Why the MoU changes everything and why the NZ mainstream media are the worst enemies of democracy
The haste of stitching together the MoU to stall the Identitarians and blue-green factions inside the Greens from moving to a neutrality stance at the last AGM aside, the Labour-Green Memorandum of Understanding changes everything in one simple move.
New Zealanders aren’t too bright, partly from the lack of quality information they get (Jane Bowron makes this point today – yet manages to miss the impact Waatea 5th Estate has had at 7pm) and partly because of a negative egalitarian culture that punishes anyone for thinking and standing out from the sheep. Most voters still can’t count and understand that the numbers in Parliament are actually far closer than they believe it to be.
The mainstream media, apart from colluding with hate speech merchants like Cameron Slater (until they were caught) and pimping for the interests of bankers, corporations, farmers and property speculators are the worst enemies of democracy in NZ because they never take the time to point out how close the MMP environment makes the election for National.
When TVNZ and TV3 do their latest Polls, they sell it as ‘Labour 30% and National at 47%. This constant advertising for National gives the impression that Key’s 4th term is assured. What the MoU does is force Paddy Gower and other mainstream media pimps to reflect the real Parliamentary equation, that combined, Labour-Greens are 42% and National 47%. That new perception changes everything. It forces the media to acknowledge the election is closer and it suddenly dawns on sleepy hobbits that actually Key isn’t untouchable.
It is this perception change in the way the media must now report the Polls and the way voters see the Polls that is the most immediate impact of this MoU.
When Labour-Greens roll out their joint policy platform alongside a list of electorates they will work together in, voters will see not only an alternative to Key, they will see a very clearly defined way of actually winning.
You can tell how frightened the establishment and National are by Greens-Labour combining based on how hysterical Paddy Gower and Matthew Hooton become, and based on their spittle flecked foam, the establishment is terribly fearful.
I’m more concerned about Winnie’s angry response – blaming immigrants for pretty much everything.
What a greasy piece of shit. I’m glad he still keeps his options open with Key. The last thing the left needs is people like Winnie claiming he’s a leftist.
There’s no doubt that immigration is now a big part of the problem , and there seems to be this current line of thinking that to point that out is to somehow be racist or xenophobic. It is neither.
It is a red herring.
The fact is it is now harming the people who are now living in this country as fully fledged citizens. It is an untruth that they are all poor working class people trying to escape some sort of oppressive conditions.
That is confusing the plight with legitimate refugees.
The ones coming here or speculating from afar are often quite moneyed up and have no particular concern for NZ’s plight regards unemployment , homelessness etc… they come here because this govt has made it an option for them and enabled them to do so. It doesn’t matter where they come from the fact is we cannot keep allowing so many to cross our borders without providing adequate infrastructure for recent arrivals and the current population.
Not only does this put pressure on our infrastructure, it creates undue downwards pressure on wages through competition for jobs. And that further weakens workers ability to fight for better conditions as well.
But perhaps the most insidious thing is it provides a ready pool of voters for the govt who enabled these conditions. That would not be so bad if there was an affinity built up over the years of an understanding of this culture history etc…in other words an understanding of the local conditions… but often there is not. They simply vote for the govt who allowed this out of control situation in the first place to continue.
Every sensible country has a mechanisms of vetting new arrivals and ensuring there is adequate means to support those new arrivals. This is not the case in NZ currently. The other factor is more govt intervention. During the 1950’s the big waves of immigrants from Holland were given options of city’s / regions to live in – to which they had to live for up to 2 years. This may sound dictatorial , however it was to avoid precisely the sort of bottleneck we now see in Auckland – primarily due to the ‘hands off’ ( read : virtually no governance ) small govt ideology of this govt.
Sensible quota’s and distributions of the immigrant demographic is neither racist nor is it xenophobic.
It is simply practical and good sense.
And avoids the current situation occurring in Auckland and the overheated property market situation.
I was referring to Winston’s idea of interviewing every migrant that comes to NZ to ensure something…whatever that means. He said something about treating women like cattle, but considering our domestic violence record, they should more than fit into our culture.
It’s an absurd idea from Winnie and he only said it foster xenophobic views of migrants. Just like NZ First’s idea of setting up detention centres in NZ.
