by frog
Here’s some more from the launch of the Greens’ youth campaign:
Published in Campaign | Economy, Work, & Welfare by frog on Fri, August 15th, 2008
Tags: frog blog, frogblog, green party, greens, Metiria Turei, universal student allowance, Youth, youth minimum wage
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
i’d like to issue an osh-alert on the piece of jewellery metiria has around her kneck..
..should she trip and fall..
..we would be forced to look for a new spokesperson on cannabis law reform..
..phil(whoar.co.nz)
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More un-costed vote grabbing policy from the Greens, there should be a law against making political promises that you have no ability or intention of ever implementing.
Mind you, it did get me thinking, at the campaign launch of the Bruv Party this year I intend to announce the following policy;
1 I intend to pass legislation ensuring that the NZ cricket team wins every test it plays by an innings.
2 Free doctors visits for all and free prescriptions, there will no longer be a waiting list for elective surgery (which will be free) and all hospital emergency Dept’s will be staffed to a level that ensures immediate attention 24/7
3 Tax cuts across the board, nobody will pay more than 10c in the dollar.
4 3000 extra police
5 Full funding for all Olympic sports under the control of the new NZ institute of sport.
6 Rugby League and Softball will be banned.
7 The terms “fisher” and “batter” (when used to describe a cricket batsman) will be outlawed and their use will be punishable by a term of imprisonment of between 5 and 10 years.
8 Build as many new prisons as required.
9 Pass legislation that ensures Wellington always win the super 14 and NPC.
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while you’re at it..could you ban that electric-blue lycra..?
y’know..!..in the interests of civilisation..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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BB, hasn’t Robert Mugabe actually attempted several of those?
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BB, I agree that it’s still far too easy for minor parties to make uncosted “vote-buying” promises that they never have to explain how they’re going to fund because no-one believes they’ll ever have to.
But I thought the “Paid Gap-year” proposal an interesting one. It’s little different in type from the “compulsory military training” policies of some countries for young people after they’ve finished school and before they’ve started on a career path.
Do you have a similar objection to those policies on the grounds that they come with a cost?
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Kiwinuke
I object because the paid “gap” year is elitist, it sounds a lot like left wing socialist academics looking after their own so they can campaign on behalf of their left wing political party for a year while I pay them.
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toad Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 11:00 am
BB, hasn’t Robert Mugabe actually attempted several of those?
Not that I am aware of, although Uday Hussein had a rather novel approach to motivating the Iraq football team a few years back that I did give some consideration to for a while.
I decided against it in favour of parliamentary legislation that would guarantee test victories for our Test team.
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A taxpayer funded ‘black ops’ Pitch Saboteurs wing of Parliamentary Services?
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Hang on a minute!
Universal Student Allowance for every student over SIXTEEN!!!!!!!!
Sorry, I am not in this world to pay for people to go to school as well as for their schooling – not am I in it to pay people to work for any group that establishes itself as an NGO (say the society for the promotion of Gay and Lesbian sex-aid allowances!)
However, in the interests of getting myself elected so I have an appropriate forum to fight for my beliefs, I will put them up for consideration as follows:
- all two parent families to be given a mortgage allowance of $2,000 per month if one parent stays home and raises the children
- all scout and guide groups to receive an annual subsidy of $100,000 to ensure the principals of the Scout and Guide Laws are engaged in all children whose parents want them
- Teachers required to enforce discipline and respect in their classrooms, backed by the ability to put one parent or caregiver of any child who misbehaves in a police cell for 24 hours, and the child required to write, legibly, 5000 times “I must not cause my mother/father/caregiver to suffer the degradation of a police-cell by my bad behaviour ever again.
- All schools to include competitive physical exercise based games in their curriculum, with all pupils required to take part in no less than one such game per week – no exceptions.
- All schools to include cooking and basic home maintenance in their curriculum with no less than 2 hours of each per week.
-Taxes to be set at the level of 10% of all transactions (including asset sales, wage payment, etc.) no exemptions.
-All government agencies to operate with no more than 5 hierarchical layers.
-All government budgets to balance at the income and expenditure level, I&E surpluses to be distributed to all tax-payers, based proportionally on their tax paid, on December 22nd of the year following the end of the tax year in which the I&E surplus was achieved.
-All tax-paying citizens to receive a glass of house Red or White (their choice) from the local pub at noon on August 14th of every year.
-Waitangi day to be removed from the holiday Calendar, and replaced as a mandatory public holiday by Kiwi’s Birthday to be celebrated on the first Monday of February
-Certification in the morals and ethics of New Zealand society and citizens’ responsibilities to be achieved within 6 months of arrival for all immigrants over 16 years of age- the alternative being extradition back to the country of their birth – and mandatory prior to leaving school for all under 16s, irrespective of their residence status.
