The 2017 Election Thread

[Honest Andy]

Firstly - the problems in Chch are nowhere near over. Fake news promoted by the Nats and a media who know that the rest of NZ simply don't want to hear about it any more. I'm hearing that Kaikoura will turn into the same fuckup too.

Secondly - TOP is this elections McGillycuddy party - but way better funded. A wasted vote.

Yeah that was sarcasm. It's downright shameful that the rebuild hasn't progressed further, and I don't think the rest of the country is sick of hearing about it either, a lot of us have friends and relations affected. I was really surprised that National did so well around there last election, with all of Brownlees bluster and bullshit and lack of action.
I've been watching the Ch-Ch situation from the start, since standing around a campfire at the 2010 Cold Kiwi with a bloke who told us his flatmate just called to say that the house had moved two metres off its foundation...

[Ocean1]

Metiria hasn't been proven yet.

Didn't need to prove the fraud, though, she admitted it.

[Swoop]

I notice Billy-boys been quiet this week, obviously been told to keep his trap shut and let the opposition parties cock things up for themselves...


I wonder what the McGillycuddy Serious candidates name is this time...?

Billy has had to stop receiving an allowance he shouldn't have been getting... so being quiet and allowing the Loonies hog the limelight makes sense.


I thought McGS Party was getting far too close to crossing the 5% mark (and having to become a real political party) so had to comply with their first policy of dissolving themselves?

[Cosmik de Bris]

I don't agree with his policies but man that guy is an awesome orator. Probably the MP with the most 'presence' out of the current crop. I still remember telling my very white, very presbyterian, great aunt many years ago when Winston was still in the National Party (mid 1970s?) that one day Winston Peters would be Prime Minister. She looked at me with horror and I can still hear her saying "Oh Richard, but hes's a Maori!"

That's dreadful, your name is Richard?

[Grumph]

Yeah that was sarcasm. It's downright shameful that the rebuild hasn't progressed further, and I don't think the rest of the country is sick of hearing about it either, a lot of us have friends and relations affected. I was really surprised that National did so well around there last election, with all of Brownlees bluster and bullshit and lack of action.
I've been watching the Ch-Ch situation from the start, since standing around a campfire at the 2010 Cold Kiwi with a bloke who told us his flatmate just called to say that the house had moved two metres off its foundation...

Still a hot button issue here. I thought it was a 50/50 call on whether it was sarcasm....sorry.

I seriously didn't think there'd be a Nat member from chch last time. Most of the house damage was in the east which was already and remains Labour.
It'll be interesting this time to see what happens as the insurance shit is working it's way west...And the lack of progress in the city is very visible.

[Honest Andy]

Didn't need to prove the fraud, though, she admitted it.

true, but what I really meant was that she hasn't been in government yet.
I notice Paula's been choosing her words carefully too, it'll be fun to see if she gets pinged for anything

[Ocean1]

I see the rabid left are starting to foam a bit: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...-are-invisible

Definitely an upgrade in recent weeks from that predigested sensationalised pap I mentioned to the actual unadulterated partisan swill.

And the comments........

[mada]

Here's to 3 more years of mediocre management and putting off the big decisions while raking up more debt

National under Jenny Shipley had bigger balls and more foresight than the current administration.

[pete376403]

Didn't need to prove the fraud, though, she admitted it.

People get over it quick enough. Can anyone remember the stink about Bill English double dipping on his housing allowance? Shit people seem to have forgotten the Todd Barclay thing - along with English's "don't recall's" / misleading statements and that was only a couple of weeks ago.

[AllanB]

Here is what I'd like introduced for each election:

All parties must release their policies 90 days prior to the election date. After that no more bullshit I made it up to counter another bullshit policy that I don't ever intend to honor.

That way they must really think about what they are intending to offer well in advance, actually produce some data to back up what they propose and that in turn will allow a reasonable debate over each others policies.

[Reckless]

while raking up more debt

No one ever talks about our national debt, Its never a political issue, or a priority in paying it back.
In my opinion it'd be better paying some off rather than tax cuts or hand outs thats for bloody real!

Like if you'd blown out all your credit by buying shit wouldn't you make it a priority, not rocket science!!

This is scary http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/newzealand

84 billion and climbing is it??

So is pumping up our economy with new money from immigration.
So much so the infrastructure is struggling like crazy and debt is still increasing.
This is not good and no one has the balls to tackle it.

[ellipsis]

Here is what I'd like introduced for each election:

All parties must release their policies 90 days prior to the election date. After that no more bullshit I made it up to counter another bullshit policy that I don't ever intend to honor.

That way they must really think about what they are intending to offer well in advance, actually produce some data to back up what they propose and that in turn will allow a reasonable debate over each others policies.

...pointless it seems, making more rules that they blatantly sidestep or change the laws so they can laughingly sidestep them...

[Ocean1]

People get over it quick enough. Can anyone remember the stink about Bill English double dipping on his housing allowance? Shit people seem to have forgotten the Todd Barclay thing - along with English's "don't recall's" / misleading statements and that was only a couple of weeks ago.

I recall reading about it, from memory he was only entitled to it if he lived out of Wgtn, which he figured having the family house down south covered. Like most subsidies he'd have been better off having not bothered providing his own shit.

I have a few reasons to dislike him, in spite of his antecedents. He's a little too socially conservative for my liking, and possibly compromises on issues important to me slightly too much.

But the fact is the competition is failing abysmally to provide any viable alternative. Trundling out policy based on the same old tired bullshit and immediately taking a hit in the poles should teach any entity claiming to represent an electorate which direction they should be heading. The fact that they keep heading further away from center in spite of the fallout makes one wonder how much further they'd swerve if they ever actually got hold of the steering wheel.

[Voltaire]

No one ever talks about our national debt, Its never a political issue, or a priority in paying it back.
In my opinion it'd be better paying some off rather than tax cuts or hand outs thats for bloody real!

Like if you'd blown out all your credit by buying shit wouldn't you make it a priority, not rocket science!!

This is scary http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/newzealand

84 billion and climbing is it??

So is pumping up our economy with new money from immigration.
So much so the infrastructure is struggling like crazy and debt is still increasing.
This is not good and no one has the balls to tackle it.

I do find it surprising that the cafes, pubs and restaurants are always busy, roads are full of expensive cars and its all fueled

on debt.

I don't think I have ever seen so much construction going on in Auckland ever, and lots of houses being carted away from

around my area and replaced by McMansions.

All that blather about the so called Rock Star economy ....

What passes as Media trying to make Winson sound like the next PM....

Media will so be in a frenzy trying to make a Brexit or Trumph event happen.

Boring is good...vote for Bill.

[Ocean1]

Here is what I'd like introduced for each election:

All parties must release their policies 90 days prior to the election date. After that no more bullshit I made it up to counter another bullshit policy that I don't ever intend to honor.

That way they must really think about what they are intending to offer well in advance, actually produce some data to back up what they propose and that in turn will allow a reasonable debate over each others policies.

All parties already do release their policies well before an election.

Not many people read them. You probably shouldn't generalise and suggest that people simply take the tidbits from the evening news that support their preconceptions in order to confirm the choice they've already invested in, but for many that's undoubtedly correct.

To be fair, the choices do boil down to deciding on known tendencies: will/won't cost me more in motorcycle rego, will/won't spend the most on health, will/won't spend more on defence.

Doesn't help, of course when your closest match would cost you more in rego but less in terms of subsidies you may personally be eligible for.....

Maybe we need a second election cycle, covering each of perhaps a dozen broad cost centers and the direction in which we expect the new govt to bend their budgets.