Jacinda dodges a TPPA bullet – elites search for next economic trigger to sabotage new Government
Behind the scenes, the power structures of NZ are still in a state of denial and incandescent rage.
The vested interests who prospered under National still can not believe they have lost power, but they also hear an anger towards free market Capitalism being expressed by Jacinda and Winston that to them is blasphemy.
Helen Clark faced the same powers with her ‘winter of discontent’ when the corporates and elites joined forces to economically sabotage the country until Clark backed down over closing the gaps social policy.
The message from these elites is clear, ‘you may have won, but we run this country’.
Winston and Jacinda articulate an actual threat to the neoliberal hegemonic structure, that’s why the resistance to the new government echoed in the mainstream media and seen in the petty spitefulness of Parliamentary procedure is so vicious.
But that’s just what can be seen above the surface. Below it the new Government faces a public service that is ideologically infested towards harming the poor and driven by pushing for more globalist trade liberalisation and free market reform.
What the Right wanted more than anything was Jacinda to march off to APEC trumpeting resistance so that when it fell over, they could blame her for the impending economic slump.
What these forces desperately want is to spook the market so interest rates go up which would give every NZer with a mortgage an extra couple of hundred dollars a week in loan repayments for Christmas.
Jacinda has played a far smarter game.
As The Daily Blog pointed out last week...
…I think that keeping their heads down and allowing the TPPA to implode all on its own to escape an open confrontation with the elite rich of NZ is a smarter move for a new Government than declaring war on the neoliberal establishment on day one.
…the Right can’t blame the TPPA failure on Jacinda now Canada has pulled out and her push for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) should be seen for what it is, kicking this bloody thing into touch.
There’s more than one way to skin neoliberalism.
The other immediate international issue was China who has been agitated by the foreign land sale moves by the new Government and the demise of the National Party whom they sponsor. Unspoken threats to our economic relationship with them is what has spurred NZ First wanting to open up trade with Russia who would take anything China didn’t buy.
That’s two ankle taps that Jacinda has managed to side step with skill.
In Parliament, National will use their Select Committee concessions gained from the first days meltdown to wicked effect. Every policy will be held up and manufactured outrage will drive public hearings while National trumpet the values of democracy and participation and damn every attempt by the new Government to move policy along with the kind of inflammatory wounded rhetoric that made Trump so electable.
Outside Parliament, National will look to manufacture crises that attack Labour’s allies. Expect dirty politics and well resourced media smears on Unions.
The elites will stalk for an issue to fund which will cause the largest level of social division while constantly trying to trip up the economy.
The new Government have bought themselves some breathing space through till January, but those against them are stopping at nothing to undermine and distort their vision.
WHEN WILL jACINDA COME OUT OVER THE DARK AND STAND UP FOR ALL OF OUR COLLECTIVE HEALTH & WELLBEING OF HER PEOPLE & ENVIRONMENT AS CANADA HAS DONE SO?
“Outside Parliament, National will look to manufacture crises that attack Labour’s allies. Expect dirty politics and well resourced media smears on Unions.”
BETRAYAL !! As a labour voter at the general election I am spewing. Jacinda hasn’t played a smarter game.She has showed that when push comes to shove she has no spine.The ISDS provisions threaten our sovereignty.For me the pixie dust has evaporated, and I am confronted with instead of a fairy princess progressive, a neo-liberal tawdry goblin, whose labour party coach has turned into overnight a steaming dog turd!
Now, tell me more about the Green Party ?
What betrayal? 1. Labour always maintained that they didnt support the tpp in its current form and would renegotiate it. 2. In 2 weeks no less they managed to make changes despite the odds being against them and despite the former National government saying that the tpp couldn’t be changed. 3. Not signed. 4. Its not over yet as prof Kelsey has pointed out.
Free trade as an economic concept didn’t really have global trade with giant disparities in existing GDP per capita and standard of living in mind. Free trade isn’t enough. I want free movement of labor. Both of these together can go a long way in solving world poverty.
Louis this is not true;
“In 2 weeks no less they managed to make changes despite the odds being against them and despite the former National government saying that the tpp couldn’t be changed”
I am not against labour, and I am a Labour voter to but we need to brig the facts out honestly first about if any changes the ISDS were made at all which over at the Standard shows Labour did not change the ISDS a all.
