by HELBND » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:00 pm
interesting reading from NZH
Baxter wrote:
1) Who abolished NZ's apprenticeship system?
National. Although neither are they looking to change the status quo. In fact I believe National has pledged for a faster and less complicated system in place.
Now how about we look at NCEA? Which government decided to completely throw away the old system of school cert and bursary and replace it with a system that no teachers understood and no students appreciated within less than 2 years?
Baxter wrote:
2) Who wants to abolish time-an-a-half on public holidays?
National.
Now this I don't agree with.
Baxter wrote:
3) Who voted for the 'Boy Racer' bill?
National. But answer this, who INITIATED the Boy Racer Bill???
Baxter wrote:
4) Who froze NZ's minimum wage?
And how long ago was this?? Has National stated that they will be freezing the minimum wage again in their latest campaign. Also don't bet on Labour not freezing the minimum wage if we have another oil crisis seen in the 80s. Wage freeze is predominantly used to stop spiraling inflation. Anyone with some sense of macro economics knows this. The Reserve Bank Act specifically states that inflation must be between 0-3% .... Now I wonder which Government during their term adjusted this inflationary threshold because they had trouble meeting it????
Baxter wrote:
5) Who wants to bring in laws to make it easier to sack workers with no reason?
National.
Now employment law and employment relations has always been a two sided argument. Often this argument rests on which side of the work force you are on? The employee or employer side. If you were an employer I am sure you'd like to be able to fire someone immediately and without recourse if you found them stealing from your till, or if they are sexually harrassing an employee within your firm, or is threatening violence against yourself as the employer and possibly your family. Now you may say that all the above are grounds for justified immediate dismissal under the current system - I'd say to you have a look through the employment law reports, because it'd tell you otherwise.
The reality is the new employment relations act did little to change how an employee can be fired ... it actually added more grounds for dismissal and changed the procedure that an employer must go through. The only benefit that the employment relations act bought was revival of collective bargaining and a return of unionism which isn't a bad thing in certain industry.
Further more how many small businesses turning over less than $50K per year can afford being sued for no reason by a part time employee simply because she didn't like the way the employer spoke to her ...
However arguments like the above are hard to comprehend for non-employers.
Employment law is about balance ... balance of the rights and obligations of the employee and the employer ... I honestly don't believe that either Labour or National has it right. They are both too one sided in either of their policies.
Baxter wrote:
6) Who cut thousands of workers wages & conditions with the Employment Contracts Act?
National.
Now let me ask, under which government did we have more union led strikes? Under which government did we have more employment contract disputes? Under which government do we now have the ability to sue for "stress" at work for which a definition wasn't properly given and the courts are at a loss to define what is work related stress? Also under which government do employers have more red tapes to work with, have more paper work to fill out over health and safety, but is left with little practical time to actually implement proper health and safety in work places??
Baxter wrote:
7) Who wants to suck George Bush's c^%$k?
National.
Yet which Prime Minister was all too happy to shake G Bush's hand at various international summits? And which government is avidly pushing for free trade deals with the US and China? And keeps telling it's citizens that it's the best thing for the economy of this country when we come to realise which government did we have when we see products which were once "Made in NZ" replaced with "Made in China" or "Made in Mexico"??
Also which government foreign minister was all too happy to see US rekindle it's military exercise with the NZ troops recently??
Honestly I don't think, with the exception of the Greens of course, that there's a political party in NZ that can do without kissing ass to the US.
Baxter wrote:
8 ) Who voted against parental leave?
National.
Baxter wrote:
9) Who has the coolest ad for the 2005 election campaign?
Why National of course. And whilst you may think that everyone else in this forum votes on the basis of one silly advertising, you would seriously be underestimating the intelligence of everyone on these forums. You argue that you don't vote on single issue, yet we are fed single issue politics by all the parties. Your quiz reflects the narrow band of issues surrounding the country as a whole at the moment. Single issue politics is also what gets votes. Political parties know that. Hence why whenever we see a boy racer or wanna be boy racer wraps himself around a power pole, we see political parties (no matter which one) come out and say we will pass this and that law when we get elected. It's election time, live with it.
Further, so what if Joe Blogs votes for NZ First because he doesn't like Asians in this country? It's called democracy. If you don't like the system, move elsewhere.
Baxter wrote:
10) Who (luckly) hasn't a hope of being elected governent any time soon?
Who knows?? If you are soo certain that Labour will win, why don't you put all your available cash with the Aussie beting agency then? Put your money where your mouth is. Hey you could be rich after the election - last time I heard it was paying $1: $1.47
Now a few more things .. food for thought for the uninformed voters that you believe exists on nzhondas forum.
- Under which government have we seen more tax on petrol (note raised twice) resulting in higher petrol prices in addition to rising crude oil prices?
- Under which government did we get 18 year olds drinking themselves silly and killing themselves in motor vehicles or their own vomit?
- Under which government did we get more legislations passed than any other government in the past to the extent that it's citizens havel little to no knowledge about what's going on?
- Under which government did we see your average hard working New Zealander incapable of fulfilling their dream of owning their own home and 1/4 acre section?
- Under which government did we have the increased development contribution levies by ten fold for infrustructure building and development?
- Under which government did we have "real" inflation go beyong 3% per annum?
- Which government paid millions of tax payer dollar into an airline that should have gone bust and be taken under statutory management or sold off??
- under which government did we see more serious and violent crimes being committed?
- under which government did we see the police force reduce in significant numbers?
Also if you are such a believer of the NZ democratic system and think Labour actually listens to its voters think again with this comment - which government was it that ignored the overwhelming majority citizens' referendum on harsher penalties for criminal??
I could go on, but I'll leave this topic with two final saying ... one from a western view and anothe from an eastern view on politics ...
The western one:
Politics is dirty ...
The Eastern one:
All parties are rotten apples, you just have to pick the least rotten one to eat ....
Thanks for reading.