Posts by Ewan Morris
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Polity: Saudi sheep: Misappropriating…, in reply to
And let's not forget another McCully special - refocusing New Zealand's aid programme away from a focus on poverty elimination, without actually bothering to review the effectiveness of the existing programme (short version here).
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Quite right – and neither can any democratic process. But threaten the commercial arm which benefits from the folly – and you just watch how quickly those in power respond. Much of the power the public has lies in its spending power.
So you don't think anything can be solved by democratic processes and boycotts are the way to change things? Would you be happy with the so-called "Sensible Sentencing Trust" picketing the offices of defence laywers? This approach to social change is a dead-end street that doesn't do anything to change people's views or attitudes.
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Hard News: Judicial caprice is no way to…, in reply to
The Whangarei community should boycott/picket the firm
The idea of boycotting or picketing legal firms because of the position they advocate for in a trial is a dangerous suggestion. It might sound superficially appealing in relation to this case, but think about, for example, a defence lawyer who defends an unpopular client to ensure he or she gets a fair trial - would it be OK to boycott or picket that lawyer or firm?
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Polity: A week on from the housing controversy, in reply to
Fact: the public voted and said no.
Those who represent Andrew Little’s rejection of that CGT policy as a “corner” with no ability to exit – ever – with any type of policy regarding taxation on capital gains, are the ones now stifling the party from its potential further consideration of the matter.
Fact: the public voted on a whole range of issues (and personalities), and I'd like to see some evidence that the CGT was an important factor in the election.
I'm not trying to paint Labour into a corner - I'd love to see Rob say that they are still thinking about options for a CGT or other ways of dealing with property speculation that deal with the issue comprehensively rather than just focusing on overseas-based speculators.
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Thanks for answering my questions, Rob. At least now I know that Labour is running an explicitly nationalist policy, even if I'm not happy with it. You say of onshore speculation that, despite the lack of a productivity gain, "gains accrue within the New Zealand economy". I'm always wary of that kind of very passive language. To whom do the gains accrue? Not to most ordinary New Zealanders, I suggest.
Katherine, you say any imbalances involved in domestic speculation can be addressed internally through our political system. I'm asking Rob what the Labour Party plans to do to address these imbalances. He appears to be telling me they will be doing nothing because they are only concerned about offshore speculation.
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Others have explained more eloquently than I can why what Labour did in releasing this shoddy "data" was so wrong. (As a side issue, Phil Twyford has described the person who leaked the data as a "whistleblower". A whistleblower is someone who exposes illegal or unethical behaviour within an organisation, not just someone who leaks information you might find interesting.)
My questions for Rob are: Isn't property speculation the issue, rather than where someone comes from? Is property speculation OK if done by New Zealand residents? And most importantly: what actual policies does Labour have to address property speculation, particularly now that it has backed away from a capital gains tax?
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can’t find the mandatory publication of it, which I think was in the print edition, anywhere on The Herald’s website
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Hard News: Public Address Word of the…, in reply to
Do you have an appropriate NZ alternative for beltway, given it get used as an analogy rather than literally?
Can you have an analogy with something that doesn't exist? At least there is a beltway in Washington.
Given the number of quays in central Wellington (Lambton, Waterloo, Thorndon, Aotea), how about Quay - "That is such a Quay issue" ;-)
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Beltway - ridiculously inappropriate in a NZ context
Can we have a vote for the word we never want to hear again?
Every time I hear/read media people in New Zealand talking about the Beltway, I want to yell: "THERE IS NO BELTWAY IN WELLINGTON!!!!'
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Hard News: Te Reo Māori in schools:…, in reply to
For more on this, see here