I saw the headline and thought how incredible is that? After four decades Richard Prebble has finally realised that we should reward the hard work of ordinary people rather than the rich freeloaders we carry on our backs.
But no – nothing has changed. Prebble had a moral and ethical transplant in the 1980s and there is no going back. He is now programmed to see the parasitic rich and corporate bludgers as hard working while low-paid workers, who pay double the proportion of their income in tax compared to the super wealthy, are somehow freeloaders.
There has been no change. Prebble has spent almost all his political life championing people whose biggest job each morning is to turn the pages of the newspaper to check the share prices of their investments before heading off to join their fellow spongers on the golf course.
I should make a small confession at this point. In 1978 was living in Grey Lynn in Auckland Central and I voted for Richard Prebble as my local MP. I did so only because he was pretty much the only Labour MP who would take on Prime Minister Muldoon in parliament and give him a bit of a mauling. He was then known affectionately as “mad-dog Prebble”. He’s still known as “mad-dog Prebble” today but without the affection.
Once he got into the 1984 Lange/Douglas government he was one of the ruthless free-marketeers who destroyed the welfare state, sold our strategic monopoly assets to rich investors, and enacted policies which drove up unemployment and drove down wages. He then left Labour for Act.
The country has struggled ever since. Productivity slumped and has never recovered. We are now a low-wage economy and don’t have enough income to sustain a decent standard of living for our citizens. We have crippling inequality and all the social problems which come with it.
Unfortunately, the election is not about rewarding hard work. It will be more a matter of rejecting Labour for what the electorate rightly sees as a failure to deliver anything meaningful in six years.
The old saying that people vote against governments rather than for them is true. There’s little sign of any deep affection for National and Act – they will get in simply because they are not Labour.
And “mad-dog Prebble” will be baying at the moon.
That’s a particularly one-eyed view of history John.
By pure chance I have previously spoken with two people who were in the cabinet meeting room when the 4th Labour government took over from Muldoon. One was a cabinet member and the other a Treasury officer. They told a consistent story: They took control of a country on the brink of financial collapse. So bad it was that there wasn’t enough cash to pay state employees for more than a couple of months. Treasury gave the incoming government a stark choice – a massive devaluation of the currency that would lead to roaring inflation or sell some state assets to allow them to be run as proper businesses then use the resulting funds to pay down some debt. They did the latter.
The result was that state assets that had previously been bleeding cash quickly began to turn a handsome profit when the dead hand the bureaucracy wasn’t on the helm. So, the government received the cash for the sale AND began to receive tax revenue from previously moribund operations. Happy Days!
Of course, revisionist historians can endlessly quibble about the details and the inevitable errors where they crept in, but overall, we should be building statues for the likes of Prebble because they saved NZ from disaster.
And yet some people are under the delusion that National are automatically better at running the economy. Key supposedly had a “rockstar” economy but he has a huge amount to answer for in terms of mass immigration coupled with chronic underinvestment. Helen Clark no doubt the same on the investment side.
The so called rockstar economy was on the basis of a low wage economy. Good for business owners, destructive for wage earners. Exactly why National was voted out and Labour in.
Wages have improved immensely since.
Tell me Andrew what is financial collapse. I see the US which is still held up as the wealthiest country in the world has debt that is two and a half times their GDP?
I never thought that gutting all our manufacturing industry was the answer. Aotearoa was just a little experiment on the world stage and we went much further than any other country in the world.
The government debts were turned into profitable state owned enterprises rather than service providers just charging the public at cost. They could have continued as profitable state owned enterprises for 100 years and paid off the nations debt. Instead the were sold. The new private owners loaded them up with high interest debt. Then recouped the high interest and the capital by charging consumers higher prices. And in the case of electricity they increased the costs massively to to pay for the all the advertising used to encourage people to switch suppliers of a commodity. Are consumer electricity prices higher now than they were under a low cost single supplier model? The prices charged now are so high now the government has to subsidise the ‘competitive electricity market’ in winter! WTF!
Pretty much how I’m voting – I’d love to be positive and buy into what politicians are planning for NZ.
I really like the Electricity Policy from National – but hate them not doing a CTU or no tax till 5 or 10K.
The tax threshold move also works for me as it is back breaking helping kids through tertiary education. I find it sad that some parents are not able to do what I do to support kids in tertiary. They either can’t or the Student Loan with full living costs is not worth gaining those degrees.
Love Labour Dental idea but it is not actually doable and on the fly so it will just fry.
ACT I like a lot but I do not want any more SOE’s into private ownership outside of New Zealand citizens or Treaty challenges.
Would love to hear party promises to Dunedin on the hospital build as the cut back after cut back simply loses Labour Party vote for me.
At this stage I’m voting for National Party Vote. MP – well that’s another story. The local MP’s for me are all so new and green except one Labour List MP.
They will only achieve anything for my electorate as a party policy change. One is capable of writing Bill work but his leader and party ignores his good work for NZ now while in govt so unless he takes over from Chippy (rumour) I’d waste my vote.
Curious to know how others are voting and why.
I also hope that as a nation we respect each others voting opinions.
No matter what happens on election day which I do celebrate more in NZ than any other I know we can continue to be a community still and work together – this is NZ.
My local MP is Greg O’Connor. Talk about someone being overlooked with his talents and experience completely wasted.
Agreed Charles – not sure why he is not doing more – has good Bill experience which I think is key in Government.
Its quite amusing that Prebble thinks he’s still relevent in any form being that he was a senior minister in a government that presided over the lowest economic growth ever, and one that sold off the nation’s assets to an oligarchy of insiders at prices way below market rates. An absolute joke of a human being.
Roger the Rat’s Right Hand Man.
The once Minister of Railways, once defender of the working man, curse his fetid bones…
If the election is about rewarding the hard working how come the lowest paid after all the deduction are getting an extra $2 from Nationals tax package.
If the election is about rewarding the hard working how come the lowest paid after all the deduction are getting an extra $2 from Nationals tax package.
Do foreign workers who Luxon wants to come to Queenstown to clean toilets count as hard-working cause national want to reduce their pay rates.
Chippy is going to finally sort out the Gangs with another 300+ Coppers, time will tell, heard all this B/S B4 ???
Labour party devalued the currency out at the mangere bridge hotel as Bernard Galvin from the reserve bank met Lange and Douglas.State assets were sold in the second half of the 87 Govt.
And ramped up by Bolger and Shipley…
https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/33892/selling-state-assets
Correction.It was treasury from whence Bernie Galvin came and Spencer Russell from the reserve bank but Rod Deane had a bit role as his deputy.
Floating the dollar and devaluation by twenty percent amounted to the same thing a run on the dollar.That was a manufactured crises that allowed rich students to make a couple of hundred dollars buying $US dollars and selling them back after the election as signalled by douglas beforehand.Then came privatisation and the biggest sale of them all telecom to bell atlantic for four billion a record at the time.The rest of the world stood by and watched as we reduced tariffs and import protections and we were left standing naked as aussie and canada watched the firesale ensue.
Willy Jackson still has time to save the Labour party.He should have bailed out the left wingish Today FM and reigned in the right wing media bias now showing up in the polls.Bring back Tova.
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