The on-going and recent scandals (Judith Collins & Oravida, Maurice Williamson & Donghua Lui, John Key & Dirty Politics....) in New Zealand that have swirled around the neo-liberal National Party government of Key, supported by the discredited political parties of ACT and United Futures, with a combined total of 18000 nation wide, and the Maori Party did not prevent their re-election in the September election. The result is still being analysed and the fall-out worried over by those on the Left of the political spectrum. However, I think that this article in The Guardian best explains why, despite the National Party offering no visible policy direction for New Zealand except for a "steady as she goes...don't rock the boat" campaign which, late in the campaign, held out the possibility of tax cuts in 2017 the electorate cast their Party vote for National.
The description of the personality that dominates the Neo-Liberal society is an exact description of those, like Key, Joyce, Collins, and Bennett, who are now stitching up deals with the "support parties" like ACT and United Futures to consolidate the striping of the State we have seen since 2008.
Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us
An economic system that rewards psychopathic personality traits has changed our ethics and our personalities
'We are forever
told that we are freer to choose the course of our lives than ever
before, but the freedom to choose outside the success narrative is
limited.' Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
We tend to perceive our identities as stable and largely separate
from outside forces. But over decades of research and therapeutic
practice, I have become convinced that economic change is having a
profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities.
Thirty years of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatisation have
taken their toll, as relentless pressure to achieve has become
normative. If you’re reading this sceptically, I put this simple
statement to you: meritocratic neoliberalism favours certain personality
traits and penalises others.
There are certain ideal characteristics needed to make a career
today. The first is articulateness, the aim being to win over as many
people as possible. Contact can be superficial, but since this applies
to most human interaction nowadays, this won’t really be noticed.
It’s important to be able to talk up your own capacities as much as
you can – you know a lot of people, you’ve got plenty of experience
under your belt and you recently completed a major project. Later,
people will find out that this was mostly hot air, but the fact that
they were initially fooled is down to another personality trait: you can
lie convincingly and feel little guilt. That’s why you never take
responsibility for your own behaviour.
On top of all this, you are flexible and impulsive, always on the
lookout for new stimuli and challenges. In practice, this leads to risky
behaviour, but never mind, it won’t be you who has to pick up the
pieces. The source of inspiration for this list? The psychopathy
checklist by Robert Hare, the best-known specialist on psychopathy today.
This description is, of course, a caricature taken to extremes. (Hardly, sounds exactly like those at the head of the NZ National Party.)
Nevertheless, the financial crisis illustrated at a macro-social level
(for example, in the conflicts between eurozone countries) what a
neoliberal meritocracy does to people. Solidarity becomes an expensive
luxury and makes way for temporary alliances, the main preoccupation
always being to extract more profit from the situation than your
competition. Social ties with colleagues weaken, as does emotional
commitment to the enterprise or organisation.
Bullying used to be confined to schools; now it is a common feature
of the workplace. This is a typical symptom of the impotent venting
their frustration on the weak – in psychology it’s known as displaced
aggression. There is a buried sense of fear, ranging from performance
anxiety to a broader social fear of the threatening other.
Constant evaluations at work cause a decline in autonomy and a
growing dependence on external, often shifting, norms. This results in
what the sociologist Richard Sennett
has aptly described as the “infantilisation of the workers”. Adults
display childish outbursts of temper and are jealous about trivialities
(“She got a new office chair and I didn’t”), tell white lies, resort to
deceit, delight in the downfall of others and cherish petty feelings of
revenge. This is the consequence of a system that prevents people from
thinking independently and that fails to treat employees as adults.
More important, though, is the serious damage to people’s
self-respect. Self-respect largely depends on the recognition that we
receive from the other, as thinkers from Hegel to Lacan have
shown. Sennett comes to a similar conclusion when he sees the main
question for employees these days as being “Who needs me?” For a growing
group of people, the answer is: no one.
Our society constantly proclaims that anyone can make it if they just
try hard enough, all the while reinforcing privilege and putting
increasing pressure on its overstretched and exhausted citizens. An
increasing number of people fail, feeling humiliated, guilty and
ashamed. We are forever told that we are freer to choose the course of
our lives than ever before, but the freedom to choose outside the
success narrative is limited. Furthermore, those who fail are deemed to
be losers or scroungers, taking advantage of our social security system.
