Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The 'Key' to superannuation


Superannuation - What is it about National Governments and their inability to make decisions in the interests of the country when it comes to the basic issue of superannuation?

Prime Minister John Key has painted himself into a corner over his claim that the age of eligibility for superannuation, 65 years, will not change on his watch.

It is patently obvious that superior lifestyle has resulted in people living longer. In many instances that means people are capable of working longer. Of course, there are exceptions and there are people to whom working beyond 60 years is an issue.

But, generally, New Zealanders can expect that the majority of the population will be capable of working longer in the future – in many cases they will have to because the drain of young people offshore looking for work, a drain that the said Mr Key was going to stop when he was campaigning against Helen Clark and Labour in 2008, has reached epidemic proportions

It remains a frustration for this observer that in the leadership debates of that campaign the incumbent Clark did not challenge Key when he was blathering on about stopping the brain drain. All she had to do to end the argument was ask where Key had earned the money that allowed him to have the lifestyle he enjoyed? It certainly wasn't from years spent working his way up from the back benches in New Zealand.

But then again the fight was no longer in Clark – she had had enough it would seem.

However, it seems that in sticking to his claim over the eligibility age that Key is determined to avoid the back flip that George Bush the first suffered over his pre-election campaigning on 'No More Taxes'. A promise that was very quickly undone once he replaced Ronald Reagan in the White House.

Back in New Zealand the age of eligibility has become an issue for which the public may well be prepared to punish the government, which is plugging austerity in all other areas of the economy.

Let's not forget that it was Robert Muldoon who showed a flagrant disregard for the future by throwing out the compulsory superannuation scheme set up by Roger Douglas in the Kirk-Rowling Government of 1972-75.

Dancing Cossacks flashed across television screens, catching the eye of those nearing their retirement sufficiently to put Muldoon in power with his promise that he would close the scheme down and install a scheme that would mean once reaching the age of 60 people would be able to receive National's superannuation, even if they were still working! Let's not forget that – they were still able to receive the payout if they were still working.

It is little wonder that generation were known as 'The Greedies'.

In making that choice Muldoon sent New Zealand into permanent debt. There are two thoughts here: how much of the country's financial frustrations of the moment are a direct result of that decision and, more importantly, how much better off might New Zealand be had he not made that choice?

Muldoon trumpeted that the New Zealand Superannuation Scheme was going to result in the nationalisation of New Zealand's industries. It was going to be communism by stealth. The Greedies were sucked in lock, stock and Think Big.

In fact, and to their shame the Labour Government of the day did not make this point sufficiently, it was enshrined in law that the NZ Super Scheme would not be allowed to invest any more than 15 percent in any New Zealand company. 15 percent!!

That figure is important because Key and his Cabinet are asking that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund set up by Labour's Michael Cullen should invest up to 40 percent in New Zealand companies.

What would Muldoon make of that? If what he canned in 1975 was communism by stealth what does 40 percent investment represent?

Just as Muldoon's failure hamstrung a generation, so Key's foot-dragging is likely to do for the generations who follow those who move into retirement over the next 20-odd years.

It is only commonsense that a phased rise in the eligibility age be introduced as soon as possible.

So poll-driven has the Government become that there is a chance that Key will see the error of his ways and make a decision forthwith.

His highly unpopular austerity measures continue in other aspects so it defies belief that the one popular measure he could implement, and with exceptions for those whose work might qualify for a maintaining of retirement at 65, could elude him.

Failure to act leaves him facing the same sort of legacy his predecessor Muldoon enjoys for his greed for power at any cost.

Thursday, May 31, 2012


THE PASSING PARADE No.1


A random series on experiences and conversations in my journalism career. All the people involved were spoken to face-to-face in interviews but some extra material by way of background may have been added to round out the experience, especially when looking back a considerable number of years.

JAMES A MICHENER

It was one of those moments when opportunity jumped out of the pages of a newspaper. All newspaper offices hold exchange copies of other publications whether locally, nationally or internationally. Often on slow news days a perusal of other newspapers could provide an idea for a local angle to be developed.

