Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Bob each way

Matt Jeffs

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 02:24:51 +1300

As for John Key's up to date knowledge of lower socio economic areas of Auckland / Hamilton (delete as appropriate) . McGeghan Close had postal delieveries stopped due to various posties being chased by rotties and threatended by a couple of the locals with machette's. I know this as I…

Riddley Walker

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 21:48:48 +1300

I think it's "hair, there and everywhere"

Yamis

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:39:21 +1300

Whoops, "hear, hear". Or is it "there, there"? No that's if I'm consoling them.

Yamis

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:38:23 +1300

here, here Riddley.

If we simply look at the value of the land and say "rich people live here near the beach on the big north facing sections.... and poor people live here miles from anywhere, facing south on top of your neighbours" then lets see what kind of social…

Riddley Walker

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:51:27 +1300

There is also economic rationalism in pepper-potting state housing so you don't end up with ghettos of alientated poor, who will then leave their ghettos and come through the windows of those nice white rich people living in their wealthy burbs purged of yucky poor people. More alienated poor means…

Riddley Walker

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:46:41 +1300

Tussock you are so harsh! I'm sure that lovely kind white gentleman in a suit (oops sorry, i noticed he had that happening untucked collared shirt look going on when he was hanging with his buddies the Poor People), knows some very good merchant bankers that will pay a good…

sagenz

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:36:54 +1300

addressing 2 of your points. Mad ave was a pit. I made some money from its demise so maybe I have a bias. It was very run down state housing surrounded by good middle class housing. But it makes economic sense to sell highly desirable chunks of land to developers…

tussock

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:28:15 +1300

Key's not talking about using big business dollars, he's talking about giving taxpayer dollars to big business to provide social services in place of having all those "worthless bureaucrat's" doing it.

That's right, he's going to privatise the welfare system. Along with the schools, the prisons, the hospitals, the roads,…

merc

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:59:01 +1300

Nailed. It's starting to look like the State House Done Well Poster Child (or Mayor Quimby if you prefer) has been set up. Just who is behind National that is so desperate to rule. Is this the return of those cavalier old robber barons, exiled to Blighty by evil tax…

Riddley Walker

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:45:34 +1300

What a start it's been for National – not only has John Key discovered poor people, but his party has managed THREE FLIP-FLOPS IN ONE WEEK.

First a turn-around on supporting a repeal of the seabed and foreshore act, then a change of heart on immediately abolishing the Maori seats,…

Rob Stowell

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:51:20 +1300

I'm also inclined to give Key some benefit of the doubt- but what most are observing is that "Mr Key’s proposal’s" are so far very thin. Tipping one's "support for community organisations backed by big business bucks" implies that community organisations aren't backed (Labour HAS lost cred and allies here,…

Joe Wylie

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:24:21 +1300

I see a few people think that it is hilarious that John Key should care about a developing underclass population here in kiwi[sic]land.

No harm in having a giggle, but I tend to be more suspicious. The same people who are currently doing handstands around Key were behaving in exactly…

merc

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:10:44 +1300

I don't know, I'm not that rich (in money terms), and posterity means nothing to me.

FletcherB

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:52:43 +1300

Merc said

I think you'll find that the really big U.S. philanthropists are donating to avoid tax.

Really? You dont think, that just maybe, they realise that after a certain level of $$$, when you own all the luxury goods/properties/art/hobby items that you can possibly use or want.... that having…

dad4justice

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:48:05 +1300

I see a few people think that it is hilarious that John Key should care about a developing underclass population here in kiwiland. I suggest his support for community organisations backed by big business bucks makes simple sense to me. The present bureaucratic ideology seems to be failing miserably where…

Danyl Mclauchlan

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:23:21 +1300

It strikes me that Nationals new found concern for our 'growing underclass' – another classic dogwhistle – and their suggestion that it's growth be curtailed is strikingly similar to Labours 'Closing the Gaps' policies from their first term, something National damned as 'social engineering' and fought tooth and nail when…

Matt Jeffs

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 02:51:17 +1300

Somebody actually needs to point out to John Key, before he sets himself up as the true little kiwi battler, that growing up in a state house in New Zealand in the 60's, 70's and 80's wasn't out of the ordinary before someone had the bright idea of selling off…

Yamis

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:09:14 +1300

I can name a street just through the bush reserve backing onto our section in Massey which would certainly rival McGhehan Close. It's a nice wee breeding ground for 14 year old burglars. Since we have been here (2 years) our lawn mower was nicked, we have had them case…

Russell Brown

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:57:56 +1300

Um, the NZ Post farrago actually happened in Hamilton. And Key said it happened in Hamilton.