A neoliberal meritocracy would have us believe that success depends
on individual effort and talents, meaning responsibility lies entirely
with the individual and authorities should give people as much freedom
as possible to achieve this goal. For those who believe in the fairytale
of unrestricted choice, self-government and self-management are the
pre-eminent political messages, especially if they appear to promise
freedom. Along with the idea of the perfectible individual, the freedom
we perceive ourselves as having in the west is the greatest untruth of
this day and age.
The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman
neatly summarised the paradox of our era as: “Never have we been so
free. Never have we felt so powerless.” We are indeed freer than before,
in the sense that we can criticise religion, take advantage of the new
laissez-faire attitude to sex and support any political movement we
like. We can do all these things because they no longer have any
significance – freedom of this kind is prompted by indifference. Yet, on
the other hand, our daily lives have become a constant battle against a
bureaucracy that would make Kafka weak at the knees. There are
regulations about everything, from the salt content of bread to urban
poultry-keeping.
Our presumed freedom is tied to one central condition: we must be
successful – that is, “make” something of ourselves. You don’t need to
look far for examples. A highly skilled individual who puts parenting
before their career comes in for criticism. A person with a good job who
turns down a promotion to invest more time in other things is seen as
crazy – unless those other things ensure success. A young woman who
wants to become a primary school teacher is told by her parents that she
should start off by getting a master’s degree in economics – a primary
school teacher, whatever can she be thinking of?
There are constant laments about the so-called loss of norms and
values in our culture. Yet our norms and values make up an integral and
essential part of our identity. So they cannot be lost, only changed.
And that is precisely what has happened: a changed economy reflects
changed ethics and brings about changed identity. The current economic
system is bringing out the worst in us.
John Key's policy making process... on sale to the highest foreign corporate bidder.
In view of the scandals around John Key and his cabinet, especially those around Judith Collins and Maurice Williamson, this cartoon is very appropriate.
The obvious desire to sell NZ law making and assets off to the highest bidder (donor to the favoured Key Charity - the National Party ) is amply demonstrated in this cartoon.
Ever since Key became PM his cabinet has been known for scandal and questionable behaviour. From Key's dealings with Sky-City and Warner Bros to Richard Worth's forced resignation and Pansy Wong's disappearance from Botany to Phillip Heatley's credit card slips and John Banks' donation slip ups through to Judith Collins and her Oravida connections with the associated large donations to the Key led National Party the Key administration has always looked to be one that was prone to act without due regard for the requirements of the Cabinet Manual and the behaviour expected by the voting public.
The National Party caucus has also been consumed by the closetted struggle for power and post Key leadership being fought out by Joyce and Collins which, up until Collins spoilt her chances with her arrogant denials of meeting and dealing with the Chinese Oravida company, had been kept out of scrutiny by the media.
It is, therefore, not surprising that so far 14 of Key's MPs have deserted the ship and headed for safer ground outside of politics.
We can, though, expect more to scuttle and run as the fall out from the latest scandal to spill out of the Key appointed cabinet hits the news media.
The scandal and fall out from Maurice Williamson's involvement with Chinese businessman and National Party donor, Donghua Liu is yet another example of Key's bad judgement and ability to manage his party let alone the country. Key, if he was anyway responsible as a PM, should demand that Williamson, along with Collins, offer their resignations and depart from politics and government.
Unfortunately for NZ John Key is seriously lacking in ethical leadership which should mean that, unless Williamson displays a sense of honour, all that will happen is a wet bus ticket slap and a smug "I'm reluxed about it" grin from Key as he smiles, waves, scuttles and runs. The usual strategy he has when the going gets tough... there is, thinks John, nothing like a quiet game of golf with a wealthy foreign donor to the National Party to calm the nerves.
Updated: 11.15 am: Maurice Williamson displays a sense of honour and resigns as Minister, leaving John Key to respond in his usual limp manner as he reels as his cabinet collapses around him.
Here is the Taranaki report on Key's announcement: Prime Minister John Key today announced he has accepted the resignation of Williamson as a minister.
"I have been made aware that Mr Williamson contacted police some
time ago regarding their investigation of Mr Donghua Liu," Key said.
"Mr Williamson has assured me that he did not in any way intend to influence the Police investigation.
"However, Mr Williamson's decision to discuss the investigation with Police was a significant error of judgement.
One now must wonder why, if Key is "showing strength" in accepting Williamson's resignation as a Minister why he hasn't shown the same "strength of leadership" with his other scandal ridden Minister, Judith Collins? Is the decision made based on the number of golf games paid for plus the amount of donations received from wealthy cronies?