On this occasion, in early 1976, it was a brief mention that James A. Michener would be returning to New Zealand as part of the American bi-centennial celebrations during which he would be giving some public lectures, mainly in Auckland and Wellington that caught the eye. But there was also a reference that he hoped to do some travel in the South Island.

As a young general reporter on The Southland Times, in my third year on the job, I recognised it might be worthwhile contacting the Department of Internal Affairs, the government organisation hosting the legendary writer. So I sent off a letter, duly receiving a reply that Michener would be in Invercargill and would be available for a chat.

Never had so much preparation been done for an interview. My first contact with the Michener method had been his book The Drifters which struck a chord, as it would for many who grew up through those memorable 1960s. I had also most recently completed Centennial, parts of Rascals in Paradise, and had consumed The Fires of Spring, The Bridges at Toko-ri, The Bridge at Andau, Kent State: What Happened and Why and A Michener Miscellany.

In most instances these were not small books but they had a captivating quality that got right inside the subject matter.

So the moment arrived, at Invercargill's Kelvin Hotel, right next door to The Southland Times as it happens. Introductions were duly made and the folder was opened with a set of questions laid out. First things first, what on Earth had made him come to Invercargill?  Having been born and bred in Southland there was an awareness that not a lot of interesting people tended to visit.

However, it turned out that during his youth when studying in Scotland on a scholarship, Michener had visited a town on the west coast of Scotland known as Oban, and he wanted to visit the other Oban that he was aware of, on Stewart Island, across Foveaux Strait from Bluff, just to the south of Invercargill.

"I'd sooner come to Invercargill than go to a tourist spot. It's not majestic, or a great centre, but I have always been interested in it," he said. "I'm a trained observer. I love the world, and I have an affinity for what is going on in it."

But with the niceties aside, it was into his writing and its development. His experience in naval aviation with the US Navy in World War Two first exposed him to the South Pacific and its stories, most notably represented through South Pacific which became a top flight Rogers and Hammerstein musical and film.

That was followed a semi-biographical novel titled The Fires of Spring. Hawaii became another movie from his books and then he spread his wings with books like Caravans and The Source.

And then, of course, The Drifters.

"Pamplona was where it all started. My wife and I would go there and sit in a public square for a while and then young kids would find out who I was and start talking to me and firing questions at me. We would talk and argue over points. I learned while I was talking with these youths."

From that he developed the plot line of a story which caught the spirit of the youth of the age, unsettled and revolutionary as it may have been but also questioning and enquiring, an aspect that Michener appreciated – it was his own modus operandi.

Michener was also a patriot and at the time in the post-Watergate years he commented that while the US had enormous opportunities to accomplish good she contained within herself the seeds of her own destruction.

"This is more true now than when I wrote it. The day could well come when Japan could exist as a homogenous nation while the United States could have blown apart into four or five regions. [He wasn't far off the mark, replace Japan with China and you see his point.]

"We in the United States are a disparate society, with different religions and races. If everything goes bad we could fall apart," he said.

There were parallels in his observations of those days with modern America. He described the experience of Watergate which was notable for, as he put it, 'the actions of unelected men around the President, Richard Nixon' as being 'pretty frightening in a democracy'.

He hadn't been impressed by the influx of students into journalism courses as a result of it – that was leading to a lot of scandal-mongering as everyone tried to emulate Woodward and Bernstein, the journalists who broke the Watergate break-in.

His observations about a potential role for New Zealand in the future of the world were also interesting.

Keeping in mind the alarming rate at which the world population was increasing, he said Australia and New Zealand would have to deal in their own ways with the burgeoning population in Asia.

"It may be New Zealand's destiny to provide a surplus of educated people to emigrate overseas and pass on what they have learned," he said. New Zealand had a very good education system which produced an 'extraordinary' number of graduates who were literate compared to the US where people were leaving college unable to read or write.

Sadly our time was over at that point. Michener's wife Mari, and his Dept. Of Internal Affairs minder were conscious of the fact he had not long before suffered a heart attack and was on a prescribed programme which meant he had used up his time and would have to conclude the interview.

