Showing posts with label John Key. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Key. Show all posts

Thursday, January 26, 2012

"Teapot Tape" Recording


There is nothing of import or indeed anything coming even close to embarrassing on the so-called "teapot tapes" recorded between John Banks and John Key before the 2011 election.

All whipped up my a brain-dead left media with a story to manufacture in the absence of any real scandal.

If you can hear it, have a listen.

Try not to go to sleep in the first minute.


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c Darren Rickard 2012

Monday, October 31, 2011

TV One Leaders debate, 31 October 2011

Goff and Key clash in fiery opening debate


The first leaders debate this evening between John Key & Phil Goff was an easy win to Key.

Phil started reasonably strongly but could only last about 5 minutes before he resorted to name calling, interrupting Key and the moderator.

This formula Goff stuck to for the full 90 minutes and it didn't work for him.

His media minder Brian Edwards clearly told him to be aggressive and engage with Key instead of the moderator and Goff managed to make Key look a bit awkward a few times as Key nodded his head politely to what he had to say.

After a while Key decided he wasn't going to turn to Goff in this manner and looked the better for it as Goff was found getting angry, butting in or smirking when Key was talking.

Key was confident where Goff was as convincing as Marty McFly's father in Back to the Future at times.

The Mr Angry routine just didn't do any favours for Goffy and he was left shouting in the wake of Key explaining policy while Goff wanted to talk over him.

The TV text poll rated the debate a 61/39 vote in Key's favour but I would put it at more like 70/30.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Labour Voters better off under Key

I wrote a post about our priminister John Key back in July 2008 that his success should be celebrated rather than used against him in a political way as it has been with the Labour Party, the rabid left media and Labour's mates in the unions.


No matter what you think of his politics John Key is a man that the "right" and "left" should aspire to be like. From humble beginnings living in State house with just his Mum bringing him up, to running a country that has had the worst global economic conditions for more than 70 years, natural disasters by the score and an opposition mired in the controversy of leadership challenges, sex scandals and the promise of economy wrecking massive high tax rates for all if it is lucky enough to be voted in this November, John Key has risen above the chaff and made what I think is a pretty good job of managing New Zealand Inc.

While I dont agree with most of his left of centre policies, his management of our economy has been laudable in the light of MMP politics and the Nats want to cosy up the the racism and welfarism of the Maori party that has had impacts in relation to keeping the huge unaffordable welfare net some have become used to. He has in short out leftied the sniveling left's socialist agenda the Labour party have tried to occupy and also managed to continue to capture the National vote to boot. No mean feat.

Mr Key is a likable man, for sure, but the reason for his current popularity goes deeper than that. Across the political sphere people can see that he has made a success of himself and even the rabid left media in this country from time to time see that admirable quality in him as a fighter, a quality that all of us as New Zealanders can relate and aspire to. To make a success of oneself no matter where one comes from and no matter what sort of family background that an individual is born into. This is a quality that supersedes politics and with Key as a shining example of this as our leader, the inspirational qualities of what he has achieved are clearly positive for us as a people and a good way forward for the future.

On this alone even those who traditionally vote for Labour and the left in general would be better off voting for Key. Policies that incentivise working rather than welfare and lower taxes for those who want to earn more are clear positives for the economy and our country and a good long-term future. Keys experience in knowing how an economy runs is in stark contrast to the Labour parties Robin Hood snatch and grab and a propensity to misunderstand even basic economics if it means there is a vote in it.

Labour have lost their way and its policies of envy and greed in the form of taxing those who work to give to others who don't and the growth of a much bigger Government is the last vestige of Socialism which the country needs and I believe wants to leave behind.

Let us celebrate the success of people like John Key, rather than being petty and envious. Remember if he can get where he has from his background of deprivation, anyone can.

That is what we should be voting for come November 26.

Think Bigger

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- From Fishpond.co.nz | Think Bigger, By Michael Hill


Darren Rickard 2011




Friday, September 25, 2009

John Key rings Wall Street Closing Bell

3 News Video On Demand


Following a great honour and tradition for Celebs or politicians to close trading for the day on Wall Street, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key rings the bell for close of trade on September 24 (NY time) on the New York Stock Exchange.

Is a tradition long celebrated on the NY Stock Exchange and for John Key to get to do it just shows the respect he still has from his years on the Street.

Hey, I am still here but baby is taking up our time lately.

I am working on an interview with Don Braid, Managing Director of Mainfreight [MFT.NZ] and that should be out in a few weeks.

Until then, enjoy the video and imagine it is you !