As the Herald editorial says: "The number of such incidents involving members of the Key administration
has reached a concerning level. It seems almost as though the Cabinet
Manual is an irrelevance unless media disclosure is guaranteed. How much
of this behaviour is never revealed, hidden away tidily through "no
surprises" - the insistence that bureaucrats warn politicians in advance
of potentially embarrassing publicity?"
It is now up to the Herald and the other MSM to dig deeper into the Key administration and its willingness to take large donations from its wealthy mates in return for "making back room deals" in favour of the donors and reveal how naked the "emperor" really is when it comes to running a political party, running a Cabinet and running a government. Duncan Garner appears to be leading the charge with this RadioLive blog while Fran O'Sullivan, who is best known for her glowing reportage of the Key govt, made this very telling comment in her opinionista piece in the Herald:
Williamson - like too many of our senior politicians including
Justice Minister Judith Collins with her pandering to Oravida's
principals while she was supposed be in China carrying out her Justice
portfolio duties - have been beguiled by relationships with "important
foreign investors". They should come down to earth. The
investors - like Liu and Stone Shi who has arguably had more ministerial
attention than other NZ investors in the wake of the botulism scare -
should not be treated differently to ordinary New Zealand citizens. New Zealand's reputation will be damaged if they don't wake up soon.
Unfortunately for New Zealand our reputation has already been damaged - and that damage can be sheeted home to the Crosby-Textor created Prime Minister - John Key and his appointed cabinet.
The scrutiny that should follow from this major scandal should provide the voting public with even more evidence that the present government must fold its tent and depart in the ignomny it deserves.
Judith Collins' reputation as the possible next leader of the National party is in shreds. Her reputation as a minister of the crown in the Key owned National party caucus is in tatters. A resignation is the only honorable thing left.
The problem is that being honorable is not a requirement in the Key caucus.
With Ministers like Simon Bridges, Hekia Parata, Paula Bennett, and the prime milker- Judith Collins does anyone really believe that John Key is competent?
This may be from the UK but the dress, the position, reluctant apology and the scandal are so similar, along with the PM's attitude to the revelations that I couldn't help but post this cartoon.
Humourless and Passionless in the quest for leadership.
Judith Collins takes aim at the individual's sense of humour as she seeks to privatise all possible personal assets.
The Bellman has been predicting that Judith Collins would reveal her Thatcherite tendencies at some point as the internal feuding for the leadership of the National Party heats up and so it is with her latest demonstration of the problems that the sale of personal and State assets is causing individuals in the National-ACT party.
The Bellman has assured us that Judith Collins was one of the first to embrace the privatisation of personal assets to demonstrate her support for the sale of all of the State assets before the 2014 election.
Apparently Judith Collins sold her sense of humour to Gerry Brownlee in a deal that required Ms Collins to stump up a deal sweetener of a contribution to Gerry's election campaign Vote catching bench plaques. Unfortunately for both Judith and Gerry someone got wind of this inspired strategy and started posting their own versions thus upsetting the Brownlee quest to become the supreme ruler of Christchurch.
When Collins learnt that David Cunliffe had used a series of puns in a humourous blog comment Collins' sale of her sense of humour left her with only one recourse- a vocal demonstration of her belief that she is the only person able and allowed to comment on issues and that anyone who dares hold that belief up to ridicule must be abused and accused of "sexism" or "personality assassination."
Humourless and passionless Judith Collins took the hook and awaits being reeled in.
At the risk of being accused of carping on, but by hoki one cannot help it, one must conclude that her reaction to the Cunliffe fishing puns has revealed two things: (1) that she is quick to snap at a baited hook and will be easily reeled in by a cunning fisherman like Cunliffe and (2) that if she does succeeed in pushing Key and his favoured successor, Joyce, out of the way the New Zealand voters will be subject to a disciplinarian who will remove all sense of fun from the NZ psyche.
Key advised to "act macho" in the face of a revitalised Opposition.
What? I'm on notice to perform? Key ponders a future as a Talk Back jock.
