxon in the debates is too much of a gamble.
The good news from the latest TV3 Poll is that Labour can win this if Chippy goes big, look at the preferred PM numbers and trust levels…
…Kiwis trust Chippy, and Chippy must lead.
Right now, all Labour are impotently promising is GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.
That just won’t be enough and seeing as it has already been leaked, art will be met with a shrug by voters.
Instead Labour should utilise this leak and leverage it politically and surprise the Electorate by taking GST off ALL food, this after the disappointment of the Wealth Tax will make voters feel like Labour have actually listened to they pain in the cost of living crisis.
Political cowardice is never rewarded and until Labour makes an actual stand they will continue to slide in the Polls.
Labour either stand for something or they hang for everything.
Labour either shows political courage and takes GST off all food or they hand this election over to the hard Right.
You’ve run out of road Chippy, go bold or go home.
What’s the point of Bread and Butter politics if no one can afford Bread or Butter?
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Chippy went bold with THREE tunnels under Auckland harbour.
And work to start in 2029 – his promise – two elections away!
I actually felt sorry for them. It’s like a little kid saying they are going to Mars on a rocket next week. Not a single medium or major capital project in 6 years started, underway, and the ones finishing were Nationals. Labour do not have a talent, track record or credibility to be believed. How many student politicians, lawyers or union hacks can build anything? Answer, none!
LOL ridiculous eh?
>Uncosted
>No engineering feasibility done
Who’d trust the left on infrastructure after non-existent light rail project, Skypath and the cost overrun on the CRL?
Ada they are yet to fulfill their promises from 2017.
I didn’t see the announcement. Did he keep a straight face? Doesn’t he realise no one believes them anymore? Would this mean years of consultents getting even wealthier? So many unanswered questions!
Mayor Brown stated the obvious in that the politicians making these big promises will not be around when the project is started let alone finished. The Greens are right to, spending 50 billion (realistically) on a few kilometres of tunnel is irresponsible. The grandstanding is up there with the government endlessly preaching about terrorism but then financing terror in Europe, that level of recklessness. The government may as well dig a big hole and fill it with the future financial reserves of New Zealanders. Labour are a grotesque caricature now, probably still vote for them though as the other lot may be even worse.
Martyn – Terrible election motto
What is going on inside the Labour Party? Who are the members of each faction of the Parliamentary Party? What factions exist in the Constituency Labour Party branches? How much branch stacking is going on inside those branches? Which trade unions support which faction?
And how many members do they still have? Is this going up or down?
No one knows including the Labour leadership.
Chippy could surprise the electorate by resigning & handing the job on to Andrew Little. Now that would be a surprise.
That would make Little difference…
Half a policy will do until the Bill cancelling freedom of speech gets through.
Labour are gone and history will not look back on them kindly .Ardern saw the writing on the wall and quit so her CV was not tarnished with a lose .They have just not done enough to earn 3 more years. The 3 habour tunnels will start at the same time as Labour will look like a party worth voting for again.
Dumped wealth tax: Hipkins defends move despite anger from minor parties
Stuff.co.nz, 13 July 2023
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/493652/dumped-wealth-tax-hipkins-defends-move-despite-anger-from-minor-parties
….Hipkins admitted he had shut down plans for a “tax switch” in this year’s Budget, which would have seen a tax-free bracket and a 1.5 percent tax on wealth above $5 million from 2024.
“The Labour Party won’t be supporting a wealth tax.”
Hipkins:
If your not rich; I’ve got it innit for you you.
It’s TOO LATE for LINO to be seen as anything other than a soft right wing party, that is doing its best to SLOW DOWN any FAIR transition back to a ‘middle ground’, let alone a left leaning country.
IF voters vote for this LINO party, they DESERVE the harsh right leaning policies of Govt and ALL the difficulties of living in relative poverty that comes with such Govts.
The MINIMUM a REAL Labour Govt-party should be offering is what The Maori (TPM) are offering and arguably a LOT more to make up for the last 30+ years of cruel Neoliberism.
The people will get what they deserve, most probably because of the propaganda of the so called fourth estate, that keeps them occupied with stuff that wont upset the ‘right wing leaning apple cart’.
Hipkins’ tax pledge could threaten coalition talks – Greens, Te Pāti Māori
Stuff.co.nz, 12 July 2023
The Greens and Te Pāti Māori are warning Labour that ruling out capital gains or wealth taxes could threaten their chances of a coalition deal.
National and ACT also say the promise is premature, and likely to be overridden…..
…..Labour leader Chris Hipkins admitted he had shut down plans for a “tax switch” in this year’s Budget, which would have seen a tax-free bracket and a 1.5 percent tax on wealth above $5 million from 2024.
But he also went a step further, ruling out introducing any wealth tax or capital gains tax “under a government I lead”….
Hipkins;
I would rather keep control of a losing side, than lose control of a winning side.
