Word of the day

Swullocking – sultry and humid; stiflingly, searingly hot; sweltering; sweat-inducing.

Sowell says

I don't understand how people who cannot predict the weather five days in advance can predict the climate decades from now.

Global warming, due to greenhouse gasses, is the latest in a long series of one-factor theories about a multi-factor world. Such theories have often…

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) February 13, 2024

Quotes of the week

The ultimate aim is to leave the place better off than when you found it. The reality for Grant Robertson is so far from that it is tragic.

He will defend at least some of it because some of it is ideological. But whether it’s pipes, trains, ferries or debt welfare the numbers don’t lie and the numbers are desperate.

He softened it with his wit, humour, and personality. As I have said many times, I always liked him, and I enjoyed talking to him.

But let the record show the Grant Robertson era was as ruinous as any you will ever see.  – Mike Hosking

The criticisms have come thick and fast in the wake of the coalition government’s announcement that there would be sanctions applied to job seekers who choose not to actively look for work, despite help and support that is supposed to be coming from MSD officials. If after all that help and support you, choose not to take a job, then sanctions will apply.  

I’m starting to know what you mean when you say the media is biased. All of the images shown on all of the mainstream media show an aggressive looking Luxon laying down the law, and emotive headlines from the Greens and the like, talking about the cruelty of it all.   – Kerre Woodham

 How are they doing that? By asking you to work if you can? To offer you help and assistance to get work? How is that cruel? I would argue allowing people to stay on benefits when they have the ability to work as far more cruel. And if the taxpayer is funding a benefit for a person and their family, that person is not providing for themselves in their whanau. They are state dependent. That’s not being self-sufficient. That’s not self-supporting. That’s not having choices.

And okay, if the sanctions that National are proposing don’t encourage people to seek long term employment, which of Labour’s policies did? How did Labour help these young people find meaningful work? The stats under the previous government are pretty damning.   – Kerre Woodham

Being on a benefit is just poverty, you know, that’s your future. You rot on a benefit. This government is being responsible. This is a courageous policy and you know it’s taxpayers money and for beneficiaries to be on this for 13 years is an absolute disgrace, and it is a long standing Labour view that they have a right to be on benefit and not work if it’s a basic job, you’ve got to find something big and paying very well before they’ll push it … It’s supposed to be a fill in where people survive while they take the steps to a better life. If they’re on there for a very long period of time, there’s no way they could survive. So, what else are some people doing to manage to be on there that long? – Christine Rankin

40,000 people under the age of 25 on a job seeker benefit, an increase of 66% compared to six years ago – that tells me that Labour’s policies have not worked when it comes to getting young people into meaningful work. That tells them that it’s okay to rely on the state for the rest of your life. Where you will have few choices, limited options. It will always be grinding poverty.

How is that kind? And I would really love to know. I didn’t hear that question being asked of Marama Davidson yesterday. I don’t see that it’s kind to keep people on benefits, and yet what do you do? I know of a business that’s had to closed down in a very small town in the Far North. They were desperately trying to get young people in the district where unemployment is high because there are few opportunities. They would take the van. They would knock on the doors, they would give them the soap, the shampoo, the clothes they needed to turn up for work. The longest one of the kids lasted was three days and then they just could not get up in the morning. They’d stayed up all night. They tried, I think, about 11 or 12 young people, young men and women, and the kids had the best of intentions initially.

But because they’ve come from three years where they haven’t had to show up for anything. During Covid that wasn’t even an option because the schools were closed. They don’t know how to get out of bed in the morning and how is letting them keep doing that good for them. For any young person? You see, that to me is the cruelty. We’re just running on different train tracks. The Greens and Carmel, who I think is fantastic and does great work with the people, but the stats don’t lie. The number of kids under 25 on job seeker has increased by 66% since Labour became part of a government and then sole charge.

What the hell is the future of those kids?  – Kerre Woodham

Worse for the government, in the absence of Luxon’s clear indication of nuts and bolts solutions to the problems he outlined in his speech, ministers are dependent on the advice of many of the very people most hostile to their policies. I cannot recall a time when any government’s plans have been so threatened. Certainly, the basic public service ethos of employees needing to deliver the policies the public voted for is being challenged.

The Minister for the Public Service, Nicola Willis, ironically, is the very minister who under her other hat as Minister of Finance, has the most direct interest in the implementation of the new government’s policies. It’s certainly time for a new State Services head, and it might be time for a full-scale inquiry into the bureaucracy so that civil servants are told in no uncertain terms of the responsibilities that accompany the rather lavish salaries they enjoy. And any inquiry should include TVOne and RNZ that have been over-indulging the political whims of their employees ever since last October. – Michael Bassett

Funny how transactivists don’t need to check anyone’s pronouns to know who to intimidate. – Yvonne Van Dongen

The three governing parties have agreed that “the coalition Government will make decisions that are … principled – making decisions based on sound public policy principles, including problem definition, rigorous cost-benefit analysis and economic efficiency.”

