English’s own words reveal that he wilfully misled Lisa Owen on 28 May, on ‘The Nation’. Unfortunately, fact-checking politicians who spin untruths is not easy, and requires quick-thinking and an encyclopedic memory.
… as if the right to have a family and raise children to be good citizens of this country is now the sole privilege of the affluent.
Upper Hutt, NZ, 4 June – Residents in a State housing community in Upper Hutt are continuing to mobilise to strengthen opposition to planned sell-off of Housing NZ vacant land, and planned further demolition of so-called “un-safe, earthquake-prone” State houses.
There is absolutely zero doubt in my mind that the 2016 Budget is geared 100% toward building up a surplus for tax cuts to be announced next year. Just in time for the 2017 Election. John Key and Bill English have strongly indicated as much with their “kite-flying” with hints of cuts-to-come.
On TV3’s “The Nation”, Lisa Owen asked Finance Minister Bill English if funding for health and education had been cut on a per-capita basis. The response from English was jaw-dropping;
In none of the Minister’s correspondence was he able to provide specifics as to where State houses were in the “wrong place”. The ‘best’ he could do was list five regions; Auckland East & South; Auckland North West & Central; South Island, Central North Island, and Lower North Island.
National now finds itself trapped by it’s own free-market dogma. Historically, only Labour governments have built housing, whilst National busied itself selling off state houses; implementing market rentals for Housing NZ tenants (in the past); and otherwise leaving it to the free market to meet demand.
Speaking to a fully packed downtown conference centre in Wellington, on a cold, gloomy rainy afternoon, Labour-leader, Andrew Little launched into a fiery attack on the current National Government focusing on it’s inarguably lack-lustre track record for the past eight years.
“Nuclear war is not the end of the world.” – Heather Roy, Q+A Panel, 22 May 2016
It is amazing how many blame the victims of neo-liberal ideology, rather than looking at the causes of why things happen. Are some people really so simple-minded that they can’t see beyond their immediate prejudices…?