Sunday, August 26, 2012

Collins crushed by the booze lobby...

The Standard
 


Collins crushed by booze lobby

What a craven cave-in. Lobbied by big booze, Collins has given in. Alco-pops will be left to the industry to regulate. Collins says the Government can step in quickly and regulate if they don’t – yeah right. The alcohol industry already has a strategy to make this ineffective.
What was going through Collins’ mind? Maybe this:
I think I’ll do a chatty video – “I met the nice people with Mark Unsworth and and they told me that they could bring in their booze from Aussie anyway and I thought free trade is really important and they’re lawyers and so am I. And David Farrar told me he’d done some research for them last year and I thought he’s really nice and gives me so many good ideas. Oh and if John does decide to go back to Hawaii soon I could use their help with getting some more research done.”
In the real world, the Herald editorial is forthright: “The Government’s cave-in on alco-pops is shameful.” David Farrar is defensive about it. Sue Kedgely is also on the offensive, when Stuff gets it up on the website.
It’s not a good look. John Key wants to give the pokie industry free rein, which means more families suffer. Judith Collins wants to give the booze industry free rein, which means more families suffer, and more hospitals are overrun.
As leaders they both get a fail.

Acknowledgements:  The Standard

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