- progress through schooling to be based on a ‘year achievement’ rather than year attendance basis, with pupils staying as long as necessary to pass a scholastic year’s graduation criteria.
- police to be put on a ‘zero tolerance’ basis
- crimes that cannot be policed or punished to be removed from the statute book
- no benefits to be granted to anyone under the age of 21, instead enrollment in the NZDF will be required with the branch decided on the aptitude of the individual for specific craft training to City & Guilds standards.
Hopefully, that will get me elected and I can start on my campaign to ensure Gap Years and Pay for Learning at School do not become legislated.
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Endorse all of Strings suggestion.
Would modify the parents required to spend a day in polic custody for their childs’ misbehavour to having to spend a week in the kids’ classroom to view and correct the misbehaviour.
Afterall why tie up police cells when the paent should be in the classroom supervising their own children.
If the parent however is incapable to modify the kids behaviour, then a term at her majesties pleasure might be in order and the kid suspended.
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Strings said: Universal Student Allowance for every student over SIXTEEN!!!!!!!! Sorry, I am not in this world to pay for people to go to school as well as for their schooling
Strings, it means every tertiary student over 16. That is in recognition of the fact that some 16 and 17 year olds will have progressed into tertiary education by that age – actually I was in tertiary education myself at 17. The numbers who do are very limited, so there is no vast fiscal impact. It does not mean that 16 and 17 year old secondary school students would get paid a student allowance to attend school.
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Gerrit
Thank you – what constituency do you vote in?
TOAD
Interesting interpretation, but NOT, I’m afraid, what the spokeswoman said. I replayed the clip many times, and she specifically promoted a universal allowance for all students 16 and over.
As with all things, the devil is in the detail, and the wording of the detail, especially at a policy launch, has to be right – that’s why she was reading it I guess. If it was just an ‘off-the-cuff’ conversation, I could accept an interppretation, but not at something as planned as a policy launch.
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Un-costed promises to grab the gullible sector of the youth vote?
Despicable.
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Strings.
Used to be in Manurewa. New boundaries mean we are now Papakura.
Quater of the old Manurewa is in the Papakura.
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Strings said: Interesting interpretation, but NOT, I’m afraid, what the spokeswoman said.
May have been a slip of the tongue then. This is what is in the policy: 3.12. “Introduce a universal student allowance, at the level of the unemployment benefit, for full-time students, including 16 and 17 year olds, in tertiary education.”
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“..If the parent however is incapable to modify the kids behaviour, then a term at her majesties pleasure might be in order and the kid suspended..”
shouldn’t you be over at whaleoils’..?..gerrit..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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national:..’un-costed promises to grab the gullible sector of the (swing) vote?
despicable..”
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Oh, the policies I would impliment, how great they are in number and noble in intent, lol. Lets start with Tertiary education subsidies;
- Subsidiese only half of course costs rather than the majority currently subsidiesed.
- Introduce a voulentery bonding schemme by which any individual working in new zealand in a area in which they are able to apply the skills of their academic qualification is able to have one year of their course costs, excluding living costs, paid off by the government for every year of full time work in which they participate.
- Any Individual with a debt of greater than 10,000 whom lives overseas for greater than three years and does not meet repayment requirements will, apon returning to new zealand, not be allowed to leave, and after receiving a warning, if living in a country with which we do not have a debt collectionagreement, the debt will be sold to an international debt collection agency.
- Universal tertiary student allowence for all individuals participating in full time academic studies and living away from home, no parents means testing, work can be participated in but when over 100 dollars per week is earned for every dollar they earn they loose 50 cents off their allowence of 150.
- Limit number of university enrolements in bussness studies which will be subsidesed as they contribute near nihil to society and cost a fourtune for an essentially toilet paper degree with a course that should be at a polytech.
- Heavily increase bonded scholorships for students studying with the intention of becoming healthcare professionals (eg; physiologists, nurses and psychologists) alongside a move to evolve the power of DHB’s to a central authority to minimalise double-ups of processing, beuocracy and allow specialisation and increase economic viability. additionally, inrease wages paid to in-situ doctors and decrease the large disparity to locums.
- Heavily increase bonded scholorships for students of the sciences and engeenering on condition that they stay in new zealand for a time after they finish study and work in a feild appliable to their studies, time spent on bonded schollorship considered separate to time spent with debt bonding. Alongside this; eliminate tax on R&D and increase business start-up grants for post- science and engeenering students.
- Introduce a land tax and ecotaxes and sharply decrease income tax and corporate tax to encourage creation of high wage and low polution jobs.
- Introduce a carbon equivlency credit trading schemme with a zero cap, using initially the governments supply of Kyoto credits as a buffer and then moving to those credits produed by crown reserves and half those produced by the new zealand territorial waters.
- School compulsary until the completion of form four, by accheivement not time spent.
