Happy Easter

Posted by Lambcut (the Brunette is away).


Easter is irritating to an irritable perimenopausal atheist. It’s Good Friday. It’s cold in Wellington in a thin, dry, sunless sort of way. And, everything is fucking shut. We have ANZAC Day to look forward to. I like ANZAC Day. In fact I love ANZAC Day. I trundle down to the cenotaph at dawn in the cold and become warmly emotional remembering elderly relatives and brave countrymen who fought in the great wars. And, I feel patriotic. But be in no doubt the patriotism I feel does not extend to a love of government. This government is turning my waning oestrogen to vitriol.

This 5th National government rules by bureaucratic fiat. It’s not too far from a constitutional crisis. It’s running round sacking Councils, creating obese Czars and not listening to anyone who might know anything helpful. It is without proper advice from industry, commerce and critical stakeholders. Nat5’s approach to the Ultrafast Broadband initiative is a perturbing case in point. Vodafone, TelstraClear, CallPlus, Kordia/Orcon, 2 Degrees, Maori rural Broadband Initiative bidder Torotoro Waea and its partner Opto Networks, Federated Farmers, Consumer NZ, InternetNZ and TUANZ have joined to protest the potential monopoly created by Telecom’s advancement. Steven Joyce is not listening.

A quick glance around the House reveals with staggering clarity that the necessary knowledge and experience to know and decide absolutely everyfuckingthing for you and me cannot be found within the House. Even scant knowledge of the bureaucracy will tell you that appropriate experience and knowledge is not contained in there.

I can understand why there has been a strong reaction against the precious and costly over consultation of the 5th Labour administration, especially in relation to the RMA. But at the moment we have Minister’s Offices and entire Ministries completely disengaged from industry, commerce and other vital pools of knowledge that exist outside the bureaucracy and the Beehive. That didn’t used to happen under Lab5. Other preposterous pie eyed, bury-advice-in-an-avalanche-of-cluster-fucking over-consultation happened. But not this overweening-overconfident-I’ll keep-my-head-blindly-up-my-arrogant-ass sort of crap.

It’s creepy and it reminds me of Muldoon. Have a happy Easter.

DIRTY LAUNDRY

What OIA's have some former Ministers heading to their lawyers?

Is Matterhorn up for sale and what will this mean for Wellington diners?

Did Shane Jones have a hand in Goff's Nationhood speech?

Will Maori TV change the way rugby is broadcast?

Is Gerry Brownlie going to add more value to our country than any previous Minister?

Is Xmas here yet?

GREAT PARLIAMENTARY MOMENTS

This has to be one of them. Its as close as you can get to a Snoopy's Christmas moment. when both sides of the House looked liked mates at a end of the year do giving each other gentle jibes.

It was fun, gentlemanly and bloody funny and a dam fine way to end the year.




We had called in to our favourite restaurant to have a quick bit to eat with some old scribes earlier today. Then we attended the annual Parliamentary Christmas Press Gallery knees up tonight. Arrived at seven with our host , one of the great political journalists of all time. We were privileged.

It was great to catch up with some old mates and people we admire from across the political spectrum. It was a good do. It will descend into delightful mayhem as the evening wears on. But tonight was our night to be sensible. Ma and Pa arrive in the morning in Bugsys Burrow off the Cook Strait Ferry. That signals the start of Xmas for us and family and friends. We will be surrounded by heaps of them over Xmas and we can't wait. It has been a long year and we are looking forward to seeing it out with the people who mean most to us.

GOOD BUGGER

We were at an auspicious "do" tonight. Tim Gibson , CE of NZ Trade and Enterprise had his farewell. It was a fairly heavyweight Wellington crowd. There were Ministers to the left and Ministers to the right and all had nothing but praise for the man who has helped shape the portal to international trade for many New Zealand companies.

It was a fine tribute to an extremely well respected NZ'er who has done much to increase exports around the world.

What we like about Tim is that he is a genuine nice guy and normally they don't survive the hurly burly of this particular sector. But he has and he has stamped his mark and overseen many milestones including the organisation winning international accolades for its excellence amongst its peers.

NZ has been well served by this quiet unassuming man and we will watch with interest where he pops up next.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What did McCully and Brownlie yack about over Satay sticks at Chow in Woodward Street tonight.

