With John Armstrong and Annette King both convinced Labour can deliver cheap high density housing, things are looking good for David Shearer this February. Now, as discussed before, containers are out. And pallet housing may also not hold the answer.
How about this then?
John Armstrong, in yesterday’s Herald, was surely taking the piss in waxing lyrical about Labour hopeless housing policy.
Titled “Labour starts to put its houses in order” he goes on about how Labour’s new policy will solve all the housing problems, and includes such gems as;
“Labour’s policy is being written by no less than the formidable Annette King, who holds the shadow housing portfolio”
and
“She says the high section prices in Auckland could result in Labour promoting mixed housing developments in which the more expensive homes would cross-subsidise the ones meeting the affordability criteria”.
I kid you not – this proves yet again why beltway journalists should be slapped every time they talk about Auckland from their ivory towers in Wellington. The problem with Wellington based people is they think that suburbs are like Wellington, buried on their own with definable boundaries in little valleys and gullies. The main problem though with that stupid idea of Annette King’s is that the house will not remain affordable…which surely is the whole point of an affordable homes policy…instead it will create windfall gains for whom-ever is lucky enough to have been able to buy their subsidised house.
One of the funniest things Armstrong says is;
“Lastly, the target of 100,000 new homes over 10 years is the kind of promise which only one of the two main parties can make with any certainty it will be fulfilled.”
ROFL. As of 9pm last night there have been no comments published – probably we are all checking it’s not 1 April yet.
I don’t know what John Armstrong has been taking but he is clearly drinking the Labour party Kool Aid on this one…he is normally better than that.
Annette King gets called out for her Hobbit Hypocrisy by Mike Hosking and Steven Joyce on ZB this morning.
Current Labour Leader David Shearer, his current Deputy, Grant Robertson and the party’s former Deputy, Annette King, have all accepted freebies to tonight’s Hobbit Premiere in Wellington despite opposing law changes that saved the Hobbit for New Zealand.
King didn’t like being called out either…
For the record, this comment from Farrar’s blog yesterday makes a mockery of her claim that the contractors were unhappy with the law change
I’m a film worker and have been for 25 years. We have always been independent contractors, and happy with that. We can negotiate our own contracts, and do so based on our worth to the production. It’s free market. Which means you have to be good at what you do to stay in work. Maybe that’s why we’ve been successful…
David Shearer, Grant Robertson & Annette King are our first three Hobbit hypocrits.
Here’s what the current Labour Leader (that’s David Shearer) said about the package with Warner Brothers that helped save the Hobbit for New Zealand, and included promotional opportunities for Kiwi tourism.
“We shouldn’t be beholden to them.”
Yet Mr Shearer has no such qualms about accepting a freebie to tomorrow night’s premiere in Wellington.
Meanwhile, Sir Peter Jackson has made it very clear this morning, that had the Government not done its bit, the Hobbit movies were goneburger.
He said The Hobbit came “very close” to not being filmed here.
“The worst time for me was when a huge box arrived in the office…they had sent a location scout around England and Scotland to take photos.
“They literally had the Hobbit script broken down into each scene and in each scene there were pictures of the Scottish highlands and forests in England and that was to convince us that we could easily go over there and shoot the film.
Even as late as today, Labour’s Hobbit hating hypocrites are still saying that Peter Jackson is a liar and the movies were never in any danger.
Here are our first three Hobbit hypocrites:
Three Labour MPs, including its leadership team of David Shearer and Grant Robertson, will attend the red-carpet premiere of The Hobbit tomorrow despite strong criticism over the deal to appease the movie’s makers, Warner Bros.
Labour’s leader and deputy leader, and Rongotai MP Annette King, have accepted invitations to the premiere in Wellington – joining six National Party Cabinet ministers, including the four who negotiated with Warner Bros executives in 2010 over tax breaks and an employment law change.
Labour’s criticism in 2010 earned them the nickname “Hobbit-haters” from National MPs, who claimed that Warner would film it elsewhere if the Government didn’t move to change the law.
Mr Robertson denied it was hypocritical to attend the event after criticising the deal with Warner Bros which included a change to employment law to set out the legal status of film workers as contractors rather than employees. “I remain staunchly opposed to the legislation passed by the National Government in this matter. We thought it was wrong and unnecessary and still do.
“But I’ve never been opposed to the movie or the story or anything like that, just to the way the law was changed.”