Secindly as I drive to town today I heard Wayne Mapp discussing the issue if any changes were made from the origional text of ISDS that national signed last year and he said strongly No chanes have been made, so who is correct here now, as I hate national I wouild dearly love jacinda to be right, but since we have no copy of the text of any ammendments from the origionnal TPP signed by Nats in 2016 we dont know who is right or wrong.
Wayne said it was not changed from the origional text national signed last year.
Here are the facts;
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/11/nz-first-support-for-tpp-not-guaranteed.html
13 November 2017
RadioLIVE
LISTEN NOW
NZ First support for TPP not guaranteed
• 1 hour ago
Anna Bracewell-Worrall
NZ First leader Winston Peters and Labour leader Jacinda Ardern. Credits: Newshub.
Labour may have to pass the CPTPP into law with the support of National and ACT – and without its Government support partners.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand First won’t make a decision on whether it backs the CPTPP (the rebranded Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) through Parliament, until it’s seen the final deal.
Labour already knows it doesn’t have backing from the Greens.
Earlier on Monday, the Greens reiterated its decision to vote against the deal, while investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms remained an option.
Without support from either Government partner, the CPTPP can still easily pass through into law. National says it does – and will – support the agreement.
Speaking from the Philippines, Ms Ardern said, despite New Zealand First having Cabinet responsibility, it also had the ability to agree to disagree.
“We won’t have a conversation about where party support will fall, until we have a final agreement,” she said. “I absolutely understand parties in some cases will wait until the final deal’s on the table.”
From time to time, Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens will take differing positions, she said.
Ms Ardern has had ongoing conversations about the deal with NZ First leader Winston Peters.
The TPP agreement initially included the United States, but President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement, forcing the remaining countries to form a TPP11 agreement.
Newshub.
You hit the nail on the head again Martyn.
Jacinda has played a far smarter game.
Yeah right, she gambled and was lucky. That’s all.
Gambling over TPP ISDS is not clever , it’s reckless, made worse when the motivation for gambling is fear of political consequences for standing up for NZ’s interests.
At least we now know how little regard NZ Labour hold for their support base’s position, who overwhelmingly reject the TPP.
Know it: Labour are still neoliberal puppets.
I mean neoliberalism is finished and every one is kind of standing around puzzled about what to. While democracy is used to fund shareholder profit there can be no market solutions. In the sense that companies aren’t an argument of merit any more. It’s just ownership of stuff. No one asks why companies take up valuable space in our cities or there purpose fore being there. And overwhelmingly there purpose is to screw every one over. So the theatre of parliament, the select committees and all that, are kind of the final extension of some very cheeky businessmen in desperate need of a which hunt. But that wouldn’t go down well with the herald.
Jacinda and Winston and the Greens have to stay staunch…Russia and Europe and Britain should be our new trading partners to mitigate the effect of predation from China and USA corporates
….the Nacts are stuffed…and the whole country is cheering that these old ‘has beens’ are shown up for what they are
…the Nacts who have betrayed and SOLD US OUT and done so much damage to New Zealand and New Zealander’s rights
…they are GONE BURGER!
…and for the next Election!
agree 100% with you Red Buzzard
Ageed RB bang on as their promises must be kept every one.
1000 days is not long to carryout the task of the first ‘batch of changes’
We in HB along with HBRC our partner were given on November 17th 2013 just three months to produce our bussiness case to take over the mothballed Napier/Gisborne rail line contract with Kiwirail.
Little did we know this time period is a non functional period over xmas/new year.
So the three months beginning late November to February 12th most bussiness’s and government operations had not returned to operation so we missed the deadline because of no contact with these bussiness partners and agencies, and lost the contract.
labour are walking into the same trap now as they cannot carry out their 100day changes over this xmas/new year period as we found out that time period is deadwoood time where nthing goes on so beware labour.
Do we actually know Jacinda wasn’t fully prepared to sign off on whatever the TPPA overlords wanted? Martyn spins this is careful planning by Labour/NZ First, but I’m far from convinced that is the case.
Historian Pete, you have never played chess?
