Long on MMP and reform

Richard Long writes:

When the market men suggest we should all migrate to Australia, and the Left are screaming about the Government robbing the poor to give tax cuts to the rich, Prime Minister John Key can figure he got the pitch just about right.

He hasn’t gone nearly far enough for coalition partner Act, which would have been tempted to grab the Don Brash ”catching up with Australia” review as a policy blueprint, but he has pushed the boat out about as far as he can go with coalition partner the Maori Party by indicating a rise in GST to 15 per cent to fund the tax cuts. …

Mr Key and Finance Minister Bill English are operating in the aftermath of the biggest recession since the Great Depression. They need not flounder over broken promises, as they did last week over their earlier comments rejecting a GST increase.

John Maynard Keynes set the example for this when he was accused, during the Great Depression, of changing position on monetary policy. The great man responded: ”When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?”

Among the exciting prospects in the Key blueprint is the pledge to expand oil exploration and to survey areas of the Crown estate to see just what treasures are underneath. Oil has come from nowhere to be our No 3 export, after dairying and tourism. And who knows what mining riches we could discover in the form of gold,  diamonds and rare minerals to pay off those budget deficits and fund our children’s superannuation in the  years ahead.

Richard mischievously goes on to say he hopes they find uranium in Fiordland 🙂