Free Press ACT’s regular bulletin
Free Press
ACT’s regular bulletin
TAX, TAX, TAX
The Labour Government's
legislation of a fuel tax in Auckland continues its weird
habit of punishing the poorest New Zealanders. Just like
Tobacco Taxes and Fees Free tertiary education, this policy
steals from the poor and gives to the rich. Poorer New
Zealanders live further out so have longer commutes, drive
older cars that use more fuel, and earn less income to cover
fuel taxes with in the first place. They will be hurt by the
Government that was supposed to help them.
A
Simpler Solution
Before its spending spree, this
Government had $18bn of surpluses coming down the line over
four years. It could easily have afforded to give half the
GST on construction to councils who issue resource consents,
as per ACT's policy. There is a problem with funding
infrastructure in New Zealand, but it does not require new
taxes, merely better using the taxes Government already
collects.
A Popular ACT Policy
ACT
commissioned independent polling to test the popularity of
Partnership Schools. As one of our former leaders likes to
say, politics is hard slog in the fog, then suddenly
you’re out in front. After six years of battling
everybody, including the National Party half the time,
ACT’s Partnership Schools have gone mainstream. Sixty per
cent believe the Government has handled the issue badly,
fifty-seven per cent believe the schools should stay
open.
Government Overture Fails
Jacinda
Ardern wants to get rid of Partnership Schools because
they’re a failure, but wants them to stay open because
they are a success. Her strategy was to avoid closing them
by inviting operators to turn their Partnership Schools into
state schools, but Ardern admitted this week only one of the
eleven schools has applied, and only two more are
‘close.’ She can’t close them, so what now?
How you can Help
Ardern says she will meet
anyone and work across partisan lines to achieve more for
New Zealand. We like this style and have written asking her
to meet signatories to a petition to save Partnership
Schools. You can help by signing here www.savecharters.kiwi. If you have
already signed, please use your email and social media to
share it with more people. Stay tuned for the presentation
date.
Where’s the Report?
The previous
Government commissioned Wellington policy shop Martin
Jenkins to do a three-part report on the Partnership Schools
policy. It cost over $400,000. The first two parts are
public and highly complementary of the policy. They say it
promoted innovation in education and engaged marginalized
kids well. The public deserve to see the third, due since
the change of Government, but it has been suppressed.
Aussie Cricketers Would be Proud
Chris Hipkins
has claimed in answers toParliamentary Questions that he has
not read the report. We find this extraordinary as it has
existed for months. Free Press predicts that Hipkins’
staff have read it and are busy trying to get Martin Jenkins
to recast it with the schools in a less favourable light
before the Minister reads it. Australian cricketers would
not attempt such brazen tampering.
Government
Ghetto
Let’s start by complimenting Phil Twyford
for recognizing that the housing market is a problem, and it
is a problem of supply. But his plan to cram 4,000 homes
onto 29 hectares of Unitec Land in Mt Albert is nuts. It is
reminiscent of the 1960s projects that British and American
Governments are now pulling down.
The Numbers in
Context
At Unitec, Twyford wants to put 4,000 homes
on 29 hectares. A hectare is roughly the size of a rugby
field. The densest area of Auckland at the moment is the
Waitemata Local Board Area, taking in Parnell, the CBD, and
some western inner-city suburbs such as Freeman’s Bay. It
has a density of 19 dwellings per hectare. The Albert-Eden
area has a density of 12 dwellings per hectare. Twyford’s
proposal puts 138 dwellings per hectare. The new development
will have seven times more homes on a given area than
anywhere else in New Zealand. It will be nearly twelve times
denser than the surrounding area.
Density
Problems
Many Free Press readers may be spending or
will have spent two years in London or perhaps North
America, and they probably are loving or loved living cheek
by jowl. That all changes as life goes on, something we see
in the Epsom Electorate daily. Dense living is living with
parking disputes, noise, traffic, and other unexpected
incidents. Council compliance officers privately admit their
jobs are growing because of the Council’s push for
density. It is no exaggeration to say that the Government
risks creating American-style projects with its plan for Mt
Albert.
What ACT Would Do
Regular Free
Press readers will be able to rehearse it with their eyes
closed. If only the Government would replace the Resource
Management Act with pro development legislation, give
councils better incentives to issue resource consents by
funding infrastructure properly, and get councils out of the
building consent business, the Government would not need to
get into the property development game because the private
sector would be doing it. Alas, Phil Twyford has admitted
that the Government hasn’t even discussed the RMA in
Cabinet yet.
Research Shows Students are
Rational
A new study from Motu Economic Research
shows us what happens when students stop getting free money.
In one of its better ideas, the previous Government took
Allowances from post graduate students in 2013. Did this
stop ‘poorer’ students (those who had been eligible for
an allowance as undergraduates) from doing Masters’
Degrees and Doctorates? No it did not. They simply borrowed
more on their loans and studied at the same rate.
Government Waste in the Billions
Free money
doesn’t affect whether Postgraduate students’ study or
not. They’ll laugh all the way to the bank if offered it,
but they won’t stop studying not. Free Press predicts that
wiping fees for undergraduate students will have the same
effect on studying. None. There won’t be any more students
studying, but they will happily bank the taxpayer’s
money.
What ACT Would Do
There actually
are kids who need help, but it’s not the ones who get into
Tertiary education and earn millions more for the rest of
their lives as a result. It’s the kids who never make it
to the starting line who deserve any extra education
spending. If a Government was going to spend more taxpayer
money on education, it should pay good teachers more but
only if they leave the union. There is nothing more powerful
we could do to give poor kids a chance in the current system
than flushing out bad teachers and rewarding the good
ones.
An Even Easier Solution
Of course, a
much easier solution would be to leave Partnership Schools
alone. They are getting more kids a high school
qualification than sate schools for the same cost. Please
don’t forget to add your weight to our petition and share
it www.savecharters.kiwi
More
Government Waste from ‘Demographic’ Ministers
We
are no fans of ‘demographic’ ministers. The ministers
for Seniors, Youth, Pacific Peoples, Ethnic Communities,
Women and Pacific Peoples cannot point to one achievement
for their respective types of human. Their real job is to
provide a lot of photo ops with said humans for the various
Governments they’ve served. They are an enormous waste of
taxpayer money.
Foot in Mouth
Disease
Women’s Minister Julie Anne Genter has
proved these positions are useless at best and hazardous at
worst when she told a group of intermediate-aged girls and
boys that old men in senior positions should ‘move on.’
Had a male MP gone and said women dominating, say, the
education sector should move on to give men a chance, there
would be outrage. What message does it send to the little
girls in the class? That they should be ashamed to succeed?
Did Genter think of the boys she was addressing?
Incredible Silence
People wonder why
traditional media outlets are in trouble. The answer is
right before us in this mini-saga. Not a single journalist
has asked Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy how
Genter’s comments square with her #givenothingtoracism
campaign. This would not be difficult, and lots of people
would love to know, but there you go.
ends