John Minto

I’m utterly dismayed that Metiria Turei has been forced out of the co-leadership of the Greens by a vile media pack determined to seize the opportunity of Metiria’s personal struggle to drive down the Greens.

I’m sceptical we will see any significant policy differences from a Jacinda Ardern-led Labour Party compared to what we have seen in the past 30 years. Will it be about beneficiaries, the working poor, eradicating child poverty, the living wage and housing for all? I don’t think so.

It will be interesting to see if Jacinda Ardern can breathe some life into Labour’s neo-liberal corpse.

My question here is why is the theft of employer-owned property (the avocados) treated so differently to the theft of wages from workers? Why can stealing avocadoes get you a prison sentence of up to 10 years but stealing wages from workers gets barely a slap on the wrist?

Wealth is not created from thin air. It is made from manipulating the wealth created by working people. In other words, you and I and every person living in New Zealand has been fleeced $1,489 more this past year so these bloodsuckers can build a bigger pile of unearned income. And they don’t pay tax on it.

Alongside bribery, corruption and outright theft of Maori land, the forced payments of rates and dog taxes by local authorities in the past has left Maori dispossessed of land and economic development opportunities.

The potential for another round of capitalist theft of Maori land has activists up in arms and their pressure has won the day so far.

Amy Adams, our most propertied MP and ironically the “Minister for Social Housing”, announced last week that three consortia had been selected to bid for the homes built by our parents and grandparents.

After a two-year battle KOA was successful in not only stopping the sale of the council works company City Care but also in pressuring the council to restore the company to the strategic assets list.

It is deeply disappointing to see the Christchurch City Council lining up to help the government sell 2,500 state houses in Christchurch.

New Zealand’s Labour Party is a neo-liberal, free market party with policies to match. If NZ Labour wins in September then income inequality and wealth inequality will continue to increase while the rest of us struggle to add that extra lining to the pockets of the idle rich.