Desperate times call for desperate measures

new-zealand-national-party

Fri Jul 22 2005 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Friday, 22 July 2005, 11:39 am
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

July 22 2005

This is a variant of the proverb "desperate diseases must have desperate remedies".

The Government has apparently abandoned its present billboard campaign in favour of a campaign based on vilification and invective.

It would do well to remember that neither its current leader or senior ministers have any work experience other than university teaching and politics. Politics is hardly work experience. That is in stark contrast to the National MPs.

Poll results The latest poll results (TVNZ/Colmar Brunton 17 July 2005) are: National - 42% Labour - 39% NZ First - 7% Greens - 6% Act - 1% Maori Party - 2% United Future - 1% The Fairfax New Zealand/ACNielsen Poll (16 July 2005) had similar results with National - 42 per cent Labour - 37 per cent Epsom Electorate polling A detailed "Herald on Sunday" Digipoll survey (17 July 2005) carried out in Epsom reveals the following voting patterns:- National - 57.3% Labour - 29.4%

Richard Worth - 55.6% Labour candidate - 23.1% Act candidate - 14.8% Green candidate - 3.0% NZ First candidate - 2.3% Other - 1.2% Rule of Law Last Friday the High Court at Auckland admitted a substantial number of newly qualified lawyers.

The presiding judge in welcoming the new lawyers referred to a quotation by Lord Chancellor Brougham in 1845 which is worth reflecting on: "It was the boast of Augustus that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble.

But how much nobler will be the sovereign's boast when he shall have it to say that he found law dear and left it cheap; found it a sealed book and left it a living letter; found it the patrimony of the rich and left it the inheritance of the poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression and left it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence." Police helmets Surveys show the public image of the police is suffering and its relationship with the public is under strain.

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A suggestion worthy of consideration made by the President of the Police Association is that police helmets should be brought back. It would be a signal to the public that the Police are there for them through an increased presence on the street. The decision to get rid of the helmets was made during the 1990s and a change would be a visible start in a new direction which would show the value of policing.

Funding local government. With council rates rising at well over twice the rate of inflation, pressure has been steadily mounting to do something about the growing and disproportionately allocated rates burden on property owners.

The Government proposes higher rates rebates but a far better approach would be to encourage councils to front on their core business which is the provision of local public goods. This would help contain spending and therefore the demands on the ratepayer.

People should pay the full costs of the use of council services and the benefit they derive from council activities. They should not be subsidized by other ratepayers. Demands for more council spending are easily made by those not paying.

Winning friends and influencing people? One statistic which the Labour Government does not like is the fact that 600 New Zealanders leave each week to settle in Australia. At a meeting I was at on Sunday the Labour Minister Christopher Carter disputed that number. He was wrong.

In the year to May 2005, 32,596 New Zealanders left permanently for Australia. That works out to 626 people each week. The source is "Statistics New Zealand, External Migration - May 2005".

Rather than deal with the challenge of narrowing the income gap between Australians and New Zealanders, Dr Cullen in his address to the Wellington District Law Society on 19 July 2005 said "if, as some have suggested, New Zealanders are fleeing as tax exiles to Australia, one can only conclude that those individuals are functionally innumerate, and we are probably better off without them".

Political Quote of the Week "A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel." - Robert Frost - America's favourite poet.

22 July 2005 No. 37

Upcoming Events

24 July NZ 2025: Discussions on the Future of NZ at Holy Trinity Church 25 July Richard opening Panacea Arts Exhibition "A World of Difference" 26 July House resumes sitting 27 July 52nd Anniversary NZ Korea Veterans Annual Cease Fire Parade 28 July 184th Anniversary Peru Independence reception in Wellington 1 August Switzerland National Day celebration in Wellington and farewell to Ambassador 2 August Parliamentary reception for Michael Campbell - 2005 US Open Golf Champion 3 August Kings College pupils visiting Parliament 5 August Memorial Service for Admiral Sir Gordon Tait at Holy Trinity Church

Richard participating on Shine TV - Law & Order Debate 6 August Chamber Music NZ National Final at Auckland Town Hall Inaugural launch of KOWIN (Korea Women's International Network) 7 August NZ Guangdong Assn hosting Hong Kong Yip's Children Choir concert 11 August Auckland District Law Society panel discussion on justice issues House adjourns at end of day today 15 August Auckland War Memorial Museum holding commemoration of the End of 2nd World War in the Pacific 16 August Richard guest speaker at Rotary Club of Epsom 27 August Chinese Painting & Calligraphy Arts Assn Members 2005 Chinese Painting & Calligraphy Exhibition Opening 28 August Politician Sunday at Eden Anglican Church

ENDS

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