Herald’s top political stories of 2010
December 27th, 2010 at 1:00 pm by David FarrarThe Herald’s top 10 political stories:
- Holiday subsidies gone
- Chris Carter
- Shane Jones
- Pansy Wong
- Heather Roy
- David Garrett
- Tax switch
- Foreshore and seabed
- Mining in national parks
- Waihopai spy case
I think it is disappointing that only three (arguably four) of the top ten are issues of policy. Four of them are all variations on the MPs perks issues.
The three strikes law should have been in the top ten. So should the changes to industrial relations laws. And the changes Simon Power has made to the criminal justice system are massive.
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December 27th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
The remuneration system for MPs is ridiculous, as is the response to their pay and perks. I will start worrying about their penny wisdom when they have taken care of their pound foolishness. Until then, I care about wastage in the billions, not in the thousands.
You know what would be the best system of remuneration? Candidates for parliament should be required to write their own employment contract, make it public, and register it with the Electoral Commission upon nomination (and political parties should have to submit a collective one for their list candidates). They should be required to specify their own salary and perks within it. That way, everybody knows what they are voting for before the candidate is elected, and nobody can complain, unless the contract is violated. It would become part of weighing up the merits of a candidate, and rivals will have a vested interest in outdoing each other for reasonable terms, or may even say that they are worth more than the other candidate, and should be paid more. Either way, it would be a lot better than the “independent” panel we have now, which is accountable to no-one, and is spending money that is not theirs.
Vote:December 27th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
dpf the three things you claim should be on the list may have been top political events, but the associated stories were not top ones. And the list was top political *stories,* not stories of top *political events*.
Vote:December 27th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Agree, tabloid is easier to do than policy for our hard working journalists. Policy wise the timid approach to the state house for life changes if its the right thing to do, do it properly. The lack of progress with aquaculture, financial services hub, restrictive building code, mining, PPPs and basically anything that might get the economy moving shows a government afraid to lead (Ryall and Collins notwithstanding). I guess they are non events but stuff that was promised and is far too slow/timid in happening.
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