It is a total reversal of how Labour made decisions. Labour set impossible aspirational goals, for example, the “Road to Zero” to eliminate on-road fatalities, created a media campaign and then implemented a gesture policy, such as lowering speed limits.

Labour failed because their policies did not address the problem. – Richard Prebble 

Replacing poll-driven gesture decisions with proper problem definition and cost-benefit analysis would transform government.  – Richard Prebble 

Government decision-making that is problem-defining and subject to rigorous cost-benefit policy is very effective. –

While it’s a business maxim not to throw good money after bad, governments do it all the time. Departments spend tens of millions of dollars rather than admit they have made a mistake.

If governmental decisions were based on data and evidence, many programmes would never have begun. – Richard Prebble 

We all benefit when the opposition pushes the government to do better for us, challenges where they’ve been remiss and forces change when it’s needed. This applies no matter who’s in government.

Democracies function best when their component parts are strong and right now, Labour is missing in action. – Tova O’Brien

Lawmakers should ask if new and current laws serve us well. If not, they should be changed or abolished. Also important is consideration of what the role of government in our lives should be, and what should be left to individuals and communities. Ever more restrictive and stringent regulation doesn’t help, it detracts from the self-responsibility inherent in our society and risks the statute book replacing common sense and good behaviour.

Good law should be clear, enforceable, and routinely enforced. If proposals do not meet these criteria, we should go straight back to the drawing board. So when you next jest “there should be a law against that” be careful what you wish for. – Heather Roy 

Efeso Collins was a good person. There can be no greater achievement in life. – Damien Grant

But I think the time has come for us to start treating people who are about to become parents the way we treat people who want to drive a car or a truck or a motorbike.

We’re dreaming if we think we’re doing enough just teaching them about changing nappies and feeding. And I think we need to turbo-drive our ante-natal training. – John MacDonald

I think we’re on a road to nowhere if we’re going to keep relying on Oranga Tamariki to do all the heavy lifting and to keep kids in this country safe. – John MacDonald

I think your life is enriched by learning about different cultures and different ways of thinking about things… personally… I find this one of the most fascinating things in the world.

But that’s a personal choice.  it’s shouldn’t’ be a job requirement for an estate agent  – Heather du Plessis-Allan

This is the kind of red tape nonsense this country doesn’t need if we want to make doing business easier .

If it’s not related to the job, leave it out, no matter how worthy you think it is. – Heather du Plessis-Allan

To claim that the countryside is racist is one of the most ridiculous examples of Left-wing identity politics. It’s a symptom of a deeper problem within our society – the urge to constantly view everything through the lens of race or gender, plead victimhood and point the finger at an oppressor. Whether it’s the patriarchy, or colonial masters, this desperation to divide society is ripping through our institutions, creating a culture of fear and self-censorship.

This is why it’s essential to challenge this ideology relentlessly, wherever we see it. The premise of the charity’s bonkers report is that, as a predominantly white environment, the countryside is not welcoming to ethnic minorities. Sadly, we’ve come to expect this kind of hokum from civil society and the public sector. – Suella Braverman 

Firstly, just because there are more white people than non-white people somewhere does not make it racist. The UK is a majority-white country, so of course there will be many areas where there is very little, and sometimes no, ethnic minority participation. I do not see a problem.

People are different, they have different interests and inclinations. Ethnic minority people tend to live in urban areas. Does that make Wembley, (where I come from and which is now a majority non-white area), racist because there are fewer white people who live there? Of course not. – Suella Braverman 

Lastly, this is not just wrong but dangerous. We need to stop making white people feel guilty for being white. Critical race theory, white privilege and unconscious bias should be constantly debunked as Left-wing militancy. It’s wholly disempowering for ethnic minorities to be judged by skin colour rather than by character.

Why cast me as a victim and rob me of my agency? Why foster resentment? The truth is that so many people are terrified to challenge this groupthink which is taking over our country. They’re scared of being labelled racist and losing their job. Best just keep your head down, they think. But we cannot become self-censured identikit automatons who parrot the same Orwellian newspeak. It’s why a Labour government would be so dangerous and why we need to fight back. – Suella Braverman 

As someone who has spent 40 years in higher education, it is clear to me that we are no longer teaching students how to engage with those with whom they disagree. We are teaching them that disagreement is an occasion for harm and trauma. This is a disaster on many levels.