Many migrants are here on student and holiday visas – they’re a huge benefit to NZ in many ways, not just economically. And a big reason why our migration levels are so high is that Kiwis are coming home from Australia. If Winnie wants to break down the numbers, then I’ll listen, but all I see from him is emotive scaremongering. I’d like to see an end to the investor migration category – kick those leeches out
Then he linked immigrants to housing. If Winnie was really concerned about Kiwi’s and their inability to afford housing, then NZ First would push for social housing, but he didn’t at the last election. He’s a phony. Only the Greens and Mana put forward social housing in 2014, and that’s the only way to ensure Kiwi’s have a right to housing – like we did during social democracy.
The housing crisis isn’t just Auckland – that whole city is a disaster. Housing is a problem throughout the country, including places with low levels of migrant influx. I wish everyone would stop assuming our housing problems are Auckland problems. It’s a neoliberal problem.
Winnie and NZ First need to get some guts and say they won’t jump into bed with Key. If that’s too much to ask, then I rest my case.
Winnie should stop crying because the Greens and Labour have finally figured out how MMP works.
A few good points, so fair enough , Fatty.
[citation needed]
Really, that seems to be more an article of faith than based on reality:
http://transportblog.co.nz/2015/09/23/briefing-papers-6-the-problem-with-migration/
http://www.tailrisk.co.nz/documents/TheSuperdiversityMyth.pdf
Sorry DTB, the citation needs to come from Winnie, not me.
As I said: “If Winnie wants to break down the numbers, then I’ll listen, but all I see from him is emotive scaremongering.”
But here’s a quote from a Radio NZ report (who I generally trust):
“More people arrived from India, China and Britain. About three-quarters of migrants from India, and half of migrants from China, arrived on student visas.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/274217/nz-migration-hits-new-annual-record
Migrants aren’t a political football that Winnie can kick around when Labour and Greens team up.
“Really, that seems to be more an article of faith than based on reality.”
Yes it is, because I’m yet to see a breakdown of immigrant numbers. The public shouldn’t have to dig through data to try and figure out if Winnie is making a reasonable argument, or if it’s xenophobic scaremongering.
We have a population bulge shifting into retirement and we need people moving to NZ in their working prime to ensure older people are taken care of. I just can’t see how immigration is our current problem, or our future problem. Our problem is inequality.
I’d like to see steady state population, here and globally.
Most of the world’s environmental problems are at their core, human population pressure generated.
Paul R Ehrlich (The Population Bomb) was/is still correct, he merely got the time frame wrong.
But national keep telling us that most of the immigrants arriving here are returning kiwis because of Nationals governance. They keep telling us but offer no evidence.
My advice would be to put the handbrake on immigration for 2 years and see what impact it has on housing in Auckland, simple really. It won’t happen for fear by National of a crash, a crash they alone have constructed. Their solutions are just band aids as they continue to increase Auckland’s population by 10’s of thousands every year.
“But national keep telling us that most of the immigrants arriving here are returning kiwis because of Nationals governance.”
They would say that, but Kiwis are returning because Australia’s economy hasn’t been great and Kiwis don’t have access to welfare. It’s in spite of National’s governance, not because of it
Dead right Martyn.
As we watch Slater and Glucina and Gower and Hooton and their meaningless ; biased; rhetoric slip deeper into oblivion and irrelevance – it puts a smile on my face knowing that their serial lying leader is also on his way out as well.
What a joke – this lot of idiots who put themselves on fairy land pedestals.
The truth and ethical speech and behavior will always win out.
The above team are a disgrace to NZ and of course they are now scrambling to try and save what tiny shred of decency may still be lingering.
Don’t we just love to watch them desperately squirm and foam at the mouth in despair.
While there’s work to be done it certainly is good to see this development – strategically it cuts through the convenience of certain media heads who wish to slant elections and play with the people of NZ’s election process.
That’s where the whole country wins from this Lab / Green MOU.
It was the move at least half the country have wanted to see. And we can expect over the next few months to see policy hammered out and released, strategic electorates discussed and also… just quietly… a certain ‘cunning’ born out of agreement and mutual discussion which will keep National on the back foot.
Not that is really going to be hard now for Lab / Greens to keep them there – National is now stumbling so regularly that it can only be said that they are being imprisoned by their own ineffectual ‘ supply side / starve the beast ‘ neo liberalism. National are three quarters from falling off the cliff – all Lab / Greens have to do now is provide a small shove.