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c Share Investor 2009

Monday, March 9, 2009

WALL STREET JOURNAL: John Key Interview

It is great to see acknowledgement from that great bastion of capitalism the Wall Street Journal, that John Key, New Zealand Prime Minister just might know what he is doing and it is Obama, Brown et al that are making big mistakes by spending taxpayer money like drunken socialists.

It is something I agree with as well and would also make sense to those who are doing well in a Cambridge 3rd form economics class.

No mention of Phil Goff in the following article.

You Can't Spend Your Way Out of the Crisis

New Zealand's prime minister wants to give his country a competitive advantage instead.

By MARY KISSEL

Wellington, New Zealand

These days, you have to travel far to find a national leader who is talking about market-based approaches to the global recession. All the way to the other side of the world.

[The Weekend Interview] Terry Shoffner

"We don't tell New Zealanders we can stop the global recession, because we can't," says Prime Minister John Key, leaning forward in his armchair at his office in the Beehive, the executive wing of New Zealand's parliament. "What we do tell them is we can use this time to transform the economy to make us stronger so that when the world starts growing again we can be running faster than other countries we compete with."

That idea -- growing a nation out of recession by improving productivity -- puts Mr. Key and his conservative National Party at odds with Washington, Tokyo and Canberra. Those capitals are rolling out billions of dollars in stimulus packages -- with taxpayers' money -- to try to prop up growth. That's "risky," Mr. Key says. "You've saddled future generations with an enormous amount of debt that then they have to repay," he explains. "There is actually a limit to what governments can do."

The 47-year-old Mr. Key, a pragmatist by nature, knows a thing or two about how the public sector works. The youngest of three children, he was raised in state-owned housing in Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island, after the death of his father. His mother worked at blue-collar jobs to keep the family afloat. Mr. Key earned a bachelor's degree in commerce from the University of Canterbury, took a job the next day at a local accountancy firm, and married his high-school sweetheart. After seeing a TV advertisement about a foreign-exchange trader, he started canvassing banks for a job. That kicked off a career as a foreign-exchange trader, with postings in Singapore, London and Sydney -- most recently at Merrill Lynch. "Bank of America," he says, with not a little mirth, "it's probably soon to be owned by Barack Ob-ah-ma!" -- emphasis on the "ah" in Kiwi-speak. His press secretary rolls her eyes.

Mr. Key's coalition government, which includes parties to the right and left of the Nationals, has moved fast to implement a program of tax cuts, regulatory reform and government retooling. He won't label it supply-side economics and smiles when I ask if he's a Milton Friedman or Friedrich Hayek acolyte. "I'm not deeply ideologically driven," he says. "I believe in good center right politics."

Mr. Key is returning the country to a formula for prosperity that's worked in the past. As in Britain, the U.S. and Australia in the 1980s, New Zealand's government implemented a wide-ranging program of economic liberalization, including deep reductions in tariffs and subsidies, and privatization of state-run industries. The plan, nicknamed "Rogernomics" after then-Finance Minister (now Sir) Roger Douglas, was akin to Reaganomics, and the island nation grew smartly.

But while the U.S. and Australia broadly continued their economic liberalization programs under both right- and left-wing governments, New Zealand didn't -- until now. Over the past nine years, Helen Clark's left-wing Labour government rode the global economic expansion and used the revenue surge to expand government welfare programs, renationalize industries, and embrace causes like global warming. As a result, the economy stagnated while Australia took off.

"We have been on a slippery slope," Mr. Key says, pointing to the country's slide to the bottom half of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's per-capita GDP rankings. "So we need to lift those per-capita wages, and the only way to really do that is through productivity growth driving efficiency in the country." He talks at length about how to attract and retain talented workers. What does he think about populist arguments about the end of capitalism? "Nonsense!"

Mr. Key's program focuses first on personal income tax cuts, which -- given that the new top rate, as of April 1, will be 38% -- are still high, especially when compared to Hong Kong and Singapore. "We just think it's good tax policy to lower and flatten your tax curve," he says. "People will move in labor markets and they look at their after-tax incomes."

Cutting the corporate tax rate -- which is now 30% -- isn't as crucial just now as keeping liquidity flowing, Mr. Key argues. "A lot of [companies] won't pay tax if they don't make money," he reasons. "So they might be slightly less focused on corporate tax in the immediate future. Longer-term, they will be." Why? Corporate money is "mobile." "If you really are out of whack with the prevailing corporate tax rates, and there's been a global shift toward countries lowering their corporate tax rate, then you're not likely to attract capital, or you're likely to lose capital." Mr. Key and his coalition partner, the ACT Party -- Mr. Douglas's party -- want to eventually align personal, trust and company tax rates at 30%.

