Bill Dalton

On my radio piece of July 22nd, I suggested that Rodney Hide was now the clown prince of New Zealand politics. I must say some of my close friends had a go at me about that. Rodney was exceptionally bright they said – Rodney had strong principles they said – Rodney keeps everyone honest they said.

I have to tell you I haven’t heard a chirp out of those friends over the last few days – no doubt because their hero has proven them wrong.

Despite his proper apology, Rodney Hide is not exceptionally bright. He is exceptionally dumb to think he could point the finger at everyone else and get away with sneaking his current girlfriend off to Hawaii, to UK for a wedding, to Disneyland, all at the expense of you and me the humble tax payer.

Rodney Hide has no principles whatsoever. He was quite happy to use the perks he has been campaigning against, and shiftily tried to repay the cost of one trip, when he knew he was going to be caught. And how can Rodney Hide keep everyone honest when clearly he has lost all credibility with the public, and his colleagues alike.

The man is a fool.

Hone Harawira is a racist bigot and frankly is a disgrace to this country and an embarrassment to our parliament. His arrogance beggars belief and in my opinion he is not a fit and proper person to sit in our house of representatives. There would be very few public bars in the country that would tolerate Harawira’s behaviour, and I strongly resent the fact that my taxes are subsidizing this fellow’s lifestyle.

Rodney Hide’s party got 3.65% of the vote last election and Hone Harawira’s considerably less than that. And yet these guys are able to arrange trips around the world - to take their girlfriend to her brother’s wedding or the wife to Paris – on the pretence that they are our representatives – I can tell you, I don’t want them representing me!

The truth is the system is broke – we need to fix it: we need to implement a system that gets rid of these unprincipled bludgers, and to look to a system that understands the meaning of the word service. We need to be led by people who want to serve their fellow man – not by those who see leadership roles as a free ticket on the gravy train.

And we need a system that is transparent.

I am delighted that the government has announced that there will be a referendum on MMP although it appears to me that the long drawn out process is planned to fail.

No one likes change and the whole MMP process has been managed to give it time to be accepted before the question of its future as an electoral system is challenged.

But whilst I appear to be increasingly in the minority, I am still of the opinion that MMP is a ridiculous system.

Take the Napier electorate as an example – and I stress I am not critical of the people involved – I am strongly critical of the system.

We had an elected Labour MP – Russell Fairbrother. Along came the National candidate, Chris Tremain and he beat Russell fair and square. The people of Napier said “We want Chris Tremain to be our representative in the House of Representatives”. So off Chris went to Wellington but so did Russell. He was high enough on the list to get back in.

Then in to town on his big red charger rode Stuart Nash. He challenged Russell Fairbrother for the Labour nomination and lost. The Labour party said we don’t want you Stuart, we want Russell, so Stuart went off and began the restructure of the Art Deco Trust.

At the next election Chris Tremain trounced Russell Fairbrother and Russell went back to the private sector feeling like the lucky lion who had escaped from the zoo.

Then the odd Labour member decided to go and do something else and a vacancy occurred in Wellington. So they rang Stuart and said “How would you like a seat in the House of Representatives?”, and off Stuart went to Wellington.

Who is he representing? Chris Tremain is our elected representative – the Labour Party rejected Stuart – how can we possibly accept a system that has people sitting in our House of Representatives who represent no-one?

And what does an opposition list MP do all day? They’ve got no constituents, can achieve nothing in Wellington – frankly they are just a spare part – a spare part in an electoral machine that needs a full overhaul.

For some strange reason, I have started getting emails from the office of Sir Roger Douglas and one offered me a free book. Something for nothing seemed too good to miss so I replied, requesting a copy.

Now despite the fact that I have often disagreed with his politics, Roger Douglas is a politician I admire. He is a politician who has the courage of his convictions, the guts to stand up for what he believes in, the guts to stand up and be counted. He is always prepared to state his case and then argue the points with those of a different view.

And isn’t that a very important part of a politicians role. Shouldn’t politicians whether they be central government or local body politicians, be out in the community expressing views, encouraging debate on important issues leading public opinion. It seems to me that too many politicians are not prepared to express opinions, to state their position on important matters strongly, in case they alienate a few voters. They seem to take the view that if they don’t state where they stand on an issue then no-one can disagree with them.

