The Government has splashed out on 34 new top-of-the-line BMWs that sell for more than $200,000 each.
The Green Party has called the ordering of the cars a disgrace.
But the Internal Affairs Department says it has been three years since the Government bought its last fleet, which will be sold when the new cars start to arrive later this year.
The 730Ld BMWs are not yet available in New Zealand, but the 730d models in the current VIP fleet sell for $203,500.
The cars are for transporting ministers, their guests, the leader of the Opposition and occasionally judges.
A spokesman for Prime Minister John Key said this was the same process that had happened for years. "It is standard for a progressive upgrade of the VIP fleet to happen every three years or when the vehicle reaches 90,000 kilometres."
This is, in our humble opinion, incredibly bad judgment by whoever has authorised the deal. Sure, fleet cars should be replaced regularly, but during an election campaign when everyone else is being asked to tighten their belts? No!
Commercial considerations and contracts are doubtless at play here. But perception is everything in politics, and the perception this morning is that the National-led government is no different from its predecessor, with a do-as-we-say-not-as-we-do attitude, and we're not happy about that.
As they say in the soft drink advert - smarten up!
56 comments:
another TV ad said "image is everything" .. this is a bad image. A Govt Minister must have signed the contract be it 3 years ago or more recently, who was it?
It may well be that the three year renewal was written into the contract that the previous government entered into. Surely though, that would not stop the Nats from pushing it out a year or so.
Golden John will surely step in and put things right, eh Inv2.
Perfect opportunity to lead by example. The people will be inspired by his leadership.
Eh!
I did love your 'it's Labour's fault' line. Too, too original!
I'm not saying that it's "Labour's fault" Robert - surely though, you would have enough commercial acumen to know that contracts are often entered into with clauses for renewal, and I am guessing that is the case here. It's still not good enough though, and someone in the Nats should have raised a red flag so that a variation could be negotiated.
And it gets worse..the Dom reports the Govt hasn't said what optional extras will be supplied which include "massage function for front seats, 12 massage bubbles and 6 rotation bubbles help to relax the occupant's thorax, shoulder and lumbar spine" or if they want a boogie, "16 high-performance speakers"!!
It's an utter disgrace.
The greens supported the original deal too RG.
Anyway lets all take a deep breath.
1 the old beemers get sold so there is a cash return for them,
2)the new beemers are bought at a dscount,
3) they will be more fuel efficient than the last lot given the advances that BMW have made or so my mate Bob McMillan would tell us and
4)there will be a resale option at the end of the term, so there will be money comming back.
5) It seems like there are contractual obligations that have to be fulfilled.
6)Governments have to honour their obligations even if politically unacceptable.
and finally there is bad news from the horrible palce afghanistan which will put everything into perspective.
by the way I drive a Volvo. Beemers are way too common now.
It isn't perception. It is reality. This government is WORSE than the previous one. Bring back Winston!
Inv I disagree with you and agree with Alex who has hit it right on the head.
There is however no need for the extras that Suz refers to.
pdm: for that sort of money, I'd be expecting Eric Clapton in person to be sitting in the rear seat, serenading me whilst massaging my thorax! (:
I'm not saying that it's "Labour's fault" but ...
and now er're spinning, spinning, spinning, through this magic land...
I drive a custom Rolls Royce from the centenary collection. It is an indescribably wonderful machine to control. My other car is a Maserati Quattrosporte GT. I've been in the motel industry for 20 odd years now and deserve all the success and financial reward that it brings me. My staff mainly drive scooters and bikes, but hey! they don't have the stress of running a business. They just clean units. Go the government! Don't be afraid of spending to get the economy going and aspiring for material things. There is no afterlife remember... so use this one to the full.
This is just creepy – John Key calls his wife ‘Bing Bing’ while his deputy is ‘Blinglish’!
I’m seeing the three of them on one of the $200,000 BMWs, laughing.
Haw haw haw haw!
greenfly on Frogblog
Sarah - the High Council of the Destiny Church is immensely proud of you sister.