For now, the prime minister is focusing on chipping away entrenched regulations that drive away foreign capital -- a contrast to the U.S. and Australia, which are reregulating their markets in the wake of the financial crisis. "Good regulatory reform can be an important catalyst toward driving economic growth and coming out of the recession faster," Mr. Key says. His government is revising legislation meant to protect New Zealand's pristine environment from private-sector development but misused by greens to stymie all stripes of business plans.

Big government is also coming under the gun. Mr. Key launched a "line-by-line review" of every government department, and committed the government to cap new spending in its May budget. "If we want to fund new initiatives, we by definition have to stop [funding] some of the things we don't think were working. . . . We're just getting better value for money."

The Key government also is wary of climate change orthodoxy. "Half of all of our emissions come from agriculture," he says, meaning cows "burping and farting." "We don't have an answer to that. . . . So at the moment, we either become more expensive or we cut production. And neither of those options are terribly attractive." Mr. Key is reviewing the economic impact of the previous government's cap-and-trade plan. "New Zealand needs to balance its environmental responsibilities with its economic opportunities, because the risk is that if you don't do that -- and you want to lead the world -- then you might end up getting unintended consequences."

Much of Mr. Key's reform agenda hinges on his belief that he has to prepare his country to compete in the global economy. "The world, whether we like it or not, will become more and more borderless," he says. That means Wellington is planted firmly behind free trade. "The sooner Doha is completed," Mr. Key says, referring to stalled global trade talks, "the better from our point of view."

Mr. Key chuckles when I ask him about the "Buy American" provision tucked into the Obama administration's stimulus package. The previous government's "Buy New Zealand" campaign got a "lukewarm" reception, he recalls. "There are so many component parts manufactured in different parts of the world, you're chasing your tail the whole time about where something's actually made."

New Zealand last year inked a free-trade agreement with China, recently signed a deal with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and announced the start of negotiations with India and South Korea last month. Korea "obviously" wants an FTA with the U.S., he says.

Does New Zealand's model hold lessons for the Obama administration? Mr. Key says that might be "presumptive." But he does outline a few general lessons: "Your citizens are entitled to expect you to be realistic . . . to be specific about what it is you're going to do, what you can or can't do. And finally, I think, to be confident that you can get through it. Now there's plenty of doom and gloom merchants out there. But the single biggest risk is that everyone believes them and stops doing anything. I can't see how that helps us." What did he learn in his former trade? "It taught me not to panic."

Going forward, he worries about, among other things, the U.S. dollar's path. Like most other trading nations, the bulk of New Zealand's exports is denominated in dollars, and the country's private sector borrows heavily from offshore markets. Says Mr. Key: "For anyone trying to manage currency risk, and indeed often interest-rate risk, you know, it's not generally the absolute level, it's more the volatility that becomes the determining factor." A strong and stable dollar policy out of the Obama administration would be helpful.

But ultimately, Mr. Key says his biggest fear is rising inflation on the back of rising money supplies. "Economic theory will tell you that inflation is going to rise -- and that inflation will be exported around the world. . . . In the short term, I'm not criticizing U.S. policy: I think inflation is probably the thing that's going to be necessary to get them out of the current issue. [Federal Reserve Chairman Ben] Bernanke sort of signaled that. But longer term, inflation is cancerous to your economy."

So would Mr. Key, the onetime foreign-exchange trader, buy or sell the U.S. dollar? As we move toward the door, the press secretary steps in: That's one call that's off the record.

Ms. Kissel is editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia.


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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Key keeps his head while others channel Chicken Little

Nothing could be more appropriate than to say about John Key but "right man right time".

Key's financial and business experience is shining through.

The cool head approach that National are pursuing in relation to the current financial crisis is in stark contrast to the Labour Chicken Little's in opposition who are bleating to rush in poorly planned stimulus packages that simply will not work.

We all know that the US bank bailout from late last year didn't work. Obama is passing a new one in 2009. The first one wasn't planned and was rushed.

Labour playing politics with the current economic situation is nothing but more of the same petty schoolboy tactics that sent New Zealand into recession almost a full year before everyone else.

For Labour to say National must be shouting its "stimulus" intentions from the rooftops to reassure the populace is politics for the brain dead and most of us have one thank you very much.

It should be bloody obvious that National are taking the current crisis seriously.

They are taking action rather than talking. Cutting back frivolous spending that Labour has introduced (like fruit baskets daily for all MPs! and a long embarrassing list of other waste) is evidence of that and there will be more considered action introduced as the days, weeks, months and years of this crises play out.

