Alex Fensom was at last night's meeting and sat nearby to one of the Green 'clusters'. He was in a good position to see and hear, and here's what he reported.
"A fiery and occasionally raucous candidates' meeting at the Riverton
RSA last night saw a lively crowd facing a quartet of Invercargill
election candidates: National candidate Eric Roy, Labour's Lesley Soper,
Dave Kennedy from the Greens, and Ian Carline from ACT.
Riverton Green activist Robert Guyton brought along a group of young
people, including his own daughter, equipped with placards.
There were clearly other Green supporters there and they fed off one
another, making more and more noise. Some interrupted ACT candidate Ian
Carline during his speech, drawing a telling-off from the chairwoman.
They then interrupted Green candidate Dave Kennedy's speech with
rounds of applause and shouting, lapping up his denunciation of
National's direction for New Zealand, particularly when he spoke out
against lignite mining and the need to defend the "100% Pure" brand.
National's MP Eric Roy also had to deal with Green interjections, particularly from Mr Guyton.
Mr Roy described the atmosphere as lively, but said he did not have a problem with it.
Labour's Lesley Soper was treated more kindly by the audience, with
some of her policy points, such as removing GST from fruit and
vegetables and against asset sales, drawing rounds of applause.
A question on the proposed minimum wage rise to $15 an hour put
pressure on Mr Kennedy and Ms Soper. And this time the interjections
came from small-business owners who wanted to know how they would pay
for it.
Mr Kennedy said the Greens would make tax compliance easier and
wondered if a business that struggled to pay wages was sustainable.
Ms Soper said minimum-wage earners spent their money on living and the money would feed into small businesses."
- The Southland Times
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
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14 comments:
about time!
it is usually the nats interjecting during labour and the green candidates in conservative electorates
good to hear and wish I was there
Good on you for rocking the boat, Robert. Better that than leaving the boat stuck on a reef, leaking oil, like John Key.
I hope the left combine to beat the right. A right wing conservative tory nanny state NZ scares the bejeeesus out of me. I'd head offshore until society evolved again.
I'm proud of you guys.
Hey, thanks for your encouragements everyone! I gambled a little, with making noise where usually there is respectful silence, encouraged by a strong Blue presence, but we cut loose, in a creative way, and backed our man (and the Labour woman). It was very perplexing for the Natty supporters, who started and ended on the back foot.
The green balloons that appeared and grew in number throughout the evening, were a lovely touch, Bio :-)
'Parently there's another meeting tonight :-)
Sounds like a political meeting should be, Rg. Bet you enjoyed every moment. Off to Forest and Bird tonight - not nearly as rollicking I fear!
Wise up Anonymous - the left - read Labour - are the worst "nanny state" protagonists by far. The mess they managed to get us in while in surplus begs belief.
Now the Greens. That is another kettle of fish. In a perverted sort of way I seriously believe a Green/ National coalition would be awesome for New Zealand. Each would keep the other honest on way out policy, but the way forward would be good for us all in the long term
Perverted...or perverse, Fred?
A bit of both, I suspect.
I haven't pleased the Southern Green candidates very much, with my shenannigans though!
The Party is becoming to middle-of-the-road, it seems :-)
Out twig 'n' tweetin' tonight?
Have fun!
Mr Kennedy said the Greens would make tax compliance easier and wondered if a business that struggled to pay wages was sustainable.
That just reveals that Mr Kennedy (and probably the Greens) have very little understanding of what true sustainability really is.
Tell us then, Shunda, so's we knows.
I've already told you.
It has to do with inflation and wanting a bigger share of 'unsustainable pie'
In other words, the Greens policy is more about short term (and it would be short term) wealth redistribution than anything to do with sustainable - or more importantly, environmentally friendly economics.
Wealth redistribution is not a 'green' concept, it is a socialist concept, and while I am not denying the problem of inequality, I fail to see how this policy even remotely addresses the underlying issues that have caused the problem in the first place.
The minimum wage policy is fundamentally flawed.
(For the record, in my business I set my minimum wage at $15hr several years ago, I personally wouldn't pay anyone less than this.)
Shunda - you are to be congratulated for your responsible and fair treatment of your staff,with the setting of your 'minimum wage', though hearing that you pay a $15 minimum makes me wonder wehy you think a nation-wide minimum at that level is 'flawed'.
Can you explain, Shunda?
It is all about values.
For me, I value fair play and fair pay and am able to pay 15hr for the following reasons.
I don't have any hire purchases.
I don't have a wide screen TV.
I don't go to the Gold coast for holidays (how tacky).
I live in a modest house that I was able to pay off relatively quickly.
In short, I am not living quite as unsustainably as many others and I am willing to share more of my slice of the pie.
But to force these values suddenly upon other larger employers with different values will only ensure that they do everything they can to maintain their current profits/standards of living.
The result will be more environmental pressure, corner cutting, and lobying for deregulation.
The other result will be high inflation which will only ensure that the new $15hr becomes the old $10hr relatively quickly.
And that would also seriously affect small business owners like myself to keep doing what we are doing.
The rich will still be rich and the problem just continues.
What I dont understand Robert is why Ingill candidates were invited ..surely it would have been more appropriate for clutha/ Southland candidate as isnt Riverton in this electorate not Invercargill candidates
It was, Pauline, but the changes to the electoral boundaries last election, brought Riverton etc. into Invercargill.
Hence Eric and Dave. You'd have laughed if you were there and you wouldn't have been able to stay quiet. Eric took it well and we had a laugh about it all afterwards.
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