What does Rick Ellis have against helicopters?

What is Mark Ellis doing in Wellington?

Is the fact Shane Jones is seeking the limelight have anything to do with the fact the Goffs position as leader of Labour is looking tenuous?

TRANSTASMAN HAS A PLAN

We think that its also the governments plan . We have for some time believed, like TransTasman, that we are as a Nation, are on the cusp of a period of extraordinary transformational change.

The paper says our future centres on our relationship with Aussie, Using energy as a transformational platform for economic growth, planting more trees , leading the development of sensible environmental policy, sorting out the Pacific, sorting out our fragmented research industry, broadband, and digging ourselves out of a fiscal hole quickly.

It is a well thought out White Paper and gives a voice to the thoughts of many.

What it needs to light the fire , the paper says is for the government to make some bold moves soon. We agree, we have seen some evidence that the government has a good plan, the broadband option that stopped the Telecom monopoly that could have crippled the competition needed to give customers the best deal. Groser is leading some fascinating policy ideas on climate change and agricultural emissions.

And the government has started the debate on what lies beneath and how best we can harness it and protect our environmental values.

So we reckon much of the white paper is in train. What we need now is for the government to articulate that grand plan and make it the catchcry of all New Zealanders. New Zealand the future today.


A Road Map for Transforming Nz Inc

GERRY GIVES POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Wow the Nats are on a bloody roll. Gerry is already banging together the heads of the power industry players.
And it looks like he is going to give the Electricity Commission the flick as well. Yay. Word around the traps is that the Commerce Commission report will show there is some shonky stuff happening in kilowatt land.

Good stuff Gerry. Big boy , big ideas and big balls - just what we and my mate need.

JOHN KEY FLICKS THE SWITCH ON PC MADNESS

We thought the whole compulsory changing of light bulbs thing was a crock.

Evidently so does our lovely new PM. Blood good show. We uncovered this lightbulb madness in the lead up to the election. At the time Gerry Brownlie followed up with this ( we like Gerry too)
The Herald reports that PM Key has said its " unlikely" that the compulsory change will happen. Good - and scrap the silly PR campaign the Electricity Commission had planned as well.

NATIONAL CONDEMNS LIGHTBULB CAMPAIGN

$3.5 million PR campaign on light-bulb ban

National Party Energy spokesman Gerry Brownlee says Kiwi bill payers will be stunned to learn that the Electricity Commission is planning to spend up to $3.5 million in the next year promoting energy efficient light bulbs.

“Labour’s priorities are so warped in these tougher times that Helen Clark plans to spend more than $3 million telling New Zealanders what light bulb to install.”

Mr Brownlee is commenting after the release of a 54-page Request for Proposal (RFP) document issued by the commission, which states its purpose is ‘to select one or more parties whom the Electricity Commission may engage to promote the uptake of efficient lighting technologies’.

The proposal says the key areas of action are eliminating inefficient incandescent and halogen lighting.

This latest initiative comes in the wake of plans to regulate shower flow rates and place restrictions on the size of household hot water cylinders.

“Labour clearly hasn’t listened to the public outcry over the light-bulb ban, but to add insult to injury they’re going to spend $3.5 million telling New Zealanders all about it.

“All New Zealanders pay for the Electricity Commission’s work. I think they’ll be unhappy to learn that in these tough economic times they’ll be paying the government to boss them around even more and tell them what sort of light bulbs to use.

"New Zealanders don’t need yet another expensive PR campaign from a government agency in these tough times. What they need is a government focused on the things that matter."

Mr Brownlee says it’s very clear what a vote for Labour in the upcoming election means.

"It’s a vote for a nanny-state government spending your taxes to tell you what light bulbs to use, how much water can flow through your shower head, and how much hot water you can use.”

Mr Brownlee says National will overturn the ban on conventional light bulbs.

ENDS

Good boy Gerry - you get this weeks wine.
We just hope that National will put the money into Herceptin and save lives.

PUBLIC SERVICE GETS VERY FAT

Well their bums anyway - 19 football fields of them - Well done for ferreting this out Gerry Brownlie. Bet that would have paid for a few courses of herceptin.

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