John Key is on warning from within the National-ACT party organisation as the closeted feuding camps within the caucus campaign to become his successor according to our informant within the National-ACT organisation. In the face of continued negative personal poll results that reveal that the public perception of Key is that he is arrogant, out of touch, and turning off the female voters from the National-ACT party the forces within the party have told him to "act more macho" and be prepared to go head to head with more substance than Crosby-Textor scripted jokey one liners against the Opposition. The increasingly obvious ABC (All Behind Collins) camp, supported by the National Party bloggers, has, allegedly, been at the forefront of the campaign.
The informant said that the feeling within the National-ACT party is that for too long Key has been resting on his laurels, secure in the PR spun belief that he is "popular" with the voting public and that because of his arrogant belief in his own infallibility he has been turning off the voting public.
Added to these concerns has been the obvious increased vitality of the Labour Party caucus in the wake of the Leadership hustings meetings and campaigning by Robertson, Cunliffe and Jones with the subsequent media coverage previously denied to them. The distinct probability of Key having to face a front bench of a highly articulate, well informed and politically aggressive Labour Leadership team has shaken the normally complacent Party officials who are now demanding that Key proves that he has the intellectual and ideological ability to engage in real debate. As a result Key was forced to claim that he would postpone his regular off-shore jaunts and be prepared to make a sustained appearance in the House which explains why Key has been seen on TV posing in sort of Michael Jackson- Borat swimsuited- moonwalk position declaring "I will be in the House on Tuesday when the Labour leadership team are in action" and claiming he has the equipment to perform in the debating chamber. ( a quick look at Key's planned itinerary (Stuff- Today in politics Thursday 12th 2013) showed that Key was playing fast and lose with the truth again as his plans, published before the Labour Leadership campaign, showed him leaving NZ for his Balmoral sojourn late on Tuesday evening. )
The threatened attacks, not just on Key, but on his poorly performing ministers like Hapless Hekia, Wilful Williamson, Blustering Brownlee and Eregious English, whose poor grasp of managing theNZ economy has been causing concern, has also unsettled the up till now closeted feuding camps within the caucus.
The Borat bluster from Key has shown that he is increasingly nervous and jittery about, not only his grasp on the leadership of his caucus and the increasingly negative feedback from the personality perception polling but, the prospect of the threat of a united, cohesive and increasingly politically aggressive Labour front bench.
Our informant reckons that Key has been closeted with his expensive spinmeisters from Crosby-Textor ever since David Shearer stepped down from the Leadership of the Labour Party seeking advice and commissioning his joke writers to provide him with one-liners that could, with a sound-bite beside him, give him some exposure on TV and on his Talk-Back radio programme.
Unfortunately for Key his increasingly slurred pronunciation and agitated body language has been betraying him in such a way that there has been greater voter turn off than the questionable dealings, most of which have seen Key playing fast and loose with the taxpayers' money to sweeten the deals, like ($265 million) Sky City, ($60 million) Warner Bros, the RMA eviseration, ($600 million) Broadband pricing subsidies (which even the National Party blogger opposes as being "corporate welfarism".) and the ill advised ($30 million) Rio Tintobribe he has been involved with since becoming Prime Minister. (PS: It has now been revealed that Joyce, the other contender for PinoKeyo's job was following in his mentor's footsteps by getting involved in the "wheeling & dealing" and interference in the Broadband subsidy to Chorus business bribe.)
Camp Collins draws a bead on Key in caucus.
The question now is: "When will the ABC- Camp Collins group make their move on Key?"
Key's distortions and misinformation over his badly drafted spy on NZers GCSB bill has added to his loss of Mojo.
Despite the razamattaz at the Rutherford Hotel over the weekend of the National Party Conference there were back room deals being made as the two major groups jockeying to unseat Key attempted to make sense of secret private polls taken to assess Key’s recent performance in The House and in front of the TV cameras and its impact on the credibility of the National-ACT government.
Our informant, C.L.Dodgson, revealed that the ABK group around Joyce and the ABC group around Collins (heavily and openlycritical of Key and the Henry enquiry ) have had very similar poll results. Both indicating that Key is losing his mojo and credibility with the NZ public across the political spectrum.
Both camps are apparently cock a hoop with the results as they continue with their clandestine feuding and plotting to gain advantage when the opportunity arises to push the Crosby-Textor created “great manipulator” off and send him back to his residence in Hawaii.
The pollsters used by both camps were rumoured to have asked respondents to free associate all words they’d use to describe Key’s performance this year. When the results were presented to the ABK and ABC camps there was gob-smacked astonishment at the strongly negative word associations connected to brand Key.
Key's cold dead eyes have begun to lose their hypnotising powers.
