Labour govt 2020-23

[Balance]

Ardern says she has lost all her taste.

Never thought she had any taste in the first place by the company of ministers and Maori cabal she keeps.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...t-all-my-taste

[Blue Skies]

Wonderful to see Pharmac getting a $191 million boost to its budget, the largest boost since it was formed 30 years ago, to be able to offer NZ'ers better fully funded drug treatments for cancer & other illnesses.
You never know when you or a loved one at any age might need these, & NZ fallen way behind countries like Australia & Canada in being able to offer some of these newer drugs which are more effective, much easier to tolerate, save lives & in many many cases help people resume their normal productive lives.

Labour govt has increased Pharmac funding by 43% since taking office in 2017, which shows how poorly National were prepared to underfund Pharmac & how
under National access to these newer better treatments was restricted to High Wealth families who could pay for them.
National says it cares about middle NZ, but does it really or is it just political rhetoric?

[dobby41]

Labour govt has increased Pharmac funding by 43% since taking office in 2017, which shows how poorly National were prepared to underfund Pharmac & how
under National access to these newer better treatments was restricted to High Wealth families who could pay for them.
National says it cares about middle NZ, but does it really or is it just political rhetoric?

National underfunded Health full stop.
Health, in total, went backwards as budgets were reduced or capped, effectively reducing year on year.
No wonder all the DHBs ran in deficit.

[Logen Ninefingers]

More socialism, more moves to prop up the housing ponzi, more borrowing and debt......just a continuation of the malaise that has been afflicting NZ for some time now. The state doling out more money here and there to paper over the inequality that they and the central bank have caused. Almost every NZer will now be receiving some sort of payment from the state, and when put under pressure no doubt the government will just do more of the same. The winter energy payments are now locked in, income top ups for lower income people are now on the way and will probably only increase, families already get tax credits....there is no longer any attempt to manage the nations finances prudently.

On the other side National are looking at implementing tax cuts, and they won't roll back Labours spending excesses. There will also no doubt be all sorts of gimmicks from them to benefit property investors and speculators. Again, there will no longer be any attempt to manage the nations finances prudently from them either.

Young people and highly qualified people will leave NZ in droves unfortunately.

[Balance]

National underfunded Health full stop.
Health, in total, went backwards as budgets were reduced or capped, effectively reducing year on year.
No wonder all the DHBs ran in deficit.

You mean like $1.9 billion to see mental health go backwards?

Typical Ardern spend & tax budget - throw money at health with zero accountability & clueless idea of how to achieve positive outcomes.

Intellect of a duck needed and Labour delivered.

[Panda-NZ-]

You mean like $1.9 billion to see mental health go backwards?

Luxon views it as wasteful spending to be sure, like education.

I wonder what he thought of the corporate tax cuts and straight subsidies that National was offering in 2020.

[JBmurc]

Corporate welfare:

$100m for a new “Business Growth Fund” to invest in small-medium businesses that banks aren’t willing to lend to – i.e. taxpayer funding for Dragon’s Den dropouts. Government representatives of the Fund will even get seats on SME the company boards!

$118m in “advisory services” for farmers and Maori land owners

$40m on “Transformation Plans” for forestry, wood processing, food and fisheries businesses

$350m “Affordable Housing Fund” for housing developers

$15.5m for “Pacific economic development” (i.e. funding for Pasifika-run businesses in New Zealand)

An extra $26m (now $155m in total) for “Progressive Procurement” – i.e. favouring Maori-owned businesses as government contractors

$349m for a Kiwirail bailout

Health:

An extra $3.1 billion (one-off) for the new co-governed health system ($1.8 billion of this disappears immediately: it wipes off existing DHB debt)

$580m for “Maori Health and wellbeing” including $188m for the new Maori Health Authority

$20m establishing new “Iwi-Maori Partnership Boards” (i.e. introducing co-governance to the new health system)

$70m for Pasifika health providers

Special interests:

$185m in arts and culture grants “to help build a resilient cultural sector as it continues to adapt to the challenges coming out of COVID-19”

$327m in funding for the new RNZ/TVNZ merged media entity

A $1 billion “Maori Budget” including: $91m on Maori trades, training, and cadetships, $3m for “marae connectivity”, $5m for iwi/Maori teachers

$200m for Maori education

$28m for Maori “language, culture and identity”

$162m for Maori organisations to reduce emissions, including $36m for “matauranga [traditional knowledge]-based approaches to reducing biological emissions” and $30m for “Maori Climate Action”

$38m for Pasifika training, education, and bilingual schooling

$14m for an "historical account of the Dawn Raids"

Miscellaneous:

$2 billion in extra spending on education (to smooth over the end of the decile system)

$662m for Defence

More Police ($562m), initiatives focused on organise crime ($94m), and on reoffending ($198m)

$100m establishing a new “Ministry for Disabled People” ($100m) – of which only $11m is allocated to providing services

$178m for councils dealing with RMA reform, plus a new “National Maori Entity” to co-govern resource management

$40m to research RNA vaccine technology

$114m on family violence initiatives

More taxpayer money pumped into the housing market via more generous First Home Grant and First Home Loan rules

Some of this spending is uncontroversial. A lot of it is mad. But what really hit me was the share scale: spending items costing tens of millions were treated like minor bulletpoints by Ministers.

And New Zealanders didn't want it!
New Zealanders weren’t even asking for this new spending.

[Panda-NZ-]

We can afford it though (see credit rating).

Plus there's been a lack of investment across the board.

[Balance]

You mean like $1.9 billion to see mental health go backwards?

Typical Ardern spend & tax budget - throw money at health with zero accountability & clueless idea of how to achieve positive outcomes.

Intellect of a duck needed and Labour delivered.

And meanwhile, give the squeezed middle class less than $1 a day to 'take the edge off Ardern's prolific spending induced high cost of living crisis' - not even enough to buy a loaf of bread!

In other words, Robertson told them to go suck on a kumara (grown & planted by the Maori cabal).

Bankrupt of ideas BUT not of throwing money down the dunny - that's Ardern & Robertson.

[tim23]

At least you stopped calling the PM Cindy