I along with many others don’t know what Chippy and the Labour Government stand for.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins admitted he had shut down plans for a “tax switch” in this year’s Budget, which would have seen a tax-free bracket and a 1.5 percent tax on wealth above $5 million from 2024.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/493625/hipkins-tax-pledge-could-threaten-coalition-talks-greens-te-pati-maori
At the end of 2022, Chris Hipkins had an estimated net worth of $5.3 million….
https://www.ghgossip.com/chris-hipkins-net-worth-age-height/
Hipkins;
If you are not rich like me, you can get fucked.
He probably saving these announcement 2 weeks before the election?
IN IT FOR US is the real slogan
Dropping GST off select items sounds like a nightmare in admin costs and a nightmare to defend.
It’d be easier to just drop GST from 15% back to 10% or preferably take it down to 5% and remind everyone that John Keys tax cuts were paid for by GST increases and so too, will Nat/acts planned cuts.
I’d personally get rid of GST on everything altogether. It’s a consumption tax, how any lefty can defend a consumption tax is beyond me.
” It’d be easier to just drop GST from 15% back to 10% or preferably take it down to 5% and remind everyone that John Keys tax cuts were paid for by GST increases and so too, will Nat/acts planned cuts ”
Right on the mark !
If only Chipkins would consider that in his yet to be released tax policy.
it is corey and it won’t work only fresh fruit and veg are easily identifiable catagories
How many times must it be pointed out that taking GST off fresh fruit and veges might save the average family $6 a week, and taking it off all food might save a mere $20 a week.
And that’s only ‘might’: it assumes the saving isn’t swallowed up along the producer-retailer food chain; that it actually reaches the consumer.
Better by far to leave the GST alone, and give everyone a $20-a-week UBI to cover it. For many households this could be accomplished simply by raising NZ Super, Working for Families, and other benefits.
There are some who will not take notice of your common sense remakes .Taking gst off certain selected items destroys the simplicity of the system and the cost of compliance. Why they do not see this is a mystery to me . zI would expect this from Greens and TPM as they have no knowledge of business and speak to followers who love to think they speak for the ordinary person but they do not .
Do the math. $100 of groceries divide by 1.15 means you only pay $86.95 a saving of $13.05. A family spends a bare minimum of $300 on food a week. So its a $40 tax cut if gst is removed from all food.
Play the long game Chippy! Sacrifice any personal ambition for the good of the party. You’re young enough Chippy to make a comeback. Just stay off those sausage rolls. With so many challenges in need of immediate intervention, and even bigger challenges on the horizon, any incoming government of a different color won’t last long. Surely. Cutbacks and austerity is not the solution. Starving critical institutions of funding less so. Business as usual cannot be sustained in the current carbon-based economy. Ignoring wealth disparity and more equitable taxation settings will lead to just more issues. A stint on the Opposition benches might offer up the political will.
” …Kiwis trust Chippy, and Chippy must lead ”
All he has done is cancel all the unpopular policies at the beginning of the year , rule out much needed tax reform and promise to spend and borrow 45 billion to build three tunnels. I say 45 billion but as we all know it will be much more than that with cost overruns and the consultants milking it every step of the way.
Chipkins has no credibility on anything let alone lifting a finger to help his long suffering supporters in the under $ 70,00 income bracket.
I don’t know who they are polling but I talk to a lot of people I come into contact with and none of them trust or believe LINO or Chipkins and most are under the income bracket I mentioned above.
There is a lot of anger out there.
Its looking like Winston is going to hoover up a lot of disaffected LINO voters like he always does when the tide for LINO is on its way out.
There is no question Winston – Shane First will be back with more than 5 % on election night.
‘ promise to spend and borrow 45 billion to build three tunnels. I say 45 billion but as we all know it will be much more than that with cost overruns and the consultants milking it every step of the way’
45 billion on three fiscal holes? I’m already getting my coat…
One of the contenders has been thrown head first into the senior leadership role and is now trying to do the job that he never saw coming while the other is champing at the bit to be a leader but who is really just a salary-earner gagging for the power and prestige the role should never have on offer but yet does. How and why is that?
The ‘how’ bit is because the National Party is a gangster clan and their reach will be considerable.
Now, the ‘why’ bit. The National Party need accomplices with fresh faces to pull the *nylon further over the eyes of the keen yet wary.
Here’s a novel idea. Why don’t we just vote for either of them. Who cares, right? Because we know they’re both now the same neo-liberal ‘thing’.
The difference should be that once the absurd facade of the election is put back on the shelf and the crooks take up their places on our plush seats in our government building to count their six figures plus entitlements, we come out and tell the fuckers that this is the way we want it or you’d better put on your fucking running shoes!
* Nylon, because who wants beautiful *wool with its sustainability, warmth, class and style?
Lets just pop over to the plush seats where the Natzo’s are and ask them, before they start running while screaming, where the fuck our wool markets are these days?
* Wool. I bet you, there will be triple dumped bales languishing in wool stores from last years wool clip waiting for Natzo quislings to drive up demand, thus prices, from our off-shore markets/consumers. Aye Boys? Yes, I know what you get up to you fuckers!
Farmers? You have to take a different approach to your product and your security or your lands will become someone else’s. Could be Chinese, could be Israeli, won’t be you for much longer.