John Key is in his element, he looks comfortable, confident and in Parliament today got the better of the opposition.

He stands out here head above shoulders from other world leaders.

Thank god New Zealand voted him in, the alternative would have been scary.

And catastrophic.


c Political Animal 2009


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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Aunty Helen partly right

So Helen Clark told the Herald last night that national was taking a "laissez-faire attitude" to the current financial crisis.


I would have to agree with her to a certain extent.

Am I getting soft now that she isnt terrorising New Zealanders anymore in her capacity as Prime Minister?

Not really, but you have to come out and call it how you see it.

I like to think that I do.

Anyway, moving right along. 

Having said that I agreed somewhat with the former Prime Minister this is where our agreement ends. Careful planning of any "economic stimulus" on the Government's part must be done.

The American 700 billion plus bailout hastily slapped together before Christmas hasn't and will not work and at least half the money has disappeared down a black hole-par for the course for most Governments im afraid.

While everyone is entitled to a Christmas holiday, especially John Key and his National Party, after a hard fought and won nasty election campaign on Labour's part, the current financial crises does need some considerable and reasonably swift care.

Lets not forget who got us into this position in the first place. Labour and its profligate spending on social interfering and empire building. 

We shouldn't also forget that as this was unfolding during the recession that started in late 2007, and continues to this day, Labour's answer was to buy a run down train set for 5 times its worth, promise to give more money to students and beneficiaries post the 2008 election, increase the cost of doing business, introduce a crippling tax via carbon trading laws and spending taxpayer money and valuable time on digging baseless dirt on John Key when they should have been concerned about an economy in recession.

Michael Cullen was a the centre of this economic mis-management.

I am hoping John Key has used his summer break to put his brilliant economic mind to the question at hand and we will be waiting to see how his Government will put together a package that isn't a socialistic handout but a real economic stimulus where it is needed.

The tax breaks coming up latter this year are going to help and more taxpayer wealth back in taxpayer hands is going to to the business.

We want and need economic stimulus not more of the same welfare mentality that got us in this dire economic position in the first place.


Related Amazon reading

Growing Surplus, Shrinking Debt: The Compelling Case For Tax Cuts Now

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Sunday, November 9, 2008

TV3 John Campbell interview with John Key

An in depth interview with John Key, the new New Zealand Prime Minister, by John Campbell on TV3 on Sunday November 9.


Covers his rise from humble beginnings and his wish to be Prime Minister at the age of 11.


A greater pedigree for Prime Minister couldn't be written if you made it up.

Nice to see John Campbell in his element again.

c Political Animal 2008


Monday, November 3, 2008

John gets Pacific backing in Labour's turf

The fact that Inga the Winger and Iceman Jones are publicly backing John Key, in the very centre of Labours turf should not be lost on Helen Clark, Labour and its supporters.



Their reasons for the endorsement are based on their spiritual values, and their belief that the National Party could take Pacific people in a forward direction, the pair said today.

"We don't want our people just working in factories", said Tuigamala. "We want them starting to own those factories." They criticised Labour, saying they had undermined the moral values of Pacific people by decriminalising prostitution and allowing civil unions. More

All Black legends Michael Jones and Inga <span class=






Yesterday other public personalities came out to support Key. Lifetime Labour voters Graham Lowe and Bevan Docherty yesterday came out to back Key as their man and endorse him as a way forward.


It is great to see young Pacific voters putting aside their Labour Party "histories", to be inspired by a party and a man that will suit them better for the future.


Labour think they "own" these people and in a way they do. Many are struggling on the welfare which Labour have them dependant on. I think they are slowly realising that being independent rather than dependant is the way forward.


It makes me feel proud just thinking about it.


Good on ya John.




c Political Animal 2008




Sunday, October 26, 2008

Cullen has put NZ financial sytem in grave danger

Michael Cullen's belated move last week to guarantee deposits in the wake of a major world credit meltdown is his dumbest move ever as Finance Minister in 9 years and puts our banking and financial system at massive risk.


We needed a deposit guarantee system but it needed to be properly put together, with guarantees for interbank lending, which is the real crux of the credit meltdown, and a guarantee of deposits at our stable banks, not finance companies, which have a much higher risk and offer higher interest rates than banks.

In the haphazard way in which it the deposit guarantee has been constructed, it has already distorted various financial markets and had a run on money coming from banks, managed funds, the New Zealand stockmarket and proceeds from recent house sales and going towards risky and dodgy finance companies.

And why wouldn't you put your money into finance companies?

