Hard News: Democracy Night
773 Responses
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Don’t believe everything you see on TV Brian
Try discussions here. There are Christchurch people happy with the government’s actions. But they don’t tend to be (a) poor, and (b) in the worst-affected areas. Most of those people have simply had to leave.
The idea that their problems are some TV confection is really quite insulting.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
And yet, what regulation has National rolled back apart from energy standards, electoral finance and a broadcasting review no one’s heard of anyway? All of which were backed by the Greens.
The introduction of the 90-day employment probation period. Also, they’ve actually tightened restrictions on union officials visiting workplaces.
This seems, then, a principal challenge for Labour. New Zealand’s regulatory burden is way lower than most OECD countries, including Australia, which is conjured as a model by centre-right parties, even though governments there impose a regulatory model that makes NZ look like some libertarian paradise.
I suspect misplaced nanny-statist antipathy is partly attributable to the long-term breakdown of civic pride and the social compact, and the weakening of the middle class.
What better way to justify certain needed regulations, than with the ‘Wild West’/’law of the jungle’ mantra?
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Sacha, in reply to
their libertarian thread
I'm not clear what you are talking about - examples?
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Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
I’m not clear what you are talking about – examples?
Marijuana decriminalisation springs to mind.
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Sacha, in reply to
Mojo Mathers -- who I really hope squeaks in on the Greens' list
Jon Johannson was touching on Q&A about the prospect of her getting in.
She's deaf
Side note. As I've said to a few journos, it's actually Deaf with a capital D for the community and NZ Sign Language for their language (much like English, Korean or Farsi have capitals).
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Sacha, in reply to
New Zealand’s regulatory burden is way lower than most OECD countries
Exactly. To me this is in the same category as our world-leading education curriculum. Evidence at odds with ideological messaging about it.
Oh noes, our schools suck, we need national standards
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Sacha, in reply to
they need to re-frame ideas around government and governance
I agree. Countering the idea of taxes as a "burden" (deliberately imported from neolib fellow travellers in the US and UK) will take way more effort than has been applied in the last decade. The Greens seem closer with their core message of "richer" this time.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Side note. As I’ve said to a few journos, it’s actually Deaf with a capital D for the community and NZ Sign Language for their language (much like English, Korean or Farsi have capitals).
Noted.
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Sacha, in reply to
I've learned some useful stuff. Just not widely valued. :)
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Heather Gaye, in reply to
Winston cornered the one that should speak best to all of us - "fair".
I would've thought so, but I've actually heard that word a lot from the right. They want a "fair" society where you're not penalised for being successful, etc.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Mantroll, it's a govern...
...could someone please remind him
that his only mandate on record
= John Banks, a cuppa, and a microphone?What about that three way he had with
Macaw 7 and the head of the IRB, and
wasn't there a cup involved there, too? -
Islander, in reply to
t's usually Deaf Maori (etc)
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Sacha, in reply to
Ngati Turi
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slarty, in reply to
Yeah, there’s some cases. Pretty few, I’d have thought.
Estimates vary, but about 1,500 people commute from Waiheke. I'd guess maybe half of us have to use a second form of public transport. Personally I used to get a bus every day (the monthly passes cover most of the buses, both ends).
To me the train thing is more about the quality of central Auckland - a bit like the waterfront. And for all the FUD, such things tend to be self funding in the long term (imagine Sydney or London without decent rail...)
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Sacha, in reply to
The main benefit of the extra rail link is to double network capacity across the whole region. Being painted as a CBD-focused thing but in conjunction with bus feeder and circle routes will transform how many people can reliably get around the whole place.
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Islander, in reply to
O, and I thought that was an in-joke!
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The main benefit of the extra rail link is to double network capacity across the whole region.
Don't get me wrong, you or Slarty, I think a loop is a great idea. I was just countering the idea that Auckland Central should have been all woody about it out of self interest. They're the electorate that will benefit least from it because they already live in the city, so commuting just isn't much of a hassle for them. I imagine most of them would want it anyway, though, who is ever against massive infrastructure spending right in their neighborhood?
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
The idea that their problems are some TV confection is really quite insulting.
It is, but if you didn't take the six o'clock news with a grain of salt and a shot or twelve of delicious Zumwohl (leave the cheque in the usual place, guys) you'd believe South Auckland's miserable poor can't leave their hovels without tripping over dead abused children, under-age prostitutes, Triad warfare and mounds of used P-pipes. Doesn't mean there aren't problems, but you can make a pretty strong case that the media presents a pretty distorted picture. After all, if it bleeds it leads, right?
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Oh noes, our schools suck, we need national standards
And that was one really really big regulation!!! Nanny statish bigtime even.
And Craig?? Voted for the Flower Girl???
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Richard Grevers, in reply to
I imagine most of them would want it anyway, though, who is ever against massive infrastructure spending right in their neighborhood?
The residents who were in the way of the Wellington motorway extension?
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Sacha, in reply to
the idea that Auckland Central should have been all woody about it out of self interest. They're the electorate that will benefit least from it because they already live in the city, so commuting just isn't much of a hassle for them. I imagine most of them would want it anyway, though, who is ever against massive infrastructure spending right in their neighborhood?
Are you mixing up the city rail link with the separate inner suburban tram proposal that Nikki Kaye has been promoting in her campaign?
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Rich of Observationz, in reply to
I'm some distance from the motorway extension and consider it a complete waste of money and desecration of the city. Wellington has the shortest airport-city journey of any sizable NZ town, and car use is falling, not rising.
I'm even unconvinced on light rail. It would be better to build some cheap dedicated busways and upgrade to rail sometime in the future when the population is larger.
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Sacha, in reply to
As I've said to a few journos, it's actually Deaf with a capital D for the community and NZ Sign Language for their language
Example number 1001 - along with the stereotypical leading with how someone became disabled (parallels with the undeserving poor, you know).
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Joshua Arbury, in reply to
I respectfully disagree that Auckland Central wouldn't benefit much from the City Rail Link. While the project's benefits are felt all around Auckland, they are felt most strongly in the city centre as without the project all the streets will be flooded with buses and cars by 2025 at the latest. We're literally talking wall to wall buses on Albert, Fanshawe & Symonds streets at peak times.
The CRL is also utterly critical for the City Centre Master Plan to happen. In terms of benefitting residents - remember that something like 20,000 people now live in the CBD. A pity it seems that hardly any of them vote though.
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Sacha, in reply to
flooded with buses and cars
someone blogged about that recently. :)
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