Category: ACT Party

Source: ACT Party

Headline: America’s Cup: great theatre, poor deal

“The America’s Cup is a fantastic event, but David Parker and Phil Goff have negotiated an incompetent deal on behalf of New Zealanders”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Clearly feeling the pressure, Parker and Goff will stump up at least $212.5 million of taxpayer and ratepayer money, including a $40 million ‘hosting fee’.

“Economists have put the cost-benefit ratio of the event at between 0.997 and 1.14. That means the most optimistic scenario has the country only just breaking even.

“But, with a high likelihood of cost blowouts, New Zealanders could end up losing money on the event. 

“No private investor in the world would accept a maximum $1.14 return on the dollar. Why should the taxpayer?

“David Parker and Phil Goff should have pushed Team New Zealand much harder for a better deal for New Zealanders”, says Mr Seymour.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Free Press Monday 26 March -A Popular ACT Policy

A Popular ACT Policy

ACT commissioned independent polling to test the popularity of Partnership Schools. As one of our former leaders likes to say, politics is hard slog in the fog, then suddenly you’re out in front. After six years of battling everybody, including the National Party half the time, ACT’s Partnership Schools have gone mainstream. Sixty per cent believe the Government has handled the issue badly, fifty-seven per cent believe the schools should stay open.

Government Overture Fails

Jacinda Ardern wants to get rid of Partnership Schools because they’re a failure, but wants them to stay open because they are a success. Her strategy was to avoid closing them by inviting operators to turn their Partnership Schools into state schools, but Ardern admitted this week only one of the eleven schools has applied, and only two more are ‘close.’ She can’t close them, so what now?

How you can Help

Ardern says she will meet anyone and work across partisan lines to achieve more for New Zealand. We like this style and have written asking her to meet signatories to a petition to save Partnership Schools. You can help by signing here www.savecharters.kiwi. If you have already signed, please use your email and social media to share it with more people. Stay tuned for the presentation date.

Where’s the Report?

The previous Government commissioned Wellington policy shop Martin Jenkins to do a three-part report on the Partnership Schools policy. It cost over $400,000. The first two parts are public and highly complementary of the policy. They say it promoted innovation in education and engaged marginalized kids well. The public deserve to see the third, due since the change of Government, but it has been suppressed.

Aussie Cricketers Would be Proud

Chris Hipkins has claimed in Parliamentary Questions that he has not read the report. We find this extraordinary as it has existed for months. Free Press predicts that Hipkins’ staff have read it and are busy trying to get Martin Jenkins to recast it with the schools in a less favourable light before the Minister reads it. Australian cricketers would not attempt such brazen tampering.

Government Ghetto

Let’s start by complimenting Phil Twyford for recognizing that the housing market is a problem, and it is a problem of supply. But his plan to cram 4,000 homes onto 29 hectares of Unitec Land in Mt Albert is nuts. It is reminiscent of the 1960s projects that British and American Governments are now pulling down.

The Numbers in Context

At Unitec, Twyford wants to put 4,000 homes on 29 hectares. A hectare is roughly the size of a rugby field. The densest area of Auckland at the moment is the Waitemata Local Board Area, taking in Parnell, the CBD, and some western inner-city suburbs such as Freeman’s Bay. It has a density of 19 dwellings per hectare. The Albert-Eden area has a density of 12 dwellings per hectare. Twyford’s proposal puts 138 dwellings per hectare. The new development will have seven times more homes on a given area than anywhere else in New Zealand. It will be nearly twelve times denser than the surrounding area.

Density Problems

Many Free Press readers maybe spending or will have spent two years in London or perhaps North America, and they probably loved living cheek by jowl. That all changes as life goes on, something we see in the Epsom Electorate daily. Dense living is living with parking disputes, noise, traffic, and other unexpected incidents. Council compliance officers privately admit their jobs are growing because of the Council’s push for density. It is no exaggeration to say that the Government risks creating American-style projects with its plan for Mt Albert.

What ACT Would Do

Regular Free Press readers will be able to rehearse it with their eyes closed. If only the Government would replace the Resource Management Act with pro development legislation, give councils better incentives to issue resource consents by funding infrastructure properly, and get councils out of the building consent business, the Government would not need to get into the property development game because the private sector would be doing it. Alas, Phil Twyford has admitted that the Government hasn’t even discussed the RMA in Cabinet yet.

Research Shows Students are Rational

A new study from Motu Economic Research shows us what happens when students stop getting free money. In one of its better ideas, the previous Government took Allowances from post graduate students in 2013. Did this stop ‘poorer’ students (those who had been eligible for an allowance as undergraduates) from doing Masters’ Degrees and Doctorates? No it did not. They simply borrowed more on their loans and studied at the same rate.