I suppose in the fickle world of politics that makes a bit of sense. Keep your head down, don’t say anything that anyone can disagree with, be seen at all the right places, tell everyone you are passionate about your electorate or city – politicians love that word passionate – and you will be in for another 3 years.

Well frankly – that is simply not my style.

I will always state my view on matters that are important and fully expect there will be those who disagree with me. Then the matter can be openly debated which is of course not only positive, but healthy for society.

In his time as finance minister, Roger Douglas completely restructured the New Zealand economy and at the time, came under enormous criticism. Subsequently we have had both right and left wing governments and neither has reverted to the old system. That would suggest to me that Roger Douglas got it fairly right.

And if he hadn’t had the guts to make that stand, to take the criticism on the chin, to do what he believed was right for the country, then New Zealand would have been the loser.

Politicians should express their views and be prepared to debate them.

It is a matter of record that I have real concerns about the formation of an “Auckland Super-City”. The current situation is clearly untenable and therefore change is required. But to move from an extremely fragmented system to one where all the power is concentrated into so few hands, seems to me to be almost undemocratic. It is going from one extreme to another and generally that is anything but positive.

Regular listeners will have often heard me say, that if I led a political party, it would be the SMG – the sensible middle ground party. The party where common sense prevails. It is my view that there is not too much common sense or sensible middle ground in Rodney Hide’s proposals for Auckland’s governance.

And neither is there any sense in the attitude of the Maori Party. I watched Hone Harawira on Q&A on Sunday morning – the most inappropriately scheduled programme on New Zealand TV - and frankly I was disgusted. This fellow clearly has no interest in a united New Zealand where we are one people – albeit from different racial backgrounds.

Whilst I have very real reservations about the “Auckland Super City” - if it is to happen - I can see no justification for seats being allocated on a racial basis. Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world – many of those Polynesians are Maori. Surely the answer is for Maori to stand worthy candidates and to rally support behind those candidates to ensure they are elected.

That, Mr Harawira, is democracy.

I have long been a supporter of the sensible settlement of Maori grievances. Where land was illegally confiscated, Maori should be compensated. Where there has been injustice – justice must prevail

But surely we have moved beyond the situation where we have to reserve seats on a city council representing one of the most multi-racial cities in the world, for members of any one race.

Have you ever attended a funeral and listened to the minister or celebrant – who probably didn’t know the deceased at all – waxing lyrical about what a wonderful person dear old John was.  They never quite tell the truth do they!

And it’s like that with Michael Cullen.  Now at the end of his parliamentary career we are told that he had an amazing wit, he was sartorially elegant and that in the house he was wonderfully eloquent.

All these things are good to be remembered by but what about the finances of the county.  Rightly or wrongly we remember Nordy’s Black Budget, Muldoon’s think big, Douglas’ reforms of the economy without which New Zealand would be out the back door economically.  

And what will we remember Michael Cullen for?  Being a witty smart-arse who wore flash suits.
 
Cullen held the financial reigns in this country for 9 years – 8 of which were some of the most buoyant economic years we have known.  At a time when we should have been broadening the productive sector, the tax base, Cullen paid off debt and used the funds to build up an enormous army of civil servants.  I use the term army because the IRD alone musters more troops than the whole New Zealand army!

Clark and Cullen are gone and Phil Goff, one of the brightest politicians in the house, though no charismatic leader is in the hot seat. 

And he has had a cabinet reshuffle and brought Labour’s bovver boy Trevor Mallard back to the front bench.  I would have thought May was a good month for Mallard to keep his head down.

Some of the Labour members who have gained promotion I’ve never heard of.  Clearly due to lack of depth in the Labour party they are having to promote list MPs who are there because they brought the best scones for supper at the local branch meetings.

National faces incredibly difficult times – some of the most difficult times ever experienced for a government.  All I ask of them is that they be open and honest.  Take the people with you.

The last thing New Zealand needs now is to find out that another Government is not telling us the truth.

Regular readers will know I am a fierce opponent of MMP and yet even a bad electoral system can produce a good result.