Contrary to the perceived wisdom that Key is invulnerably popular with the public the pollsters apparently discovered a strong negative reaction to Key and his performance in The House and in public.
Our informant said that the common words to describe or be associated with Key by respondents across the political spectrum, were: slippery, devious, untruthful, insincere, arrogant, inefficient, bumbling, corrupt,doesn’t tell the truth- he only deals in half truths, indifferent, out of touch, disingenuous, false, hypocrite.......
The shonkey deals over the SkyCity pokies for convention centre deal have added to Key's loss of mojo. Allegedly Poll respondents made frequent mention of this to the National-ACT pollsters.
Key's response to TV3 questioning and Alistar Thompson (Scoop) questions on the GCSB have further fueled the public disillusionment with Key. Much to delight of the ABC camp within the National_ACT party.
POST SCRIPT: The strategic National-ACT polling allegedly commissioned by the feuding camps within the party has been substantiated by the latest IPSOS-FAIRFAX political poll reported on the Stuff website (26.8.13) reports that John Key is not believed by the NZ voters. Extracts of reported comments about Key are, according to Vernon Small's story:
When respondents were probed for the reasons behind their views
about Key some themes emerged, including that the pressure was getting
to him, that he was coping - just - and that trust was slipping although
he was doing well under pressure.
Typical negative comments included:
"I suspect the pressure he is under is making faults more obvious. I
don't think there is a better opposition at this stage."
"Weak, always on the defence, and not very much on directions and purpose."
"The Tiwai smelter deal - John Key wants to keep that deal, which comes at a huge cost."
"Not as good as he has been, harder to trust him than it was. He doesn't appear as genuine as he once was."
With growing reports of a growing disenchantment with the performance of Key we can obviously expect to see even more obvious jockeying for power as the dark closets within which the National-ACT party creates policy, decides who and which foreign corporates can buy influence and state assets and buys and sells its leadership begin to split open.
The response: Crosby-Textor push Key's panic button:
The decision,obviously made by Crosby-Textor advisers, that Key appear on the Campbell Live show to counter public suspicions about the GCSB legislation can be seen as an attempt to counter the polled perception of Key as being out of touch, arrogant and slippery. His performance, much praised by The Herald commentators, was a masterly demonstration of the aspects of his personality that the polling revealed was turning off the public - hectoring, ill informed, often providing false information and bland reassurances based on false analogy and incorrect interpretation. The suddenly announced, exclusive to the Herald, decision, by Key, to “clarify” his interpretation of the GCSB Bill and “Prime Ministerially” order the GCSB not to spy on New Zealanders unless it has the New Zealander’s permission and- of course- Key’s over riding authority to over-ride the necessity to obtain permission, was in response to the polling that revealed Key was not trusted to tell the truth on the issue.
While, too many of our readers, these may sound like the words one normally associates with the National Party - the ABC group around Collins, bouyed by her 11% popularity among the National Party supporters, have, apparently seized on these results and have begun an even more serious lobbying to gain ascendency over Joyce and his cronies as the internal feuding that has been long hidden in the closets of the National-ACT party begins to break into the open as the teflon, so carefully applied by Crosby-Textor to John PinoKeyo Key begins to flake off.
Sums it all up- Key is totally out of touch with NZ. There is no connect with Planet Key and reality.
Transcript of the RadioLive interview Thursday 11th July 2013
Participants: Duncan Garner and Cameron Slater (aka: Whaleoil)
Duncan Garner drawing inspiration for an opinion on New Zealand Politics
DG: Following on from my fictional tweets about David Shearer I now have it on sound tweets that a palace coup is a foot in the National Party caucus. I now welcome one of those involved... champion tweeter and blogger - Cameron Slater aka Whaleoil whose blog and tweets I have always taken as gospel whenever creating a sensational news item about NZ politics.
DG: Welcome to RadioLive. It’s a pleasure to have you on air...”
WO: The pleasure’s all mine. I’m pleased to be on air rather than making a tweet of myself.
DG: Ha Ha. Very good. I must say your inside knowledge of the political machinations around David Shearer are among the best in the industry. Especially seeing that you aren’t in any way connected to anyone within the Labour Party. They have kept me informed for much of my career.
WO: Thank you. Although I must say I have recently gotten into a taxi that had been recently vacated by a member of the Labour Party.
DG: Wow!! That’s really interesting. Can you tell me who that was? Do you have documentary evidence to support your claim?