That's really poor.

Richard Bol

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:57:40 +1300

Or maybe Key contradicted what was in his speech, and claimed that McGehan Close was the subject of a short period without postal deliveries.

Judging by his placing of McGehan Close in South Auckland, accuracy isn't really that important to him.

Richard Bol

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:46:06 +1300

As if McGehan Close hasn't been portrayed in a worse enough light...

Colin Espiner (The Press) is under the mistaken impression that postal deliveries to The Street Of Shame™ were briefly cancelled due to fears for the posties' safety:

Key said he intended to visit McGehan Close, the street he…

Russell Brown

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:48:42 +1300

But hell, I've just seen I/S on norightturn defending the Labour Party's poverty figures against National, despite when the Social Report came out last year, him leaping on the same rise in the 'extreme poverty' figure that Key is weilding, and bashing Labour round the head with it (as did…

Marcus Neiman

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:36:38 +1300

" Isn't that why we vote Labour?' Of course, I doubt they're so stupid as to think the National Party is going to offer them anything better (selling the backs of their babies heads for corporate sponsorship space to pay for their breakfast perhaps?)"

Of course though the National Party…

Tze Ming Mok

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:49:47 +1300

I never visited Mad Ave, but I increasingly get the impression that comparisons between it and McGehan Close are preposterous. The major reason for its namecheck seems to be that it is in Helen Clark's electorate.

I only mentioned Mad Ave as part of a joke – I agree, they…

WH

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:25:09 +1300

Mark,

The problem is not that the private sector is unable to deliver social services, or that companies are not responsible citizens. In fact, much private provision of social services is entirely worthwhile, private schools and private health insurance being two prominent examples.

However, problems can arise when governments, on…

merc

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:59:07 +1300

Key said that the MSD wasted? 168 million last year, ( I love these figures, mmmm), then stated when pressed, that even 10 million of that would help with ???
John, genius, now why don't you put your own money where your mouth is, I think you'll find that the…

Span .

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:49:53 +1300

I heard the Salvation Army head honcho on Checkpoint yesterday saying that they would be happy to help with a National work for the dole scheme, shudder.

What concerns me about all this "let's get private enterprise involved" stuff is the way that responsibility for basic social (and economic) needs…

Mark Easterbrook

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:27:13 +1300

I'd just like someone to explain how they would get private enterprise involved. There are already companies out there doing their 'responsible citizen' bit, but I would imagine that if a company's managment is already so inclined, they're already doing something. It's sounds callous, but if there's no direct profit…

WH

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:43:42 +1300

I grew up in Helen's electorate, not too far away from MAGS. Our neighbours were burgled so often they copied us and got a dog. We had a huge Alsation/Rottweiler cross. I loved that dog. Our family were all very upset when it died

Key's speech somehow managed to be…

Charles Mabbett

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:38:22 +1300

I can't resist this. It's The Burnside Message by Grandmaster Key and the Furious 48 (or however many Nat MPs there are). Well, here's the original. Yow!

Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just
Dont care
I cant take the smell, I cant take the…

merc

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:20:31 +1300

Ask them (the scary people), you might be surprised at the answer.

Rich of Observationz

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:08:42 +1300

To me (as a recent arrival) I think a lot of rural areas in NZ are scarier than the cities. Most of the smart people leave at 18 to go to college and work, there are few decent jobs, there's a culture of violence that isn't really challenged...

Or are…

merc

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:02:13 +1300

Yes, we have real youth problems out West. Cars, speed, drugs and boredom, a lethal cocktail. But we also have some really great local youths too, I know I surf with them.

dc_red

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:14:55 +1300

John Key's own Helensville electorate is not all glamour and lifestyle blocks either, remember. Head 'over the hill' at Helensville and there's a side of Helensville where youth can (and do) run amock too.

Indeed, Martin, and don't forget some rather dubious parts of Massey are included in Helensville too.…

Michael Healy

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:13:56 +1300

Is it just me or is "the Kiwi way" just "mainstream New Zealanders" recycled?

