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As an ex-pat resident of New Zealand now living in Australia I take a keen interest in the politics and social development of my old home and the new.
Any day now I'm expecting my overseas voting form to arrive and I'm looking forward to giving Internet Mana my party vote, it's the first time I've felt enthusiastic about voting for years. It looks like the new party has been generating a lot of energy over there and challenging the old order, I would have dearly loved to attend some of their rallies. After seeing Palmer take office over here I think there's a real chance we could see KDC in the NZ parliament.
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If any spies from the Labour, Green or Maori parties infiltrated yesterday's Internet Mana rally in West Auckland, they would have come away with very worried looks on their faces.
The Maori Party, in particular, should be afraid, very afraid. The main hall of the Kelston Community Centre was packed to the gunnels. There was not so much a buzz of excitement as a raging ferment of noise as the audience waited patiently for proceedings to begin.
Say what you like about Kim Dotcom. Say what you like about Laila Harre's initially hard-to-understand decision to team up with the internet tycoon - all that paled into utter insignificance yesterday. There was instead a hint of history being made. The chance to fund and build a new movement of the left is not an opportunity to be squandered. The likes of Kim Dotcom do not come along very often. Neither is such a collective of credible activists always on hand to run such an outfit as is the case with Internet Mana.
John Key is easily the best PM I have seen in my life time and that's after a pretty good Labour government. He has done a atonishing job of pulling NZ out of a recession faster than most in the OECD through the GFC, and then through a $US35 Billion natural disaster which is a massive blow for a small country.
Now NZ's economy is doing very well and nearing surplus, and immigration is through the roof (good or bad). I am a fan of focusing on the big stuff not the tiny issues.
I'm not so sure NZ's economy is doing that well? it's been called "porn star" not "rock star." I don't think National have been doing much good for Christchurch either.
Duncan Garner, a NZ old school journalist reckons
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Don't raise rates - we're more porn star than rock star
We were labelled a "rock star" economy by an international economist at the start of the year: I reckon it's more "porn star". I just don't believe the hype. First of all, prices aren't rising that fast. Inflation or the cost of living has risen just 1.6 per cent over the past year. That's a reasonably safe level and shouldn't normally trigger a hike in interest rates.
Even the Government's own books indicate a lack of activity and revenue. And look at the backbone of our economy - farming and dairy prices. More than $4 billion has just been ripped out of farmers' pockets in recent months.
Dairy prices have slipped by a third across the last 10 fortnightly auctions. This means money we thought was coming into our economy now won't be.
It's not just on the farm, it's in the forests too. Log prices are down 20 per cent in recent months, with Chinese demand falling away.
Rock star economy? More like a one-hit wonder at best.
All this means Wheeler can actually afford to put on hold any interest rate rises for the time being. Give us all a break, Graeme.
No other Western economy is hiking interest rates right now. Central banks in Australia, Britain and the United States are all holding tight.
I'm not so sure NZ's economy is doing that well? .
Yep its doing very well to be more exact, and you will note your blog is just another OPINION as marked "opinion" by some guy I have never heard of. Got some click counts :P
Mr Hockey, who is in New Zealand on government business, said on *Tuesday that the Senate should look across the Tasman to see what could be achieved by adopting a tough budget.
“If you need any evidence at all of the benefits of undertaking reform look no further than what’s happened in New Zealand where they are getting to surplus and they have a growth *trajectory and a jobs trajectory that Australians could be jealous of,’’ he said.
Good for him, his opinion is just as valid as anyone else's. I also noted that he complained about Australian companies being kept out of the Christchurch work and hinted that the children of foreign parents who are born in Australia may be eligible soon for disability benefits, on the grounds they would achieve citizenship at their 10th birthday anyway.
But I don't really understand the point you are making. Are you saying that the recent Australian budget wasn't tough enough?
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the Senate should look across the Tasman to see what could be achieved by adopting a tough budget.
Good for him, his opinion is just as valid as anyone else's. ?
No actually Joe Hockey is the Treasurer of Australia I think you will agree stating the NZ economy is doing well, if we like him or his policies is another issue.
I rank his "opinion" along with many other economists around the world a LOT higher than some probably 17 year old shock jock blog writer on Stuff, that clearly doesn't have any understanding of basic economics judging from the link you posted.
Yes I have a lot of respect for Joe Hockey, not so much for Bill English and I feel sorry for hardworking NZ mortgage payers that their interest rates have gone up today and that the dollar has suffered as a result, promoting speculation about a currency intervention. Their meeting in Christchurch whilst Hockey was vising on government business did sound rather like a mutual backslapping exercise. All just words and soundbites of course, the proof will be in long term, stable results. Not boom and bust economies, and ensuring Australian banks, which are so prevalent in NZ, remain stable.
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Mr English went on to praise the sound management of the Australian economy by successive Governments.
That had created an income gap between the two countries and the Australian economy was a benchmark for New Zealand, he said.
But Mr Hockey returned the praise, saying "you guys are the benchmark for us''.
"You're delivering a surplus, I'm still at least four years away from a surplus. You've been able to undertake structural reform in your budget, welfare reform, taxation reform, we've still got to do it again in Australia.''
Back to the topic. I think Labour will find themselves in a position where they will have to work with Internet Mana, Cunliffe has refused to rule out an alliance with the new party.
I'm interested to see what KDC has to say at the rally on 15th September and whether Glenn Greenwald (Pulitzer Prize-winning American reporter) will be refused entry to the country.
In the meantime I'll be following the internetMANA hashtag on Twitter. It looks like there's a lot of support for the party from young people and towns like Te Tai Tokerau. I really do get the feeling that we're seeing something new and exciting here
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