Simon Bridges

Chris Trotter makes an astute observation on the CTU and their so-called muscle:

[T]he involvement of the CTU was clearly no help. CTU president, Helen Kelly, is always reminding us that, “with 350,000 New Zealand union members in 40 affiliated unions”, the CTU is “the united voice for working people and their families in New Zealand.” Hmmm. If that was true, all she needed to do was ask every one of those union members to sign the “Keep Our Assets” petition and everyone else could have gone home.  Read more »

Matthew Hooton demolishes Helen Kelly in at NBR over her outrageous claims concerning Simon Bridges meek industrial relations changes:

Helen Kelly is president of the Council of Trade Unions.

It’s not clear why the media thinks she speaks for the New Zealand workforce given only 17% of employees belong to a union, the other 83% deciding to do without Ms Kelly’s advocacy.

However, according to Ms Kelly, Mr Bridges’ proposals are the worst attack on workers’ rights since the 1990s.

Interestingly, that’s broadly what she wailed in 2010 about the 90-day trial period, saying it stripped away “fundamental” rights and was a “massive attack on the job security of every New Zealand worker”.

Lo and behold, later that year, Ms Kelly screeched that the Hobbit legislation to clarify the status of contractors was yet another attack.

No matter how minor a proposal, Ms Kelly can be relied upon to cry wolf at full volume.  Read more »

Christopher Finlayson pours numerous luminaries back into their bottles over their wailing about a law change to restrict protests at sea. He takes a swipe at Dame Anne Salmond and Sir Geoffrey Palmer, with a little swipe Bruce Fergusson.

The sledging is superb, delivered without histrionics and razor sharp as he plunges the dagger in.

Finlayson is so dry yet so funny at the same time.   Read more »

Simon Bridges is a new minister, he needs things to do, here is an idea with which he can make himself useful:

Mr Springborg said he had launched a review to learn whether “these policies are about delivering for patients and workers, or if they are about delivering for union bosses and Labor”.

“I don’t think that’s right, people can join a union if they want, they shouldn’t be encouraged to join a union and we shouldn’t be having our staff [following] some sort of edict which was dreamt up by the Labor party and the unions,” he said.  Read more »

Julia Gillard is prepared to take on the unions, something John key hasn’t yet been prepared to do with his previous Labour minister being in the thrall of them.

Simon Bridges is yet to say or do anything, here’s hoping they find some courage from what Gillard is doing:

Union officials face limits on the number of visits they can make to factories and worksites under the latest changes by the Gillard government to the Fair Work Act.

Big employers, such as BHP Billiton, have complained that unions have been abusing right-of-entry rules and in some cases have made hundreds of visits to their sites.  Read more »

The BSC cartel that El Presidente Patrick Lee-Lo runs can only be described as a union.

Rodney Hide had a crack at them exposing the dodgy rort that the BSC entered into with Labour strategist Trevor Mallard, the Property Council and the SFWU.

Here’s the front people for this union rort.

There’s nasty National Secretary of the SFWU John Ryall, BSC’s El Presidente Patrick Lee-Lo, Former Labour Minister Trevor Mallard and surprisingly the strange bed-fellow of Connal Townsend from the Property Council of NZ.

It seems the Department of Labour is involved in this little cartel as well.  Read more »

Vernon Small, who is not known for his right wing views calls the opening salvos of parliament for National:

Chalk up the first round of the political year to National.

Not just because John Key’s “state of the nation” speech delivered some actual news, in the shape of a revamped apprenticeship scheme (albeit using recycled money), against a rhetoric-heavy but news-lite offering from David Shearer.

More to the point National has grasped the early initiative by revamping the warrant of fitness regime and signalling an end to daily postal deliveries, two decisions that take another step into the 21st century.

The WOF decision will be popular, despite the self-interested protestations of the motor trade lobby.

Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges was on the right side of the voters, and Labour risked getting on the wrong side by not giving its unequivocal backing.  Read more »

John Key says NZ needs to be a ‘magnet for investment‘.

Did anyone tell John Key that Simon Bridges just banned magnets?

Read more »

David Shearer has let the cat out of the bag, Ratana are about to become Labour’s maori bitches once again:

Mr Shearer pledged last year to meet regularly with the Ratana movement.

Since then, he has hosted the church elders at Parliament and met them several times.

“So I am going up for the church service on Friday – for me that is the most significant day and it’s the day when people commemorate it.”

He said this week that Labour were also now in discussions with Ratana about whether it would become an affiliate of the party.

That would give it some influence over candidate selections and voting power in future leadership elections.

National should now shun Ratana, they have become a politically corrupt organisation. I’ll bet they are a registered charity as well…that needs reviewing too now they look set to become an affiliate of the Labour party.

Chris Finlayson, Judith Collins and new labour minister Simon Bridges need to sit down now and review electoral laws. They need to do it urgently.

There is no place in politics for affiliate memberships of political parties with special rights and privileges.

What needs to happen is for the law to change to prevent anyone other than natural persons from becoming members, affiliate or otherwise of a political party. The second thing that needs to happen is for the law around donations to change at the same time. That law needs to prevent any donations to political parties unless they are from natural persons. No corporates, no unions, no trusts, nothing but individuals.

These things are urgent, they need to be done to prevent an abuse of our democracy. It would be appalling if the Auckland Chamber of Commerce was abkle to become a member of the National party, and likewise if the EMA was too…but for some reason labour thinks it is perfectly above board to hand out memberships to affiliate unions and now a church based on a cult figure.

In perhaps his last act as Consumer Affairs Minister my mate Simon Bridges really dropped the ball today and focusing on things that matter. His latest announcement is about banning small magnets.

Seriously?

Consumer Affairs Minister Simon Bridges has announced a ban on the sale of sets of small high powered magnets that have caused serious injuries in New Zealand and at least one reported death in Australia.

The magnets are sold in New Zealand under a variety of brands in stores and over the internet. These magnets – known as ‘rare earth magnets’ – are up to 50 times stronger than conventional ferrous magnets of a similar size.

“These magnets are harmless to play with but if swallowed can cause serious internal damage that can require major surgery,” says Mr Bridges.

Surely the answer should be not a ban but strong words like “Don’t swallow them, stupid”

You would have thought that if a press sec had come up to the Minister and said “Here Minister, let’s run with this issue and go on the radio” a short answer of fuck off would have sufficed.  Read more »