Showers saved for now
Labour have backed down on the Labour/Green plan to restrict showers in new homes to six litres a minute.
But remember before the last election Helen Clark said she would not ban smacking – and she effectively did. This is a tactical retreat, not a strategic withdrawal. If they are re-elected, they will try again!
The Greens still want it though, describing it as a missed opportunity:
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said that if the option of six-litre showers was removed altogether, people building new homes would have fewer opportunities for meeting energy efficiency standards.
Is that like those opportunities those nice Nigerian widows keep e-mailing me about?
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Tags: Greens, Labour, Nanny State, showers
October 15th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Good of Labour to bottle on the issue. If Labour win aren’t the Greens just going to demand the shower restrictions be reinstated? More nanny state from the Left, they just can’t help themselves.
Labour can’t be trusted.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:14 am
The “Shower Issue” is what really annoys me the most about MMP
This idiot idea was obviously dreamed up by the greens with Labour who then
attempted to bring it into law (sliding it under the radar), to sure up their support in this election.
In effect it is a BRIBE.
In a real democracy this issue would surface via a manifesto.
But what is the point of a manifesto anymore, when the real
deals are made well before the election, in the back rooms of power.
To make matters worse any party that gets into power can
suddenly do a “U” turn on any of their promises because of the
negotiations with their minor coalition partner.
This is not democracy, it is a circus, and the voter the performing monkeys.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:17 am
“Flip Flop” Two words that spring to mind!
October 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Not Splish Splash?
October 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am
And Cullen has promised tax again like he did before, then reneged. And then he’s havinga “mini-budget” in December for what reason?
Its about trust alright.
Why is a member of the oposition having a budget anyway?
October 15th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Llew: very good
October 15th, 2008 at 9:24 am
opportunity my ass.
People have always had the opportunity to put in dribbly 6l/m shower heads.
Nobody wants to.
So dressing it as a missed opportunity for consumers is a complete lie. It’s a missed opportunity to ram another unwanted constraint down our throats.
I wish for once the Greens would stop lying.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Labour get back in.. they will push this through again. its a givin.
Hi 5’s all around for National knocking the insulation tax on the head. A good waste of a billion dollars to warm our homes!
I mean WTF.. if the Greens are right. The Planets warming so much.. we wont fucking need insulation will we?
we should all be given coconut and banana plants to get ourselves ready for that tropical climate thats coming!
Its all about sustainability>>>
October 15th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I agree democracymum. As much as I like having ACT in Parliament, MMP has become a very un-democratic farce. I would like to see a referendum on the issue.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:30 am
My vote would be for STV and a strong, written constitution.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Yes, it’s an unadulterated flip-flop. But you will never hear the MSM apply that term to Labour. They reserve it as a term contrived for attacks on John Key exclusively.
Shane Jones’ explanation on TV for the “change of mind” on showers was extraordinary. He claimed that the matter was only ever one that was open for public consultation, not a definite policy. I simply don’t believe that. Why hasn’t somebody in the media tested his veracity on the issue? Was there even a mention of “consultation” in his department’s relevant media release?
October 15th, 2008 at 9:35 am
If there is an issue that upsets the average Joe in the street, it is being told what to do.
Despite the shower nonsense being saving for now, most people around the water cooler this morning mentioned this issue when raised by key last night. He scored big mentioning it and should continue with that theme as he can call on many examples.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:42 am
DPF:
“….If they are re-elected, they will try again!….”
What do you mean, “try”? You mean, they WILL ENACT THIS MEASURE. Has Helen ever been thwarted yet, from doing something she hadn’t been able to do earlier, when once the stupid, stupid, stupid voting sheeple re-elect her?
And we’re stupid enough to fall for the perpetual MSM line that it is the NAT’S “secret agenda” that we need to be scared of?
DUH.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:45 am
“consultation” – yeah, a bit like the Select Committee process which has been turned into a procedural farce by this corrupt government.
Remember this post content yesterday:
Espiner: When we protested that we had worked with the Select Committee, which had removed this provision – and balanced it with one which made licence holders liable for false accusations – she said that this was completely inappropriate of the Select Committee, because Cabinet had already decided this was going ahead. We should not have been surprised, we were told, that this provision was reinserted by the government at the last minute before the bill was passed.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:45 am
hey everyone
We don’t have to go far today to click on Labour’s online banners.
