GUEST BLOG: Willie Jackson – Simon burns bridges as National bashes workers
Oh come on Simon, can’t you even get your smears right?
The Leader of the Opposition (until Judith stabs him in the back) has been claiming tens of thousands are going on strike compared to the nine years National were in power. This falsehood has been stripped bare by Radio NZ, NewsHub, NZ Herald, the Spinoff and every other major media network.
To blame Labour for Unions rising up against low wages and poor working conditions because National underfunded them for nine long years is like the arsonist blaming the matches for a fire!
National are bashing Unions and workers because that’s all they know how to do. Their ‘rock star economy’ was based on paying everyone a pittance. Labour are determined to build an economy on rock solid social investment, not rock star shallowness.
That’s why this new Government are looking after your average Kiwis this winter with payments from 1 July to whānau who need support. This week, more than 384,000 middle and lower income families will be better off by an average of $65 to $75 a week, receiving $35 to $55 a week for 13 weeks in Winter Energy payments this year, increasing the accommodation supplement by as much as $80 for larger families, and supporting families with new born babies with an additional $60 in Best Start tax credits.
It should surprise absolutely no one that the first thing we did upon being sworn in as a Government was to cancel the National Party’s terribly flawed tax cuts. These tax cuts would have favoured the few and done nothing to stop the rot and decline we have experienced over the last nine years of neglect.
Instead we have started to rebalance our society, so that everyone can do well and succeed in our economy. This is what we campaigned on and this is what we are delivering.
I want a community where people can work hard all week and put a roof over their heads, food on the table, live in warm healthy homes and still be able to get ahead, and our very first budget is a great start to ensuring this happens.
As well, this new Government will allow Unions to protect vulnerable workers on work sites despite bosses wanting to keep them out.
And of course, this Government is pumping billions into our social services and social infrastructure rather than give major tax cuts to our corporate mates.
But, as Winston has pointed out, we can’t solve all of National’s nine years of underfunding in just one budget – we have to unpick stupid and mean policy and reformat the way we want to treat each other with kindness as our base value and not counterproductive spite.
The only danger is New Zealanders believe the silly media games that play to our worst fears.
There is nothing to be frightened of by treating our workers with respect.
There is nothing to be frightened of by protecting vulnerable workers.
There is nothing to be frightened of by insisting bosses treat their staff with dignity.
This Government is here to make change, instead of making up petty lies and stoking fear and anger. National should start working with the people instead of against them for once.
First published in the Manukau Courier
100% agreed Willie; – bang on there.
Winston is our saviour as well when we are older citizens too.
I find this attitude weird. Describing any politician using the word “saviour” is disturbing at best, but Winston? Honestly, what he has done since becoming Deputy PM to deserve the label “saviour”? Roll over and make excuses for signing a slightly repackaged TPP, the one thing even I didn’t think he’s be low enough to do? The best description I’ve ever heard of Winston came from a former Green MP I know, who said he was a powerhouse electioneering machine, but once an election is, he doesn’t give a rat’s arse about anything except the next election. But obviously his electioneering pulls the wool over some people’s eyes so effectively they can’t see anything between elections.
he aha te mea nui o te ao he tangata he tangata he tangata
= what is the most important thing in the world, it is people, it is people, it is people
lets not forget this
Excellent Article Willie
Wealthy People (Capitalists) having lots of wealth, spend of their time and energy towards acquiring slaves. Many they bring in from overseas. They make the Law changes that humiliate ordinary New Zealanders.
They do this by setting low wages, high rents, sparse opportunities and high taxes (Eg: GST) on the work forces.
The Wealthy (Capitalists) have ways and means of minimising Tax Obligations; Acquiring Trusts; hiding their Incomes; and doing as little as they can for their “slaves”. They go out of their way to make house ownership impossible to workers, and set rents at obscenely choking rates.
This is why Capitalists are regarded as the lowest life on the planet.
Fairness is unknown to capitalist selfish greedy creeps. That is why Simon Bridges and his weird creepy followers are spitting their venom on their underpaid, rotten condition Slaves aka – The NZ Work Force.
It is time we brought our cruel capitalists to brook. And dealt to them as they have dealt to us.
Simon Bridges thinks he his King Dick. He absolutely HATES workers who ask for better wages and conditions! The bastard.
See his false stats on Union Strikes.
Spot on Willie – I’m sick of the whingers in the National Party trying to pin the results of their 9 years of neglect on the new government.
Incidentally, I heard a bloke from the IMF on RNZ this morning. He was arguing that the forthcoming foreign buyers legislation was discriminatory and that New Zealand should be “open to foreign capital flows”, whatever their purpose. One of the primary reasons I voted for this government is because you campaigned on stopping the wholesale plunder of this country by foreign investors. I hope you’ll live up to this promise.
An entire generation of New Zealanders have been locked out of home ownership which is grossly unfair. I’m fortunate my parents own their home freehold and will pass it on to me (less what they have to pay out in aged care I assume). I’ll probably be in my 70’s before this happens, but at least I’ll be on the property ladder. Many won’t be so lucky.
On that subject: How did the lawyers manage to get the impending legislation changed from them having to do due diligence to ensure buyers are entitled to buy New Zealand property (i.e. their jobs), to a regulatory regime where the buyers provide a written statement saying they have that right? Are there any penalties for making a false declaration? Do the lawyers have to take any responsibility at all?
Another issue with the legislation that I’m wondering about is allowing students and people with any kind of residency visa to purchase residential property. Will they have to sell again when they leave the country or does it become theirs forever? The original legislation only allowed citizens and permanent residents to buy property freehold; which is pretty standard for most countries around the world. There are plenty of options to rent or lease property for those who are only here for a limited time.
We can only hope. Recent evidence suggests that most of the non-residents who own property in Aotearoa do it through companies, trusts, and other “legal persons” (possibly as part of the tax-dodging and money-laundering schemes revealed in the Panama Papers). The National-led government were able to present stats that seemed unrealistically low because they cynically excluded the foreign-owned corporate “persons” who owned property here. I was under the impression that the new government’s policy on limited foreign ownership of residential housing following the same cynical logic, targeting only individual owners who are not resident here. But I’m please to discover that I’m wrong and the Labour policy does include corporate entities headquartered offshore, at least according to this article:
http://theconversation.com/foreign-ownership-of-housing-how-do-australia-and-new-zealand-compare-87089
If I was a foreign 1%er, I’d have two ways to get around this:
1) buy NZ citizenship, as Thiel did. Then I can buy as much kiwi property as I like, and set up NZ-based companies and trusts to buy more. There needs to be a public commission of inquiry into the granting of citizenship to non-residents, and the we need to revoke the citizenship of people like Thiel who only want property here as a survivalist back-up plan.
2) buy property in partnership with kiwis, or NZ-based companies and trusts, and have their name on the titles instead of mine. The Overseas Investment Commission needs to have its teeth put back in, and be properly funded to investigate people using these dishonest tactics and prosecute them.
Was this part of of the election policy platform for Labour, NZ First, or the Greens?
I reckon the headline to Willie’s article proceeds from a false assumption.
Slimin’ Bridges has NO bridges whatsoever to burn with the workers of NZ/Aotearoa, ‘cos they never clucking existed in the first place.
Any worker…….ANY…..WORKER……who thinks the National Party represents their interests is in desperate need of some form of medical intervention.
Say what you will about the other political parties, but there’s one thing you can be damned sure of. If you are working class, supporting National is akin to a sheep voting for more abattoirs.