— Prof. Gary Francione (@garylfrancione) February 22, 2024

So it indeed turns out that ending child poverty doesn’t happen just because you declare it a goal. – Steven Joyce

At the same time we learned that, despite record low rates of unemployment, there are nearly 70,000 more people receiving job-seeker benefits than in 2017, and that adults on the benefit are now on average expected to remain so for 13 years, with teenagers a whopping 24 years.

So what does this tell us? Firstly, that a politician declaring they want to do something doesn’t on its own mean anything (a lesson we have learnt repeatedly in recent times). In this case it contained a whiff of conceit. I’ve never met a politician who doesn’t want to end child poverty – the only political question is how they plan to go about it. – Steven Joyce

 Leaving more families dependent on benefits is a case of misplaced “kindness” which is not a path to reducing child poverty. On top of that macro-economic conditions are much more important than whatever the government does or doesn’t do on the micro front. High inflation and out-of-control government spending always hurts those on the bottom rungs of society the most. The first thing a government must do is control inflation.

The second thing is to ensure that those who can work, do.  – Steven Joyce

I don’t know how anyone can see taxpayer-supported income as a lifestyle choice, but there are clearly some who do. That’s just storing up future trouble for them and society. The very public consequences of the withdrawal by Carmel Sepuloni of most benefit sanctions should also be a salutary lesson for those who promote the lunacy of a government-funded universal basic income.

The big lesson from the previous Government’s failure though is the more uncomfortable one. Long-term welfare dependency and poverty has been with us for decades, and it will take a concerted effort over considerable time to alleviate it. It will also involve doing things differently. – Steven Joyce

That one right person in the right place can make a lot of positive difference if we are prepared to empower them to do so. And all this will take time, family by family.

That suggests a family-centred social investment approach where we stop worrying about what the programme is called, stop declaring it must all be run by a central government agency, and instead back individuals and organisations who can prove they are getting results. They could be community housing providers, whanau ora organisations, primary health providers, or committed social workers like Jo. We need to back them and trust them.

And we need to remain wary of politicians who offer “quick fixes” like ending child poverty. In the case of the most marginalised families with the most complex needs, there simply aren’t any. – Steven Joyce

To me, government should focus on certain things and let that entrepreneurial spirit shine through in other forms of society and actually promote that. – Sir Russell Coutts 

You do a deal with major events in New Zealand. You do a deal with the city – in our case Christchurch or Auckland.

You’d think that’d be enough, right? But no, it’s not. Now you’ve got to go away and deal with the local iwi, you’ve got to deal with the harbourmaster, you’ve got to deal with environmental [agencies].

All of these discussions, and any one of them could trip you up. – Sir Russell Coutts 

If anyone thinks that my leader is weak, then they have no idea about the guy and haven’t seen him in the settings that I’ve seen him. – Chris Penk

At university, I had a left-wing view of the world which was around collectivism, but my thoughts evolved into thinking that people working together was equally able to be applied to a right-wing view of the world. If we think about limited government — if we believe as I do, that by encouraging society through community groups, iwi organisations, sports clubs, churches, business, whatever — if we allow those entities that are not government to work together and to be encouraged, with some government funding, I felt as though that was a better way of realising my ideals of collectivism. – Chris Penk

If we want to see change in our public service and the people involved to take more responsibility, we need to treat them with respect. You get the best out of people by inspiring the best in them. If we don’t value those who serve, we can’t be surprised when they don’t go the extra mile and give the best service.

Instead of public floggings, we should listen and make change that will improve people’s lives. After all, isn’t that what both the politicians and public servants have in common? – Paula Bennett

Questions media dosen’t ask

Various news stories have criticisms on National’s replacement for Labour’s Three + Waters.

Most of them talk about what it will cost and that ratepayers will have to pay more.

One question that the media doesn’t ask, or at least doesn’t report the answer to, is who would have paid for Labour’s scheme and how much?

What started as Three Waters grew and the costs of its multiple layers of bureaucracy would have grown too.

The organisations that were to appoint board-appointment committees that in turn were to appoint advisory panels would not have been working for nothing.

Redundancy for two water reform chief executives cost $710,000. Keeping them to oversee the bureaucracy would have cost more.

Three Waters was a complicated and expensive system. That the costs of it weren’t going to be paid by money fairies appears to have escaped media coverage.

Water infrastructure needs funding and under Local Water Done Well we’ll be paying either through rates or water charges. But we’ll be paying for the infrastructure and not the multiple layers of bureaucracy Labour was going to impose on us as well.