- No benifit for those whom have only done minimal schooling until they have completed atleast a years of full time work.
- replace 5th and 6th form with fully funded trade training for those whom are interested and for those whom intend to do tertiary study 5th and 6th form should be made university preperation years with a strong focus on papers geared towards areas of study. Prehaps allowing the completion of a fully funded certificate in 7th form. apon the completin of the certificate or of the two years trade training the individual is allowed a full benifit.
- Until the age of 21, any individual not participating in study whom has beenon the benifit for greater than three months is required to participate in military or civil emergency training if they wish to continue receiving the benifit.
I think thats about it for teenage youth policy from me.
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Come on Sapient
You have to have policies on things other than youth is you want to get elected!
How about you do health – (I did Law & Order and we both did education )
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Sapient
I wish there was some way that I could be around to show you that list when you are in your mid 40’s.
I agree with bonding medical professionals, I would bond them for 10 years and at the end of that time their loan would be wiped, however I am not keen on funding any universal student allowance.
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Having done my 20s, and 40s and now in the next equal decade, I believe in a universal student allowance, but only on the basis of proven graduate demand. In other words, if we need 25 dentists, we provide the complete deal for 25 dentists and they become indentured for 10 years. The 25 are selected by a) having academic admission criteria, and b) selecting for the absolute best of those who pass the academic criteria based on interviews founded on research as to what makes a good dentist. Anyone else wants to do dentistry, they pay for themselves and still have to achieve the entry qualification and be accepted through interview.
Further. In this tiny country of ours I would have NO duplication of effort! If the place to do “business studies” (a B.Com. if you prefer) is Auckland then that’s where it is taught and that’s the ONLY place it is taught! We have far too many universities for a city – Sorry – Country of 4 million. We should have the University of New Zealand, with campuses that specialise in particular subject areas. The same goes for our Polytechnic (a.k.a. Institute of Technology) structure. We have over a dozen of them, and there is so much competition between them for students they have campii in each-others’ cities! Why does the Wellington Poly have an Auckland Campus? The Polytechnic of New ZEaland (open or not) would provide consistency of standards and quality, take far less administration and overhead than is currently being spent, and, in conjunction with the University of New ZEaland, probably do away with the need for the TEC as well! That lot of savings alone would probably take 5% off the top tax rate!
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BB, if this is uncosted vote-grabbing, what exactly was the National Party’s 1990 policy on abolishing student fees?
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Ari
As it is very nearly beer o’clock I do not have the time nor the inclination to educate you again over the 1990 fiasco.
However as long as you remember that the student loan fee policy had to be abandoned in the wake of left wing lies and deceit re the state of the economy.
Given that you are a “lefty” you will no doubt be well aware of their habit of lying to the people.
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phil
Quite right, but then the Greens always like to portray themselves as a cut above the rest.
But they’re just the same, eh.
Opportunists with snout firmly in the trough.
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“.. But they’re just the same, eh.
Opportunists with snout firmly in the trough..”
(um..!..no..!..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Whose habit, BB? In my experience, most politicians lie. Part of a reason I’m a Green is that Green MPs have not yet seemed to behave that way.
Anyway, come back when you have the time- we all know beer-o’clock is oh so important.
I’m sure you can tell me exactly why National’s promises are oh-so-different and not vote-buying at all, while the Greens are merely cynically out for the youth vote rather than standing up for principles that they’ve been advocating since before they got into Parliament. 
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Ari said: …what exactly was the National Party’s 1990 policy on abolishing student fees?
I think it was this one Ari [courtesy of 08wire] – sorry, as a commenter only on frogblog I don’t think I am able to imbed the video.
While you are there, you might want to check out this one on John Key calculating his tax cuts, which wasn’t made by 08wire (far too clever) but sent in to them by one of their readers who must have spent hours creating it, although it moves rather quickly, so you might have to play it a couple of times to get all the humour – I haven’t laughed so much in ages!
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Toad- Indeed, that was what I was referring to, I just intended to let the righties have their say BEFORE trotting out the video of lockwood smith owing us a resignation.
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BB, Why is that? Is it because you expect my opinions to change significantly with age and experiance, or because at that age I will look back and see my opinions as utterly idiotic, or is it because you think, if by some miricle i got into power, that I wouldint live up to them?
Jamboman, ive got ideas on alot more than just tertiary education, lol, you did law and order? i dont remmbemer that. lets see, health aye, not an area ive given a great amount of thought to really. what comes to mind? I suspect this will be met with opposistion from both sides of the political spectrum.
- Evolve the powers of the DHB’s to a central board in an effort to cooridinate fiscal policy and remove the massive levels of beuorcracy that are required with such a decentralised system so that a greater percentage of funds is spent on front line staff and there are less paper pushers creating paperwork for each other.
