Where do I start? First I think I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the inconsiderate Helen Clark for implementing an early start to daylight savings.
I’d like to invite her next year to come back to New Zealand and join us for calving and the changeover to early daylight saving, so she too can battle the weather and get up at 3:30am.
It has to be one of the many stupid ideas the Labour party had.
I mean I ask you, how many of you are out there enjoying the great Kiwi pastime of barbecues on the beach after work in this lovely weather of gale force winds and horizontal rain?
September is always one of the worst months for weather, followed closely by a not-much-improved October.
However, I don’t think hard working New Zealanders and farmers were ever high on Helen’s list, we were way behind her priorities of dishing out benefits, making small businesses struggle, importing as many people as possible into the country to overpopulate it (while ensuring voters) and overloading our health system.
That said, National and the seabed and foreshore debacle and ETS haven’t given me much in hope for our government either.
While we are supposed to be enjoying barbecues at the beach under Helen’s terrific daylight savings scheme, National is going to open up the seabed and foreshore for appeal by iwi. Should we be battling the weather and visiting our beaches in rain, hail or shine while we can?
They say it starts with certain rights, but can we all put our hands on our hearts and say without a modicum of doubt that we trust the Maori party and Hone Harawira to the extent that we could say we know it will stop there and that the seabed and foreshore will continue to belong to all New Zealanders?
That Iwi won’t sell off rights to mine iron sands to overseas interests along with other vast lucrative industries that have and still could evolve from this?
When Hone says his dream future sees himself playing on the beach with his mokopuna, does he also see pakeha sharing the same beach with their grandchildren? No I’m not racist or xenophobic, I just believe New Zealanders should be treated as one and we need to protect our assets.
Bring on the MMP referendum and let’s hope New Zealanders see sense and eradicate this from our voting system. You only need to spend an hour watching Parliament TV to see that we are paying for a bunch of mindless banter between a myriad of ministers. I have seen daycares for under four-year-olds run more smoothly.
New Zealanders vote for policies by parties they want in power, only to see those parties bow down to minority parties to ensure they get enough seats to hold power.
Then they must constantly go against their own values as they are held to ransom by these other parties. It hasn’t worked in other countries and it isn’t working here.
On that note, I must say I absolutely agree with university students having to have at least a 50 per cent passing rate for the year to ensure they can carry on their studies and their loans.
Future generations need to realise and realise quickly that there are no free rides in life and if you want something bad enough you will work hard for it and suffer short term pain and cost for long term gain.
Too many people have been given free rides (some of those in parliament included, in my opinion), and it’s time for cuts time to get back to basics and run this country to the best of its ability.
And if the Green Party want us to care for the environment, the first thing we need is for our country to have a good economy that allows us to do that, and we all know that starts with agriculture and tourism, and our farmers know best how to care for the land and our landscape despite what many townies argue.
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