PM Chris Hipkins

[R650R]

The only time the words Ardern and well funded should appear in same sentence is if talking about the public interest journalism fund.
No one pushed her out, she climbed out of one of the biggest economic train wrecks ever created in NZ. I mean it wasn’t even a surprise as there were so many scandals leading up to it.

[R650R]

Hoho Ho merry Xmas. Journalist Agenda Lynch drops a bombshell here at 3min40 mark saying that “it was a deliberate tactic of Labour Party to leave fiscal booby traps and campaign operatives even boasted about it”

So when Willis calls it Economic Vandalism she’s 100% correct

[sugilite:Me]

So when Willis calls it Economic Vandalism she’s 100% correct

I don't think it is a left right thing. I think it is traditional in NZ for the departing party to leave a bunch of turds floating in the bowl for the incoming party. Gives the incoming party years of "It was the last bunch that caused this mess" line of excuses. Labored was doing it for the last 6 years, and national4national for the last 9 years before that

[pete376403]

I don't think it is a left right thing. I think it is traditional in NZ for the departing party to leave a bunch of turds floating in the bowl for the incoming party. Gives the incoming party years of "It was the last bunch that caused this mess" line of excuses. Labored was doing it for the last 6 years, and national4national for the last 9 years before that

That would imply that the government (of whatever stripe) knows a long time in advance of the election whether they are going to get back in or not, and if not, make financial decisions that will hurt the incoming government. But what if they do, against all expectations, do get back in. Are they then going to blame themselves for the "financial mess" they inherited? I agree its par for the course for the incoming govt to waffle on about the finances, but whether there is in fact a mess is perhaps questionable. Dont overlook that this is the government is more or less promoting cigarette smoking as a way of making up the shortfall to pay for their promised tax cuts, so forgive me if I am less i than impressed by Willis' financial acumen.

[neels]

Dont overlook that this is the government is more or less promoting cigarette smoking as a way of making up the shortfall to pay for their promised tax cuts, so forgive me if I am less i than impressed by Willis' financial acumen.

Indeed, they really need to keep kiwis smoking, drinking, and driving or they're losing some serious revenue, $470m in tobacco tax for the 4 months to October is a decent chunk of money.



When you add ACT making them bring back interest deductibiliity on rentals sooner than they wanted to and NZ First binning letting in foreign buyers and associated tax, they're going to struggle to make their numbers work.

[BMWST?]

LetÂ’s just have a little history trip. The beginning of the end was in March 1988 with the Ministry of Works and Development Abolition Act 1988. In power at the time was David LangeÂ’s Labour govt since 26 July 1984. From there onwards we had Lange, Geoffrey Palmer and Michael Moore. National was not back in power til November 1990 with Jim Bolger.
Ironically it was Labour that led some of our biggest reforms including the deregulation of transport to allow trucks to compete with rail and coastal shipping. Yet weÂ’re always told itÂ’s national getting paid off by trucking companiesÂ…
Act wasnÂ’t formed til 96 so it basically happened on labours watch.
I agree the Ministry of works created a lot of awesome stuff in NZ and also employed some of my family. ItÂ’s one of the things (despite public opinion) that was done well by govt and still should be to avoid the profit gouging and create more jobs.
That Labour has never attempted to recreate it says a lot about them and govts in general. It says they really donÂ’t want full employment, it says they donÂ’t want to build infrastructure.
Just look at the recent disasters weather wise in Auckland and HB. We appreciate the help we did get from the army. But itÂ’s a drop in a bucket. A good leader could have created an infrastructure army, drafted all able bodied unemployed men given them truck licences and shovels. We could have had a thousand Hino tipper trucks and some Doosan loaders and diggers here in about six weeks.
But oh no the evo warriors and pen pushers have to shuffle numbers first.
Then once all thatÂ’s finished we could start building a new mega hydro dam for energy security.

they had to compltely deregulate things because the ountry was about broke.Our wee economy was still stuck in the 60s. And let us not forget that not all public entities are fficient.Remmber the post office and its lead time to get a phone? The ministry of works did some great things but i bet that things were not always efficient. The ministry of works built a completely unauthorised rowing course /infrastructure in Twizel as part of the Waitaki power scheme.

[pete376403]

, drafted all able bodied unemployed men given them truck licences and shovels. We could have had a thousand Hino tipper trucks and some Doosan loaders and diggers here in about six weeks..

I'm sure the previously licensed truck drivers would be just thrilled about that. A glut of truck drivers is just what is wanted to drive down the hourly rate. Resale value of trucks would plunge as well, now there are a thousand extras on the road. Good idea.

