Posts by Don Christie
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Kathy was a nun
Deborah, sorry to burst your bubble but I am afraid that your "nun" sounds much more like a managenent consultant in mufti...
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Post, re-read, correct
I seem to have implied above that politicians are not people. That is, of course, absurd.
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Having made it through school prizeless (I was frequently "in for the high jump" though) I hesitate to contribute to this thread.
I would like to confirm that experience in business does not really qualify you for anything much other than...business. And even then a lot of "success" is about good luck and being willing to have a go. Sneering at people and politicians without business experience is just as shallow as sneering at businesses.
Having a wide range of interests, being able to research issues, filter various sources and reach sensible conclusions is a quality the best politicians *do* have. NZ is reasonably blessed in this department, although there are some notable exceptions.
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They won, you lost, eat that.
I have happilly eaten it. So has the Government, from what I read. Given the $250 million shortfall in Eden park funding surely it would have been remiss of them *not* to look at alternatives, and quickly.
As an Auckland ratepayer it is now your turn, through your elected reps on the ARC to do some eating of your own and start coughing up the $250million the rest of the country was keen to donate to plan A but have little interest in donating to Eden Park.
Please show me where I have asserted the ARC is dominated by right wingers? I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how that authority is balanced, nor do I care. My belief is that politics across the spectrum (Green to ACT) has skuppered the plan, not one political side. There were also lots of people with genuine concerns, as is normal for projects such as the one proposed.
In fact, councillors seem these days to delight in picking such nonsensical labels for themselves I have a huge amount of trouble deciding what their beliefs are at a glance. "Sensible ratepayers", "Independent Jobsworth", "Citizens for Jolly Decent Things" and so on and one very rarely gets to hear about a coherent platform the various groupings adhere to. Bit of a scam, really.
Possibly one reason so few people bother voting.
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Manakura - there were plenty Aucklanders in support of the waterfront, maybe not the majority but not a number so tiny it could easily be rounded to zero as the ARC seem to have done.
The irony is that Mallard and co saw no problem with steamrolling a massive project
Except the facts inconveniently do not back up this statement. The Government seems to have been the only party willing to consult and listen. Greens, National and Act were all determined to oppose. And the Government also said that they would respect the decision that was made. They did this, however unwillingly on Mallard's part.
It does seem to me that a considerable segement of naysayers (with some honourable exceptions) were more concerned about giving Mallard and Clark a slap in the face than with what would be good for Auckland and NZ.
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David Slack - my thoughts exactly. And as for the ARC, what a bunch of mealie mouth wallies. Time to front up with some solid cash to support their "unanimous" decision. Otherwise, it looks like they just want to conveniently dump on everyone else.
How did they get to be unanimous, by the way, was there really not one supporter on the council of the Waterfront? If not, just how representative of Auckland are they?
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Keeping out of the political debate can I just make one comment on the article.
Business Roundtable, a pro-business pressure group.
As a businessman and part owner and director of a medium sized operation let me assure you that I have never considered the BRT to be "pro-business". In New Zealand terms they could be considered quite the opposite. The use of "Business" in their title is slightly oxymoronic.
More accurate would be "Large Monopolistic Corporate Roundtable" with a sub-heading of "because screwing SME businesses in NZ is such a good thing".
As an example look at this ridiculous piece by Kerr in yesterday's DomPost. He is arguing that monopolies are ok unless they are Government monopolies. I am not quite sure where to start, but I can at least tell Mr. Kerr that one type of monopoly is concerned with outcomes to citizens, the other with making super-normal profits. Working for both types as I do I can safely say that big organisations are, well, big and have very similar problems of resource waste and management capacity. At least Government departments have Rodney Hide to run scared of, corporates have very little to worry about unless things go very horribly wrong. You decide which monopoly (if we are going to have them) is going to be better for the rest of us. As I say, the big losers in the corporatist paradise are your local SMEs.
This has got to be one of the most confused bits of economic logic I have ever read but it illustrates very nicely just who the BRT is interested in supporting. It ain't me and in fact with the sort of shenanigans they have been indulging in over the last few years you wonder just how much harm they are doing in the public's mind to the reputation of the NZ business community.
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There's a previously unmentioned authorial hand behind the Orewa speech too.
Would that be an ex-Act MP? Just wondering.
I am also really hoping that the timing Wishart's latest little expose is just coincidental and that none of our elected representatives (or their proxies) have a hand in that.
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Back on topic - "Secret Emails of Adrian Mole - Aged 63 and 3/4" by, A Mole
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Ok, I admit it, I looked up "euphonious" and come up with "smooth-sounding". Dam online dictionaries.
Well, you are Aucklanders, so maybe that's what you meant...