Government Waste in the Billions

Free money doesn’t affect whether Postgraduate students’ study or not. They’ll laugh all the way to the bank if offered it, but they won’t stop studying not. Free Press predicts that wiping fees for undergraduate students will have the same effect on studying. None. There won’t be any more students studying, but they will happily bank the taxpayer’s money.

What ACT Would Do

There actually are kids who need help, but it’s not the ones who get into Tertiary education and earn millions more for the rest of their lives as a result. It’s the kids who never make it to the starting line who deserve any extra education spending. If a Government was going to spend more taxpayer money on education, it should pay good teachers more but only if they leave the union. There is nothing more powerful we could do to give poor kids a chance in the current system than flushing out bad teachers and rewarding the good ones.

An Even Easier Solution

Of course, a much easier solution would be to leave Partnership Schools alone. They are getting more kids a high school qualification than sate schools for the same cost. Please don’t forget to add your weight to our petition and share it www.savecharters.kiwi

More Government Waste from ‘Demographic’ Ministers

We are no fans of ‘demographic’ ministers. The ministers for Seniors, Youth, Pacific Peoples, Ethnic Communities, Women and Pacific Peoples cannot point to one achievement for their respective types of human. Their real job is to provide a lot of photo ops with said humans for the various Governments they’ve served. They are an enormous waste of taxpayer money.

Foot in Mouth Disease

Women’s Minister Julie Anne Genter has proved these positions are useless at best and hazardous at worst when she told a group of intermediate-aged girls and boys that old men in senior positions should ‘move on.’ Had a male MP gone and said women dominating, say, the education sector should move on to give men a chance, there would be outrage. What message does it send to the little girls in the class? That they should be ashamed to succeed? Did Genter think of the boys she was addressing?

Incredible Silence

People wonder why traditional media outlets are in trouble. The answer is right before us in this mini-saga. Not a single journalist has asked Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy how Genter’s comments square with her #givenothingtoracism campaign. This would not be difficult, and lots of people would love to know, but there you go.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Hipkins tries to bully schools while suppressing their success

“The Government has utterly failed in its attempts to bully fledgling charter schools into accepting a different educational model”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“A month and a half after introducing a Bill to scrap charter schools, only one has taken the Minister up on his offer.

“Meanwhile, Mr Hipkins is suppressing the final Martin Jenkins evaluation of the charter school model which by all accounts is glowing.

“Jacinda Ardern says she accepts that charter schools have a right to exist and are working, but wants to take away the freedoms that have seen them succeed.

“This confused approach is one reason why polling shows that most New Zealanders disapprove of the Government’s handling of charter schools and support the schools remaining open.

“The Government should now wake up to the fact it is on the wrong side of public opinion and end its ideological opposition to educational choice”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Printing money doesn’t create jobs

“Directing the Reserve Bank to focus on employment ignores the basic fact that printing money doesn’t create jobs”, says ACT Leader David Seymour. 

“Monetary policy doesn’t affect employment in the long-term. 

“Jobs are created when we have a world-class education system, a flexible labour market, and a sound welfare system, none of which is related to monetary policy. 

“If central banks were able to increase employment by printing money, Zimbabwe would be a thriving economy. Instead, it is a basket case.

“Forcing the Reserve Bank to focus on both inflation and employment will put it in an impossible situation.

“When inflation starts to increase as a result of the Government’s massive spending plans, the Reserve Bank will face a difficult choice: raise interest rates and therefore short-term unemployment, or accept higher inflation with all of its damaging consequences.

“New Zealand’s employment rate is high compared with other developed countries. If we want to keep it that way, fighting inflation should be the sole focus of the Reserve Bank. Low inflation is an absolutely necessary condition for strong economic performance.

“These changes are economic vandalism of the highest order”, says Mr Seymour. 

Source: ACT Party

Headline: New Zealanders deserve honest appraisal of Government housing failure

“New Zealanders deserve better than Phil Twyford’s ideological comments this morning on Q+A about a ‘market failure’ in housing”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“The Government’s own officials have said that, in Auckland, land use regulation could be responsible for up to 56 per cent, or $530,000, of the cost of an average home.

“ACT has revealed from Written Parliamentary Questions that Cabinet hasn’t even decided whether to consider reviewing the Resource Management Act – rules that determine what can be built where – after 150 days in the Beehive.

“New Zealand does not have a free market in housing. It is a market created and manipulated by government. 

“The Government – whether central or local – controls the Resource Management Act, zoning, consents and other factors that influence the market. 

“Our housing market isn’t a case of market failure but an example of regulatory failure. New Zealand has planning rules which mean that the market is not able to increase the supply of houses in response to increases in demand.

“New Zealanders deserve a Housing Minister that is willing to acknowledge that our planning rules need to change. 

