Steven Joyce

ᔥ The Local

Great stuff in Sweden, now if we can get Steven Joyce and John Key to see the light:

Six of ten local politicians in Sweden doubt whether human activity is to blame for global warming, a new study has found.

In addition, one out of ten municipal politicians and local government managers totally deny that the phenomenon of global warming even exists, according to a survey carried out by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (Försvarets forskningsinstitutet – FOI).

ᔥ NZ Herald

In summary there are not a lot of good options for National in terms of post 2014 partners, just a variety of “less bad” options. The only consolation might be that a four or five way coalition on the left might be equally unpalatable.

Farrar highlights what was obvious to everyone who thought about it before the last election. National have no coalition partners in 2014 and John Key and Steven Joyce should have done what David Cameron did in the United Kingdom to get an electoral system they could actually win under.

ᔥ Stuff.co.nz

The Press is confused about Mark Mitchell and Simon Bridges:

In Rodney, Craig came second to National’s Simon Bridges (one of only two electorates in which the second place did not go to National or Labour) and nationally it won 2.65 per cent of the party vote, about twice as much as ACT.

And even more confused about whether Mark will take a dive for National.

A straight arrangement whereby National does not contest the seat would be better and the best bet would be Rodney, where Craig performed respectably last time.
To those who complain that there would be something underhanded in this, the answer is that such deals are the very essence of MMP, which requires the making of deals and the forging of coalitions.

Why would Mark take a dive? To preserve Steven Joyce and John Key’s power at the expense of his own political career? The Press need to send someone up to Rodney, interview Mark, interview the electorate committee and talk to the people in the street. Mark is a well liked, well respected electorate MP with a  strong electorate organisation who will refuse to tank their candidate to do a shabby deal with the Conservatives.

Especially when Colin Craig comes across as the type of pervy weirdo who has a blow-up doll in the closet called Sherry. As I have said before, Colin Craig has spent millions on coming third, in several elections. We aren’t allowed to use the word loser these days so let’s just stick with Not A Winner.

National might try to tank Mark, but the risk they run is he runs as an independent and wins, causing all sorts of embarrassment. As I have said earlier when you have stood up to bad arabs with AK47s, RPGs and mortars trying to kill you the thought of fearing a visit from the former Ned Flanders of New Zealand politics is scarcely going to cause you any problems.

If National want Colin Craig in Parliament, they will need to gift him a seat. Not cup of tea give, an outright gift, with no National candidate running. The public wont accept another cup of tea, and probably wont vote for Colin anyway.

John Armstrong suggests National may have to placate Mark Mitchell, in order to tank Rodney for Colin Craig.

Tanking a seat is a big call, but watch the desperation of National when they realise they made a horrible mistake by not doing a David Cameron on the electoral referendum. Steven Joyce will do a deal with the devil to preserve his own power, and if this means tanking a seat he will try. How the public react is another matter, as it looks shabby and shameless – because it is shabby and shameless.

Colin ran in Rodney last election, and he might ask for that. The problem for National is there is a strong local infrastructure and a new MP in Mark Mitchell who will see no reason why he should walk away from his seat to preserve John Key and Steven Joyce’s power.

The better bet will be East Coast Bays, where Murray McCully has no electorate infrastructure, no team and is far more likely to walk away for a safe list position and a senior portfolio or a major job overseas. Word on the street is Muzza is a big fan of the Folies Bergere, loves the refinement of the French or at the very least French crumpet, and would take a dive for a major job in Paris.

Colin wont be able to win a seat even if National withdraw from one totally unless he stops running his own campaigns, gets some experienced professionals in, and works for six months on the hustings.

National’s strategic stupidity meant that it faces an MMP environment with no real coalition partners in parliament. Instead of building a rapport with the leader of the only other party with any chance of getting into parliament they are being incredibly insulting.

Peter Goodfellow, who charitably could be considered the slightly impaired embarrassment of the Goodfellow clan, asks a reporter for Colin Craig’s phone number. A good reporter reports on Goodfellows stupidity and so Andrea Vance reports on it.

Goodfellow’s display of public stupidity shows Colin Craig what National think of him. They think Colin is a loser and an idiot. Given his past record of spending millions and always coming third or worse it is hard not to agree. He takes his own political advice and spends his own money, usually on failed campaign methodologies or dodgy polling…the up-shot is National think he is a loser and based on his results he is.

The problem is Colin Craig might be John Key and Steven Joyce’s only chance at clinging on to power. Instead of letting a fool like Goodfellow make this kind of stupid statement Key and Joyce need to be having regular face to face meetings with Colin so he knows no matter what goodfellow says they make all the decisions and he is just a figurehead who never makes any real decisions and Colin should ignore him.

ᔥ NZ Herald

Steven Joyce is starting to bring some sensible decisions to the fore. He is starting by reigning in student allowances:

Tertiary education minister Steven Joyce has indicated that student allowance eligibility will be cut back in the Budget.

He said today the Government had already signalled strongly that it was concerned about a blow out in the costs of student allowances, the costs of which which had gone from $385 million in 2007/08 to $620 million in 2010/11.

He said that was largely because of changes to the parental income threshold adjustments introduced under the Labour government.

“We can’t keep sustaining those sort of increases so we are looking for changes.”

He said more details of the changes would be released in the lead-up to the Budget.

Today kicks off regional conference season for National. This conference is in Dunedin, and delegates should ask a few questions rather than lamely sitting there being lectured at:

For Steven Joyce: Who will be National’s Coalition Partners after 2014 that will allow it to continue governing?

For the Prime Minister: When will we stop borrowing $265m a week? And if we went through a massive austerity program would this reduce the level of the dollar and grow the economy through exporting rather than government spending?

For Peter Goodfellow: What is the party doing to recruit good candidates for 2014 when there is very little chance of new candidates getting into parliament unless they win a safe seat?

For Board Members: When will National Party conferences be interesting, rather than just a stage managed show where delegates get lectured from the stage?

For Greg Hamilton: When is the candidates college going to start again or is it going to be a last minute meeting just before the National conference in July?

For MPs: What did they do for recess, and if they took a two week break so soon after the summer recess why?

It looks like Steven Joyce may have nicked David Shearer’s line…or at least Massey University has…Steve Maharey, a former Labour minister, may even be party to the theft.

This image is snipped from Massey’s video.

National faces a problem in 2014. It needs coalition partners. Act and United Future look stuffed. The Maori party is good for only 3 seats unless something drastic happens within Maoridom. NZ First while Winston Peters remains as leader isn’t an option, he is simply as toxic as Michelle Boag. That leaves Colin Craig who so far has proved that having spent several million dollars and rigged a few dodgy polls isn’t good for much other than coming third.

National intransigence over the MMP review means that they have consigned themselves to the status quo. Just who are they going to have as a coalition partner?

It won’t be the Greens. They have been unable to come to an agreement with National and will now be opposing flat out.

There will be no new policy deal between the National and the Greens, with the chasm between the two parties widening over policies such as the Government’s proposed SkyCity convention centre deal and state asset sales.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei this morning confirmed talks about a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) between her party and National had now ended.

At the upcoming regional conferences delegates should ask Steven Joyce which parties he thinks will support a National Government after the 2014 election, and whether this will allow National to be government.

Steven Joyce finished up the Address in Reply bebate by slaughtering all the Davids of Labour, it is today’s Play of the Day: