Jacinda Ardern - our new PM

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Forums › Politics › Jacinda Ardern - our new PM

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Ultimate Geek
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#1893859 1-Nov-2017 20:50

So much schadenfreude in this thread, coming from just two posters. Amazing.

Every day I am reading about Auckland transport and every day I am more and more stoked that Labour is in government. No more blowing $10 billion on gigantic white elephant "Roads of National Significance" in the sticks that will benefit very little people. No more East-West Link, which was literally going to be the most expensive per-km road in the world (beating the corruption riddle Sochi Winter Olympics road). No more making Auckland's motorways wider and wider, which does absolutely nothing to ease congestion and just entices more cars on the road.

Auckland can finally become the city we need and stop catering solely to the Nimbys like Mike Hosking.

Pumpedd

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#1893902 1-Nov-2017 21:36

bmt:

So much schadenfreude in this thread, coming from just two posters. Amazing.

Every day I am reading about Auckland transport and every day I am more and more stoked that Labour is in government. No more blowing $10 billion on gigantic white elephant "Roads of National Significance" in the sticks that will benefit very little people. No more East-West Link, which was literally going to be the most expensive per-km road in the world (beating the corruption riddle Sochi Winter Olympics road). No more making Auckland's motorways wider and wider, which does absolutely nothing to ease congestion and just entices more cars on the road.

Auckland can finally become the city we need and stop catering solely to the Nimbys like Mike Hosking.

So you think Transmission Gully and the new Kapiti bypasses are white elephants...wow...do some homework. I guess its fine to have 2 lane roads in and out of the capital. I guess JAFA is a good term well deserved of some.

If you think spending billions on just trains is the answer I suggest something is clearly wrong. The last government spent billions on rail and roads. The fact that Auckland City Council have been inadequate for decades and expect the NZ taxpayers to fund all its transport woes is disgusting.

6FIEND

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#1894092 2-Nov-2017 10:11

Rikkitic:

OK, here is my statement:

And a well articulated position it is. If you will indulge me, I wanted to explore one theme a little more closely...

Rikkitic:

I don’t know what creates a political viewpoint. I don’t know why I feel as I do about certain political issues. For some reason, I have always passionately hated what I perceive as injustice of any kind. This dates back at least to the time I learned to walk, possibly sooner. I don’t know where it came from. I just can’t stand unfairness. This has made me a social welfare progressive, because I think everyone deserves a fair go. I do NOT think everyone deserves a free handout.

The last statement in bold is key. (though I could be cheeky and say that disqualified you from being a social welfare progressive! ;-)

What I find to be fundamentally unfair is that a person working fulltime for $23/hr pays about $7,400 in PAYE each year, but a person who earns double that hourly rate is forced to pay TRIPLE the amount of income tax.

A person earning $23/hr with three healthy kids will receive $241 per week in Working For Families, but another person earning $23/hr who has a single child with a major disability receives only $159 ($112 WFF + $47 Child Disability Allowance)

These are some of the aspects of our current tax & welfare system that I believe to be fundamentally unfair. Regrettably, it seems that they are perceived to be "good outcomes" by our new government who have set out to amplify these effects.

Rikkitic:

And just to get this out of the way, I do not much care whether (some) drugs are legalised for recreational use or not. Personally, I haven’t touched any illegal drugs for about 50 years. What I want is to see all drug use decriminalised and brought under health care.

100% agree.

Pumpedd

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#1894101 2-Nov-2017 10:24

It seems that people who are disabled are not well looked after at all, and its difficult for them to speak up. A single person with disability living in their own home receives approx. $270/week. Rates are about $50/week. So its not really possible to live on that.

networkn

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#1894104 2-Nov-2017 10:29

Pumpedd:

It seems that people who are disabled are not well looked after at all, and its difficult for them to speak up. A single person with disability living in their own home receives approx. $270/week. Rates are about $50/week. So its not really possible to live on that.

I am assuming that doesn't take into account the other things like housing supplements and addons that they might be entitled to?

Rikkitic

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#1894108 2-Nov-2017 10:33

I have not studied the tax system so cannot make informed comment on your examples, though they certainly seem unfair. I do think there is probably at least some unfairness in almost every aspect of government bureaucracy. That seems to be the nature of the beast. But if this is something Labour approves of and sees as a good thing, I guess a fair (political) response would be to ask why National allowed this to come about and continue during its nine years in office. Presumably they must have also seen it as a good thing, or at least, not something to be remedied.

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#1894112 2-Nov-2017 10:38

networkn:

Pumpedd:

It seems that people who are disabled are not well looked after at all, and its difficult for them to speak up. A single person with disability living in their own home receives approx. $270/week. Rates are about $50/week. So its not really possible to live on that.

I am assuming that doesn't take into account the other things like housing supplements and addons that they might be entitled to?

I think your right. I know little about this, but I know a couple that work in WINZ, there are many allowances, as there are many variables. Have one benefit, then add or subtract to get it closer to fair

6FIEND

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Ultimate Geek
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#1894147 2-Nov-2017 11:01

Rikkitic:

I guess a fair (political) response would be to ask why National allowed this to come about and continue during its nine years in office. Presumably they must have also seen it as a good thing, or at least, not something to be remedied.