They now have the same guarantees as the major banks but with higher returns !

Cullen has now produced a scenario that the banks, which were receiving money from finance companies because they were too risky and most of them dodgy, are now unfairly put at risk themselves as depositors money is removed from their vaults to go to higher return finance companies.

This is a nightmare unfolding and in effect puts the major banks at a huge disadvantage. They would have been more financially sound had Cullen done nothing.

Unfortunately Michael Cullen can do little to ameliorate the problem because hundreds of millions of dollars have already been transferred to finance companies and it wouldn't now be prudent to backtrack, practically and of course for himself and Labour would be politically disastrous.

What he could easily do now, since he has interfered already, is direct finance companies to limit their future interest rates and therefore stem the run on banks.

Unfortunately we have a man who is pig headed, does things politically instead of for practical reasons, is way out of his depth and experience and far too slow to react.

The man the he criticises, far from being an opportunist, is able to make the sorts of decisions that Cullen should have made; quickly, timely and with far more experience and accuracy.

As a currency trader, timing for John Key was crucial; not months, not weeks, not days, not hours, not minutes but seconds separated him from making a bad or a good decision.

And he was working in Trillions of dollars everyday, so today's economic climate is comparably like a walk in the park.

We all know how good he was at his job.

Cullen is not yesterdays man, he simply was never up to the job of Finance Minister in the first place and needs to fall on the sharp corners of his faux gold edged framed Doctorate of History degree before he ruins us financially.




Friday, October 17, 2008

The left get their panties in a bunch

So the rabid left don't think John Key is going to be flexible with their Maori seats policy if it means they can negotiate a deal for form a government after the election huh?


Helen Clark has been as flexible as a Russian contortionist on acid when it comes to Winston Peters and his support. She hasn't ruled him in, she hasn't ruled him out but she is telling the public neither one thing or the other but in private she will negotiate a deal with the devil to get back into power after November 8.

So the head girl hasn't been open and honest herself-again!! Isn't there a story there?

Duncan Garner is doing handstands because he is making negative stuff up about Key that any other party running for a seat is doing right now.

For goodness sake even the Maori Party said publicly a few weeks ago that they could do a deal with National but in private they have been saying to their supporters that they wouldn't do a deal with National because they will remove the Maori seats! Isn't that a story?

Where is the story when it comes to John Key?

There simply ain't one.

It looks to the untrained observer that Key has been indecisive-even though he seems to have attained a new found confidence and has handed this latest left spin well-but if you observe closely it really is just left wing media spin.

The meaningless attacks from the left wing media always seem to come when Key has punished Clark's popularity publicly, as he did during the Prime Ministerial debate on Tuesday but this latest drivel will simply be forgotten come election time because it doesn't matter.

c Political Animal 2008




Monday, October 6, 2008

John Key pulls the birds


The all important Women's vote is swinging John Keys way:


National has increased its DigiPoll ratio of women by 2 per cent - from 45 per cent in 2005 to 47 per cent this year.


Admittedly it is only a small shift but along with the big increase in support from the all -important Auckland electorate, one the Labour Party got more votes in at the 2005 Election, it continues the overall support shift for a change in New Zealand. A change towards a National Government in 2008.


This is trend that started over a year ago and all the political polls over the last year or two reflect that.

See the latest polling results here.

c Political Animal 2008

Its about the economy stupid

Much has been written about the current meltdown of the worlds financial markets and apart from the fact that it is failure brought on by politicians interfering in the free market, rather than the favourite whipping boy of the socialists, the free market itself, it presents problems for our new government come November 8 2008-whoever gets elected.


This election is really about the economy. If it is about trust, then it is about who you would trust to manage their way through a deep recession, one that we are already in by the way.

Michael Cullen and Labour have mis-managed their way through 10s of billions of taxpayer dollars over the last 9 years.

Given that we have had the best economic conditions in generations, our economy did average to poor and the high taxes that were siphoned off during those good times has produced nothing but a bloated bureaucrat heavy unproductive nation on the brink of economic collapse.

As a voter you would have to ask yourself, where was the restraint, where was the saving for a rainy day approach? Instead we got the Robin Hood plunder the taxpayer approach to give to those who didn't earn it in the first place.

The fact is Cullen found it difficult to manage an economy with the best economic conditions in generations, with economic conditions at crisis levels he is a mere possum caught in the headlights.

All quotes are from the Granny Herald:


"New Zealand is facing a serious economic challenge..."

Aug 29

"There's a lot of factors coming together there," Dr Cullen said. "I think probably the worst is over now."

Sept 12


"...but the economy was vulnerable to an expected slowdown in the global economy.
..."