Jacinda has been three or four moves ahead, except when her whips let her down over numbers.
She sets goals and plays the long game.
There is a great load of expectations on her and her government, and critics at every turn.
We are in early days, and this dreaded deal has to come back, bear scrutiny, and meet the criteria.
She has delayed and reframed the methods of acceptance. Nothing under the table. She is to be admired, not castigated by her own before it is a done deal.
My feeling watching Jacinda was that she was star struck and there was no way she was not going to sign up to the TPP , regardless of what was on offer. Her plan was to just get the best deal . She was in over her depth.I trust Jane Kelsey’s assessment that we are still in a toxic position regarding the ISDS Corporate Tribunals.The fear of being sued will have a dampening effect of what legislation is put forward.That will actually be the worst of it!
historian pete many said the same about sire john being out of his depth now you are saying this about our new PM. Give her a chance she has some wise ones around her and nothing can be worse then the last 9 years of us waiting for our brighter future the one that never came and never was going to come.
I made no such statement about John Key.In moments like the TPP scenario you don’t get a second chance !
MICHELLE,
Are you aware of the time frame of the TPP 11 (or whatever it is called?
it has been said that the lock in time is upwards to 35yrs!
Are you aware it is a long term manatory time frame this TPP 11 is for here?
You’re drink and its time to go home Martyn. This Labour government is totally signed up to the TPP, and its big cudos with their real bosses if they can bring home a done deal. They don’t work for us Martyn. They work for the Ruling Class. Why don’t you get that?
Baristas I least like to have serve my coffee:
Knows more about children than a:Psycologist
Knows more about the GDP than an: Economist
Knows more about tactical manoeuvres than a:General
Knows more about education than a:Profesor
Knows more about complex calculations than a:Physicist
Knows more about God than the:Pope
Knows more about civil rights than:Martin Luther King
Knows more about sustainable living than an: Engineer
Knows more about housing than a:builder
Knows more about history than a:bachelor in arts
But most importantly. Knows more about The Daily Blog than: Martyn Bradbury.
Lol, when a Labour govt gets universal praise from business leaders, the National Party and the MSM commentariat for its handling of the TPP, you know we’ve all been sold down the river.
I’ve said it here many times, both before and after the election, this is a Neo-Liberal, faux left government and we are all fools.
I can’t help it, I’m laughing my ass off. We are so stupid – they lied to us, and we wanted to believe, but the truth is, we’ve been SUCKERED AGAIN!
We are never going to learn. The only difference between the two major parties are stylistic. It doesn’t matter which party it is, they don’t work for us, they serve the RULING CLASS!
This kind of fatalism is just grumpy idealism. Neither are realistic. Yes, Labour still have a long way to go to shed their corporatist rump and get back to being a *labour* party (Blackball principles etc). But they are not in government on their own. Both NZ First and the Greens are far to the left of the Labour economically, and will help to reduce any tendancy to meet the NatACTs in the “centre” (the news media version of “centre”, which sits neatly between Labour’s centre-right and the NatACTs far-right). As Darien Fenton says, if we want more progress from this government, we the people need to educate, agitate, and organise, and herd them in the direction we want them to go.
Get the faery dust out of your eyes mate. On the day of the signing of the TPP, in Auckland, we held the third of the four largest protests in modern nz history. The entire central city was locked down for hours. You couldn’t get a scooter into the CBD, even the expressways were shut down. This Labour government knows exactly how we feel about the TPP, but they don’t care.
The people they are really trying to impress are the global elites. People like Tony Blair, JA’s mentor, and others of his ilk, the creators of Neo-Labour.
They don’t work for us. Not now, not “when they see the light”, not ever. They work for the Ruling Class. They’ve betrayed their base many many times, because they know they can get away with it. And they will keep doing so as long as they can rely on us to keep swallowing the hook.
This time is different though. They barely squeezed in by a miracle. When they betray us this time, they’ll never get in again. Maybe it wont matter, because the tpp effectively hands Nz sovereignty over to the multinationals, but there is still a chance. So long as we do not deceive ourselves about who these people really are, and who they really care about. And it definitely isn’t us.
You’ve got it, I think.
This may soon become one of the least popular governments in NZ history, I fear.