Go bikers! I think the effort put into protesting rising ACC levies admirable. An estimated 10,000 bikers fronted up to Parliament today to give the government a rev up.
Unfortunately though, there are already signs that the Government is simply going to write this mass protest off as just another "Boobs on Bikes" parade. ACC Minister Nick Smith said the number of dead motorcyclists last year justifies fee increases to the survivors.
Funny, for a moment I thought he was also going to acknowledge the government's failure to invest in safer roads. Obviously, it's safer to tax.
"The stats are crap!" Declared Goff. "These levies are not fair, and they're not reasonable."
Phil, being a petrol head, has memory lapses about Labour's glory years watching ACC on a collision course with a deficit bigger than a train wreck. That wasn't an accident though, so tax payers cannot claim any relief. Au contraire, this week bikers face a levy increase. SUV and diesel owners next, then car owners and surely, cyclists aren't paying their fair share? How about joggers? Two recent road deaths in Wellington is all the justification the government needs.
If this protest becomes yet another massively democratic action that is ignored, expect the divide and conquer strategy from National to continue.
And then we all become part of the boobs on bikes parade.
Unfortunately though, there are already signs that the Government is simply going to write this mass protest off as just another "Boobs on Bikes" parade. ACC Minister Nick Smith said the number of dead motorcyclists last year justifies fee increases to the survivors.
Funny, for a moment I thought he was also going to acknowledge the government's failure to invest in safer roads. Obviously, it's safer to tax.
"The stats are crap!" Declared Goff. "These levies are not fair, and they're not reasonable."
Phil, being a petrol head, has memory lapses about Labour's glory years watching ACC on a collision course with a deficit bigger than a train wreck. That wasn't an accident though, so tax payers cannot claim any relief. Au contraire, this week bikers face a levy increase. SUV and diesel owners next, then car owners and surely, cyclists aren't paying their fair share? How about joggers? Two recent road deaths in Wellington is all the justification the government needs.
If this protest becomes yet another massively democratic action that is ignored, expect the divide and conquer strategy from National to continue.
And then we all become part of the boobs on bikes parade.
If the answer is more tax, then the problem is an illusion.
ReplyDeleteCiaron.