Sept 15

"...was welcome news ahead of the expected recovery in the fourth quarter of this year".

Sept 29

"...the problem could earlier be deemed a financial crisis rather than an economic one, it was getting beyond that now".

Oct 1

Michael Cullen seems more than a little schizophrenic on the state of our economy and while so unsure about it he has continued spending like a drunken bloody sailor to buy votes for the 2008 election!

The truth is Michael Cullen's only success in his nine years at the financial helm has been to overtax working kiwis and he has done that very well, he achieved his socialist goal, but when it comes to matters productive his petticoat is showing and it is in need of a damn good wash and disinfectant.

You are better off with a man who has experience in complex financial matters, not a PHD in History, as Michael Cullen is, a man who has run a business and knows about growing that business, in good times and bad.

John key is that man and his life from welfare recipient to multimillionaire through hard work and determination is evidence of that.

The 2008 Election really is about the economy and there is nothing stupid about that.







Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Disclosure: Tranz Rail Shares

I have to say, given my passion for investing-some readers of Political Animal might know I write about investing and business on my Share Investor Blog -I like to dot the "I's" and cross the "T's" when it comes to disclosure.


John Key should have disclosed his Tranz Rail share holdings at the right time, whatever the size of the holding.

Having said that if I was questioned on the spot I couldn't accurately tell you the correct holdings of my portfolio.

The Tranz Rail holdings relate to historical holdings as well, with shares being bought and sold. I have done the same and my estimations on the spot would be even worse than my first scenario.

Key's total holdings were also complicated by the fact that there were shares held in his family trust as well.

Key hasn't benefited monetarily in any way over his Tranz Rail holdings, in fact he appears to have lost over $100,000 on the deal.

Cullen calling him a liar was rich, we know who has been lying and it isn't Key.

This fuss made by Labour brings Jeanette Fitzsimmons conflict of interest with her share holding in Windflow Technology back into focus. Her shares are probably held through a family trust, and her and the Prime Ministers advocating for wind technology, and changing laws to benefit that industry are a definite conflict.


It would be interesting to see what other ministers have conflicts of interest relating to financial interests. There will be many.

c Political Animal 2008

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

I have the same haircut as Obama

I have to admit it I am like Obama because I have a similar haircut-it doesn't make me Presidential material though.

O.K. lets have a full look at the article that the Left is bleating about to deflect scrutiny over secret donations, undeclared funds and lies from Winston Peters and omissions of truth from the Prime Minister over Winnie's behaviour.

Here is the Obama reference in its full context where it makes sense. From the Financial Times.

But John Key, a 47-year-old former Merrill Lynch investment banker and republican, risks arriving ahead of time.

After entering parliament just six years ago he stunned many by taking over in 2006 as leader of the conservative National party and he will become the most inexperienced politician to lead New Zealand in more than 100 years if he succeeds in winning government.

“I’m a bit like [Barack] Obama. I am not institutionalised in Wellington [the country’s capital],” Mr Key told the Financial Times from his parliamentary office. “I had 18 years in the commercial world and I will be quite pragmatic.”

Mr Key said his years in Singapore, London, and New York, where he latterly ran global foreign exchange for Merrill Lynch and spent two years on the foreign exchange committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, would help.

Continued

It was a small, off the cuff comment by Key, the larger part of the article mentions nothing else Obamaesque-thank god for that!!

Duncan Garner on TV3 last night is getting almost as desperate as Helen Clark.

Another fabricated non-story about Lord Ashcroft meeting John Key for dinner, and the Obamarama piece latter on in the TV3 "news".

But he conceded that his experience in finance was useful only to a point. “There are a huge range of issues you need to be across. Economics is good but it is only one part,” he said.

It is very 3rd form video studies type stuff from Garner.

c Political Animal 2008

Sunday, August 10, 2008

John Key gives away parliamentary salary

John Key, the National Party's leader, is going to continue to give part of his salary to charity when he becomes Prime Minister in November.

Rodney Hide praised Key as a "generous Kiwi" and the spiteful Winston Peters called the gesture "politically motivated".

Bizarre coming from Peters as he generously gifted NZ$155,000.00 of stolen taxpayer money from the 2005 election campaign to 40 different charities recently instead of paying it back to where it came, and he clearly got no political capital from it!

It is not the same thing though.

No comment from Helen Clark, the wealthy property owner who only likes to give other peoples money away, to buy votes.


