This is just a summary of some issues going down around New Zealand right now.
1. ) Jordan Williams and Transparency
Jordan Williams who is the grand pooh bah for all Taxpayer Think Tanks around the world according to himself and Lord Daniel Hannan - appeared on RNZ 30 where Guyon Espiner interviewed him for 30 minutes.
Cutting a long BS story short - Jordan Williams boasted that the TPU was all about accountability and transparency and how "most New Zealanders would agree with that".
Williams also oversold how - yes of course they are a member of the Atlas Network but it did not take long before the so called transparency and accountability was bloody missing and I laughed my flip top head off at the absolute contradiction on display.
The Taxpayers' Union grifts about $3 Million in revenue per year - all from donations and claim that Sir Bob Jones is their biggest donor cos they get free Rent in Wellington and can afford to pay about 18 staff - but after boasting about transparency Jordan was not happy about confirming if Phillips Morris was a donor - and instead fudged things by saying - the total donations from cigarettes, booze, sugar etc - was less than 3% ( $100,000 ) per year. Yes - there was no accountability here - and things were as transparent as a smoking lounge in a blizzard.
Williams took a big covid wage subsidy handout in the pandemic and the right wing were very vocal about stimulating more by spending more on businesses during Covid - before radically reversing to saying - government spending was bad during the Covid period...and now blaming everyone else.
Williams attempted to portray the Atlas Network as just a thing for young people who are entrepreneurs seeking best practice and how it is lonely here at the bottom of the world...buckets to hurl in ...you bet.
2. ) It pays to push in the queue and no processes needed
David Seymour was interviewed about whether he thought it was good government to spray a fire hose of $24 Million cash all over Mike King with no procurement processes. Seymour said that Act did not campaign on this as he handed the hot crony potato to NZ First - who said for every dollar spent you get $5.70 back - which is all that counts with mental health. Mike King initilaly said thanks for giving us ...I mean...giving the kids this money and that he was a hard guy to donate to ...due to his love hate personality...something like that.
3.) Outrage at building sights and road names
Over at the Platform Oliver Sean Plunket was still focused on his hater culture wars where he chuckled like an empty sheep's bladder when a caller said some bloke on the Kapiti Coast had named a private road after his favourite booze spelt backwards. "Good on you no bloody iwi involved" said Oliver or words to that effect as he took another call from another haw-de-haw bloke who was upset at the "mumbo jumbo" he had to sit through in a health and safety briefing at a building site.
There was talk about a waka oar and a club - and the lifeforce and a failed attempt to say "Mauri" - before Oliver said it was all mumbo jumbo and passed the remark a French Professor had tried to tell the guy running the Free Speech Union - that it was bad form to sit on a table.
You get the resentful small issue picture - as everyday racists who tuned in said they were not racist - and it was all a big burden on them as they griped and moaned about race issues all day every day. Poor wee souls - where is the FreeDumb?
4. ) We have the Mandate - until we don't - but we still do what we like so there suckers - it's the right thing to do.
Over at BHN there's some good commentary about how the Government loves to recite how they have a big mandate called an election to get things done - but wait - when it comes to scrapping the first home buyer funds - they had no mandate and no bleat - that that was then and this is now.
The broken election promise is very unpopular and why would a government do this to young first home buyers looking for their first home - and worse defund social housing levels and worse - choose to give $2.9 Billion to landlords?
Notably the first home buyer is not part of National's voting constituency but Landlords most definitely are - and some are even donors.
5.) Act's Treaty Principles posted on Tribunal Website
Briefings to Government have roughly said Act's definition of the Treaty principles are a made up load of right wing fantasy claptrap - with the backing of no experts and advice said their lunatic BS could pose a threat to social cohesion. The briefings to government were made available to the Waitangi Tribunal who uploaded them to their website.
Seymour was furious and said someone unelected was sticking their oar in ...and he said what sort of society do you have when one groups has political rights that rest don't have.
Over on BHN the answer was - like - people under 18 cannot vote - they have less political rights than the rest ...and society is well ..one Seymour is okay with.
Once again this was all about Act singling out race issues...much like the Māori Ward issues - as we struggle to throw off neoliberal settler state racism in this country.
6.) No more flights approved out of New Caledonia
There have been two flights carrying about 50 people each out of New Caledonia back to New Zealand so far.
Last time I looked Winston was sitting around waiting for the French to give permission for more flights to leave - but so far none had been given today.
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