Ooooggghhh.."on" is even more scary than "in"!
@ Robert (10.54) - very good; perhaps The Bishop will buy the cast-offslock,stock and barrel
True Suz - 'on' frightened even me but not so much as 'off-slock'!
Be fair Robert, you've inserted a hyphen whence there ought to be a space in Inv's original...although I believe an "off-slock" is a much-requested service in Amsterdam.
Robert
Your blindness to reality never ceases to amaze.
As for making personal attacks and innuendo about what John Key calls his wife means you now fit the charge that you made against inv2 yesturday when you called him "petty".
You sir are the petty one.
Once again we see your work....when you get caught in the headlights you turn to pathetic attacks and arguments rather than facing the issue.
Also robert, yesturday you said to Inv2:
"Have you looked into it Inv2?"
Well sir, i charge you with the same question. Have YOU looked into it Robert?
The deal was done by Labour, who signed a contract with 3 yearly renewal.
Oh, thats right, you are only after pathetic point scoring, rather than dealing with the issue.
Like Inv2, I think that it is a bad look, but it is part of a contract.
Are you guilty of "snarly national comments" there robert Guyton
@ha, hah hahah hahahah hahaha haahahahaahahaha hahahahah hahahah hahahahah hahahah ahahahah ahahah ahahah. Do you get it now? NO? ahahahahhah hah hah hahah hah/ NOW? can't you see this is the point of all of this. God is in charge of EVERYTHING!
anon
what are you on?
Of course I am 'ha', as described earlier - you must try to stay abreast of the discussion.
Have I looked into the issue of National's purchase of the 34 $200 000 each BMWs?
Yes I have and your feeble excuse that 'Labour set this in motion' doesn't wash anywhere across the media. Are Key and English such poor businessmen that they can't negotiate out of a deal between the Government of New Zealand and a car company? Give me a break!
How dishwater weak can the two of them be?
Ah! That question just answered itself!
With all due respect 'ha', if you are going to enter into debate here, you need to arm yourself with a whole lot more than this.
I'm underwhelmed.
Btw - at what point did I find myself 'caught in the headlights'?
I missed that entirely!
@ Ha - I have wondered that before regarding Anon
Btw - John Key calls his wife 'Bing Bing'.
That's all.
"A Department of Internal Affairs spokesman said the new limousines were bought under the terms of a deal signed by Labour in 2007.
It included a clause stipulating replacement with new vehicles after three years. That contract expires after another three years and the Crown will go back to the open market for its next fleet."
NZ Herald
"The Department of Internal Affairs made the decision, Mr Key said. That was signed off by the previous government.
"So it's not a situation where we as a government have decided to do that [to upgrade the cars]"
NZ HErald
Here is the link so you dont cry about it robert guyton.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10706548
@ Robert - after challenging me TWICE on a another thread this morning (which had nothing at all to do with this subject - threadjack maybe?), I would have at least expected some acknowledgement for having dared to stray from the National good/Labour & Greens bad ideology you so frequently accuse me of; if not in so many words, then cetainly by pointed remarks.
And it now seems as though this is indeed a rollover of the 2008 contracts, and that Government ministers might not have been fully appraised by depratmental officials. DPF has more details here:
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/02/more_on_bmws.html
robert,
I see you are resorting to totally irrelvant issues to this post by going on about what the Right Honorable Prime Minster John Key loving calls his wife.
Sad that you cant handle that he has a nick name for her.
Grow up robert
Inv2 titled his post 'Dumb, dumb, dumb...'
I don't think he supports your point of view 'ha'. In fact he closes with
'As they say in the soft drink advert - smarten up!'
Seems even he recognises that it was National that stuffed this up.
Ha!
Robert, you better read the comment from INV2 a couple up from yours.
You just got owned.
INV2 has seen through the leftwing media propaganda "got to get a headline" crap and seen that it is a labour stuff up.
Invent.