Related Political Animal reading


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The John Key Story-Part One
The John Key Story-Part Two
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c Political Animal 2008

Friday, July 25, 2008

John Key's success should be celebrated

The 2008 NBR Rich List is out. I suspect most Leftists will be looking at the list with a large amount of jealousy and an unhealthy level of suspicion.

Your Eric Watsons and Michael Fays of the list do have a huge amount of tarnish to their wealth. Watson behind more losses for investors, including the recent Hanover Finance collapse, than the All Blacks at World Cups and Fay milking New Zealand Taxpayer assets for his own personal joy, but most on the list got there because of intelligence, a small quotient of luck and most of all a great deal of hard work and stubborn perseverance.

I myself look at such people with a positive curiosity. I don't think, who did you rip off to get where you are but how did you manage to get where you are?

We got alot of political capital made today from the left, about a possible future Prime Minister, in John Key, about being at number 167 on the list with a personal fortune of around NZ50 million, but being a success in life and coming from such humble beginnings, like the number one lister, Graeme Hart, will make Key excellent Priministerial material.

Key is aspirational as Helen Clark is institutional. People like Key should be held up as examples to others of how success can come from hard work and if even if your background is poor economically, as John's was, you can still get there without having to rely on the State for life, as Clark would have someone like Key and his mother, dependent rather than independent.

In these tough economic times, that Labour have made considerably worse by their high taxes and wasteful spending, we need a leader that understands economics, markets and how business works and functions, something that is a mystery to most in the Labour Party, and especially Michael Cullen and Helen Clark.

John Key's financial acumen will be a benefit to the country and his success in life is clear evidence that he is the right man for the number one job in New Zealand.

Related Political Animal reading

Pointing fingers in the playground

c Political Animal 2008

2008 NBR Rich List

The 2008 NBR Rich List is out. I suspect most Kiwis will be looking at the list with a large amount of jealousy and an unhealthy level of suspicion.

The NBR says Mr Key's well-known rag to riches story sees him owning properties in Auckland, Wellington, Omaha Beach, as well as an apartment in London and newly acquired $US3.25m holiday home in Hawaii.

Continued

Rich List to 10:

1 Graeme Hart $6 billion

2 Todd Family $2.6 billion

3 Eamon Cleary $2.1 billion

4 Christopher Chandler $2 billion

4 Richard Chandler $2 billion

6 Goodman Family $1.64 bilion

7 Lynette Erceg $1.4 billion

7 Stephen Jennings $1.4 billion

9 Wade Thompson $750 million

10 Sir Michael Fay $700 million

10 Douglas Myers $700 million

10 David Richwhite $700 million.


NBR @ Share Investor

2010 NBR Rich List
2009 NBR Rich List
2008 NBR Rich List
NBR Headlines

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c Share Investor 2008

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Lets take a break

The latest attack by Helen Clark on John Key has focused the spotlight on Key and Bill English and the holidays they took earlier this week.Clark said that she worked harder than the duo and was surprised they took holidays at the same time.

Key and English were on holiday with their families and were taking time out with them during school holidays, as families do.

It isn't a good look for our Prime Minister to have a go at a man for wanting to spend time with his family.

What other way are the public supposed to look at it?

It was a silly thing for Ms Clark to say, politically damaging, and shows the increasing pressure she is facing under a polling rort, a disintegrating government bureaucracy, protests and a series of gaffs by her and Ministers that have shown she isn't the Teflon Jane that everyone thought she was.

It is wonderful to watch.


By TRACY WATKINS - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 10 July 2008

The air above Parliament is becoming increasingly toxic as the leaders of Labour and National trade blows over the hours they work.

John Key has hit back at Prime Minister Helen Clark's suggestion that National MPs worked "short weeks" and labelled it an attack on his decision to spend time with his two children during the school holidays.

He said yesterday he made no apologies for being a family man.

That had Labour in turn privately accusing Mr Key of "dog whistle" politics by jumping on Miss Clark's remark to remind voters she had no children.

Dog whistling is a term used to refer to comments which send a coded message to your own supporters. Continued

Desperation by Labour Backfires
Pointing fingers in the playground

Retreat while you are behind
Ian Wishart's Absolute Power
Phil Goff on Alt TV

c Political Animal 2008

Monday, March 3, 2008

Herald Poll and Political Animal commentary

http://www.dontvotelabourcartoons.com/gallery/cartoon18.jpg
c Stan Blanch 2008



While in her own mind and those of her Labour party colleagues, Helen Clark is still the preferred Prime Minister , the all important voters are thinking something else entirely.

This morning on Newstalk ZB Aunt Helen blamed "volatility" in the polls, when talking about the loony Greens support wavering wildly since the Heralds last poll and by implication the idea was that the poll was not to be trusted. She had another go at the paper for its poll accuracy.

