Well, my first private members Bill is over. The Ethical Investment (Crown Financial Institutions) Bill was voted down 63-58 tonight. Supporting it were Labour, Progressives, Greens, Maori and United, against National and ACT. Check out the debate here if you are interested.
It was not a great surprise that National and ACT opposed the bill, but disappointing all the same. The Bill sought to have clear and consistent criteria for ethical investment in the legislation that govern our major investment funds such as the Super Fund and ACC. The criteria are based on international norms and treaties and emphasise the importance of investing in organisations that have good governance, treat their stakeholders fairly and uphold human rights and good labour standards. From an environmental standpoint the organisations that are invested in should be conscious of their ecological footprint and should not be harmful to resources such as air, water and land.
The opposition was based on the fact that some good progress has been made in ethical investment policies and that “the market” would deal with the issues. I thought this was an opportunity to move from a passive approach to ethical and sustainable investment to a positive one that could re-inforce our image as an environmentally and socially conscious country on the world stage.
Anyway it was an interesting process to go through, and I am the wiser for it. Pleased to extend the support for the Bill across the House, and have agreed with other parties to keep working on the issue.
Posted in Human Rights, Labour, Economy, Environment and Finance. |
Interesting to read Duncan Garner’s take on John Key’s answering on the wage gap between Australia and New Zealand
Yesterday’s performance in Parliament was too selective and too slippery for him to get away with. All the statistics show the gap between Australian wages and Kiwi wages is growing – but Key refused to accept it. He refused to admit it. In fact he went the other way – he said the gap is closing. It’s not, no matter which figures you focus on.
It was an interesting insight into the sensitivity of the government on this issue that Key would try to argue that black was white, when the numbers, even under his chosen construction pointed to the gap widening. It was a bit more than slippery too- it was a very deliberate attempt to mislead.
All of this began as a result of questioning on the absence of an economic plan from National to achieve their stated objective of catching up with Australia. This is a vitally important issue for the country. Concern about this is not only coming from our side of the political spectrum but also from those more closely aligned with the Nats.
Trans-Tasman, the political newsletter today devotes a significant amount of space to concern about the lack of courage in the Government’s programme noting that the obesession with a safety first approach is raising questions about the willingness to take the hard calls and saying poll driven leadership is raising questions about policy intentions.
Many months ago on this blog I described Mr Key as being ” all map and no compass”. As they say in the House, I stand by that statement.
Posted in Australia, Wages, Economy and National. |
“Kicking the Tyres” is the John Key/Steven Joyce/Crosby Textor phrase du jour. Anything the government is doing from mining to MMP to asset sales to student loans gets the ‘tyre kicking’ into action.
Its funny when I was growing up a ‘tyre kicker’ was someone who had no idea about a car or how it worked, so they kicked the tyres in a pointless and desperate attempt to look like they knew what they were doing. Sounds about right. Of course for the Nats its about making sure that they dont do anything to risk a scrap of popularity or offend anyone.
But I have also noticed a related tactic- feigned empathy. This is where you show concern for someone’s plight or give them an encouraging word, and then do precisely nothing to help them. This might sound harsh, and I am sure National MPs have genuine concern, but if you are not prepared to do anything concrete, then for me it amounts to feigned empathy.
Last night we saw this at its worst with the response to Carol Beaumont’s Bill to curb loan sharks. Speaker after speaker from the Nats got up and told us how much they felt for people who fell victim to out of control debt, but they were not prepared to actually do something about it, by voting the Bill through to Select Committee. No real reasons were given (they are reviewing the law so we should all wait and see seemed to be the main argument). It was shameful politicing to stop Carol and Labour being seen to ‘win” something. Privately a number of National MPs are embarrased by the approach.
When it comes to the economy , if we combine John Key being “relaxed” about everything with ‘Kicking the Tyres’ it means the country has no economic plan, no step change, no “aspiration”. Is tyre kicking the extent of John Key’s “ambition for New Zealand.”? It has gone on long enough. Its time for the government to stop kicking the tyres and actually put some petrol in the car.
Posted in Consumer Affairs and Economy. |
I really am happy that the Government’s ill-conceived plan to mine our most precious conservation land looks as if it has been shelved. Even though I am sure there was never a plan to do anything on Great Barrier, overall it is a great victory. But where to now in terms of the “step-change” for the economy? The big Jobs Summit delivered almost nothing but a cycleway that might sound good, but has delivered a handful of jobs. The mining was the next big idea, but the government appears to have backed right out of that. What we are left with is tax cuts and trickle down economics. This ain’t no step change.
And to answer the question before its asked. This is the time for investment in a clean green, high tech economy that builds on our traditional strengths, and opens up new opportunities.
Posted in Mining and Economy. |
Just back from the Wellington cultural and networking evening here in Shanghai, which was well attended by a mixture of expat New Zealanders and Chinese business people. It was held in NZ Central which, apropo of my previous post, I think is a great investment for NZ Inc. It is a space that promotes New Zealand right in central Shanghai, and is available for business people coming to Shanghai to use as a base.
Its hard to be sure at events like this with a somewhat self-selecting audience, but there seemed to be a genuine interest in New Zealand. While there was a lot of talk about exporting our value added products and knowledge into China in key areas such as agriculture and horticulture, there was great interest in our IT and production industries. There are a number of production companies represented on the Wellington delegation, along with Richard Taylor from Weta, and they have all reported great progress with joint ventures in film and TV production in China.
The cultural side of the evening was brilliant, with Elena and her troupe wowing the audience.
Earlier in the day we had a youth forum at the NZ Pavilion at Expo. One of the Chinese participants was the volunteer coordinator for the Expo. They have around 8,000 volunteers working each day on site, and around 400,000 visitors each day. It is vast. From what I saw the New Zealand pavilion stacks up well, and offers some unique experiences, especially in terms of the outdoor area complete with hot pools, veggie garden and Pohutakawa.
Posted in Economy, Foreign Affairs and Wellington. |