[R650R]

I'm sure the previously licensed truck drivers would be just thrilled about that. A glut of truck drivers is just what is wanted to drive down the hourly rate. Resale value of trucks would plunge as well, now there are a thousand extras on the road. Good idea.

No one will be worried. Once established more work would come as we continue to grow nz.
When dairy farming exploded and Fonterra setup their own fleet it raised the bar as they paid more to get experienced safe drivers.

According to the Te Manatū Waka – Ministry of Transport there are about 4.4 million licenced vehicles in New Zealand. Of these, about 150,000 are heavy vehicles, but that includes buses and motor homes. About 30,000 trucks are used for commercial freight, and almost all of those involved in long distance trips will also tow heavy trailers.
Many of the heavier trucks are owned and operated by individuals and organisations not primarily involved in road freight, for example, tradespeople, developers and contractors, local councils, manufacturers, utilities (eg. power and gas companies), and other businesses.
Heavy trucks travel about three billion kilometres per year with heavy trailers completing about 1.4 billion kilometres in the same period, with one-third of the kilometres generated through freight and customer deliveries taking place in the urban environment and the balance servicing the wider inter-regional and hinterland economy. Some two-thirds of the truck fleet, predominantly 2-axle trucks, are involved with servicing the wider urban customers on a regular basis.

[R650R]

they had to compltely deregulate things because the ountry was about broke.Our wee economy was still stuck in the 60s. And let us not forget that not all public entities are fficient.Remmber the post office and its lead time to get a phone? The ministry of works did some great things but i bet that things were not always efficient. The ministry of works built a completely unauthorised rowing course /infrastructure in Twizel as part of the Waitaki power scheme.

Ah yes the gliding on mentality thanks to our pommy ancestors. But that’s just a leadership problem. SOE and govt depts now have chief executives setting targets and goals and keeping an eye on costs to some degree. The good old days of perk jobs on side with govt gear and resources are gone.

[neels]

Ah yes the gliding on mentality thanks to our pommy ancestors. But that’s just a leadership problem. SOE and govt depts now have chief executives setting targets and goals and keeping an eye on costs to some degree. The good old days of perk jobs on side with govt gear and resources are gone.

You clearly haven't had to deal with a government organisation. Things which should be very simple and have established process in the real world take inordinately longer than they should, and are done completely backwards.

Either the people creating or executing their systems are incompetent, or they prefer to string it along for as long as possible to justify continued employment.

[R650R]

You clearly haven't had to deal with a government organisation. Things which should be very simple and have established process in the real world take inordinately longer than they should, and are done completely backwards.

Either the people creating or executing their systems are incompetent, or they prefer to string it along for as long as possible to justify continued employment.

Yes your right there classic case is NZTA often taking about 8 days to mail out a rego label if you buy online.
But often in private sector there exists meetings about meetings and similar stuff and so many people have to be consulted or included in discussions.
But this better than it used to be even if just a little bit lol

[Black Knight]

I waited 6 weeks for NZTA to answer a request to see if one of my bikes was still in the "system"-they told me no but I doubt that.

[pritch]

No one pushed her out, she climbed out of one of the biggest economic train wrecks ever created in NZ.

That's basically bullshit. NZs economy was commented on favourably by the world bodies interested in such things. I saw just this morning that NZ is in the bottom 5% of countries rated by national debt to GDP. Being near the bottom of that list is a good thing. That certainly indicates responsible handling of the economy by successive governments including the most recent.

Luxon saying that Robinson was the worst finance minister ever was fact free propaganda. Apparently Ms Willis has a degree in English Literature, an unusual qualification for Minister of Finance but we'll see. Sadly though, if she fails to shine it will cost us all.

[nerrrd]

Disappointing to hear her blaming the previous government for not scoping the ferry upgrades adequately this morning, as if they would have had anything but the advice given to them by officials to go on.

Both she and Luxon are newbies to actually being in government, I suspect they're both getting a rapid and somewhat painful introduction to the realities involved.

[husaberg]

Disappointing to hear her blaming the previous government for not scoping the ferry upgrades adequately this morning, as if they would have had anything but the advice given to them by officials to go on.

Both she and Luxon are newbies to actually being in government, I suspect they're both getting a rapid and somewhat painful introduction to the realities involved.

i wonder if the resident ''brains trust'' below knows its a SOE....

But that’s just a leadership problem. SOE and govt depts now have chief executives setting targets and goals and keeping an eye on costs to some degree.