This and the polls of the last 10 weeks cannot be ignored by the former high flying minister.

A definite trend has emerged and the outcome looks like a hiding for the Labour party not seen in generations.

Voters could be forgiven for forgetting about party allegiance's and voting for a winning party, National, least they waste their vote on the big loser.

Hitch your train to the wagon Abner, cause its on a non stop trip to Wellington to take out the trash.


Key Joins his party at No 1 position

5:00AM Monday March 03, 2008
By Audrey Young, NZ Herald


John Key (right) has overtaken Helen Clark as New Zealand's preferred Prime Minister.

John Key (right) has overtaken Helen Clark as New Zealand's preferred Prime Minister.


National leader John Key has overtaken Prime Minister Helen Clark in popularity in the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey, and his party has extended its lead over Labour to 18 points.

It is the first time since May last year that Mr Key has been ahead of Helen Clark as preferred prime minister, although his lead is only two points.

National has been ahead of Labour since Mr Key became National leader in December 2006 but apart from a surge in his popularity in May because of his role in the anti-smacking-bill compromise, Helen Clark has convincingly led the preferred prime minister polling. That has reinforced the view that despite poor party polling, she is Labour's strongest asset.

But in the past month, Mr Key and the National Party have both gone up 7 points in the survey.

Mr Key is preferred by 46.3 per cent of decided voters and Helen Clark by 44.3 per cent in the poll, conducted between February 11 and 28.

In January, Helen Clark was ahead of Mr Key by 10.5 points.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters polled 3.3 per cent. Trade Minister Phil Goff, often tipped as the next Labour leader, scored no support as preferred prime minister.

The gap between the two main parties is so wide and coalition partners so limited for Labour - the Greens are below 5 per cent - that National could easily govern alone if the poll's figures translated to votes.

National is on 54.5 per cent (up 7 points), 18 points ahead of Labour on 36.5 per cent (down 2.2).

In the January survey, the gap between the parties was only 8.8 points.

Gender bias between the two leaders persists - men disproportionately favour Mr Key and women disproportionately support Helen Clark as prime minister.

The poll shows that voters aged over 60 have a strong bias towards National and New Zealand First.

It also shows that New Zealand First supporters have a strong preference for a coalition with National over Labour (90 per cent v 9.1 per cent) and that Maori Party supporters are not overwhelmingly disposed to a Labour deal - 57.1 per cent of Maori Party supporters would favour a deal with Labour, but 42.9 per cent would favour a deal with National.

The poll was conducted after an intense political start to the year in which both leaders made "state of the
nation" speeches and announced policies on youth crime, education and training.

Polling began after both leaders visited Waitangi, where Mr Key's meeting with Tame Iti received top billing, as did Helen Clark's aversion to Te Tii Marae.

Helen Clark hinted at media bias, saying last night through a spokesman: "Obviously the Leader of the Opposition has had a lot of publicity since the beginning of the year." She believed Labour polling was holding up and was reasonably close to the 1999 result - 38.74 per cent - when Labour took office.

"The important issue now is who has the best plan for the future," she said.

Mr Key did not believe he'd had more publicity than Helen Clark at the start of the year "and in fact she got enormous coverage from the [Sir Edmund] Hillary funeral ... not that that was political."

He believed they both received extensive, though contrasting, coverage at Waitangi.

He said he never thought his hongi with Tame Iti would damage him in the eyes of the voting public.

"I thought the mood of the nation has moved on and they started looking at Helen Clark fighting the battle that has been and gone and I think they responded positively to me wanting to engage and make a day of national celebration rather than harbouring some sort of historic dispute."

Support for the Greens is showing some volatility, falling to 4.4 per cent from 9.1 in the previous poll and 3.5 in the one before that.

New Zealand First is down 0.7 points on 2.1 per cent.

Falling below the 5 per cent threshold means neither party would win seats in Parliament unless they won an electorate.

Mr Peters has not yet confirmed that he will try to regain his former Tauranga seat, won last election by National's Bob Clarkson.

The Maori Party polled 1.5 per cent (up 0.5), United Future 0.4 (up 0.4), Act 0.4 (down 0.3) and the Progressives were unchanged on zero.

Tax cuts remain the issue most likely to influence votes, 20.7 per cent of those polled listing it top.

* The poll was of 734 respondents, and results presented are from decided voters only. The margin of error is 3.6 per cent.


Related Political Animal reading

Helen Shoots herself in both feet

Colmar Brunton Poll and comment

c Political Animal 2008