Posts by simon g
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Wow.
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples is to become Maori Affairs Minister under his party's deal to support a National government.
Dr Sharples and fellow co-leader Tariana Turia will also get a number of other portfolios.
Mrs Turia will be Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Associate Health Minister and Associate Social Development Minister.
Dr Sharples will also be Associate Education Minister and Associate Corrections Minister.
All posts are outside of Cabinet with the right to dissent on other policy issues outside portfolio areas.
So, they have the right to dissent, except on issues relating to Maori, and health, and education, and prisons, and so on. They're not just in the tent, they're in the sleeping bag.
A couple of hours after National/ACT talk up "three strikes and you're out", Pita Sharples gets Corrections (albeit associate). That is one very elastic coalition.
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When the details are made public, let's play Deal WordWatch - a fun game for all the family:
Score 1 point for:
have a look at
review
consult
Score 1000 points for:
change the law
I underestimated the size of their thesaurus. The deal with ACT, just announced, includes an "advisory group" and a "task force". Top work, wordsmiths.
A feasibility study can't be far away. Possibly even a Commission.
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From the Nelson Mail, during the campaign:
Mr Key was at ease as he mingled with the crowd, answering people's questions.
He talked football with a group of boys, including 12-year-old Harry Tod-Smith, who supports English club Arsenal. Mr Key said he was a Chelsea supporter.
No wonder Michael Cullen (Spurs) can't stand him.
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So is this the official Friday Fun thread? In that case ...
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Maybe Phil Goff is just calling it as it its. Maybe he doesn't have his memory erased every three years, like so many commentators, and he can see where this will be heading, because he's seen it all before. Maybe he just knows that what we all say now is utterly irrelevant to the fate of this coalition. Yes, he might have said nothing instead, but it really doesn't mattter a damn either way.
Turia will not fight the next election. That's her motivation for this deal. But the Maori Party will. And upthread I asked:
Now it may be that the Maori Party will be the first minor party to retain its support at the next election, after backing the government of the time. But no party has managed it yet. I'd be interested to know why people think this time will be any different. Especially given the economic weather forecast.
Any ideas? For example, what level of spending will Turia and Sharples be looking for in their portfolios? It'll have to be big, right? How will they deliver more to Maori than the previous government? How long will National - and its supporters - want to stump up the cash?
Let's try one small, specific example: the Maori Party policy is a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Labour consistently increased the minimum wage, but not as much as the Alliance and then NZ First (and the Greens) wanted. Basic coalition maths: get part of what you want, keep pressing for more.
So either National will change its view on the minimum wage, or the Maori Party will deliver less to its constituents than Labour. Hooray for the first, and welcome Nats on the road to Damascus. I'l believe it when I see it - and National's backers will hate it when they see it. ACT's reaction will be R18. But it's not going to happen, is it?
Multiply that policy conflict many times over, and you have the next three years.
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So the first test will probably be law'n'order. The Maori Party will vote against legislation on sentencing and gangs, but ACT will provide the majority.
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This is going to be the fifth post-election deal under MMP.
Now it may be that the Maori Party will be the first minor party to retain its support at the next election, after backing the government of the time. But no party has managed it yet. I'd be interested to know why people think this time will be any different. Especially given the economic weather forecast.
There is a separate argument - the bee (or whatever insect it is) sting argument - you get one shot, and then you die, so you might as well make the most of your shot, and hope to leave a legacy. But that is *not* the same as saying that the party will benefit. Kiwibank is still here, but the Alliance isn't (just Jim). Ditto all other previous guests at the coalition table.
(Which brings up a third argument, about our simplistic "in or out" political culture, but enough already ...)
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When the details are made public, let's play Deal WordWatch - a fun game for all the family:
Score 1 point for:
have a look at
review
consult
Score 1000 points for:
change the law
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If Key was going to dump Keynes and follow Roger (and TINA), today was the day to do it. But ...
The Treasury opened the books for incoming prime minister John Key today, and he was not greatly concerned by what he saw.
After meeting Treasury secretary John Whitehead and senior officials, Mr Key told reporters the situation had deteriorated "a little bit" since the pre-election fiscal update.
"They are more pessimistic but I wouldn't describe it as Armageddon," he said.
"In broad terms I believe we're on exactly the right track. Our plans for a stimulus programme are right."
(NZPA)
So Labour & Cullen are off the hook. Should we be thanking Ruth Richardson (i.e. Fiscal Responsibility Act) for saving us from Roger's medicine?
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Clearly, Goff is the best person for the job. Based on, you know, ability - as opposed to giving the journos a new toy. Spare me the fatuous Fresh Face.
The NatLab party today took a bold step into the future by choosing Donny Donut as their new leader. Donut says he brings new energy and ideas to the job, and already has a Facebook page. When asked what his new ideas were, he said "To bring new energy and ideas to the job".
He has run his own business (a media sports communication consultancy), kept his own hair, and lists Jon Stewart and Harry Potter as his political heroes, as well as "that old black dude who was locked up for ages in South Africa". When asked which side he would have supported in World War Two, he said that he did not want to relitigate the past, but he had seen something by Steven Spielberg on DVD, and the uniforms looked cool. He added that Eye-Dee-OLLA-Jee was a hip-hop artist who could inspire "tomorrow's teens, today."