Last robson-on-politics before Election 2005
robson-on-politics, a newsletter from Matt Robson MP
Deputy Leader of the Progressive Party
www.progressiveparty.org.nz
Use your networks to say Party Vote Progressive
Jim Anderton and I and 51 other candidates have done all we can. Now, it is up to you and your Party Vote.
A party vote for Labour will not do the job. Nor will a party vote for the Greens.
If you want Jim, me, and more MPs in the next government, the secret is Party Vote Progressive. And you can use all your
networks to encourage other people to give their Party Vote to Progressive.
Already, the polls in the last few days are showing us at 1.0%, so we are nearly at the 1.3% needed to put me into the
48th Parliament.
Talking to Scoop
Selwyn Manning of Scoop, the free political news website, came along to my office yesterday. His questions included:
The centre-left is having a hard time of it. What is that so? What have you achieved? What would you like to achieve?
And how do you see your chances? You can see the resulting interview at:
Progressive Priorities
Progressive is campaigning for Party Votes so that we can be represented in an historic third term centre-left coalition
government. The key policies we would like to bring to the next Cabinet table are posted on our Website:
http://www.progressive.org.nz/priority -
Raising the alcohol purchasing age to reduce the harm caused by binge drinking -
Jim Anderton as Minister of Education, tackling the skills shortage with up to 1,000 scholarships to get people training
where there is urgent need. And meeting student loan payments for graduates who work in New Zealand. -
Allow capitalisation of family support up to $30,000 to provide a first home deposit for young families. - $200 winter
power supplement so senior citizens on relatively low fixed incomes can turn on the heater. -
A ring-fenced waiting list fund of $100m so District Health Boards can tackle the waiting list.
Brash, Dunne would kill Progressive alcohol bill
The leaders of National and Untied Future voted against the Progressive Party's Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction Bill. If
the Right win, they will kill the bill dead. All of the public submissions so carefully worked on and sent to the Law
and Order Select Committee will be thrown in the rubbish bin if Mr Dunne and Dr Brash think they can get away with it.
New Zealand's existing law against the inappropriate supply of alcohol to minors is completely inadequate.
Section 160 of the Sale of Liquor Act has a huge loophole, allowing alcohol to be supplied to minors at any ‘private
social function’ - a vague, undefined term.
Interest rates rise when Nats gain in polls
What would happen to your home mortgage rate, and the debt-servicing costs for your small business, in the event of a
National-United Future government? Look at the wholesale money market. When polls have shown the Right ahead, the
interest cost of NZ government bonds (relative to the US) has gone up.
Well-informed markets are putting up interest rates if it looks like Prime Minister Brash. So if a National-United
Future-NZ First government is actually elected, you can expect your mortgage to go up, up, up. If National-United-NZ
First wins on Saturday, they will borrow to fund large income tax cuts. The premium that offshore lenders will impose on
every household and small business with a mortgage will hurt.
Nats would adopt Dunne’s plan to sell Kiwibank
A National-led government would find United's asset sales policy a useful little short-term earner to make up for the
big cut in government income arising from both parties' unsustainable income tax cut commitments.
In this election, the price of United's support for National would be United Future policies and one of the most
economically and socially irresponsible (in a nation with a structural current account deficit problem) is United's
commitment to hock off 40% of Kiwibank, NZ Post, Genesis, Mighty River, Air NZ and Meridian Energy.
ENDS