But the memory, as they say, lingers on. It was easy to understand why Michener had been able to relate to people of all ages in going about his work. His reasoned responses to questions, his friendliness and his basic class towards a young journalist setting out on the road was an example that has never been forgotten. Scouring through yesterday's newspapers from other regions had proven its worth yet again.

THE PASSING PARADE. No. 1


A random series on experiences and conversations in my journalism career. All the people involved were spoken to face-to-face in interviews but some extra material by way of background may have been added to round out the experience, especially when looking back a considerable number of years.


JAMES A MICHENER


It was one of those moments when opportunity jumped out of the pages of a newspaper. All newspaper offices hold exchange copies of other publications whether locally, nationally or internationally. Often on slow news days a perusal of other newspapers could provide an idea for a local angle to be developed.


On this occasion, in early 1976, it was a brief mention that James A. Michener would be returning to New Zealand as part of the American bi-centennial celebrations during which he would be giving some public lectures, mainly in Auckland and Wellington that caught the eye. But there was also a reference that he hoped to do some travel in the South Island.


As a young general reporter on The Southland Times, in my third year on the job, I recognised it might be worthwhile contacting the Department of Internal Affairs, the government organisation hosting the legendary writer. So I sent off a letter, duly receiving a reply that Michener would be in Invercargill and would be available for a chat.


Never had so much preparation been done for an interview. My first contact with the Michener method had been his book The Drifters which struck a chord, as it would for many who grew up through those memorable 1960s. I had also most recently completed Centennial, parts of Rascals Paradise, and had consumed The Fires of Spring, The Bridges at Toko-ri, The Bridge at Andau, Kent State: What Happened and Why and A Michener Miscellany.


In most instances these were not small books but they had a captivating quality that got right inside the subject matter.


So the moment arrived, at Invercargill's Kelvin Hotel, right next door to The Southland Times as it happens. Introductions were duly made and the folder was opened with a set of questions laid out. First things first, what on Earth had made him come to Invercargill? Having been born and bred in Southland there was an awareness that not a lot of interesting people tended to visit.


However, it turned out that during his youth when studying in Scotland on a scholarship, Michener had visited a town on the west coast of Scotland known as Oban, and he wanted to visit the other Oban that he was aware of, on Stewart Island, across Foveaux Strait from Bluff, just to the south of Invercargill.


"I'd sooner come to Invercargill than go to a tourist spot. It's not majestic, or a great centre, but I have always been interested in it," he said. "I'm a trained observer. I love the world, and I have an affinity for what is going on in it."


But with the niceties aside, it was into his writing and its development. His experience in naval aviation with the US Navy in World War Two first exposed him to the South Pacific and its stories, most notably represented through South Pacific which became a top flight Rogers and Hammerstein musical and film.


That was followed a semi-biographical novel titled The Fires of Spring. Hawaii became another movie from his books and then he spread his wings with books like Caravans and The Source.

And then, of course, The Drifters.


"Pamplona was where it all started. My wife and I would go there and sit in a public square for a while and then young kids would find out who I was and start talking to me and firing questions at me. We would talk and argue over points. I learned while I was talking with these youths."


From that he developed the plot line of a story which caught the spirit of the youth of the age, unsettled and revolutionary as it may have been but also questioning and enquiring, an aspect that Michener appreciated – it was his own modus operandi.


Michener was also a patriot and at the time in the post-Watergate years he commented that while the US had enormous opportunities to accomplish good she contained within herself the seeds of her own destruction.


"This is more true now than when I wrote it. The day could well come when Japan could exist as a homogenous nation while the United States could have blown apart into four or five regions. [He wasn't far off the mark, replace Japan with China and you see his point.]


"We in the United States are a disparate society, with different religions and races. If everything goes bad we could fall apart," he said.


There were parallels in his observations of those days with modern America. He described the experience of Watergate which was notable for, as he put it, 'the actions of unelected men around the President, Richard Nixon' as being 'pretty frightening in a democracy'.


He hadn't been impressed by the influx of students into journalism courses as a result of it – that was leading to a lot of scandal-mongering as everyone tried to emulate Woodward and Bernstein, the journalists who broke the Watergate break-in.


His observations about a potential role for New Zealand in the future of the world were also interesting.


