John Key deserves praise for his brutal honesty: 'Northland home to poverty beyond belief.' He agrees that mining isn't the answer to the Far North's problems, and says that Northland's potential is not being utilised because of a lack of investment.
Brilliant, the Prime Minister outs himself as astraightforward Keynesian economist who knows that the way to tackle our desperately poor economic prospects are through an investment strategy that will produce jobs. I am therefore assuming that John Key will now immediately support Kelvin Davis' idea for an investment fund of $400 million to start creating jobs.
It might have taken John Key 20 years to see that the policies of his and many other right wing governments around the world are largely to blame for the economic crisis the world now suffers, but the Bible points out that we should celebrate 'one sinner who repents ...'
It's a shame that our local MP, Mike Sabin, who is nominally in the same political party as John Key, doesn't share the Prime Minister's ideas. Mike blames almost everybody for the economic crisis facing the Far North other than the political policies of the government that he supports.
And at the risk of provoking ever further howls of outrage from Mike, can I suggest that he organises the next meeting of his prestigious economic forum in Kaikohe, where the Prime Minister would be able to observe at first-hand the economic and social problems that we face? Holding his hui in Kerikeri makes one question how serious our MP actually is. Where's the next one - Ponsonby?
PS: I wonder whether Mike Sabin invited John Carter to his hui? Or whether Mike thought that John should stay home knitting some socks for the winter given his previous comments that local authorities have no role to play creating jobs.