They are running right here on Kiwiblog
Remember every time we click on them will cost Labour money
And Mikey we will be very interested in your accounting in this area
October 15th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I can understand why the Greens so badly want this shower-head legislation introduced…if you only shower once a month on average (Greenie), it must be very hard for them to understand why anyone would wish to keep clean on a daily basis. Just waste water to them…
October 15th, 2008 at 10:12 am
“Llew: very good”
I thought it was really wet…
October 15th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Not at 6 litres per minute.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:22 am
A few years back I knew a staunch Green party supporter. His clothes were constantly dirty. He often smelled from body odour. His dreadlocks looked like a toxic waste dump. He always reeked of marijuana. And he drove around in an old crappy van that spewed large amounts of carcinogenic smoke.
He was nevertheless “concerned” about the effects of human beings on the environment!
Oh, and one time he spray painted “SMASH THE STATE” on somebodies fence. At the time he was receiving a welfare benefit from the very same state.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Thank god they didn’t take the advice of some official in the ministry because now National has no plans to make NZ houses warmer we’ll all need longer showers.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Lee – you knew Nandor ?
October 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Lee WTF does any of what you say have to do with anything.
I knew a staunch national party supporter. He stole millions of people dollars and is still in Jail.
Tosser
October 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am
“DamnedAngry’” I know why you need more showers, to wash the filth from you. Is this all nice an personal for everyone now. WTF is with the stereotypes of greens supporters? Arrogance only leads to fear and that’s one step away from hate, and you’re walking fast sunshine.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Paul,
It’s amusing for a start, and laughter is its own reward.
Also, sometimes stereotypes are reasonably accurate, and I have yet to meet in person a seriously staunch Green party supporter that did not fit the stereotype.
Plus, I thinks its legitimate to point out the rank hypocrisy of many Green voters.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:14 am
It’s easy to criticise environmental-based regulations on technology here and now.
If the state of California hadn’t been at the forefront of setting vehicle emission regulations ever since the 1950s, there would be no fuel injection or catalytic converters now, and we would still be driving cars with cheap simple engines that consume about twice as much gas as what new cars do now.
Compare the 30+ MPG you can easily get out of a new Commodore or a Falcon with the 12-15 MPG of a 1970s Jaguar with similar horsepower.
The last thing Triumphs needed to do during the 1960s was spend a fortune developing their Lucas fuel injection when they were under massive competition from cheap dirty Fords and big flash Rovers. The last thing Jaguars needed to do during the rampant unionism of the 70s was to spend a fortune developing their first EFI systems.
But if Californian exhaust regulations had not been set as they were, none of this innovation would have happened, and your nice new Corolla would probably now be still running a dirty old Weber carb or something like that. And you would be paying the price for that at the petrol pump, like only a classic car owner can imagine!
October 15th, 2008 at 11:53 am
The thing I can’t understand about this whole shower restrictions issue, and obviously the Greens and Labour don’t understand either, is we already have two disincentives to using large amounts of electrically heated hot water:
1. Water charges, which are direct in Auckland etc where each house has an individual water meter, and indirect elsewhere through water charges in rates.
2. Electricity charges.
So don’t these naturally limit the amount of electrically heated hot water most people are prepared to use anyway?
So I guess the only way we can rationalise this once again is the left’s crazy desire to CONTROL everyone. It’s all about CONTROL.
Greens and Labour – STOP TRYING TO CONTROL ME AND STAY OUT OF MY SHOWER!
October 15th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Like most of you said, Helen Clark will bring the shower head control back when she wants to form a coalition. She already made an agreement with the Greens which is why the Greens voted for the ETS. It is all about control with Helen. She also did the same with the antismacking law. She said she wasn’t going to vote that in but when Fields got dumped, wow, the greens found a coalition partner, good old Helen. There will be a lot more coming down the pike if she gets in. And Helen is banking on the public forgetting. This has been her best ally.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
RRM, there is something plausible in what you say, but the reality is that it was only the US manufacturers of tank-like cars that needed to be pushed in the direction of efficiency; the Japanese manufacturers and to a lesser extent the Europeans were already scooping that segment of the market in the US that DID want efficient cars. Many of the best innovations in internal combustion technology are spin-offs from manufacturers involvement in Car Racing, not from government regulations. And increasing oil prices represent another stimulus in the right direction.
October 15th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
If Shane Jones came down off his “Maori/next leader, arrogant, entitled ,”important” bullshit nonsensical deluded Moa, and actually realised that using long words was not an automatic entre to “high society”, he might become a credible polititian. He is not the first Poly. to make this mistake .But he seems to be a slow learner. Alzo, being a Klarke slave right now is probably not a wise career move. Shane. Try to take good advice when it is offered.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:50 am
The shower may be saved but thanks to nine years of a Labour government the New Zealand economy is sinking without trace.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Hey mara,
Does calling people deluded normally help them to agree with you?
October 17th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Hey ton,
I think it’s a bit like slavery. People breathe the air where they live, regardless of whether it’s polluted or clean.