I consider it to be one of the great failings of the last 9yrs of National-lead Government.

(Though I believe that they retained it for "populist" reasons, rather than because they believed it was the right thing to do.)

...and that makes it worse IMHO :-)

[ EDIT ] To their credit, the final budget from National did take a first few tentative steps to resolving that tax issue... Unfortunately, it was the first thing to be "undone" again by Labour.

gzt

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#1894420 2-Nov-2017 19:54

The main reason National could not form a majority this time around is the number of people living on the streets and included in that a significant number of older people making that decision rightly or wrongly under housing stress.

The government of the day offered no sensible plan for dealing with this. Key's aspirational talk was clearly not delivering.

Geektastic

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#1894440 2-Nov-2017 20:51

6FIEND:
Rikkitic:

OK, here is my statement:

And a well articulated position it is. If you will indulge me, I wanted to explore one theme a little more closely...

Rikkitic:

I don’t know what creates a political viewpoint. I don’t know why I feel as I do about certain political issues. For some reason, I have always passionately hated what I perceive as injustice of any kind. This dates back at least to the time I learned to walk, possibly sooner. I don’t know where it came from. I just can’t stand unfairness. This has made me a social welfare progressive, because I think everyone deserves a fair go. I do NOT think everyone deserves a free handout.

The last statement in bold is key. (though I could be cheeky and say that disqualified you from being a social welfare progressive! ;-)

What I find to be fundamentally unfair is that a person working fulltime for $23/hr pays about $7,400 in PAYE each year, but a person who earns double that hourly rate is forced to pay TRIPLE the amount of income tax.

A person earning $23/hr with three healthy kids will receive $241 per week in Working For Families, but another person earning $23/hr who has a single child with a major disability receives only $159 ($112 WFF + $47 Child Disability Allowance)

These are some of the aspects of our current tax & welfare system that I believe to be fundamentally unfair. Regrettably, it seems that they are perceived to be "good outcomes" by our new government who have set out to amplify these effects.

Rikkitic:

And just to get this out of the way, I do not much care whether (some) drugs are legalised for recreational use or not. Personally, I haven’t touched any illegal drugs for about 50 years. What I want is to see all drug use decriminalised and brought under health care.

100% agree.

It seems patently unfair to relate tax rates to breeding choices to me.

If they were to be related, logically they should be related in the reverse of the present system to reflect the fact that each child adds burden to state provision and to the planet as a whole.

Pumpedd

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#1894995 3-Nov-2017 22:18

I see on the new tonight that a massive recruitment campaign has begun in the UK for construction workers of all kinds. The numbers required are staggering...

With a need for thousands more workers, and Twyford promising 100k new houses, how does this stack with reducing immigration by 30k or more?

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PhantomNVD

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#1894998 3-Nov-2017 22:21

Pumpedd:
I see on the new tonight that a massive recruitment campaign has begun in the UK for construction workers of all kinds. The numbers required are staggering...

With a need for thousands more workers, and Twyford promising 100k new houses, how does this stack with reducing immigration by 30k or more?

Allow 30K of USEFUL immigrants to come and do the work that needs doing?

Geektastic

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#1895102 4-Nov-2017 06:03

PhantomNVD:
Pumpedd:
I see on the new tonight that a massive recruitment campaign has begun in the UK for construction workers of all kinds. The numbers required are staggering...

With a need for thousands more workers, and Twyford promising 100k new houses, how does this stack with reducing immigration by 30k or more?

Allow 30K of USEFUL immigrants to come and do the work that needs doing?

As someone with first hand experience of NZ immigration I cannot imagine how anyone who does not have useful skills, good health and a clean record gets in here.

It's blooming hard to get in, unless there's a special category for useless layabouts which I did not see!

Geektastic

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#1895103 4-Nov-2017 06:04

Pumpedd:
I see on the new tonight that a massive recruitment campaign has begun in the UK for construction workers of all kinds. The numbers required are staggering...

With a need for thousands more workers, and Twyford promising 100k new houses, how does this stack with reducing immigration by 30k or more?

Dog whistle politics meets reality...

tdgeek

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#1895122 4-Nov-2017 08:40

Geektastic:
PhantomNVD:
Pumpedd:

I see on the new tonight that a massive recruitment campaign has begun in the UK for construction workers of all kinds. The numbers required are staggering...

With a need for thousands more workers, and Twyford promising 100k new houses, how does this stack with reducing immigration by 30k or more?

Allow 30K of USEFUL immigrants to come and do the work that needs doing?

As someone with first hand experience of NZ immigration I cannot imagine how anyone who does not have useful skills, good health and a clean record gets in here.

It's blooming hard to get in, unless there's a special category for useless layabouts which I did not see!

From what I know and immigrants I know, if you are sponsored for a job thats a lot of it. So reduce immigrants who just want to leave where they are and focus on USEFUL immigrants who fill up jobs that WE need. I would also add in that for the first 5 years they can only build not buy. Help them build.

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