The Racing Minister

[Ludwig]

What an interesting day for the Racing Minister. An appearance at Riccarton on the same day as he is named as the alleged chief bully in the Labour caucus. But it raises the  question, what exactly has he done as Racing Minister since he was given the job?

[nomates]

30 minutes ago, Ludwig said:

What an interesting day for the Racing Minister. An appearance at Riccarton on the same day as he is named as the alleged chief bully in the Labour caucus. But it raises the  question, what exactly has he done as Racing Minister since he was given the job?

The same as the last god knows how many racing ministers from both sides of the house , SFA .

[Doomed]

23 hours ago, Ludwig said:

What an interesting day for the Racing Minister. An appearance at Riccarton on the same day as he is named as the alleged chief bully in the Labour caucus. But it raises the  question, what exactly has he done as Racing Minister since he was given the job?

Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for. God knows what he might try to do if he takes an interest. The industry has suffered enough with people who don't know what they're doing getting involved.

At least the jockeys ranks currently meet the gender quota.

[Bid]

On 8/13/2022 at 6:47 PM, Ludwig said:

What an interesting day for the Racing Minister. An appearance at Riccarton on the same day as he is named as the alleged chief bully in the Labour caucus. But it raises the  question, what exactly has he done as Racing Minister since he was given the job?

Thought I had seen him whilst leading my one around the birdcage in the first race. Then thought it must have been someone else because I would have thought the minister for racing would have actually wandered around the horse stalls area talking to participants and getting a feel from people who are involved in the industry. 

[Ludwig]

4 hours ago, Bid said:

Thought I had seen him whilst leading my one around the birdcage in the first race. Then thought it must have been someone else because I would have thought the minister for racing would have actually wandered around the horse stalls area talking to participants and getting a feel from people who are involved in the industry. 

Next thing you'll be telling me that Andrew Little should visit hospitals and talk to nurses and doctors.! Outrageous !

[holy ravioli]

12 hours ago, Ludwig said:

Next thing you'll be telling me that Andrew Little should visit hospitals and talk to nurses and doctors.! Outrageous !

Andrew Little was given a 'hospital pass'...compliments of the Natz 9 years of neglect.

Obsessed with trying to end their run of deficits and borrowing for tax cuts...they defunded vital services...very typical and lining up to try the same worn out regimen...again.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, holy ravioli said:

Andrew Little was given a 'hospital pass'...compliments of the Natz 9 years of neglect.

Obsessed with trying to end their run of deficits and borrowing for tax cuts...they defunded vital services...very typical and lining up to try the same worn out regimen...again.

Your posts are aligned to the lunar cycle.

[nomates]

2 hours ago, holy ravioli said:

Andrew Little was given a 'hospital pass'...compliments of the Natz 9 years of neglect.

Obsessed with trying to end their run of deficits and borrowing for tax cuts...they defunded vital services...very typical and lining up to try the same worn out regimen...again.

Interesting , i don't really get into political debate , but my wife is employed in the public health care sector and the union she is aligned to recently settled a long running wage increase demand , when it was finally settled and she was at a large meeting with the union people to go over what they were getting , the last thing the union people said to everybody there was that they understood people were pissed that it had taken so long and many might be upset with the Labour Govt taking so long to release more money to allow it to be settled , but Labour was working to rectify the health sector from 9 years of decay under National , and that it was easy to blame the current regime but that they had done more in the 4/5 years than had been done for decades and that they were still a long way from repairing the damage National had allowed .

My wife says that talking to people she works with who have been there a lot longer than she has that they reckon whilst it's not perfect it is way better than it was .

I don't really care i either way , never got anything off any of them because we are not breeders , they are all as bad as each other , but in some cases not .

[Chief Stipe]

41 minutes ago, nomates said:

Interesting , i don't really get into political debate , but my wife is employed in the public health care sector and the union she is aligned to recently settled a long running wage increase demand , when it was finally settled and she was at a large meeting with the union people to go over what they were getting , the last thing the union people said to everybody there was that they understood people were pissed that it had taken so long and many might be upset with the Labour Govt taking so long to release more money to allow it to be settled , but Labour was working to rectify the health sector from 9 years of decay under National , and that it was easy to blame the current regime but that they had done more in the 4/5 years than had been done for decades and that they were still a long way from repairing the damage National had allowed .

My wife says that talking to people she works with who have been there a lot longer than she has that they reckon whilst it's not perfect it is way better than it was .

I don't really care i either way , never got anything off any of them because we are not breeders , they are all as bad as each other , but in some cases not .

That's purely perception driven by political propaganda.  Things have got worse under this Government whose only solution is to create a mega DHB and a Maori Health Authority with the power of veto.  Although the chances of them completing the changes are very remote.

The 9 years of National Government neglect is nonsense too.  

Any new hospitals built or more ICU beds under this Labour Government for $120 billion debt?