I see Chrome Head’s already threatening to import Chinese labour to fix pot holes and build roading after neo-liberalism destroyed our taxes paid for roads with heavy truck transport AFTER they shut down the competition that was rail freight.
I have to ask? How fast can a short, bald, beer gutted fat man run do you think? Would hipkins call for mummy while defending himself with a ruler and a duster?
If he wants to do something big. Take GST off fuel and power. Should be easy to administer as it’s at the pump or down the line. Don’t piss about with piddly little amounts on vegetables. I don’t know what your average Joe spends on fuel and power but I average $70 for fuel and $50 for power per week. I average about $30 per week for vegetables. So would be far better off paying no GST on fuel.
>What’s the point of Bread and Butter politics if no one can afford Bread or Butter?
Take the GST off bread and off butter. Simple!
Probably so named as it has a better ring to it than Crusts and dripping.
Not so simple sorry .It is only the somple in the minds of the those that have never been involved in business like TPM and Green voters.
Sorry, it is simple. If it can be eaten it’s food. If it’s sold in a food shop it’s food. That would be dairies, vege shops, fish shops, butchers, supermarkets, minimarkets, fish & chip shops, fast-food establishments, restaurants and fizzy drink vending machines. Don’t tax food and water.
Russia has been using cluster munitions since the very beginning of their so called, ‘Special Military Operation’ with not a peep out of Gin Hag or any of the other blood thirsty anonymous cheerleaders for Russia’s invasion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_cluster_munitions_in_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
As of July 1, hundreds of attacks by Russian forces with cluster munitions have already been recorded in the settlements of the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernihiv regions.[4][5][6] 215 civilians are known to have been killed in these shellings and 474 injured, many of which may go unreported.[6] Both Russia as well as Ukraine have used cluster munitions during the conflict, however, Russian use has been extensive while Ukrainian use has been more limited.[7]
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are signatories of the of the 2008 convention limiting the use of cluster munitions.[7] The use of such weapons against civilians violates the principles of humanitarian law and therefore constitutes a war crime.[8][4] Reports of Russian attacks have prompted the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into the commission of war crimes in Ukrainian territory.[9][10]
During the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army used at least 6 types of cluster munitions: missiles for multiple rocket launchers “Hurricane”, “Smerch”, “Tornado-S”, missile systems “Tochka” and “Iskander-M”, as well as RBC bombs -500 with PTAB-1M submunitions.[6] Smerch missiles were used for 72 submunitions, as well as other charges for 50 submunitions. According to the Russian manufacturer, missiles used in residential areas can contain up to 1.45 kg of explosive and scatter into about 316 fragments.[2][21] The most large-scale Russian attacks with weapons include:
Remains of clusters and other munitions collected by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region, May 10, 2022
Shelling of the Central City Hospital in Vuhledar on February 24, 2022 (Donetsk region). According to the UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the Russian attack killed at least 4 civilians and injured 10, damaged ambulances and destroyed a hospital building.[4] A Human Rights Watch investigation documented the use of cluster munitions as Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, as well as a ballistic missile of the Tochka system with a 9N123 cluster warhead for 50 submunitions.[16][21][14] Human rights activists called the use of shells with a wide radius of destruction in densely populated areas “blatant disregard for the lives of civilians”.[22]
The shelling of the preschool “Sonechko” in the city of Okhtyrka on February 25, 2022 (Sumy region). According to the UN Monitoring Mission and Amnesty International, a public human rights organization, an attack by six 220-mm Uragan rockets with cluster warheads on a building where civilians were hiding killed at least 2 adults and 1 child, 1 other child was injured.[14][4][23]
Shelling of residential areas in Kharkiv on February 25 and 28, 2022. The UN monitoring mission reported that at least 9 civilians were killed and 37 were injured during the first cluster munition rocket attack.[4] Four days after the start of the Russian invasion, Amnesty International documented three more attacks with cluster munitions in the northern part of Kharkiv.[9] ……
All the while, anonymous disgusting pro-war scum like Gin Hag are cheering on this mass murder from the behind their keyboards.
Rat n a Cage. No way Angry Andy is back as leader.
I would rather have boring old David Parker. He is the only one left who is remotely competent and as a added bonus he gets on well with Winston.
“If you can eat it, its food”. No Gst on food!
Why do we pay gst on the water bill? Water is Life. And its taxed!
Be Really Bold.
Labour went short-term. They chose the wrong turn in the forest. Understandable at the time. We wanted a bit of pleasure. But now there is nothing but the reality of our pretty soon climate change-induced end. David Cunliffe, on some level, must be smiling at his ‘politics of the moment’ enemy Hipkins.
In the day we all knew Jacinda could talk, but not for the thing, versus her two supposed Lefty predecessors. Can Andrew Little step up to talk now for, well, plain reality? The Hipkins option has to be jettisoned at once. Baby with bathwater. No more time except for talking for truth. Focus groups, our silly-arse love of comfort, leads us to Hell sooner than needed.
GST back to 10% would be a better push – cut wasteful spending – yolo
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