- Coordinate materials purchase so that a greater buying power is accheived and DHB administered medical facilities are kept up to date with the required medical tehnology instead of some having high tech macinary and some using stone age tech.
- Push all areas to utilise computer based systems management and invest money in a simple adminsisterative database to acheive easy and efficent access to patient records instead of the time consuming meathods used presently, esspecially the manual paperwork.
- Promote Hospital specialisation so that all hospitals have the basic facilities but the more expensive and specialised facilities are centered in certain hospitals in an effort to decrease costs and increase efficency of patient management.
- Increase the wages of doctors whom have acheived two years of placement after graduation so that there is not such a disparity between the payrates of themselves and locums (here its three time the pay rate and hours are entirly optional) so that staff are retained and less need for the more expensive and less reliable locums.
- Decrease beuocracy on drugs such as morphine as it has become common practice for doctors in the wards to prescribe the much more expensive alternatives to avoid the paperwork associated with morphine.
- Introduce bonded schoolerships for students training as professional heath care providers.
- All injuries should be treated though for all injuries or diseases caused by personal actions such as self harm or abuse of substances the cost of that treatment should be incured by the individual.
- Legalise euthenasia under strict legal control and requiring psychiatric evaluation and in the case of ‘power of atorney’ it must be clarified that the relivant individual is not set to make any material gain through the euthenisation.
- Legalise abortion without reason up to the end of the first trimester. legalise abortion in the second trimester where the foetus has severe deformities or severe genetic disorders or not doing so would cause severe medical or psychological harm to the mother.
- Compulsary genetic testing and monitering of development with it being made clear that any problems resulting from disorders detectable in the first two trimesters or through abuse of substances will not be payed for by the state.
- Fully subsidise all preventive medication for individuals considered at risk as the cost of prevention is significantly smaller than the cost if the disease develops.
- Fully subsidise contriceptives, including the emergency contraceptive pill and chemical contraceptives.
- Fully subsidise treatment of STD’s and strengthen laws of partner information in an effort to decrease new cases of transmision.
- Impliment needle bays so that intravenous drug users are able to exchange used needles for new, clean, needles in an effor to cut down transmission of diseases via needle usage.
- Increase availability of affordable psychiatric counseling for individuals past mid twenties.
- Encourage medical professionals to set up local clinics in small townships through grants and bonded scholorships.
- Increase availibility of drug counsellign programes and make them compulsary for those convicted of drug abuse.
- Reduce parential entitledment to supply minor with alcohol to only direct caregivers and alcohol must be open and to be consumed with the parential figure in a quantity not significant to produce intoxication.
- Raise age of consumption for drugs to 20 and age of voting to 20 also to stop political pandering.
- Allow pubs to serve individuals of age 18 and above open bottles in small quantities not sufficent to produce intoxification.
- Increase undercover policing of alcohol sales and of alcohol serving premise and increase policing of serving alcohol to intoxicated individuals.
- Allow police to detain over night any individual below the age of consumption whom is found to be under the effects of drugs in a public area.
- Legalise drugs using the three distinctions previously mentioned by me on this forum, limiting production and distribution according to the following principles:
– Three classes of drugs; A, B and C.
– Class C includes drugs like weed and any individual of legal age may produce in quantities appropriate for personal use only. May be sold by licenced distributers and produced in commercial quantities by registered producers.
– Class B includes E and may be produced only by licened producers and sold only by licened distributers and is illegal to produce for oneself.
– Class C includes P and is illegal to produce, distribute and consume.
- profits made from the taxation of drugs are to go to rehabilitation programes.
- by removing the gateway effect and the profits of gangs crime should also decrease dramaticly.
Thats about all that comes to mind at present.
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Sapient
“BB, Why is that? Is it because you expect my opinions to change significantly with age and experience, or because at that age I will look back and see my opinions as utterly idiotic, or is it because you think, if by some miracle i got into power, that I wouldn’t live up to them?”
More likely to be the first scenario you mentioned, it happens to us all.
I assume you have heard the following saying
A man at 19 who is not a socialist has no heart
)
A man at 40 who is still a socialist has no brain (or words to that effect
Now while I would never admit to being a pinko I can say with all honesty that I did vote for Labour twice 84 & 87 (and yes Sapient, we did have electricity and running water in those days) and once for the Greens (party vote).
In two of those occasions I felt conned, 87 because I voted (as did most of the country) for Douglas to keep going and finish the job and when I voted Green it was on the understanding that they were going to do something about animal welfare.
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How on earth would the greens achieve all that?
Must be some re-education camps comming up.
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I thought it might be, My opinions have changed vasty in the last year and a half or so; I used to be much more left than toad for starters, lol.
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I will get elected!
Ambrosia, and hypnosis to make all possibly harmful substances abhorrent, for all will be my platform now. The rest becomes unnecessary!
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