Mana | Movement of the People

 

MANA in Parliament, 19-21 March 2013

Petition to stop banks from taking your money

The week started with the government announcing that they’re going to allow your bank to “skim” money from your account if the bank gets into trouble and needs to be bailed out. They’ve justified it in the name of providing “stability”. A petition has started to stop this and investigate other ways of making banking systems stable. MANA is helping to promote the petition and if you’d like to sign it or help collect signatures, please contact Deirdre Kent at [email protected]. Here’s a summary of the key issues involved:

• Banks make huge profits for their owners by charging interest on loans and mortgages and by charging bank fees. Four of the biggest banks in New Zealand – ANZ/National, BNZ, and Westpac – are not even owned by New Zealanders. They’re owned by Australian banks, who are in turn owned by UK and US banks, and the profits go there not here. Why should New Zealand customers or taxpayers bail out overseas-owned banks when they get into trouble?
• The reason why banks sometimes get into trouble is because they loan out far more money than they actually have in their vault; they invent ‘virtual’ money. They do this because the more they loan out, the more profit from interest they make for their owners. If too many people come to withdraw their money at the same time, the money is simply not there and the government wants to let banks take their customers money to solve the problem. While it sounds crazy, it’s totally true and shows how far this government is prepared to go to ensure their mega-rich friends stay that way at our collective expense.
• Another solution is to make sure banks can only lend out what they have. It’s called 100% reserve banking. Most banks in New Zealand operate on 8% reserve banking.

For further information, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Petition-for-a-Parliamentary-Enquiry-into-making-banks-stable/420764948002065

Government bills up this week

The government progressed a large number of bills this week, going into extended hours on Thursday morning, and which included a few that MANA supported such as the:

• Second reading of the Marine Legislation Bill which strengthens the regulations for maritime safety that were shown to be so inadequate when the Rena grounded on the Astrolabe reef in October 2011. While the bill makes some significant and positive changes, it could and should do more to protect us from the risks – both environmental and economic – of an oil spill.
• Second reading of the Local Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) which improves the system for undertaking local body elections, including improving the transparency around candidate donations (… think John Banks and his mayoral campaign and Kim Dotcom). Again, while the bill makes important and significant changes, more is needed to properly align the local electoral system with the now tighter rules for general elections.
• First reading of the Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill which makes small but significant changes to MTS to position it for digital switchover and to focus greater attention on the quality of te reo Māori in Māori programming. The bill also transfers spectrum management rights from the Crown to Te Pūtahi Paoho for a 20 year period. The changes to the Act have been tabled following an independent review by Tainui Stephens, Hone Edwards, and Jane Hūria. The bill is now before the Māori Affairs select committee for further consideration. Public submissions are due by 2 May.

However, MANA continued to oppose those bills which seek to make remove protections and invoke harm, including the second reading of the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. This bill is all about pushing 100,000 people off their benefits but without making sure there are jobs for them to go to. It’s a shameful abuse of power to appeal to beneficiary-bashing voters and stuff the people and their kids who’re affected. See the MANA website, www.mana.net.nz, for Vice-President John Minto’s press release on the bill.

Appointment of Dame Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner

President, Annette Sykes, fronted this issue for MANA last week while Hone was in Sydney at a meeting of Pacific Indigenous representatives ahead of the World Indigenous Peoples Conference next year (see the MANA website for Hone’s Ae Marika column on this trip). Annette sent a letter of complaint to the Governor-General and the Minister of Justice asking for Dame Susan’s appointment to be terminated on the basis that she fails to meet the role’s criteria set under the Human Rights Act, which includes having knowledge of the Treaty of Waitangi and an understanding of race relations in Aotearoa. The letter asked for an investigation into the appointment process and how Dame Susan was assessed against the legally required criteria and deemed the most suitable appointment. Annette also asked if the appointment process included any consultation with Māori. For raising these concerns, the Minister of Justice – Judith Collins – called Annette “a stupid person” on National Radio. Annette took the petty name calling in her stride and went on to ask the Minister if she has simply appointed a friend into a $270,000 plus a year job – and stuff the actual requirements, or whether she just wanted someone in the job who’ll be happy to undermine the validity of the Treaty. See the MANA website for Annette’s media releases on the issue.

Petition to save longfin eels

At the risk of giving everyone petition-fatigue, another significant petition was launched last week on the steps of Parliament by Manaaki Tuna, a group of Massey Uni academics, teachers, researchers, and iwi, hapū , and environmental groups. Manaaki Tuna is asking people to sign up to support the call for a moratorium on the commercial fishing of longfin eels as they’re near extinction. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, has undertaken an extensive investigation into the status of longfin eels – a species that is found only in Aotearoa – and will release her report next month. Watch this space. To find out more and sign the petition, go to www.longfineel.co.nz/petition