If National wins ...

[craic]

See Turia is being investigated and demanding an amnesty for any other fraudsters who come forward. Insisting on wearing the mantel of the victim.

[dobby41]

See Turia is being investigated and demanding an amnesty for any other fraudsters who come forward. Insisting on wearing the mantel of the victim.

If you start allowing degrees of dishonesty where do you stop?
Politicians need to be held to a higher level than Joe public.

[craic]

The 1st name for Duct Tape was Duck (brand name) so is often referred to as Duck Tape.

It was originally duct tape for use on ducts but too often if it was exposed to bright sunlight, it quacked, and the name was changed, or so my dog tells me she is a Labrador retriever and should know.

[Brovendell]

It's a laugh a minute on this thread.

[Joshuatree]

If you start allowing degrees of dishonesty where do you stop?
Polititions need to be held to a higher level than Joe public.

Agree; this national govt has been corrupted over their terms in office; a human failing unfortunately.Rotten from the very top down. Anything to stay in power; stuff the people; try and make them apathetic so that the incumbents can keep the power.
Time for some honest decent governing ; where the people come first; we can be assured of that for the next couple of terms anyway.

[elZorro]

Agree; this national govt has been corrupted over their terms in office; a human failing unfortunately.Rotten from the very top down. Anything to stay in power; stuff the people; try and make them apathetic so that the incumbents can keep the power.
Time for some honest decent governing ; where the people come first; we can be assured of that for the next couple of terms anyway.

I quite agree with that, Joshuatree. I can imagine that a Labour-Green-NZF coalition would keep the House on the straight and narrow. Maybe we'll also get some decent policies enacted, and start to see some progress. I can't wait.

National has been saying how well they are growing the economy, so how is it that a firm which has been around for nearly 150 years in Thames, employed 100 people (has been bigger) has just been liquidated today? All hundred staff at A&G Price, a proud engineering and foundry firm, have been sacked on the spot today.

http://103.14.3.1/audio/player?audio_id=201852499

I'll wait for FP to say how this firm is part of the old economy, but it's really a domino effect from other firms that have relocated overseas, and taken their foundry outwork with them. We have to hold onto anything that we're doing in the regions, don't let it go offshore. Those are our future jobs and training options for the next generations.

[Baa_Baa]

See Turia is being investigated and demanding an amnesty for any other fraudsters who come forward. Insisting on wearing the mantel of the victim.

And with full disclosure, no legal advice and no idea what this could mean for her future in opposition and politics, talk about naive. Now let me think, what are the precedents for politicians who have been found out for FRAUD. Hmmm. Bennett next if this mini saga plays out the way it should. Else there is no justice and we should all climb on the benefit fraud band wagon to supplement our future prosperity. What a rort, makes me sick as a tax payer.
🤢

[elZorro]

And with full disclosure, no legal advice and no idea what this could mean for her future in opposition and politics, talk about naive. Now let me think, what are the precedents for politicians who have been found out for FRAUD. Hmmm. Bennett next if this mini saga plays out the way it should. Else there is no justice and we should all climb on the benefit fraud band wagon to supplement our future prosperity. What a rort, makes me sick as a tax payer.
濫

Metiria has said that the extra amount she received each week from one extra flatmate was between $20 and $50. This is not a giant fraud by any means, and surely there are plenty of beneficiaries who do cleaning work for that sort of money, under the table. She'll happily pay that money back to clear the slate (once they figure out what that might be), and that should be the end of it, since she is outside the statute of limitations and couldn't be called into court over it. She volunteered the information.

Paula Bennett might have quite a lot more going on, and just the hit to her reputation has to be tough for the National Party, leading up to the elections. As I say, there are other National MPs who should be looking over their shoulders.

[fungus pudding]

I quite agree with that, Joshuatree. I can imagine that a Labour-Green-NZF coalition would keep the House on the straight and narrow. Maybe we'll also get some decent policies enacted, and start to see some progress. I can't wait.

National has been saying how well they are growing the economy, so how is it that a firm which has been around for nearly 150 years in Thames, employed 100 people (has been bigger) has just been liquidated today? All hundred staff at A&G Price, a proud engineering and foundry firm, have been sacked on the spot today.

http://103.14.3.1/audio/player?audio_id=201852499

I'll wait for FP to say how this firm is part of the old economy,

Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not going to say that. I don't know the first thing about this firm. Did they manufacture horse-shoes or something? What I do know is that since trading began, businesses have come and gone. Businesses are not immune to failure simply because they are long established. Economies renew and refresh so various commercial activities die. I suppose you wept when all the old typing pools disappeared. You must have peed blood when they stopped delivering telegrams. One thing we all know is that there has never before been as many businesses in NZ as there are today.

[iceman]

National is the first choice for Winston. I was talking to two National Party members in Dunedin yesterday who were handing out promotional material. I raised the issue of Winston sharing Prime Minister position with Bill English. One was horrified at the prospect and could scarcely believe it possible, The other was more realistic and conceded that this has happened in other proportional systems and there is no legal/constitutional impediment

Yes Sgt P there is definitely no constitutional impediment to a shared Prime Ministership such as 2 people with 18 months each or a Leader of a smaller party being PM. However, I can not imagine National doing such a deal with Winston. Much more likely he could get full PM-ship through a deal with Labour-Green, but I still do not believe Winston will go into a coalition with the Greens at the table in senior positions. He knows they have nowhere to go so I'm sure he'd prefer a minority Government with Labour and the Greens on the cross benches. Would the Greens ever be a reliable "partner" in such an arrangement though ? They are really silly by not placing themselves differently on the political spectrum to give them a chance to work with both National and Labour. They would possibly be able to extract a lot of leeway for certain pet policies from National and be influential in the areas where they have most interest. In a Lbr-Gr-NZF deal they would be on the sidelines with little influence.

The question is whether NZF may possibly shoot themselves in the foot with their demands from the 2 egomaniacs in charge (Peters and Jones). I suspect the " baubles of office" will be all they concern themselves with.