The Letter 1 September 2014
1 September, 2014
28 thousand reasons to tactically vote ACT
Last night’s TVNZ Colmar Brunton poll puts the left and right 60 MPs each. United and the Maori Party say they will go
with the side that gets to 61 MPs. ACT just needs just 1.3% or 28 thousand Party votes to get in Jamie Whyte. National
needs 62 thousand votes to get another list MP. (It is a mad system because electorate seats are deducted from number of
list seats won). The German is stealing the election. More Left voters are party voting Internet/Mana. Right/center
voters are blowing the election by wasting their vote with the Conservatives. Colin Craig says if he does get 5% he may
support David Cunliffe to be PM. (TV3).
This is the deciding week
In MMP it is the minor parties who decide the election outcome. This week the Minor Party Leaders have three TV debates.
TV3’s debate is on Wednesday, TVNZ on Friday and tomorrow on Chinese station TV33 there is a debate that may decide the
election. There are over 120,000 Chinese voters. This Sunday 11 am Ellerslie Event Centre, Ascot Ave, ACT has its
campaign opening. The commentators said Jamie Whyte won the first TV3 debate so this could be ACT’s week.
The con in conservative is for con.
Colin Craig’s campaign is dishonest. He has stolen other parties’ policies but done no costing. He is promising
everything to everyone. He says he is in favour of flat tax, smaller government and tough on crime. His flat tax would
have to be at 34 percent, a massive tax increase for middle earners. He has not seen a spending proposal he is not for.
He has no new anti-crime ideas like ACT’s 3 strikes for burglary. His list will elect no 5 Edward Saafi who claims young
Tongans are committing suicide because they are not being smacked. (Sunday Star Times). ACT has fact checked the
Conservatives glossy household pamphlet and it is full of contractions see http://www.act.org.nz/conservatives-fact-check
Judith Collins problem
The Letter thinks it is highly unlikely Judith Collins was conspiring against her chief executive. The last time a
minister leaked against a Chief executive was when John Key leaked to journalists to force Peter Dunne to resign. But we
agree with John Key that Collins had to go. She has an incurable problem. Judith Collins lacks a quality you need to be
Minster of Justice and that is judgment.
The media are stealing our election
Green co leader Metiria Turei is being uncritically reported calling for Judith Collins office to be “locked down” to
prevent destruction of evidence. A scurrilous allegation, now typical of the Greens. The destruction of any ministerial
files is an offence under the Archives Act. The media ought to know the claim is absurd. All ministerial computers are
automatically backed up to a separate server under the control of government computer services. It is impossible for a
minister’s office to destroy records.
Secret Commissions are wrong
No one objects to bloggers having political bias but if you are taking money to say things then you have a duty to your
readers to tell them. But bloggers lack of ethics is not a government problem.
Bloggers are still the future
We commend David Farrar’s decision to sign up to the media code of ethics. The mainstream media are so hostile to the
bloggers because the bloggers are winning. Discrediting one blogger will not stop the trend. The media would be better
off to ask why are people going to blogs? Is it because the media’s coverage of the election is so bad? You cannot find
out the parties policies from TV or the print media. You must go to the blogs. If you want to know how much the parties
are promising you have to go to the Taxpayer’s Union blog. If you want to know how MMP works in Epsom you need to go to
Kiwiblog. And people go to Whale Oil because he breaks more stories.
Sunday Star Times $12 billion mistake
An example of why newspaper sales are falling. Adam Dudding said in yesterday’s Sunday Star Times that ‘ACT’s policies
would theoretically return $12 billion to the government coffers – but don’t forget that this would be done by slashing
government services’. He just made this up. ACT’s alternative budget, published in May, proposes $4 billion of tax cuts.
These are funded by cuts in corporate welfare ($1.4 billion), cuts in middle-class welfare ($1.65 billion), abolition of
the carbon trading system carbon trading system ($217 million) and cuts in government waste ($763 million). No
government services are cut in ACT’s Alternative Budget. Dudding just made up the slashing of government services and
the $12 billion. No wonder people are turning to blogs.
Correction
Last week we accused the Electoral Commission for being responsible for the Party Opening Broadcast being shown at the
same time as the rugby test. State Television made the decision. Why have a government owned broadcaster when they put
advertising revenue ahead of covering the election? The Letter did hear a good idea on Media Matters. The taxpayer owns
another TV channel that at present is broadcasting “Parliament TV. The next sitting of the House of Representatives will be after the General Election on a date to be
notified”. Taxpayers paid for the party broadcasts which almost no one has seen. Why not show then on Parliamentary TV?
Parliament is now a TV studio with fixed cameras. Why not hold Election Debates in the Chamber?
Who won the leaders debate?
Every election the media says the Leader of the Opposition won the Leaders debate. The media used to say little Bill
Rowling beat Muldoon. It is because the expectation is the PM will win and the media are so surprised the Leader of the
Opposition is not knocked out. You cannot win a debate unless one party makes a mistake. We think Cunliffe made the
mistake when John Key showed over Lochinver station that Labour’s policy is the same as National’s.
ends