Also, John Key would seem a little more sincere if he would acknowledge the 1990s National Party's role in getting us to where we are in terms of social welfare and income inequity.

dc_red

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:09:56 +1300

It was not an accident that Key chose a street in Clark's own electorate.

It is actually in the Mt Roskill electorate (Phil Goff's territory), albeit barely. If you scan to the NE corner of this map from Elections NZ you can see it.

Martin Lambert

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:06:11 +1300

John Key's own Helensville electorate is not all glamour and lifestyle blocks either, remember. Head 'over the hill' at Helensville and there's a side of Helensville where youth can (and do) run amock too. Maybe John should check his own backyard first before pouinting out Helen's, or is Helensville a…

Rogan Polkinghorne

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:02:47 +1300

I too grew up just around the corner from this now infamous 'street of shame', and I have to say I find all the fuss a bit...silly.

Sure, it's not the nicest street; but at the same time, there are plenty worse.

And I find it interesting that Key's discussions…

Russell Brown

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:45:02 +1300

After all, Mad Ave was literally erased – perhaps McGehan Close could bloom into Vodafone Parade.

I never visited Mad Ave, but I increasingly get the impression that comparisons between it and McGehan Close are preposterous. The major reason for its namecheck seems to be that it is in Helen…

Joe Wylie

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:42:59 +1300

There were a few pockets of state housing "pepper potted" just off Memorial Ave in Fendalton (Chch's Remuera) – for example, the interestingly named Otara Street – and until the Shipley era and the introduction of 'market' rentals they integrated rather well. Developers offered financial inducements to tenants to move…

Tom Semmens

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:37:35 +1300

repitition of opinion AS fact. Grrrr. Fatiigue from to big a gym session right there.

Tom Semmens

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:36:07 +1300

Also from the "Northern Advocate: "Voters alienated by almost three terms of an increasingly arrogant and non-accountable Labour Government.."

Thats the sort of lazy passing off of repitition of opinion of fact that pisses me off most about the media in New Zealand.

merc

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:33:37 +1300

As the cavalcade glides by..."John, look, Owairaka loves you!".

Gareth Elliott

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:31:32 +1300

There's broken glass everywhere these days. Thanks to the regular vandalism of Bus stops.

But its quite easy to make any street look like a 'slum' or at least at the seedy end of society.

A news channel did it some time in the nineties with Balmoral Shops.

All they…

Tze Ming Mok

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:27:20 +1300

he better stop refering to it as being in "South Auckland"

It's SouthWestCentral, mUthAfuKKaZ! Where the Roskill Rock meets the Albert Hardass place.

Today's Herald looks deeper into the multi-ethnic locally driven community development that's been happening in Owairaka since the infamous Somali:Tongan stabbing of 2002 (resolved, less famously, through…

merc

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:22:44 +1300

I meet the local youths, there are Sudanese, Iraqi, Tongan, Brazilian, Asian (broad I know, Tze) and more. There is a soccer vibe and a basketball vibe. Yes, if you go down to the park on Sunday morning, there will be smashed alco-pop glass and yes there will have been…

Ben Austin

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:14:35 +1300

I spent 5 years living in North Dunedin, to me, broken glass on the streets and public alcohol consumption were normal.

It was really weird moving to Wellington and no longer living in such a ghetto.

Russell Brown

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:04:56 +1300

Thanks Merc. I live not far away, so I thought I'd actually pop over and beat John Key there. You''l know this, but for others, McGehan Close is a pocket of state housing in a cul de sac in Mt Albert: mostly modern well-kept townhouses, with a 60s-vintage block of…

merc

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:37:26 +1300

Hey this is creepy, 9 months ago we lived just a couple of streets away in Owairaka. Sure it's not pretty but I lived right there and it's a helluvalot more interesting story than Key or the Herald are letting out. You know it's funny when you've actually lived somewhere…

Mark Easterbrook

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:05:59 +1300

I'll agree they've put Helen in a bit of a spot, but if John Key wants to use McGehan Close to score political points, he better stop refering to it as being in "South Auckland", as he did when talking to Havoc on bFM this morning.

Public Address

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:05:59 +1300

Discussion from blog post.