A left critique of the 5th Labour Government

Anita at Kiwipolitico says that as a leftie, she does not mourn the passing of the 5th Labour Government, because they:

• put a refugee in solitary confinement for 10 months, despite never telling him what he was accused of
• employed a senior police officer for nearly four years despite him admitting to the sexual exploitation of vulnerable teenagers and publicly supporting convicted rapists
• put in place financial support for the children of workers, but ignored the plight of our poorest and most vulnerable children
• drove a 50% increase in the prison population
• failed to bring stability to our abortion rules; leaving our bodies to the whim of the next government
• did not give workers back the right to strike
• drafted and passed amendments to the Immigration Act removing rights of appeal and allowing the use of secret evidence
• drafted and passed the Terrorism Suppression Act, a piece of legislation which cuts deeply into our fundamental rights
• condoned and supported the October 15 raids in which the Police invaded and harassed innocent communities
• passed legislation preventing courts deciding who should own the seabed and foreshore
• put NZ troops into Afghanistan and Iraq
• released an wonderful disability strategy, and completely failed to implement it
• failed to address climate change in any meaningful way

I am a bit surprised she doesn’t mention the tolerating Peters and/or the EFA, but anyway this is her list. So what do I agree with her on:

• Zaoui – I actually think the law rather than the Govt is to balem for this shambles. I do think there were legitimate security concerns based on his convictions in France and Belgium, but it should never have led to him being kept in jail for as long as he did.
• Clint Rickards – well to be fair to Helen Clark she personally vetoed him becoming Deputy Commissioner. I’m not sure if employment laws would allow any other outcome than keeping him employed uring the trials.
• WFF being more generous towards those in work than on benefits. I disagree this is a bad thing – those on benefits with children did get heaps more assistance, but you do want incentives for work.
• increased prison population – yep violent crime and hence prisonesr increased.
• abortion laws – yep this could have been addressed as the laws do not reflect practice.
• did not give workers back the right to strike – I disagree with the wording here. Anita is advocating the right for a worker to not turn up to work for whatever reseason they decide (unhappy over climate change) and the employer being unable to do anything about it. Why should employers be held hostage like that?
• drafted and passed amendments to the Immigration Act removing rights of appeal and allowing the use of secret evidence – partly agree. Some parts of new Act went far too far, but other parts will help solve the massive delays we see in the system.
• drafted and passed the Terrorism Suppression Act, a piece of legislation which cuts deeply into our fundamental rights – I support the Act in principle (we live in a post 9/11 world) but the way it was used in the Urerewas has left me unconvinced.
• condoned and supported the October 15 raids in which the Police invaded and harassed innocent communities – let’s just wait for the trials before we determine innocence.
• passed legislation preventing courts deciding who should own the seabed and foreshore – agree there – a massive blunder.
• put NZ troops into Afghanistan and Iraq – Afghanistan was 100% the right thing to do. Iraq is ironic considering how often Clark tries and have people forget she sent troops in.
• released an wonderful disability strategy, and completely failed to implement it – don’t know enough on this area to comment. I should.
• failed to address climate change in any meaningful way – basically correct – larger percentage growth in emissions than the USA and Australia.

Kiwipolitico is fast becoming a must read blog, even though I disagree with much of it.