Winston Peters is gone.
 
The man, who used to be a lightweight entertainer – who was one of the real characters of politics but became a nasty vindictive negative influence, is gone.
 
Well done.
 
Proponents of MMP claim that the party vote means we get the party we want – that the voice of the nation is heard.  How come then, the New Zealand First Party gained 4.2% of the party vote and is not represented in Parliament and ACT gained 3.7% of the vote, has 5 MP’s and is able to box well above that weight.  Great system eh!

Stuart Nash here in Napier – rejected by his own party as a candidate but may possibly, depending on special votes, just wander in to Parliament.  Great system eh!

Much is being made by a number of very silly commentators that New Zealand has changed to a “Far Right” government and that of course is unmitigated rubbish.  Labour and National are both parties of the centre – in fact if you look at their policies they both flop from side to side of each other.  Phil Goff for instance would be right of John Key on many issues.  The difference between the parties is the team they can put up. 
For those poor silly commentators that somehow have come to the conclusion that Labour was the party of the people and that National is some far right uncaring mob, let me explain what happened on Saturday.

We stopped the cart and took a tired old horse out from between the shafts.  The tired old horse had been reliable but its vision was not that good and we decided a fresh horse with better vision was required.
The horses are pulling the same cart – we are on the same journey but we decided a different horse suited the road ahead.  We made that decision to avoid problems ahead not to create them.

So despite the extremely rough economic road ahead, we should be celebrating the fact that we have a fresh horse that will hopefully pick its way through the difficult terrain.

My great hope is that, whatever your political persuasion, you will get behind this government.
Times are tough and they are going to need all the help we can offer.

Let’s get positive.

I have been keen on politics as long as I can remember and I can not recall a more boring or pathetic election.

I mean – it’s just bizarre when the most exciting question of the week – just days from polling day – is whether Rodney Hide should be displaying an authorisation on his yellow jacket or not.

Who cares!  The electoral finance act that demands such things is a nonsense and must go.

The TV 3 debate on Monday night was also pathetic.  How people watch that John Campbell I just don’t know.  After the so called debate, the panel of experts were disappointed that neither Helen Clark nor John Key had addressed the financial crisis that is affecting the world.

Of course they didn’t.  They were trying to answer the silly bloody questions put by Campbell.  If answers on specific topics were required – why weren’t questions on these topics asked?

I watched Agenda on Sunday morning – the best programme of the week on at the silliest time.  Winston Peters was simply an embarrassment apart from the fact that what he was saying was completely untrue.

Winston Peters used to be an entertaining lightweight but he has become so arrogant (God knows what he has got to be arrogant about) that he now lets every politician or aspiring politician down.  He has become a caricature of a politician.

Frankly the American election has been far more interesting and more and more New Zealanders have turned off from our boring little soap opera and tuned in to the Presidential race.

New Zealand politics seems to be lacking characters.  David Lange – Big Norm -  dare I say it Rob Muldoon.  Guys like Norman Jones from Invercargill were always fun.  Election campaigns in those days were informative and entertaining.

Now candidates are all controlled by the party machine – they all trumpet the party line and the whole process has lost its colour.

The only colour in this year’s election is Rodney Hide’s jacket and even that is under threat.

Frankly – I guess like you – I will be pleased when it’s all over.

It will come as no surprise to you that I have been involved in some pretty fiery political debates recently – mainly with the poor demented souls who still believe that MMP is good for New Zealand.

The basis of the pro MMP argument seems to be that minority views now have a voice.  That view – of course – completely ignores the fact that these groups have always had a voice within the main stream political parties.  Both Labour and National had their environmental lobbyists – their champions of all things Maori – their right or left wing rumps.  The sort of totally ridiculous nonsense we are now hearing from the Greens about New Zealand becoming totally organic would be noted but not become policy.  These views were heard within a balanced framework.

Just look at the bizarre scenarios that are being suggested as being possible after this election.

National – only able to govern with the support of the Maori Party.  The Maori Party has made it clear that they are not prepared to simply support on supply and demand – they want to be equal partners.  So a party with 7 seats or less could be an equal governing party with a party that gains say 55 or 56 seats.