Let National do the work for them in creating its own downfall.
Countless commentators have stated for years that what neo liberalism fears most – as its Achilles heel – is unity among the populace. This is why neo liberal govt’s choose to jump on board the populist bandwagons and then seek to water them down. Which works only for a time.
And that time is when large numbers of the populace realize they have been infiltrated and duped by that process. We are seeing this now. And we are seeing a sense of democracy and potency come back to our electoral process. This is also what people want.
Steady as she goes towards 2017.
And those timeless platforms – health , education, welfare and wages/ cost of living… I believe are the battle lines. The very things that have been neglected for so long under National.
we need to get rid of many of these reporters their biasness is disgusting and hurting NZers and our country and to think they get paid for the rubbish that keeps coming out of their mouths
Martyn, You said;
“What the MoU does is force Paddy Gower and other mainstream media pimps to reflect the real Parliamentary equation, that combined, Labour-Greens are 42% and National 47%. That new perception changes everything. It forces the media to acknowledge the election is closer and it suddenly dawns on sleepy hobbits that actually Key isn’t untouchable.”
Yes Martyn this would be true in an honest MSM,= but if “Gower the Gopher” carries on “advertising ” for Nactional then we will need to force all opposition parties to place the court order to hand half TVNZ/RNZ over to those Opposition Parties who represent the other half of the voting block so we can have the under Opposition Parties platform report all election issues from now on correctly and tell the positive side of their policies also as it is our rights we need to have given here.
Good idea as they are forcing the issue to have us order our rights over a corrupt MSM.
your authoritarian tendencies are somewhat disturbing..
..and how do you feel..as an nz first supporter..how do you feel about yr leader peters reverting to form..and engaging in some hysterical immigrant-bashing..?
..i think that he is worried for other reasons..and he has good reason.
..a cohesive/coherent lab/grn block will likely draw back many of those nz first voters who wandered there from labout..disillusioned with neoliberal-labour..
..peters is smart enough to know/realise this..and this is why he is so pissed off..
..he may even decide to swing further to the right..even more immigrant-bashing,,to court voters from a likely by then disintergrating national..
..will you stay on board for that ride..?..and you are quite relaxed about peters being open to propping up the tories..?
..from the green party of donald-era to the race-baiting/immigrant-bashing peters party..
..that is quite the lurch to the right for you there cleangreen,,(and the name chosen in the spirit of irony..?..was it..?..)
..
Ure – Oh,oh, -= there’s yet another Nasty NatZ troll!!!!!
Still trying to work his Trolling “their meaningless ; biased; rhetoric slip deeper into oblivion and irrelevance” (Thanks Blake that worked for this troll) Ure for his paymaters????
Get lost Ure, if you cant add to the sad NatZ crumbling cardboard empire arsehole!!!
Do you know Phillip Ure – apparently not.
Hardly a right wing troll.
I concur with John W. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Phillip, he is most definitely not a Right Wing troll. Or any other species of Trollis Spewus Garbagoticus… 😀
@ Ure…
Would you be so concerned if those immigrants were from north Europe? .. or is ‘racism’ just reserved for those immigrants that come from India / China… to which in China’s case NZ’s cannot buy property.
NZ First has a lot of good policy’s,- and having restrictions / quotas on immigrants is not only sensible – it is inline with most country’s that have such policy’s . And they do so for very good reasons. Is your beef more with NZ First / Peters or is it genuinely about ‘racism’ ?
I suspect it is the former.
i have two views on immigration..
..i can see the validity of providing incentives to immigrants to establish in provinces..(hand in hand with targeted provincial development ..)
..and i can see the madness of bringing in immigrants to do low-paid slave-jobs nz’ers won’t..(but that problem is those low-wage/slave jobs..)
..and i can see the pressures on auckland from just shoe-horning them all in there..
..(life in auckland sucks now…the rush hour is pretty much from morn ’till nite..i get around on a scooter..driving a car in this shit would have me chewing on the driving-wheel..)
..and/but you must also factor in the reality that one of the japanese names for new zealand is ‘the empty isles’…
..we are hardly short of room..eh..?..
..(and i don’t care where those immigrants come from..i welcome/embrace how multi-cultural auckland has become..