“Mr Twyford should seek urgent advice from his officials about replacing the Resource Management Act as a first step towards making housing more affordable”, says Mr Seymour.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Middlemore a prime example of public sector incompetence

“So far, $11 million of operations, doctor’s appointments, and prescriptions have been lost thanks to incompetent government management by National and Labour”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Leaky building issues at Middlemore Hospital shows the problem with governments owning assets – they are poor managers of capital.

“This is a good lesson in property rights.

“Private owners of assets have strong financial incentives to maximise their value because they get the benefits from doing so.

“By contrast, when the public owns an asset, the bureaucrats and politicians that manage those assets have little incentive to take care of them. Instead, problems are swept under the carpet until they are leaked to journalists.

“We have seen health budgets increase year after year, while patient satisfaction is at its lowest level since 2006.

“The issues with our health system are structural.

“We need greater competition and private sector involvement in our health system to ensure that New Zealanders get the best bang for their health dollar” says Mr Seymour.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: National Party infighting costs households $1200

“Comments by former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman show that National cannot be trusted to cut taxes when it returns to Government”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Mr Coleman made clear there are many National MPs who support even greater government spending instead of returning money to those who earned it.

“Last year’s PREFU showed the National Government had boosted its bank balance by overtaxing New Zealanders to the tune of $2.1 billion, or $1200 per household.

“The fact that massive future surpluses couldn’t persuade National to cut taxes is simply extraordinary.

“The reason we have an Ardern-Peters government wasting taxpayers money on bribes for the provinces and fees-free rorts is that the Nats refused to cut taxes.

“Labour and National are running a giant Ponzi scheme with New Zealanders’ money. They’re taking more and more taxpayer money and spending it on panicked quick fixes to solve crises they have created over the past 18 years, and then they pretend they’re doing us a favour.

“New Zealanders could use that money better themselves, for saving, investing or spending.

“The centre-right needs a strong ACT to deliver meaningful tax cuts, letting hardworking New Zealanders keep their own money”, says Mr Seymour.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Partnership Schools outperforming state schools on attendance

“New data on school attendance shows Partnership Schools outperform state schools”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“In Term 2 of 2017, truancy made up 4 per cent of missed class time in state schools. 

“The latest data on Partnership School shows that no school had a truancy rate of more than 1.7 per cent.

“Partnership Schools don’t just perform better on truancy – they’re specifically contracted to ensure this remains the case. They’re not allowed truancy rates above 2.8 per cent. If a Partnership School performed as badly as the average state school on attendance, it would be at risk of closure. Meanwhile, state schools can achieve high rates of truancy year-on-year with little or no consequences.

“Priority learners like those who attend Partnership Schools are statistically more likely than the average student to be truant. But at Partnership Schools they are showing up to learn. In other words, students underserved by the state system are effectively engaged by the alternative educational approaches offered by Partnership Schools.

“This is one reason why Kiwis back Partnership Schools. New polling shows that 57 per cent of decided voters agreed Partnership Schools should be allowed to continue operating in their current form, while 60 per cent of decided voters disapprove of the way the Government is dealing with Partnership Schools.

“New Zealanders are beginning to learn what 1500 students already know: Partnership Schools change lives for the better”, says Mr Seymour.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Polling shows Kiwis support charter schools

“Polling conducted by Curia Market Research shows New Zealanders support charter schools remaining open and disapprove of the Government’s handling of the issue”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

57 per cent of decided voters agreed charter schools should be allowed to continue operating in their current form, while 60 per cent of decided voters disapprove of the way the Government is dealing with charter schools.

“The Government is on the wrong side of public opinion on this issue. It needs to stop taking advice from the teachers’ unions, start listening to Kiwis, and drop its ideological push to deprive kids of choice.

“I urge New Zealanders who value educational choice for our kids to go to savecharters.kiwi and sign the petition telling the Government to back off. More than 2600 people have already signed it.

“This website also tells people how to make a submission on Chris Hipkins’ legislation to scrap charter schools. It only takes a few minutes and can easily be done online.

“There’s plenty of anger about the Government’s decision to take school choice away from 1500 disadvantaged students. Kiwis nows need to translate that feeling into action”, says Mr Seymour.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Career bureaucrat/politician Jones should back off

“Shane Jones has never spent a day of his life in the private sector and should stop telling Air New Zealand how to run its operations”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“It is simply extraordinary that a Minister who has never stepped outside a bureaucracy or quango in his life believes he can tell a publicly listed company what to do.

“Air New Zealand is a private entity and its job is to get the best financial value for its shareholders.

“If the Government feels there is a genuine public good in the regional routes that have been shut down, it could set up a government subsidy and put those routes out for tender.

“The answer isn’t for Shane Jones to try to strong-arm the Board from his bully pulpit”, says Mr Seymour.