KEY POINTS:
There's a new version of the Kenny Rogers' tune The Gambler starting to do the rounds. It goes something like this:
"On a chilly autumn morning in a Government going nowhere, Helen met Michael the Gambler; caustic and grim.
"When Helen saw that people were suffering, stung by
rising food prices and not able to pay their bills,
"The PM said, Michael, you'll finally have to empty all your tills.
"Michael said, Helen, I've made a life out of gambling other people's money, not caring where it came from, or who would lose their job.
"But this year I'll let them keep back some of their taxes. I promise not to be churlish - I know there's an election coming and I'll be ready every day, to flip when you say flop."
Chorus (sung by Fisher & Paykel choir):
"You've got to know not to trust them, not to believe them, know what they tell you, won't be the truth,
"We can't let them run the country, cos they're just not able ... ".
This bastardised Rogers' ditty is not particularly nice.
But what else does the Government expect after the pathetic sight of three caterwauling female Cabinet ministers tunelessly hammering out their own bastard version of the Rogers hit to slag off John Key at the Labour Party congress?
The three ministers: Ruth Dyson (labour), Maryan Street (housing) and Steve Chadwick (conservation and women's affairs) will be in the front-line as New Zealand families continue to be hit by the rising cost of living and the loss of more jobs overseas, while the persistently high New Zealand dollar robs most exporters of their profitability.
But instead of using their party congress to tackle major systemic issues like food security and New Zealand's monetary policy regime, they burst into trivia.
The rising cost of grocery staples is alarming. Consumer magazine this month compared prices with the results of its April 2007 survey.
The median price of butter was up 60 per cent; a two-litre bottle of milk was up 33 per cent, and a loaf of white bread was up 19 per cent. Other reports indicated a basket of basic food items was up 25 per cent.
Add petrol prices closing near $2 a litre (and expected to go higher in Auckland as the regional fuels tax impacts) and the high interest families are paying for their mortgages.
And the sure knowledge that this situation will only get harder as the Reserve Bank continues to squeeze inflation back within its target range after hitting 3.4 per cent for the March quarter.
It's not difficult to picture a situation where families will take to the streets to protest against the Government if it does not confront these realities head-on.
The issue of food security is a major. Inflation is biting farmers worldwide. Farm wages are up, fertiliser and diesel prices are escalating, as are insecticides and farm equipment.
Rice prices have doubled. The global wheat supply is down to just one month, and the steady conversion of prime farm land for growing expensive biofuel crops completes the vicious circle. The Government maintains this is great news as New Zealand's prime dairy exporter, Fonterra, will get much more for its food commodity products. But the Fonterra payouts do not trickle down evenly to swell the pockets of all New Zealanders.
Fonterra does not offer a domestic price for its products. New Zealanders pay the global price for its dairy products. But here's the rub.
Opponents of the Government's China free trade deal make the argument that Chinese people are suffering from galloping pollution as the mega-economy capitalises on the West's thirst for its products.
The converse may also be true. All taxpayers foot the bill for the dairy farmers' white gold rush as the Government re-engineers other sectors first through the emissions trading scheme to try to reduce our growing carbon (cow) foot-print.
And in the meantime our rivers and lakes are despoiled.
The Philippines, where rice stocks have run down, is shoring up against global food shortages. In Egypt, rioting people are holding the Government to account.
New Zealand is blessed. The Government owns considerable farmland through Landcorp. Instead of pushing dairy conversions it might just take the lead in shoring up New Zealand against the rising cost of staples by converting farms back to cropping basic staples such as wheat.
The Government might also consider levelling a carbon tax on Fonterra and its suppliers and use some of the proceeds to pay for a free yoghurt-in-schools scheme.
Or maybe subsidise domestic dairy products. It might also remove GST on basic foods, as Australia does, as it is quite clear that the upcoming tax cuts of some $10 to $20 a week will make little difference to most family budgets.
This might seem heretical in a free market economy.
But if the three singing Cabinet ministers believe in equity and fair play, they should urge their seniors to rethink.