[nomates]

3 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

That's purely perception driven by political propaganda.  Things have got worse under this Government whose only solution is to create a mega DHB and a Maori Health Authority with the power of veto.  Although the chances of them completing the changes are very remote.

The 9 years of National Government neglect is nonsense too.  

Any new hospitals built or more ICU beds under this Labour Government for $120 billion debt?

And as usual you would fucken know , more than people who work in the system , some things never change .

Talk about driving political propaganda . 

[Honestjohn]

3 hours ago, holy ravioli said:

Andrew Little was given a 'hospital pass'...compliments of the Natz 9 years of neglect.

Obsessed with trying to end their run of deficits and borrowing for tax cuts...they defunded vital services...very typical and lining up to try the same worn out regimen...again.

 

Bunch of bullies. Not a nice man. 

 

Hj

[Joe Bloggs]

2 hours ago, nomates said:

Interesting , i don't really get into political debate , but my wife is employed in the public health care sector and the union she is aligned to recently settled a long running wage increase demand , when it was finally settled and she was at a large meeting with the union people to go over what they were getting , the last thing the union people said to everybody there was that they understood people were pissed that it had taken so long and many might be upset with the Labour Govt taking so long to release more money to allow it to be settled , but Labour was working to rectify the health sector from 9 years of decay under National , and that it was easy to blame the current regime but that they had done more in the 4/5 years than had been done for decades and that they were still a long way from repairing the damage National had allowed .

My wife says that talking to people she works with who have been there a lot longer than she has that they reckon whilst it's not perfect it is way better than it was .

I don't really care i either way , never got anything off any of them because we are not breeders , they are all as bad as each other , but in some cases not .

I have my own experience with DHB, I saw it under the last dying convulsions of Key and his mates, what a fucking shambles,  I'm also no apologist for Ardern and her mob, but credit where its due.......Key ran a Gov for the big end of town, that works in some climes, you pull that stunt in a place like NZ you get divided society, very!!!! My MIL who was 93 at the time was sitting outside Push and Shove one morning and said to me, I've never seen so many kids in bare feet, so many people with cheap rubbish in their shopping trolleys, and so many sad and gloomy faces.......that was 7 years ago, it also might explain why 800K Kiwis left NZ for sunny Oz.....you tell me?

[Ludwig]

4 hours ago, holy ravioli said:

Andrew Little was given a 'hospital pass'...compliments of the Natz 9 years of neglect.

Obsessed with trying to end their run of deficits and borrowing for tax cuts...they defunded vital services...very typical and lining up to try the same worn out regimen...again.

Both sides play the endless blame game and it gets us nowhere. It's very childish.

I just wanted to know, what the Racing Minister has done since being in the job.

[Joe Bloggs]

Racing related, lets never forget Nathan Guy, promise me, please, never ever forget Nathan, a walking, living breathing tragedy.......for racing....

[Doomed]

17 minutes ago, Joe Bloggs said:

I have my own experience with DHB, I saw it under the last dying convulsions of Key and his mates, what a fucking shambles,  I'm also no apologist for Ardern and her mob, but credit where its due.......Key ran a Gov for the big end of town, that works in some climes, you pull that stunt in a place like NZ you get divided society, very!!!! My MIL who was 93 at the time was sitting outside Push and Shove one morning and said to me, I've never seen so many kids in bare feet, so many people with cheap rubbish in their shopping trolleys, and so many sad and gloomy faces.......that was 7 years ago, it also might explain why 800K Kiwis left NZ for sunny Oz.....you tell me?

Just to add some balace to this thread, I do believe we currently have the worst Govt we have ever had, but sadly, we also have the worst opposition we have ever had. Not much light at the end of that tunnel. The quality of people wanting to be politicians has probably never been poorer.

[Ludwig]

1 hour ago, Joe Bloggs said:

Racing related, lets never forget Nathan Guy, promise me, please, never ever forget Nathan, a walking, living breathing tragedy.......for racing....

Interesting trivia question. There have been 14 Ministers of Racing since the position was established in 1990. Name them, without resorting to the Wikipedia page.!!!  Some interesting names, and collectively what have they achieved?

Also, interesting to note the current chap gets paid $288,000 p.a. for holding the post.

[Joe Bloggs]

Ludwig, the only post that bloke should be holding is the one he should be tied to while the hoi poloi flog him with a cat o nine tails !!!

[Chief Stipe]

3 hours ago, nomates said:

And as usual you would fucken know , more than people who work in the system , some things never change .

Talk about driving political propaganda . 

I have worked in the system for a number of DHB's.  Every one of them was the same.  

Managed by administrative risk averse bureaucrats with SFA spent on the front line staff.

Been like it for decades.

There is no way anything has changed in the 4 1/2 years Labour has been in power especially during the pandemic.  The only thing that has been different is less work has been done.

[mikeynz]

54 minutes ago, Ludwig said:

Interesting trivia question. There have been 14 Ministers of Racing since the position was established in 1990. Name them, without resorting to the Wikipedia page.!!!  Some interesting names, and collectively what have they achieved?