..that aspect of auckland is really cool..i live in mt albert..and we are chocka-block with ethnic-minorities..)
..i think that immigration is a factor in a lot of other issues..
..but not a ‘problem’ in itself..
..fix our low-wage/inequal society..
..and those immigration ‘problems’ will in the main disappear..
..and there will be/is plenty of room for more to come..
..(and personally i would like to see a large jump in the number of refugees we take..the amount now..given our wealth and the ‘room’ we have..is shamefully inadequate..)
..hope all that clarifies that for you..
..and as for what is happening now..both the greens and labour are tipping the hat to peters..by acknowledging a need for more targeted/focused immigration..
..and as an aside..while others are moaning because this mou expires on election day…i see that as a brilliant counter to what is a main point of difference for peters..
..now both labour and greens are saying they can’t make any concrete agreement..because first ‘the voters have to speak’..
..and any deal will be dependent upon this result..
..clearly they are both chaneling peters..heh..!
..and in the process leaving him s.f.a. to moan/complain about..
..as i said..tactically..brilliant…
Cheers… again some good views.
what i said about why peters is pissed off about mou seems to have come to pass..
‘Colmar Brunton said that following the MoU announcement, support for Labour rose significantly from 26 to 31 per cent, with support for NZ First dropping from 11 to 7 per cent.’
..that’d be those labour defectors returning to the fold..
peters/nz first should be very worried..
Thanks for that, Phillip. I missed the TV1 news tonight, so it’s good to get a heads-up. It’ll be useful in an assessment I’m currently working on.
@ frank..if looking for the source it was the herald website..
chra..
Something needs to be done about our main stream media they are actively advocating and lobbying for the National Govt and this doesn’t seem fair especially during election year when they have the mainstream journalist doing the lobbying for a party that is shafting most of NZ apart from the 1%
Bomber:
>> New Zealanders aren’t too bright, partly from the lack of quality information they get <<
I'm not sure that the elitist attitude that comes across in comments like this is very helpful. It seems to be judging kiwis based on a certain image of who we are, an image projected by a mass media acknowledged in this very same piece as offering a heavily distorted version of "reality".
I've always known I'm not the kind of person the corporate media likes to tell us kiwis are. But if we can be made to believe we are a tiny minority and most people are thrilled with National policy so far, then the people who own the media have done their job. Our job is to speak out in support of radically different policy, and let people who oppose corporate rule via a surveillance state know they're not alone, not to sneer down our noses as the corporate media's caricature of them.
Agree 100% here.
Yeah, and it misses the point that Labour lost the last election through its own arrogance. If they had made a deal with the greens over the Ohariu electorate, and quietly given Hone the nod, they would be the government now.
In a way, it was a good election to lose, as there will be an appetite for change now that didn’t exist before. Labour may not have dealt with housing and the TPPA much better than National has.
The mainstream media and other neo-fascist groups are definitely a major component of the problem.
But as for Labour and the Greens threatening to upset status quo -no.
It will be all the real-world factors that have been swept under the carpet for decades that will upset the National ‘apple cart’.
40000 homeless ,working poor ,record household debt ,starving kids ,middle class falling into the precariot ,rising technological/structural unemployment ,and an economy that looks more like a ponzi scheme , an environment that is being trashed . risks are being externalized/socialized and profits privatized greedy fuckers should be hanged
through out history empires have divided and conquered the weak
but when you unite with a common purpose one goal united we become strong
for last eight years national have divided and conquered the opposition
well no more we are stronger together than ripping one another apart there the enemy there greed and corruption must come to an end !!!!
through out history empires have divided and conquered the weak
but when you unite with a common purpose one goal united we become strong
for last eight years national have divided and conquered the opposition
well no more we are stronger together than ripping one another apart there the enemy there greed and corruption must come to an end !!!!
Well said DS. It’s all about divide and rule, dismantling of the welfare state, and the war on unionism.
Sleepy National voting hobbits have good reason to be deeply suspicious of the liberal Left. Key is Trump-lite, thank God for small mercies.
Chris Hedges exposes the revolting truth about RW politics and the complicity of liberal elites.
I see the media are in a bit of a tizzy about this. It seems they can’t handle a new paradigm in politics. Is the status quo all they can cope with??