When I posted my comments earlier today your 'dumb, dumb, dumb' post wasn't up, hence my use of the existing thread, just as I didn't see your recent comment until now. There's afellow downloading Debian for me presently and that may be delaying your updates. No matter.
You now claim that the contract is a roll-over and National 'didn't know'. Ha! Good one! Labour's fault!! Beauty!
You guys are wags!
there goes robert with his blinkers on again.
Cant possibly be the lefts fault can it robert cos they are soo perfect and great and the world is not safe when they are out of power.
yeah Right
@ Robert - from the Herald article that Ha linked to:
"A Department of Internal Affairs spokesman said the new limousines were bought under the terms of a deal signed by Labour in 2007.
It included a clause stipulating replacement with new vehicles after three years. That contract expires after another three years and the Crown will go back to the open market for its next fleet.
Mr Key said today it was a six-year deal signed in 2007 with a three-year rollout.
The Department of Internal Affairs made the decision, Mr Key said. That was signed off by the previous government.
"So it's not a situation where we as a government have decided to do that [to upgrade the cars]"
He said he had been advised that sending the cars back would be more expensive than ending the deal."
It's still a bad look, wherever the blame lies. I have no doubt that a few "please explains" have found their way to the DIA today.
"Prime Minister John Key revealed this afternoon that no minister was contacted about the decision. A six-year deal for the cars was signed by Labour with a three year rollover clause.
"That decision to invoke that rollover and bring new cars in was made by the Department of Internal Affairs without reference either to their minister or to me," he told reporters.
Mr Key found out about the new cars when one of the drivers told him.
"It's not a situation where we, as the Government, have decided to do that, the department just made that decision."
The department did not think it had to check as it had authority from the former Labour Government.
Mr Key said it was too late to say whether his Government would have approved the purchase or not and the cars were due to arrive in New Zealand soon. They would not be returned because of the high cost that would incur.
A spokesman for Internal Affairs told NZPA there was no requirement to inform the Government about its decision to chose the option of buying new vehicles.
"It's our contract, we administer it. Our assessment was it was the best value for money to replace the vehicles now and we got a good deal in the first place and we got a good deal now," he said.
"This is just one of many contracts that the department administers on behalf of the Government and once the contract is in place the department simply administers it, our responsibility is to make sure we get good value for money."
From NBR
Clearly NOT the governments fault.
Helen Clark's shadow hasn't faded:
"The department did not think it had to check as it had authority from the former Labour Government."
I daresay that "the department" is in for a rude surprise!
This is the prblem with the media today, they are only after headline grabbing stories and are often willing to forego the actual truth, in order to get the story they want.
Had the news media actually given the FULL story and the FULL situation then it would not have turned in to the false, farsical crap that it has turned in to.
It also would have not been a story at all, hence why they withhold the truth.
Media need to be held accountable.
hmmmm, is that the sound of Robert Guyton realising he was wrong?
Or is it the sound of him running away now that the truth is coming out?
Oh wait, it is one of his usual "oh i had something to do, i dont spend all my time on the internet" moments.
No doubt he will return, refuse to apologise despite the facts and still blame the "evil Nats" and say something totally irrelevant to the post to try and distract from reality.
Who will be riding in those gold-plated cars I wonder?
National Party MPs - check!
Maori Party MPs - check!
Peter Dunne - check!
Hide and his hideous crew - check!
All's well then!
As you were.
Read you like a book and got you in one robert: deferred from the FACTS of who is to blame! Using crap to avoid the fact you are wrong.
as i said you would: "refuse to apologise despite the facts and still blame the "evil Nats" and say something totally irrelevant to the post to try and distract from reality"
So predicatble Robert Guyton
The issue is not will ride in them, but who contracted us to getting them!
Who was it? LABOUR (with pushing from the greens to buy the cars because they were "good for the economy")
Fat.
Cats.
Robert Guyton has been snookered, checkmated and owned.
Robert Guyton can't admit he is wrong.
RObert Guyton resorts to lame, petty comments that have nothing to do with what the post was about (and the subsequent revelations that it is LABOUR who signed the contract).
