Posts Tagged ‘Labour Party’
Michael Cullen leaving politics
As expected, he has announced his retirement earlier this afternoon, and was then appointed as the deputy chair of NZ post. And also as expected, the appointment is again attacked by a lot of right wingers/whingers. This is the part I don't like about this country, people judge politicians according to their place on the political spectrum, not their actual abilities. No matter who's in power, they are there to improve this country, but this kind of sick, arrogant culture can really put some of NZ's most talented people away.
In my opinion, although Cullen was not prefect, he did a fine job in the past 9 years. National was reluctant to admit that but they also know it for a fact. He also did a fine job on his baby Cullen fund, I know it has a bit of trouble at the moment, but under the current economic circumstances, which fund is still free from trouble?
I haven't got time to check who is next on Labour's list but if my memory serves me right, the person should be Damien O'Connor. Not too bad, as long as we keep Judith Tizard, the minister responsible for holding PM's handbag out.
Last comments
Although I did not give my party vote to Labour yesterday, I still consider the party the lesser of two evils- in last years New Zealand enjoyed a continuous stability and economic growth. And most importantly, the growth was enjoyed by all New Zealanders regardless of their gender, ethnicity or social statues, it was a sustainable growth, not the kind of growth achieved at the expense of part of our society.
It's also because I can never forget and forgive the massive incompetence of the last National Government and how that was ended nearly in tragedy.
Helen Clark and the Labour Party have done a good job in last nine years. There were downsides and unpopular movements, but if you look back, most of them were from Green politics.
I personally admired Helen Clark's strong leadership, a courage to do what's best to the country, not what electorates want. History will prove this.
She was also a great ambassador of New Zealand, she won respect for herself and New Zealand when she said no to invasion in Iraq. In China, many of my friends admired New Zealand's dignity, impartiality and selflessness as Clark first tipped the milk scandal in China.
And I'm glad to have her as my local MP for the last 27 years. She fought tirelessly for the benefit of the local community, and helped me during my hard time.
There was no doubt that National is on the road to form next government, but as I marked in my twitter, no matter who wins, it will sure be a sad turning point of New Zealand politics. As New Zealand First gradually fades away, New Zealand departed from centrist route, becoming vulnerable to irresponsible acts done by either extreme right wing like ACT or extreme left represented by Greens.
I consider myself pretty centred so it was a hard choice for me. But when I looked at the current economic crisis, I had to come to the conclusion that John Key might be a better choice - there's no doubt that bankers and capitalists like John Key are responsible for the current world economic crisis, so he should know how to manage New Zealand through it. Why? Arsonists are usually the best fire-fighters, because only they know where the fire started.
It must be warned that John Key needs to be strong enough to resist temptations from old guards inside the National Party. I don't know much about John Key, but most of us know fairly well about old faces like Bill English, a guy like him should never be left in charge of anything alone.
John Key was also given a mandate to keep National as a centrist party and not influenced by 5 ACT MPs especially Roger Douglas otherwise he risks to become a one term PM.
Finally, just a condolence to Labour party and last nine years, it has been good nine years. Brooke Fraser, arithmetics(although it is actually a Christian song):
A smart move
Auntie Helen has announced this afternoon that if reelected, her government will eventually make the student allowance universal by abolishing the parental income test in 2012. Before that, the threshold for receiving an allowance will rise each year to make more students eligible for student allowance.
Well sure this policy is not targeting at current university student like me, so I won't benefit much from it. The real target of this is the middle-class family: 40ish couple, with a bit of money but not too much, got a kid or two that is about to enter the university but don't want kids to ruin their life.
Middle class people do not form the stable vote base of neither major party, and they are the real king/queen makers of the election. People will eventually have children at a point of their life (well most of them), so a few bucks of tax cut sure is no match to Auntie Helen's big cash out bribes.
Just need to see how would the voters respond to this policy...
Although I will not benefit from it, it does, however make me swinging more toward Labour. I like left-wing more than right wing Nats - lefties usually tell public what they really think, wheres Nats tend to tell you what you like to hear - I cannot understand why National's cash dishing policy (tax cut) can be branded as "smart" "helpful to economy", but Labour's same type of policy is branded as "big election bribe". So why high income earner's spending can stimulate economy, but give more money for students' to spend is a bribe?
Some people are really too greedy, 2% more of taxation in exchange for the cheaper labour and social stability, that's the best deal in the world. Most importantly, that 2% reduces the gap between the rich and poor, prevent proletariat to become lumpenproletariat class (gosh, such a long word).
Winston and others from now...
If nothing goes wrong, the vote of censure on Peters is expected to pass later today, which marks the new low Mr Winston Peters has sunken into.
So the vital question for both major party is, can Winston hang on?
NZ First's poll usually moves between 1 - 3% in last month, which isn't enough to help it to gets back to the partliament.
The Tauranga Electorate looks bad for Winston as well. In Augest he was 20% behind the National rival. I haven't see a recent poll but I won't be surprised to see a wider gap between the two.
However, the new website, iPredict, has a different result. The majority of people think that NZ First will win at least 4%.
But in my opinion, this parliament is the last one that we'll see Peters in it. The poll in Tauranga not only shows that people there have moved on, it is also a nationwide trend.
John Key has made a smart move by distancing himself from Peters. I think Labour should consider to do the same now. Wonder if they ever played that game called "mafia", if your mafia buddy will be definitely vote dead by majority, it's actually better to vote FOR his death to disguise yourself. So instead of live in the fading hope believing that you'll get re-elected, Labour should do the right thing now by stop providing useless protection to Mr Peters.
So a smart move for Labour today would be, give at least half of its vote fore the censure or to let each MP vote for themselves. You need to at least show people that this case was not decided on a political ground.
Labour Party list announced
Chinese candidate, Raymond Huo(霍建强)is ranked 21st. Quite good for a first timer, I have to say. It is almost certain now that we'll see at least two Chinese MPs in the next parliament, well, unless Labour falls in a huge landslide.
It would still be interesting to see who will be able to get his/her hands on the Howick seat.
It is also glad to see more ethnic minorities on the list.
