Michael Cullen Archive

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  Getting Personal: The Passing of the Cullen Clark Era - by frog

  
  
  
  Helen Clark and Michael Cullen have given their valedictory speeches and—after nine long years of running the show—have left the Parliamentary stage of power. Cullen’s parting words on sustainability all seemed to this frog a lesson learned too late to be of any consequence. I asked our Green MPs for their thoughts on the passing [...] read more
  May 12, 2009 8:03 am - 1 Comment
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  New fangled concepts like peak oil - by frog

  
  
  
  Yesterday Dr Cullen announced $121m in the current fiscal year to upgrade our rail network.  Note that his reasoning for this investment included: Today we have to come to terms with a new set of circumstances – the emerging reality of Peak Oil and the impact rising fuel prices have on our economy. Rail’s energy efficiency [...] read more
  October 2, 2008 12:41 pm - 26 Comments
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  It’s just a game - by frog

  
  
  
  I get the feeling most political journalists want to be reporting on issues rather than ‘the game’. And most politicians want to be talking about issues rather than the game. But somehow both sides are caught in a trap where they need to focus on the game stories. Case in point – a story that [...] read more
  September 23, 2008 10:09 am - 3 Comments
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  Fiscal irresponsibility - by frog

  
  
  
  I asked at the beginning of the year how each party might respond to a recession.  The Herald gives National’s answer today on it’s front page – pretend it’s not happening: Despite global financial turmoil, National’s finance spokesman, Bill English, has indicated the party is still considering tax cuts of $50 a week. Asked on [...] read more
  September 16, 2008 9:38 am - 24 Comments
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  Tuhoe and Crown talk about te Urewera - by frog

  
  
  
  It’s interesting to hear that Tuhoe are now entering treaty negotiations with the Crown.  This will, I imagine, be a very different set of negotiations to previous large negotiations such as Ngai Tahu and Waikato. Tuhoe’s engagement with the crown is stereotypically characterised as more confrontational than for many other iwi, which will add an [...] read more
  July 31, 2008 4:18 pm - 82 Comments
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  Carbon fin prints - by frog

  
  
  
  Jeanette’s question this afternoon on the Government’s claim to be the first carbon neutral country in the world resulted in the usual banter with the Michael Cullen, who was answering on behalf of the Prime Minister. Even National’s Nick Smith got in on the game, asking much the same as what many Green supporters have [...] read more
  May 29, 2008 9:15 pm - 17 Comments
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  Russian milk, Kiwi cows - by frog

  
  
  
  Yesterday New Zealand First’s Doug Woolerton took an opportunity to ask the Minister of Finance about Russian company Nutritek being allowed to create New Zealand’s first totally foreign-owned dairy producer and whether the Overseas Investment Act should have stepped in to do something about this takeover.  Foreign investment generally and the Overseas Investment Act in [...] read more
  May 29, 2008 9:58 am - 11 Comments
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  Budget choices - by frog

  
  
  
  John Armstrong is calling Cullen’s budget in a few weeks a potential circuit breaker to restore Labour’s fortunes after a string of bad polls. I think Labour probably has three strategic choices if it is going to break any circuits: It can entrench its legacy with a ‘steady as she goes’ lead in to the [...] read more
  April 30, 2008 9:00 am - 39 Comments
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  Beach cricket - by frog

  
  
  
  Dr Cullen’s beach cricket analogy is an interesting one. He told the Labour Party conference over the weekend that Helen Clark and the Labour Party have been batting so long that the New Zealand public thinks that even though she and they are doing a good job it would be only fair if someone else [...] read more
  April 14, 2008 10:46 am - 38 Comments
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  It’s a matter of doing, not of believing - by frog

  
  
  
  Labour’s attacks on John Key and various National MPs for not believing in climate change are interesting, but ultimately a bit of a sideshow. It doesn’t matter whether Cullen and his team believe in climate change or not if their actions are not doing anything to address the problem. Believing is a relatively easy step [...] read more
  April 2, 2008 2:48 pm - 79 Comments
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  How big a slice of tax cut would you like? - by frog

  
  
  
  Tax cuts. Cullen says his will be smaller but won’t negatively affect the economy or public services. English says his will be bigger but doesn’t want to play that up too much in case he gets caught in the chewing gum trap Cullen found him self in last election. Or worse, he could end up [...] read more
  March 27, 2008 1:55 pm - 7 Comments
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  Labour joins Winston in the gutter - by frog

  
  
  
  With the Minister of Foreign Affairs not in the house today to answers Keith’s question about the links between human rights and trade it was extraordinary to see the Deputy Prime Minister step not only into his shoes, but also his persona, by launching two ad hominem abusive attacks on Keith. Keith’s record on human [...] read more
  March 19, 2008 4:52 pm - 34 Comments
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  How to deal with a recession - by frog

  
  
  
  There’s been lots of talk about a looming recession this week.  It would be interesting to see what the other parties’ policy proposals would be in the event of a recession.  The traditional conservative response would be to balance the books by cutting expenditure; Tighten your belt and tough it out.  By contrast you’d expect [...] read more
  January 24, 2008 9:21 am - 88 Comments
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  Christchurch plans for peak oil and climate change - by frog

  
  
  
  While Michael Cullen and the central government dither on the possibility of peak oil, Environment Canterbury is taking it very seriously and making provisions for it in all future planning: “Our ever increasing dependence on energy coincides at a time when New Zealand (and Canterbury) is facing significant future uncertainty in the area of availability [...] read more
  November 20, 2007 3:39 pm - 7 Comments
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  What have Treasury and the Reserve Bank been up to? - by frog

  
  
  
  Nothing apparently. Jeanette asked Michael Cullen in the house today if he had any faith in the economic projections that Treasury does on his behalf. She then pointed to their last seven economic forecasts and their predictions for the price of oil going forward. Here is the graph of their predictions:   One can only [...] read more
  November 13, 2007 3:50 pm - 23 Comments