Keeping in mind the alarming rate at which the world population was increasing, he said Australia and New Zealand would have to deal in their own ways with the burgeoning population in Asia.


"It may be New Zealand's destiny to provide a surplus of educated people to emigrate overseas and pass on what they have learned," he said. New Zealand had a very good education system which produced an 'extraordinary' number of graduates who were literate compared to the US where people were leaving college unable to read or write.


Sadly our time was over at that point. Michener's wife Mari, and his Dept. Of Internal Affairs minder were conscious of the fact he had not long before suffered a heart attack and was on a prescribed programme which meant he had used up his time and would have to conclude the interview.




But the memory, as they say, lingers on. It was easy to understand why Michener had been able to relate to people of all ages in going about his work. His reasoned responses to questions, his friendliness and his basic class towards a young journalist setting out on the road was an example that has never been forgotten. Scouring through yesterday's newspapers from other regions had proven its worth yet again.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Payback for a miserable summer


It might be something of a payback from the miserable November, December, January, February and early March that we endured, but you would have to say the last month has been incredible weather.

Top of the list in value was a few days spent in the far south visiting Queenstown, Gore, Mataura, Invercargill and driving back through Central via Raes Junction.

Not a drop of rain to be felt, temperatures warm and Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu at their colourful best.

And then returning to the north, the welcome blast of humidity embraces you like a familiar blanket as you walk out of the airport.

But a few days in Mount Maunganui was just as pleasant although disappointing to see specks of oil still obvious on the beach from the wreck of the Rena on Astrolab Reef.

Here's hoping the Indian summer lingers a little longer.

The Great Kiwi rip-off

Another holiday period of the great New Zealand rip-off has been completed.

Yes, the now all-embracing holiday surcharge at cafes and restaurants throughout the land.

What a miserable tax on the general public the surcharges have become.

They are a cop out on the part of owners and it is well worth hunting out establishments who refuse to jump on the gravy train (pun deliberate). There are plenty of them out there and they are deserving of support.

Costs involved in trading on public holidays should be built into charges made during the rest of the year and any half-decent employer should ponder that when claiming staff on the job on public holidays need to be paid. Of course, they do, but those charges should be built into year-round trading instead of being foisted on the long-suffering Kiwi public.

A few cents spread over the year soon builds up.

The other option for these traders is not to trade on public holidays at all. They can't have it both ways.

As it stands the surcharge is a complete consumer rip-off and the sooner the greedies are targeted the better.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Lessons in History from John Key

So there we were. Basking in yet another Governmental meltdown and the Prime Minister John Key was saying we didn't need a Commission of Inquiry. We should all put the Nick Smith crisis behind us and move on.

Forget about the prospective embarrassment for his Government and the way in which a supposedly intelligent minister over-rode advice and the Cabinet Manual.

Forget about the balls-ups which seem to flow regularly from the Accident Compensation Commission? (There are times when it does seem appropriately named when so many 'accidents' emanate from it).

Not likely. But how would the world have advanced with the Keysian (the play on words is deliberate in these economically troubled times) notion that such matters should be forgotten about so that everyone could get on with their lives? (Notice how I managed to avoid the use of 'moving forward' that peculiar choice of words which seems to have forgotten the existence of words like in the 'future').

Never mind that's another blog.

But imagine Key on the steps of the Nuremburg Court House at the end of World War Two?

"Yes, there have been 50 million deaths, and we are very sorry about that, but that's behind us now, it's time to look ahead and strive for a better world.

"There's little point in raking over old coals."

Or, in Phnom Penh, after the uncovering of Pol Pot's evil in Cambodia?

"Well there have been millions displaced, perhaps even murdered. But really we should put all that behind us now. Kampuchea, er sorry, Cambodia has such a rich history it will rise again.

"Now, about those piles of skeletons over there."

Or even New York on September 11, 2001, or September 12 if you lived in New Zealand?

"Well yes, there has been some inconvenience created in the downtown area of New York, and Wall Street will be out of action for a few days, but really, once the dust has settled I am sure we can begin to resume normal lives and not look to waste billions of dollars in attempting to sort out the perpetrators of these deeds."