And if the law hadn’t been changed then the movie wouldn’t have been held there in his electorate. Robertson’s hypocrisy is matched only by his sanctimony.
The Greens are at their sanctimonious best:
The Green Party also criticised National at the time and a spokeswoman said none of its MPs were going.
The bounty still stands…if any of my loyal readers see any Hobbit Hypocrites then snap them and send the photos to the tipline.
A leader with mediocre talents weighed down by a caucus whose bitterness is only matched by its shallowness. That is the plight of the Labour Party, and David Shearer’s next moves will entrench that perspective.
In light of his summary execution of David Cunliffe for failing to be a devout disciple in the face of sagging poll numbers, Shearer now faces the task of welding together a shadow cabinet. This task will be a study of the man’s ability to think about what’s best for himself and his party.
Cunliffe was arguably Shearer’s strongest asset on the front bench, a point Cunliffe himself knew only too well. Ironically he will now sit on the back benches with one man who is clearly the equal or perhaps better than most of the government’s front bench: Shane Jones.
Post Cunliffe, Shearer’s options are limited. Grant Robertson is deceptively smart, but he is the Environment spokesperson. Environment is not about green issues; rather it is about the apportionment of property rights in a world where human progress intersects with nature. What’s the point of ranking the Environment to number two in the caucus rank when Labour has no analysis of private property rights, let alone how those rights ought to be upheld?
Shearer is heavily reliant on David Parker in both Finance and now Economic Development. Parker is a clever politician, a lawyer by trade and has experience as a Cabinet Minister in the latter stages of the previous Labour government. But Parker’s is hog-tied to a party that is either incapable or unwilling to wean itself off a diet of big spending commitments. Why for example is Labour committed to KiwiBuild, a strategy that would see the state involve itself in the construction of 200,000 new homes? (More than three times the total stock of Housing New Zealand properties).
Shearer places great faith in Jacinda Ardern in Social Development. Aside from being disliked and isolated from the majority of her female caucus colleagues, Ardern is both linear and doctrinaire. Her default position is to argue every issue from an ideologically left perspective, something that more adept operators like Annette King and Phil Goff would periodically avoid. As a result Ardern has little in common with blue collar conservative voters, many of whom consider welfare to be an unfair wealth transfer from the battlers to the bludgers.
Clayton Cosgrove is a formidable debater in Parliament. But like Robertson he struggles to make an impression due in part to Labour’s lack of analysis for the ownership of assets or the future of New Zealand’s capital markets.
Maryan Street continues to be overrated and ineffective both inside Parliament and on the hustings. Labour has been completely outgunned by Tony Ryall in Health, and Street’s perseverance in that portfolio (while earnest) fails to close the yawning gap between the Labour and a historic Achilles heel for any government.
Nanaia Mahuta has never been popular with her caucus colleagues.. Nicknamed “the princess”, Mahuta has done well to hang on to her Tainui constituency. But she has performed poorly in Education, and is consistently bettered by her junior colleague Chris Hipkins. The trouble for Shearer is demoting Mahuta will send a signal to the Kiingitanga movement that their designated representative in Parliament is less valued, a tough sell coupled with the fact that Mahuta is a Cunliffe supporter.
William Sio is not to be underestimated for his links within the Pacific community. But Sio is a social conservative in a party that is seeking to redefine marriage to allow men to marry men and women to marry women. This strategy both offends and tests Labour’s ties with the Pacific community, a point that Sio himself has made publicly.
Phil Twyford has done well to dig in in Te Atatu and has scored headlines on local government and transport issues. But that in itself is small fry compared to the task of building an alternative government.
Beyond that Shearer has a caucus of candidates who are in the twilight of their careers (e.g. Parekura Horomia, Trevor Mallard, Phil Goff and Annette King), or who are simply too lightweight to be taken seriously (e.g. Sue Moroney, Moana Mackey, and Louisa Wall). Some options are simply not trustworthy (e.g. Charles Chauvel and David Cunliffe himself), or have yet to make an impact (e.g. Claire Curran).
Shearer could and probably will promote Chris Hipkins and Andrew Little. But neither man has any reason to show loyalty to Shearer long-term, particularly if Shearer is unable to reverse Labour’s sagging poll ratings.