WO: No. But I’m sure that someone might deep throat and tell me who it might have been... even if they weren’t there to witness the unnamed Labour Party member vacate the taxi.But wait! There's more! I'll blog it all - that the un-named, unidentified, untraceable but existing in my imagination Party member left a highly classified piece of correspondence in that taxi- on my totally unreliable rumour site so that you can attribute it to me next time you twitter a scoop based on .....
DG: Now.... Cameron, it’s been at least 12 hours since the revelations that you and your associates have been involved with the circulation among the National-ACT caucus of the letter calling for John Key’s resignation and replacement with Judith Collins and Anne Tolley. I gather that you’ve denied this three times which, in my eyes, makes it true that there is a palace coup underway in the National Party.....
WO: No, No!! Look. Despite anything you might believe you can’t take my words at face value. When I utter a word or a phrase or, even a coherent sentence, each word will only mean that which I want it to mean... that doesn’t mean that...
DG: you’re using them in any strict dictionary sense of the word...
WO: That’s right.
DG: Therefore it is possible that if you say no you might be really meaning yes?
WO: No. I mean Yes...
DG: Make up your mind do you mean No but really mean yes or do you mean Yes but really mean No? Quickly I haven’t got all day I have my ego to burnish...
WO: I meant No as in..
DG: Yes!!! Admit it Admit it YES!!!! Now I gather you’re part of the ABK group within the National Party machine that has been tasked with unseating the beloved leader and replacing him with the members of the ABC - All Behind Collins - faction.
WO: Nnnnnnnnn..... spluttering sounds
DG: Coming up for air are you? Come on, you’ve already declared three times that there is no plot... but you and I both know that anyone who denies the existence of a plot is actually admitting there is a plot and to do so three times, as you have done provides the concrete evidence that there is a strong ABK group in the National Party Caucus actively led by the ABCers .... You must admit that you have been front and centre of these campaigns through your blog site...
WO: Duncan.. you know that that’s not what I....
DG: Cameron, you’re spluttering again and you won’t admit the truth of my allegation because you’re too afraid that you will lose your privileges within the National Party which can only mean that there is an active plot to remove John Key so unless you stop questioning me and my inside twitter sources I have no alternative but to thank you and cut this discussion short.
WO: ........But, bu...bu...(silence)
DG: There you are a frank admission that the three denials of a possible palace coup are actually admissions that there is a strong ABC group working under the acronym of ABK (Anyone But Key ) within the National-ACT caucus and that you heard it all on RadioLive.
Watch out for more in depth news reporting as the rumours swirling around John Key and the unease that his dealings with international gambling corporations and other asset stripping conglomerates are causing among those who want an even more authoritarian hand on the tiller gather strength and credibility on twitter and on the right wing blog sites I always read.I can guarantee that regardless of any proof to the contrary I’ll continue to ensure that there will be more fearless reporting coming from me.....
A Modern Prison Hulk - note the use of shipping containers
This latest proposal from the deep intellects of the present cabinet would support the contention that N.Z. has entered a phase of talibanisation by embracing the "great leap backward."
Corrections Minister Judith Collins is releasing the numbers on a proposal to house prisoners in shipping containers.
The Government is looking at the idea as a way of dealing with rising prisoner numbers, while reducing the costs of new prison facilities to taxpayers.
Ms Collins says putting the container option into existing prisons would cost between $53,000 and $63,000 per bed. She says using the same approach in a new prison development would cost around $370,000 per bed.
Perhaps an even greater cost saving could be made by purchasing a cruise liner that has reached the end of its economic and sea worthiness life and, instead of sending it to the breakers yard, mooring it out off the Manukau Heads and shipping the prisoners to it.
The prisoners would be away from the cities and towns where they are causing problems (thus keeping Melissa Lee and others like her safe in their bigotory-blue themed worlds ), they would be housed in cells that already exist, they would be far enough away from land that escape would be almost impossible ( diligent feeding of sharks around the hulks would provide added security) thus reducing the number of guards needed while the prisoners could be gainfully employed constantly pumping the bilges to keep themselves afloat.
I'm sure that the economics of this modest propsal would keep the Treasury wonks in happiness pills for a considerable time although the person, like Judith "Crusher" Collins, who would seriously front such a proposal could be described as having a brain that if placed on the head of a pin it would roll around like a dried pea on an eight lane highway.
