The collapse of cases against White Island Operators in the wake of the terrible volcanic explosion was always a quixotic gesture as Work Save scrambled to work out who was really at fault in our poorly regulated, poorly structured she’ll be right Capitalism.
The idea that we had been allowing tourists to traipse around a live active volcano was always fraught, but add in lax rules and someone had to be blamed for such a casual attitude towards safety.
That was the lesson from Pike River as well, our poorly regulated capitalism makes things voluntary rather than mandatory and its laxness is damaging the environments people work in.
Our worker death rate remains one of the worst in the OECD.
The limited number of inspectors MBIE has is about to be slashed if ACT and National win election, meaning our poorly policed regulations will become even more lax!
We’ve seen with the immigration exploitation recently the cost of lax regulation.
This lack of regulation doesn’t just risk lives, it mutates markets as well.
We’ve seen it in the Drainage Industry, the Supermarket Duopoly, the Petrol Oligopoly and many other industries where crony capitalism and market dominance rob consumers of actual competition.
If Labour win the next election, regulating capitalism and ensuring small to medium business can compete fairly in the domestic market is a must.
If the Right win, expect fewer regulations and far more Old Boy Crony Capitalism.
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Small and medium businesses did not want to give their low paid workers a pay rise. I have worked in hospitality, retail and the manufacturing industry bloody hard yakka not for the faint hearted. Some of our factories have poor health and safety practices.
The current regulatory regime which preaches that companies will automagically carry out safe work practices (because of the costs associated with accidents) has once again exposed as a total myth.
Companies (managers and owners) are only interested in this year’s balance sheet; safe work practices require investment which is a cost that negatively impacts on current profits so will, wherever possible, be avoided.
Also, the belief that ‘private’ audit companies have the same compliance clout as Government Inspectors is also a nonsense. The audit companies are also driven by the same profit pressures as the companies they are auditing. Self-funding Government agencies also suffer from similar pressures.
It’s the wild west in some cases … definitely circumstances where u need basic regulated capitalism… Nothing that’s going to stop the profits and taxes flowing, but enough to protect the public.
This can be laid right at the door of The Nats , Act and NZ 1st.
Privatisation of our Health System IS ALREADY HERE.
if you have not got health insurance now you are basically SCREWED.
THANKS TO NATIONAL ACT and NZ 1st.
Read this and weep.
All you Nact followers I hope you have $5,000 a year spare at age 65 onward to pay for it.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/498279/iwi-health-provider-pays-for-staff-health-insurance-says-public-system-too-slow?
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