Labour’s caucus is the by-product of a party and a selection system that rewards cronyism over talent, gender and sexual orientation over competence and union-dominated fiefdoms over political smarts. That is why Darien Fenton rather than Kelvin Davis or Stuart Nash sits behind Shearer at question time. The lack of talent means Shearer turns up to a gunfight with John Key holding a bread and butter knife rather than a loaded firearm.
It’s no wonder Labour’s rank and file members are itching to have a go at shaping that party’s leadership. Maybe they should start with their own MPs too.
After performing un-natural acts of praise at the start of his post Brian Edwards went on to pass judgement on today’s politicians:
Where the two major parties are concerned ‘tired’ is the word that most readily springs to mind. The tone is set by their leaders. Shearer is plain dull. And, in the sense of something that was once shiny but has now lost its gloss, ‘dull’ will do fine for Key as well. I look at both of them and long for a Kirk, a Muldoon, a Lange or a Clark. I’d even settle for a Holyoake, Bolger or Shipley – leaders with personality.
And the front bench pickings are meagre as well. Tedium thy name is Steven Joyce, all too ably assisted by Gerry Brownlee, Bill English, Jonathan Coleman, Phil Heatley et al.
Labour does not fare any better – dull, dull, dull.
Ouch…but who catches Brian’s eye?
The notable exceptions in both major parties are women Judith Collins in National, Annette King in Labour. Both strong, both intelligent, both charismatic. Collins will almost certainly be Prime Minister of New Zealand one day; King should have led the Labour Party, but didn’t want it – a minor tragedy in my view for the party and the country.
Then back to the boring:
There is in fact no shortage of forceful, charismatic women in Parliament; it’s the men who are the drones. Pondering suicide, Hamlet observes, ‘How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!’ Which is more or less how I feel watching Joyce or Brownlee on television. Could anyone be more lacking in verve, more mind-numbingly dreary? Well, let’s not forget Peter Dunne.
And the gender pattern is continued among the Greens. Yes, Russell Norman is both intelligent and articulate, but his flat, Aussie delivery and lack of perceptible warmth pale against the energy, vitality and passion of his co-leader Metiria Turei.
So who does that leave to rouse and inspire us, to infuse us once again with zest and enthusiasm for Parliament and politics? Where is the joker in this pack of dullards? Where he’s always been of course: hiding behind his naughty boy smile, up to no good, and waiting to steal all the pies.
Three cheers for Winston! Can’t live with him, can’t live without him.
Oh god, poor old Brian Edwards has fallen for the wily old tricks of the infirm and bewildered Winston Peters.
Annie may not be the best land lady herself, but she speaks sense on state houses worth over $1m.
Labour’s housing spokeswoman, Annette King, said the homes should be sold.
“A place that’s worth $1.3 million could provide three houses. I have no problem with state house tenants being rehoused into another house, a suitable house, if it’s going to enable more families to be housed.”
Sean Bignell of Housing NZ said it usually looked at selling homes worth more than $700,000 when they became vacant, but occasionally looked at selling tenanted properties.
“We recently transferred an Auckland tenant so we could sell the house as it was next door to another vacant state house and when sold together the combined value was higher than if sold separately.”
Mr Bignell said the department’s total stock was worth $1.5 billion and, at August 31, it had 69,349 houses nationally and 30,547 in Auckland.
Socialist Cindy has been talking about bludgers having responsibilities as well as rights, and now this. Hopefully Labour will see the light and end the corporate welfare that the socialists in the National Party have been flinging around all over the place.
Annette King claims 2,858 State Houses are empty.
Awesome. Lets sell them to first home buyers.
“Why are thousands of state houses sitting empty and unused when there are people living in garages and families are forced to share houses in overcrowded conditions? It’s just crazy.
Breaking down the 2,858
Official data supplied to Labour shows that at the end of June, Housing New Zealand had 989 vacant houses that were ready to let but are sitting empty. Another 973 were vacant and awaiting further development. 501 were empty and for sale while just 354 were vacant because they were under repair. All up 2,858 state houses were not being used.
So 973 need more funds to develop, 501 are actually for sale and remarkably in the market haven’t gone, 354 are currently in renovation. And not surprisingly that adds up to 2,817 as King is 41 short.
Oh well counting has never been a Labour strong point.
As for overcrowding, your five kids not having their own rooms is not overcrowding. Neither is Grandma living with you.
Silly woman.
Tick tock, still waiting for the results of the OIA on the Police reports of the former Boarder.
