Archive
Letter to the Editor: Simon Bridges is a very naughty little boy!
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FROM: "f.macskasy" SUBJECT: Letters to the editor DATE: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 15:54:16 +1300 TO: "Sunday News" <editor@sunday-news.co.nz>.
The Editor The Sunday News . National's Energy Minister, Simon Bridges, continues to rant that the Green Party is somehow planning to print "magic money" with their recently announced policy to install solar panels on 30,000 New Zealand homes. He said, "I have news for the Greens - if it's a lower interest rate than normal, it must involve a government subsidy." Really? Is this the same kind of subsidy that National gave away to home owners to install $1 billion worth of insulation in cold and damp houses? Or is it the same kind of subsidy that National handed out to Rio Tinto, Warner Bros, and other private companies? Was the $30 million of our taxes that John Key kindly gifted to the Tiwai Aluminium smelter not a subsidy? Or the cheaper power which National re-negotiated last year? Ironically, the Green Party is not suggesting subsidies at all, but allowing access to cheap loans that the government already has access to. All loans would be paid back by home owners - not tax payers. The same cannot be said for the $30 million gifted to Rio Tinto or the $160 million-plus to Warner Bros for the "Lord of the Rings" and another $60 million for "The Hobbit". We won't be seeing that money back again any time soon. -Frank Macskasy (address and phone number supplied)
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References
TV3: How The Hobbit came to stay in NZ
Beehive.govt.nz: $100m for investing in warmer, healthier homes
Fairfax media: $1b Budget warmup
TV3: Labour backs Greens’ solar panel policy
Dominion Post: Greens’ solar pledge would ‘push up prices’ – Key
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Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen
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Letter to the Editor: John Key dazzles them with bullsh*t
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The Editor Sunday Star Times . FROM: "f.macskasy" SUBJECT: Letters to the Editor DATE: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 15:17:26 +1300 TO: "Sunday Star Times" <letters@star-times.co.nz> . Almost in a knee-jerk reaction, John Key is derisory of the recently announced Green Party policy to offer low-interest loans to home owners to install solar panels on their properties. Key said, "If you look at the big emissions at the moment in New Zealand, it's Genesis through Huntly where they have coal fired power plants, and the plan that [the Greens] have got is going to reduce all competition and in my view, put up power costs to consumers, not reduce it, actually locks that in." How the use of solar energy is going to "reduce competition" and "put up power costs to consumers" is not only unclear - but bizarre in the extreme. Key appears to be floundering to create the flimsiest possible excuse to dismiss the Green's policy initiative. That is despite; (a) solar panels reducing our reliance on hydro-dams, which in drought conditions can interrupt power supply and push up prices, (b) National having invested - in concert with the Green Party - $1 billion dollars to insulate thousands of homes around New Zealand. The later home insulation plan involved non-recoverable grants of up to $1,500 per household. By contrast, the Green's plan involves loans, not grants. National seems wedded to giving our money away. This was evidenced by Key's keenness to giving away $30 million to Rio Tinto, and over $90 million to Warner Bros for 'The Hobbit'. Those were our taxes given to private companies and both subsequently made billions in profits. Perhaps Mr Key can answer a simple question; why does he think the Green Party solar panel initiative will "push up power prices", but National's home insulation programme would not? -Frank Macskasy (address and phone number supplied)
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References
TV3: How The Hobbit came to stay in NZ
Beehive.govt.nz: $100m for investing in warmer, healthier homes
Fairfax media: $1b Budget warmup
TV3: Labour backs Greens’ solar panel policy
Dominion Post: Greens’ solar pledge would ‘push up prices’ – Key
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Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen
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Radio NZ: Politics with Matthew Hooton and Mike Williams – 17 February 2014
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– Politics on Nine To Noon –
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– Monday 17 February 2014 –
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– Kathryn Ryan, with Matthew Hooton & Mike Williams –
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Today on Politics on Nine To Noon,
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Click to Listen: Politics with Matthew Hooton and Mike Williams (24′ 09″ )
- Kim Dotcom/Russel Norman
- Green Party in government
- GCSB/surveillance
- David Cunliffe
- Fairfax/Ipsos Poll
- Shane Jones/Countdown supermarkets
- Labour’s “Best Start” Policy/Taxation
- Passports/Syria/Al Qaida
- Green Party Home Solar Policy
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Letter to the Editor: National’s response to Green solar policy is sheer hypocrisy!
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FROM: "f.macskasy" SUBJECT: Letters to the Editor DATE: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 20:31:51 +1300 TO: "NZ Herald" <letters@herald.co.nz>.
The Editor NZ HERALD . The Green Party policy, to fund the installation of solar panels on 30,000 homes, is sheer common sense. As power prices continue to rise and power supply is heavily reliant on good rainfall in hydro-areas, anything that make homes more self-sufficient is to be welcomed. I was therefore stunned and flabbergasted to hear National's energy minister, Simon Bridges, almost hysterical in his condemnation of the Green Party, “Money doesn't grow on trees, even for the Greens. This is just back to the old roll out the printing press and start printing money from the Greens.” Someone please take Mr Bridges aside and flash the National Party's Energy Policy document in front of his baby-fresh face and remind him that in 2009 National allocated $1 billion for home insulation, as part of an agreement with the Green Party. In a media release dated 16 May 2013, Bridges waxed lyrical about the home insulation scheme, “Warmer, drier homes provide real benefits to New Zealanders Mr Bridges says. As well as energy efficiency gains, insulating homes reduces health risks such as respiratory illnesses and serious diseases like rheumatic fever. Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes will help boost the health and well-being of New Zealanders living in poor housing and is part of the Government’s response to child poverty.” So spending $1 billion on home insulation is a good thing? But lending for solar panels for our homes is bad? Considering that the $1 billion spent by National was in the form of non-recoverable grants (up to $1,500 per home), whilst the Greens are talking about low-interest loans, it occurs to me that the Greens are more fiscally conservative than the money-splurging National Party, who waste tax-dollars like it grows on blue trees. This is the National Party that gifted $30 million to Rio Tinto and over $90 million to Warner Bros to subsidise 'The Hobbit'. Both Rio Tinto and 'The Hobbit' have made billions in profits. I'd rather spend our taxes on New Zealanders rather than subsidising billion-dollar foreign corporations. Mr Bridges - breathe through your nose! . -Frank Macskasy (address & phone number supplied)
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References
TV3: How The Hobbit came to stay in NZ
Beehive.govt.nz: $100m for investing in warmer, healthier homes
Fairfax media: $1b Budget warmup
TV3: Labour backs Greens’ solar panel policy
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Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen
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