NZBee

It has made me feel at home today the protests! I am from Liverpool after all

No seriously, just wanted to say good on em....about time NZ ers started to stand up for what they believe in, and show the government they are not taking this lying down as per usual. Proud to be an (almost) Kiwi this morning

Wiz'n'Ton

These are pics from outside the office this morning. Was a real sense of cameraderie amongst road users and the truckies, and they were honking horns and waving to each other. There was an almost palpable sense of one-ness and it was pretty cool.

As you say, was good to see them taking a stand against what is becoming an ever-more unpopular government.

bro69

All went by quite easily no huge traffic jams in Wellington, nice to see a protest that isn't a hikoi for a change.

Still someone has to pay for the roads so why shouldn't the biggest users pay?

howden40

I don't think the Truckers went far enough to have an impact. 1.5 hours of slowing down traffic plus the time to get traffic moving again will not have much of an impact. I don't agree with this sort of action in principal as it really gets at the general public and small businesses BUT I do see the need and accept the actions as a necessary evil. I hate to say it but the action needs to be for longer periods and concentrated at ports and airports rather than city centres or like they did in the UK - Petrol refineries so no petrol getting through for 24 - 48 hours. Horrid action but more effective I feel.

I was told today that the general feeling was that Auntie Helen was deliberately messing up at present as she knows she will not get in again and her intention is to leave a lovely mess for the next government to clean up - that way the general public will not see any improvement for awhile and she may not look so bad.
Can she really be so spiteful and vindictive towards her past voters. Don't know enough about her or NZ politics to comment myself, but would be interested to hear others on the subject.

Well it's not me to discuss politics, it must be a side effect of moving.

Pauline

Kiwiprincess

bro69 - for anything else i would tend to agree, however, surely those charges are going to be passed on to the consumer?

I don't know, just my thoughts as I would freely admit i don't have a clue about the truck driver/company overheads or charges they need to offset.

Someone has to pay, but i am not sure that in the current economic climate that it is a good thing for truckers and therefore consumers to bear the brunt of it.

gazzer15

As someone who has had experience of running a haulage company in the uk during times of hikes in running costs I can assure you the costs will definatly be passed on.

bro69

I agree the protest needs to be bigger and have more effect. I think the biggest problem is our government here in NZ love spending money on a loss making troubled railway around $660 million not including upkeep.

Couple that with all the pay outs they are giving in land settlements to Maori Iwi's for treaty settlements, Cullen just wants to give away as much money as possible and be remembered as a generous treasurer not as a tight ass as he has been branded before.

Unfortunately Aunty Helen can't control the price of petrol in a global market but this latest price hike doesn't help. If they can afford to give away moeny in some areas to try and buy an election why can't they find some money for our roads.

gazzer15

Hear hear I agree having watched billions of money bieng thrown at the railways in the Uk and they still can't deliver ontime spend money where its needed.

NZBee

Hmmmm....
How about then if that is the case, make the bigger car users too pay more on the roads?? Tax them higher?? Then you would have nearly all of NZ protesting (I am a small car driver incidentally!).
See....this is the attitude...it doesn't affect me, so make someone else pay....in this case, it affects ALL of us, and we should be backing these guys up, as the prices will most certainly be passed on to us. It is unnecessary, and Aunty Helen knows that most NZers are struggling a bit at the moment. She could win a few friends by offering some respite until the oil deal has calmed down a bit.
But then if I am thinking that is going to happen I am defo living in Fairy Land.

NakiMan

Presumably, as the cost of fuel rises, the government's tax take also rises.

So rising fuel prices are a bit of a windfall for the Government

Surely they could afford not to raise road usage charges. It would be seen as a gesture at least

Or perhaps they've got to get some money in to pay for the Railways

Batty

It's not spite Pauline. It's leaving a mess that will take years to clean up and it'll be so bad over the next few years that National will be tainted and Labour will get back in again. It's definitely cynical and just goes to show how much they really care about the people they're representing - it's all a game to them.

howden40

I hope the voters will remember this mess, but they don't. I will.
Pauline

howden40

[QUOTE=NZBee;6532851]Hmmmm....
How about then if that is the case, make the bigger car users too pay more on the roads?? Tax them higher?? Then you would have nearly all of NZ protesting

No I think it's an excellent idea, theory being if you can afford a big car you can afford the running costs. You buy small economical cars to suit your pocket.
That's what the UK has done and I totally agreed with it, even though we had 2 big cars and one small. Road tax determined by engine size.

But have special rate for truckers as naturally their engine size is sooo much bigger than cars and any increase to them is passed directly to the general public (including themselves as general public), so really they get a double whammy.

Pauline

NakiMan

its always been a mystery to me why NZ has this weird road pricing system.

Why not just tax the diesel like they do in the UK?

lapsed kiwi

That would make much more sense. It might also encourage some of these truckies to tune their engines so they don't belch semi-burnt diesel smoke.

You'd have to find some way for non-road use of diesel to be exempted though