Heather du Plessis-Allan: Good luck trying to convince Kiwis the climate dividend is a bad idea

Well, good luck to James Shaw trying to convince Kiwis it’s a bad idea for National to give us that climate dividend as part of their tax cuts.

He's going as hard as he can. Yesterday, he said it "pissed him off" and it was “incensing him”, and today he’s put out a press release saying he’s “insulted”.

What he’s upset about is that National has used the ETS money to pay for their tax cuts. The ETS money collects from us all paying a little tax every time we do something that pollutes the planet.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Farmers called Labour's bluff ahead of the election

New Zealand farmers have called Labour’s bluff on the climate tax Labour was planning, and they’ve won this thing. 

After yesterday’s announcement from the Nats, there is now very little chance- actually probably no chance at all- that Labour will put any kind of tax on farmers before the election.

Because what happened yesterday is that farmers got hope. All they have to do is hold on for the next four months.

Clive Bibby: Let's get real

 

Why is that our leaders appear incapable of understanding the contributing factors involved in running a successful family business.

At a time when speculative decisions can have tragic consequences for the shareholders, one would hope that those who have responsibility for our survival maintain a tight control over the things that have been proven over time to matter. 

Yet the opposite appears to be true.