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Free Press

Assisted Dying Debate Intensifies
With public submissions to the select committee inquiry on assisted dying closing today, coverage has gone wild. A very balanced piece from Nick Jones at the Herald here. A reader Q&A with David Seymour on Stuff here. An interview with Paul Henry here. And while some opponents continue their breath-taking dishonesty on the matter David Seymour takes them to task courtesy of Metro Magazine here. The official site for David’s private members’ bill including a detailed Q&A is here: www.lifechoice.org.nz

Conference Registrations are Strong
ACT’s conference will have a bumper line up, we won’t run through the whole program here but please have a look, it is on February 27 in Auckland.

Glory Days
Winston Peters hoped that making a speech about Maori rights at Orewa Rotary Club might give him a Don Brash style boost. He turned up an hour late and his speech was barely reported. Winston is no Don Brash.

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The Water Problem
The issue of water ownership has been bubbling away over the summer. Who owns water? Does that question even make sense? What changes are being proposed? Is the government going to effectively gift water rights to Maori nationwide or compensate certain Iwi who have legitimate claims? How should legitimate claims by Iwi be dealt with?

ACT’s View on Water
Peters probably writes his policies out on the back of a coaster, but ACT takes these matters more seriously. Leader David Seymour has written a comprehensive opinion on the water issue (with a nice short summary at the front). You can read it here.

Money for Votes
While Peters was trying to relive 2004, Labour was in 2005. Last time they were popular was when they won an election by handing over taxpayer money to tertiary graduates in the form of interest free student loans.

Junkies
The trouble with election bribes is that you need bigger and bigger ones to keep getting a hit. Labour started bribing tertiary students with no-interest-while-you’re-studying in 1999. The students’ gratitude lasted them through an election cycle then they needed a bigger hit. They offered no interest forever in 2005 and now they propose just scrapping the loans.

A Short History
Once upon a time people were practically paid to study, if only they could get admission. It was a great system for those sitting their exams at Auckland Grammar, less so for those doing physics by correspondence from Eketahuna. It was an inequitable system, and it relied on the government deciding which courses to fund.

Market Reforms
In the late ‘80s Labour introduced a new proposition from taxpayers to students: We’ll fund your tertiary education up to 75 per cent if you’re committed enough to pay the other 25 per cent. Then the government started loaning students the 25 per cent with no security on generous terms.

The Latest Offer
Labour is now proposing to whack the hapless taxpayer for $1.2 billion to fund three years of free tertiary education for everybody. Students having skin in the game is critical for course quality, but under Labour they won’t even have to borrow one quarter of their costs interest free.

The Result
Universities New Zealand, who represent the Universities, are already worried that Labour’s policy will affect course quality. Interest free loans had a similar effect on course quality. Since the introduction of interest free loans, the University of Auckland has dropped from 46th in the world to 82nd, and Otago from 79th to 183rd (only those two are regularly ranked worldwide).

ACT’s View
The student loan scheme is reasonable. The average debt after three years’ study is $28,000 by graduation time. However, over the past three years the average house price has risen $76,000 nationwide (we were too scared to look up the figure for Auckland). The runaway housing market is hitting students’ long term aspirations three times harder than the student loan scheme. If Labour wanted to help young people they would reform land use planning, among other housing measures.

A Scarier Proposal
The Greens’ big policy idea is far more dangerous. On the face of it, who could be against Treasury costing political parties’ proposals?

Democrats, That’s Who
For hundreds of years in democratic countries people have sent representatives to parliament to restrain the King or President or whoever was threatening their liberties. When the government starts interfering in the very elections designed to restrain it, we have a problem. New Zealand actually sends observers to third world countries to make sure this isn’t happening.

Treasury Starts Costing Proposals
ACT nearly always supports cutting tax. We do this partly because government is wasteful, but also because high taxes discourage wealth creation and cutting tax stimulates growth. How much growth? There is a debate about this, so how much tax cut stimulus would be allowed for in a Treasury costing?

Rule by Elites
If it’s taken seriously, the Greens proposal means that Treasury, not the voter would have to settle the tax stimulus argument among many other inevitable policy disputes. Would they be subtly influenced by the elected government of the day, which government departments are supposed to loyally serve?

The Most Authoritarian Party
The Greens’ plan was to shift to the centre, showing business they believed in Treasury costings, but they have now advocated undermining democracy at a fundamental level. The irony of the Greens is that they are the most authoritarian party despite their breezy

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On Dune 2, And Images Of Islam


Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture tends to be hostile to Islam when we’re sitting in the dark, with popcorn.
Any number of movie examples come to mind, beginning with Rudolf Valentino’s role (over a century ago) as the romantic Arab hero in The Sheik...
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Government: One-stop Shop Major Projects On The Fast Track

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Government: Humanitarian Support For Gaza & West Bank

Winston Peters has announced NZ is providing a further $5M to respond to the extreme humanitarian need in Gaza and the West Bank. “The impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on civilians is absolutely appalling," he said... More


Government: New High Court Judge Appointed

Judith Collins has announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister Jason Scott McHerron as a High Court Judge. Justice McHerron graduated from the University of Otago with a BA in English Literature in 1994 and an LLB in 1996... More

 
 
 
 
 
 

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