The week that was...

GST

The Government is going to hit us for GST on online shopping. Local retailers have been lobbying the government, claiming it's not a level playing field because they have to price in GST and overseas firms don't. It is unfair on local retailers and we should be paying GST when we buy off-shore, but I don't see this being a windfall for retailers at all. Customers go online for choice and price, and the sheer scale of the online business makes it very difficult for bricks and mortar retailers to compete. The attempted protectionism will not dent online sales. Sales online are growing at 20 percent annually and the only windfall, if there is one, will be to the government's coffers. Applying GST to digital sales is easy, but collecting the tax from goods imported across the border could cost more than the revenue collected. The big risk is foreign firms refusing to ship to New Zealand because it's just too difficult and that is what the retailers really want.

Landcorp

Landcorp has been piling into dairy conversions for their farms like crazy and now they have a debt issue. Bill English suggested they might like to sell some farms to sort themselves out. On cue Labour worked up their faux outrage, claiming the farms would be sold to foreigners and it was another state asset sale. Xenophobia and anti asset sales is Labour's mantra, and it's working well for them isn't it? They dumped five points in the latest Roy Morgan poll! Labour does have a point about the government selling a state asset if they sold the farms, but flog them off they must. You see, Landcorp is a liability not an asset. Its latest profit was a puny $1 million on assets of $1.8 billion - the company's a dog, and governments don't need to own farms.

Peters

I was amused at Winston Peters saying Mike Hosking was a National Party 'stooge'. Winston is so much fun at times, I like him a lot, politics will be the poorer when he goes. But Winston is the ultimate stirrer and I'm sure he got much enjoyment out of his fictitious slur. Sure Hosking is centre right but people aren't fools, they know that. Your not forced to listen or watch. It just so happens that Hosking has a substantial audience and Winston doesn't like that because he wants commentary that hammers the government. At least folk know where Hosking sits, I'm not sure the same can be said about Winston because he jumps to the left or right depending on what baubles are on offer. Hosking is not a National Party lackey and Winston knows this. We are paid to have an opinion. I note Peters also had a crack at Q+A and The Nation. Essentially Peters was having a crack at anyone who isn't following his agenda.

Refugees

A select committee recommended that we increase our quota of refugees. I support this with qualifications. The current quota of 750 has been in place since 1987 and I see no reason why we can't have a small increase to, say, 1000. There are significant costs with these refugees and with reunification of families the number swells and we have to pay for it, so 1000 is about the limit. The rules should be clear - refugees assimilate and become good hard working Kiwis, abide by our laws, and have no association with radical Islamists or be sympathetic towards terrorists. We don't need to import potential terrorists into this country.