Also, interesting to note the current chap gets paid $288,000 p.a. for holding the post.

Well Winston did give racing 70 odd million

Edited August 16, 2022 by mikeynz

[Doomed]

51 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

Well Winston did give racing 70 odd million

Winston has dished out money to racing each time he has been in power: the first lot was totally wasted, the most recent lot has given us the AWTs, but it is arguable whether Racing has actually benefited from all his largesse.

[Bloke]

5 hours ago, Doomed said:

Just to add some balace to this thread, I do believe we currently have the worst Govt we have ever had, but sadly, we also have the worst opposition we have ever had. Not much light at the end of that tunnel. The quality of people wanting to be politicians has probably never been poorer.

You must not remember Rob (The Socialist) Muldoon.

The debt he ran up was massive in real terms compared with the Key Government and the current Government and we did not have earthquakes , GFC or pandemics.

Also chuck in Think Big which was a massive failure and cost the country a fortune and the wage / price freeze. He introduced National Super (a socialist scheme) after scraping the private scheme. My father took out shares in a private Airline which was to be in competition with Air NZ but he blocked them by not issuing a license to fly.

To cap it off he was an autocrat, he overrode his Ministers and his own government colleagues were scared to challenge him.

No following Government comes close to this guy. After he was voted out I declared that I would accept any Government (except maybe the Greens) as none could be as bad as Muldoon.

 

[Chief Stipe]

3 hours ago, Bloke said:

Also chuck in Think Big which was a massive failure

How was it a "massive failure"?

Were these projects "massive failure's"?

• methanol plant at Waitara
• ammonia/urea plant at Kapuni
• synthetic-petrol plant at Motunui
• expansion of the Marsden Point Oil Refinery
• expansion of the New Zealand Steel plant at Glenbrook
• electrification of the North Island Main Trunk Railway between Te Rapa and Palmerston North
• a third reduction line at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, near Bluff
• the Clyde Dam on the Clutha River.

The projects weren't limited to those though.  They definitely make the PGF look a waste of time.

[Reefton]

11 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

How was it a "massive failure"?

Were these projects "massive failure's"?

• methanol plant at Waitara
• ammonia/urea plant at Kapuni
• synthetic-petrol plant at Motunui
• expansion of the Marsden Point Oil Refinery
• expansion of the New Zealand Steel plant at Glenbrook
• electrification of the North Island Main Trunk Railway between Te Rapa and Palmerston North
• a third reduction line at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, near Bluff
• the Clyde Dam on the Clutha River.

The projects weren't limited to those though.  They definitely make the PGF look a waste of time.

100% correct

The problem was that the following Labour government gave virtually the whole lot away while keeping the debt for building them.  In some cases they paid the 'buyer' to take it off their hands

They have returned huge dividends to their new owners over the years but knowing the way big business operate they have probably paid beggar all tax because the massive tax losses  up to the point of sale would have been 'sold' with them

When we go to Cromwell races each year we will often trip to Clyde.  I look at that massive hunk of concrete and think 'How could anyone say that is not an asset to NZ?'  Ditto the lake behind it that provides all those recreational opportunities. And the superb roads down there both in Cromwell town and the state highways all courtesy of the Ministry when the lake was created

Muldoon and Think Big is no different(other than scale) to the PGF or the 'shovel ready' carry on we have had in the last couple of years.

 

[Chief Stipe]

7 minutes ago, Reefton said:

100% correct

The problem was that the following Labour government gave virtually the whole lot away while keeping the debt for building them.  In some cases they paid the 'buyer' to take it off their hands

They have returned huge dividends to their new owners over the years but knowing the way big business operate they have probably paid beggar all tax because the massive tax losses  up to the point of sale would have been 'sold' with them

When we go to Cromwell races each year we will often trip to Clyde.  I look at that massive hunk of concrete and think 'How could anyone say that is not an asset to NZ?'  Ditto the lake behind it that provides all those recreational opportunities. And the superb roads down there both in Cromwell town and the state highways all courtesy of the Ministry when the lake was created

Muldoon and Think Big is no different(other than scale) to the PGF or the 'shovel ready' carry on we have had in the last couple of years.

 

What's more we were self sufficient in fuel and gas offering strategic protection from external disruption.  We are now heading back towards the "one bad shipment stopping the nations car/truck fleet".  

BTW "Think Big"was largely the brain child and project of the Hon. Bill Birch.  One of the most intelligent men to ever grace the Treasury Benches.  A farmer as well and a thorough gentlemen.

One of my best ever life memories was being picked up by him in the Crown Ministerial Limo and touring the LPG installations in Christchurch and Lyttelton when I was a candidate in the 1984 General Election.

[Joe Bloggs]

I didn't live in NZ during the Rob Muldoon years, therefore I shall abstain from commenting.........The All Blacks played some great rugby back then didn't they?....#bringbackbuck