The Greens have nailed their colours to Labour’s mast.  Doesn’t that prove what a nonsense MMP is?  Surely if they were really subscribing to the MMP myth, they would have left their options open so they could have environmental influence on whichever party is in power.

So the polls suggest that it is just possible that Labour might be able to stitch a government together with support from the Greens, Jim Anderton’s so called political party, perhaps the Maori Party and God forbid, Winston Peters.  The only way that could work is if they all agreed to do nothing.

Can you imagine the likes of Sue Bradford, Winston Peters, Hone Harawera – making collective decisions in New Zealand’s best interests.

I have said so often – I will vote for the party that promises a binding referendum on MMP and for that reason National will get my vote.

There is no doubt that the 2008 election campaign is going to be a grubby one – the dirty tricks have started already.

Labour is desperate to stay in power and they are not that stupid that they can’t understand polls.

National is equally desperate to gain what they see as their rightful place, the treasury benches. After nine years on the sidelines, they believe their time has come.

In the past, I have often commented that Labour and National struggle to find differences between them. They are both in the centre of the political spectrum, one leaning to the left and one to the right. Since the Greens split from Labour and ACT split from National, we have been left with a solid political chunk in the middle split between National and Labour.

However this election there appears to be a clear philosophical difference developing. Labour has, under Michael Cullen, run an amazingly conservative ship. They have tried to do all their infrastructure spending out of current income which frankly has resulted in the quality of our infrastructure declining and our taxes being held unnecessarily high.

National, on the other hand seems to be embracing the inter-generational funding philosophy, very typical of the way many local bodies are funded.

Basically inter-generational funding works along the same lines as you and I did when we bought our houses.

We didn’t try to pay for our houses out of current income. We acknowledged that our house was going to provide shelter for the next 50 years so we spread the cost over a number of years – even though that action incurred an interest cost.

National is suggesting a similar plan. The infrastructure that New Zealand is crying out for to allow us to get sustainable growth into the economy, is going to serve us for many years to come. Therefore it is unfair to current taxpayers to ask them to pick up the total cost, just as it is fair to ask future generations to contribute to this infrastructure.

No doubt we will hear emotional rhetoric about irresponsible borrowing – remember Muldoon talking about “Bill borrow and hope Rowling”. But sensible borrowing by governments is no different than a businessman borrowing to expand his business or you and I borrowing to buy a home.

In France, when a person is accused of wrong-doing they are deemed to be guilty until they can prove their innocence.

In New Zealand, the same person would be regarded as being innocent until the accuser could prove the guilt.  That is – everywhere in New Zealand other then at the Inland Revenue Department – they work on French law.

So, on that basis it could be said that Winston Peters is innocent – no-one has yet proven his guilt.  But, surely there have been enough questions raised in and by the media – questions about the Glenn donation, the Vela donations and the Jones donation, that to fail to give reasonable explanations is in effect obstructing the path to the truth.  If there is nothing to hide give us the facts.

Peters’ failure to even attempt to explain these matters and his insistence on arrogantly attacking any questioners is totally unacceptable behaviour from a person who draws his income from the public purse.

Surely the blue rinse set in Tauranga is not going to inflict this fellow on us again in November.

And speaking of unacceptable behaviour – the Labour Government, realising they are about to bite the dust, are flat out appointing all their cronies to cushy boards and public bodies.

They need to get these appointments made no later than 3 months out from an election so the process is in overdrive.

Last week alone they appointed 43 people to soft, publicly funded jobs.  They have appointed 140 in the last five weeks.

People like Mike Williams, President of the Labour Party has picked up a directorship of the New Zealand Transport Agency, his fifth such appointment.

I suppose the rumoured $140,000 plus per year he receives from these appointments, fees paid by you and I the humble taxpayers, ensures that the New Zealand Labour Party can save on any presidential stipend.

It really is open season on jobs for the boys – and girls – and you and I will be keeping these people in the manner to which they have become accustomed.

Doesn’t it make you feel good to be such a benefactor?

Yeah right.

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Murry McCully’s newsletter - A Tsunami of Cronies? 25/8/08