Does current NZ govt practise democracy? (falun gong)

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#1299001 6-May-2015 12:49

If China issues a ban on our meats fruits tourism advertising and buying houses here then we are in trouble. Especially Auckland home owners.

stevenz

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#1299105 6-May-2015 14:09

They seem to be largely in favour of boosting the economy with little thought to the people within it in the belief that "she'll be right".

This means keeping China, India and the USA happy at pretty much any cost.

@KnightNZ

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#1299109 6-May-2015 14:19

the richest people in India can afford to buy our entire country.

Batman

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#1299112 6-May-2015 14:20

remember this is in 2008http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/30/home-india-billion-forbeslife-cx_mw_0430realestate.html

JimmyH

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#1299390 6-May-2015 20:09

Ummm.... as far as trade goes, India is currently close to irrelevant to us. China and the US are not. Our living standards depend hugely on them, and it would be pretty silly to gratuitously antagonise either of the countries which are so crucial to our long term future in return for ..... not much. No government fit to govern would be that daft.

Of course MFAT can't "order" MPs not to meet someone. However, we do have a critical trade relationship with China, so it's hardly surprising that the agency charged with managing our foreign relations and promoting trade would be keen to stop government gratuitously MPs antagonising them.

Geektastic

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#1299521 6-May-2015 22:26

JimmyH: Ummm.... as far as trade goes, India is currently close to irrelevant to us. China and the US are not. Our living standards depend hugely on them, and it would be pretty silly to gratuitously antagonise either of the countries which are so crucial to our long term future in return for ..... not much. No government fit to govern would be that daft.

Of course MFAT can't "order" MPs not to meet someone. However, we do have a critical trade relationship with China, so it's hardly surprising that the agency charged with managing our foreign relations and promoting trade would be keen to stop government gratuitously MPs antagonising them.

And not that it is that likely, but China could invade NZ militarily in about 10 seconds flat and it's fairly unlikely anyone would do more than complain loudly about it for fear of escalation.

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#1299526 6-May-2015 22:30

they don't need to militarily invade. just send all their peasants onto our shores and we will be overrun in a matter of days.

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#1299611 7-May-2015 07:57

They don't need to invade militarily... they're buying the country piecemeal anyway.

scuwp

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#1299637 7-May-2015 08:35

joker97: they don't need to militarily invade. just send all their peasants onto our shores and we will be overrun in a matter of days.

Yep, the way evolution is going I think my grand kids will be learning English as a second language. Who needs a war to take over the world, just breed en-mass.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

heylinb4nz

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#1299697 7-May-2015 09:47

MikeB4: Of course NZ Government decisions are influenced by other Governments especially extremely important trading partners.

Makes you wonder what influence is obtained by those who lend billions of dollars to NZ (ie the international bankers). If a mere trading partner has influence.

MikeB4

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#1299702 7-May-2015 09:54

heylinb4nz:
MikeB4: Of course NZ Government decisions are influenced by other Governments especially extremely important trading partners.

Makes you wonder what influence is obtained by those who lend billions of dollars to NZ (ie the international bankers). If a mere trading partner has influence.

"mere trading partner" that is a huge understatement. China is capable of taking all we produce, your standard of living and my standard of living are very much tied to that"mere trading partner".

heylinb4nz

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#1299768 7-May-2015 11:41

MikeB4:
heylinb4nz:
MikeB4: Of course NZ Government decisions are influenced by other Governments especially extremely important trading partners.

Makes you wonder what influence is obtained by those who lend billions of dollars to NZ (ie the international bankers). If a mere trading partner has influence.

"mere trading partner" that is a huge understatement. China is capable of taking all we produce, your standard of living and my standard of living are very much tied to that"mere trading partner".

If that's the case our government should be looking to get out of bed with international banks and focus on maximizing our trading with China and other countries, there should be no need to borrow money.

MikeB4

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#1299770 7-May-2015 11:44

heylinb4nz:
MikeB4:
heylinb4nz:
MikeB4: Of course NZ Government decisions are influenced by other Governments especially extremely important trading partners.

Makes you wonder what influence is obtained by those who lend billions of dollars to NZ (ie the international bankers). If a mere trading partner has influence.

"mere trading partner" that is a huge understatement. China is capable of taking all we produce, your standard of living and my standard of living are very much tied to that"mere trading partner".

If that's the case our government should be looking to get out of bed with international banks and focus on maximizing our trading with China and other countries, there should be no need to borrow money.

Nothing wrong with borrowing money it is essential for growth, the key just like it is for personal borrowing is to keep it manageable.

frankv

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#1299784 7-May-2015 12:06

MikeB4: Nothing wrong with borrowing money it is essential for growth, the key just like it is for personal borrowing is to keep it manageable.

I dispute that it is *essential* for growth. But agree that sometimes it is a good idea.

However, this borrowing is paid for overseas, so that Kiwis may see little (or no) benefit from the growth.

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#1300065 7-May-2015 18:10

nakedmolerat:
What happen to freedom of association?

Those who become MPs have the right to freedom of association but when they become MPs their office has restrictions on what is considered to be acceptable behaviour. A similar restriction probably exists in the political parties so an MP can't be a member of another political party.

While the Bill of Rights 1990 has freedom of association as article 17 it has no definition or elaboration so I'm not sure how we'd know how it would be applied here.

nakedmolerat:
In fact they were told to report to mfat if they receive any invitation... Why?

It means something different to say that "they were told to report to mfat" when "they were only told to report it, i.e. the invitation, to MFAT.

nakedmolerat:
Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (literally means "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a Chinese spiritual practice that combines meditation and qigong exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance (Chinese: 真、善、忍) - wikipedia

I didn't realise that forbearance was important to Falun Gong. I've seen them follow Chinese tourists around in NZ to bombard them with posters and messages over loud speakers. There may not be much compassion for the NZ neighbours at some spots who have to put with the Falun Gong noise most days of the year.

[Edited to remove duplicate quote]

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