Perhaps the PM thinks he won such an overwhelming mandate from the NZ public on the need to disregard the Cabinet Manual, or in a worst case scenario - plain commonsense, that he can adopt the Churchillian philosophy of history treating him well because he intends to write, or rewrite, the history.

Er sorry, Winston Churchill he ain't and in a second term only a month or two old, his attempts to put the present behind him could actually result in the past outrunning the future.

Monday, January 9, 2012

SAD isn't the word for it

Maybe it's been due to the abysmally unseasonal weather to have hit Auckland, New Zealand over the Christmas-New Year holiday break. This is the time when living in the southern hemisphere is supposed to be all about living outside, getting some overdue sunrays, although not too many of them, on the body and reviving yourself for the year ahead.

In the instance of 2011-12 it was about finally getting over the heights associated with New Zealand regaining the Rugby World Cup – something the 'stadium of four million' had been preoccupied with for 24 years. While that was successfully achieved, it was not made any easier by the Cup final against France being replayed persistently on SKY Television's Rugby Channel, Auckland, and much of the North Island, lived under a permanent rain cloud which shows no sign of abating before March. And that's according to the forecasters who, it has to be said, do not hold any records for accuracy.

That left time for scouring the internet to catch up on some overdue reading of happenings around the world. With this in mind it was with disappointment that another leader in terms of his comprehension and presentation of sport beyond the result absented himself from the mainstream media. George Vecsey had a long and distinguished record of service with the New York Times. In that time he penned one of the great sports autobiographies on Martina Navratilova and among other books recorded a year of action in A Year in the Sun. Vecsey was different from your usual American columnist, he wasn't tied to American sports. He carved a name for himself in writing about football, or soccer, while his Postcards from the various Olympic Games he attended always provided a fascinating insight into activities and athletes not immediately obvious to the beat writers or the cheerleaders providing the television coverage. Vecsey will not be lost, however. He has joined the blogosphere and his material will be available at georgevecsey.com. It is well worth bookmarking right away.

Vecsey's switch has encapsulated a significant change in the literary world, and that is in the widest sense of the words. Another star who has emerged on the internet has to be Dave Zirin. He writes for The Nation in the US but also has his own website, edgeofsports.com. At a time when right wing politics have reached extreme levels in the US, Zirin's dialogues are a breath of fresh air and reason at time when both are in danger of swamping the great unwashed.

Dumbing down of newspapers and the loss of experienced journalists across the board was never more apparent than during the election coverage in New Zealand in 2011. Inexperienced reporters were easily side-tracked by media minders resulting in coverage being confined to flim-flam items and more akin to the society pages of weekend rags than actually providing anything of substance for voters to ponder in the most important event of the triennium. Little wonder that the voter turnout was the lowest since the 1880s. But it showed that if you make political coverage lightweight enough, and apologies for seriously mangling the message from Field of Dreams ("If you build it, they will come"), if you don't do it, they won't care. The consequences of indifference for any democracy are horrendous but sadly that is what is happening in New Zealand. But all is not lost, at least if you have access to the internet. NZ Politics Daily will go a long way towards filling the void the newspapers no longer care about, even moreso in the absence of NZPA.

However, it is not only newspapers. The publishing industry in itself is still attempting to come to grips with the advances of technology. The obvious demise of the heavyweight book-selling chains did not help but showed the appalling mismanagement has had severe consequences for the advance of knowledge, especially at the expense of the local economy. Why would you pay the exorbitant rates for books as these chains were charging when you could do so much better by buying cheaper, and faster, from overseas? Now publishers want the government to add GST to books purchased overseas as a form of disincentive to following the practice. Fat chance, especially as the number of electronic readers grow.

The miserable weather did nothing to change the view that commercial television has any redeeming virtues. An accurate description of what it has to offer is impossible unfortunately. Any attempt to watch it tends to coincide with lengthy advertising breaks or reality shows. And when the quest is for information in news programmes, it is back to the lowest common denominator. As for commercial radio...dear oh dear.

But what, if you think this is all doom and gloom, there is a reason. It may have to do with 'seasonal affective disorder'. This is exactly as it sounds, SAD, except it is usually something associated with winter rather than summer. But then again, that may say it all.