When People start making lame comments like "fat Cat' etc you know that they have been shown up.
Where now is the mighty warrior for truth Robert Guyton, the beacon carrier for the saintly greens?
Where now is the "i am happy to debate the ISSUES" Robert Guyton.
Is that him hinding in the corner with his tail between his legs?
some how I think the govt could have broken the contract or delayed it if they thought it necessary.
Key is very clever at playing these 'my hands are tied' games to make it seem like Labour are the baddies.
At the time (NZ was pretty rich remember) it was probably a sound idea to modernise the fleet and make it more efficient. Now that we a re broke it rteally should be putt on the back burner for a few years. I'm sure BMW wouldn't mind.
Gentlemen - again, my apologies for the delay - I've been filming with Al Brown, celebrity chef and his crew in my garden - what a very nice guy he is! The weather was perfect and the filming went well. We picked berries, apples and French sorrel and dug La Ratte potatoes that he will use to make some marvelous dish or other on his show...so...wasn't able to be here for the fun!
Of course some of you will scoff and say I was cowering in a corner...killer arguments of course and I respect the power of that sort of thinking so much that I wish I too could think such brilliant thoughts!
Inv2 - you titled your post 'Dumb, dumb, dumb'. You were refering to the 'Key led National Party'. You've presumably changed your opinion altogether and now say that the Labour Party is dumb, dumb, dumb. You know I don't care at all what you say about Labour - couldn't care less! Commenter 'X' makes some lame claim against the Greens in this matter - ha ha ha ha ha - that's rich and an impressive streeeeeeeeeeetch.
National, it has to be said, was asleep at the wheel over this issue. They ought to have known, should have known, should have done something about it. They didn't. Invents original 'dumb, dumb, dumb' still applies.
"Gentleman"? That's not very inclusive of you Robert; what about Suz?
Hope you were a gracious host for Al Brown; I have been meaning to dine at Logan Brown's for some time, but it has never happened; we don't get to Wellington often enough.
And yes; this issue hasn't been well handled by the Nats, regardless of where responsibility for the contract and rollover lies. "Smarten up" still applies.
Sorry Suz and other female followers of Keeping Stock.
Debate's over then Inv2?
Good.
When does the one about the Afghanistan (ian) tragedy begin?
Did I say that debate's over Robert? You're putting cyberwords into my mouth again. Debate can continue for as long as people want to. You control the agenda at your blog, and I'll look after mine.
Can we start one about the failed Max work schemes? or what about the failed boot camp scheme? Or what about the exodus to Oz? Or the back down on National Standards? Or Bennett skipping back off to the States? Or Standardsd and Poor's saying our Govt is quite small, healthy, asset light and not in need of a neolib sell-off?
How about it?
Or should we wank on about some more trivial shit?
Santa.
I love wanking :)
Feel free to talk about any of those issues Santa - on your own blog. I'll choose the agenda for my blog, and if you don't like it, that's your problem, not mine.
God will decide Inv2, not you. You are a mere vessel for his plans. And God says Mormons are Christians too. And that Muslims are more accurate in their interpretation of religion than Christians are, and that atheists, actually, have a point.
Anon @6:56
Those are excellent subjects for discussion. How about it Inventory?
We are tired of the endless parade of violent offenders - how about something with relevance to your more alert readers?
51 comments on this thread Inv2 - what's your secret?
ohhhh crack that whip you Devil!
Fair enough - your blog your call, but the level of political engagement is way down at the women's weekly end of things eh? Nice and safe for point scoring purposes, but truely lacking in some good old fashioned debate about ideas :)spice it up old boy.
I mean if it weren't for the southern nurseryman it would quickly return to the cabel of fawning yes-men who cruise this public convenience. Boring!
Santa.
@ Robert 8.18pm - if those are subjects you feel strongly about, blog about them by all means; at your own blog. Telling me what to blog about is arrogant. As for your jibe about an "endless stream of violent offenders"; I've blogged about one this month; your hyperbole gets the better of you at times. If posts about crime and criminals are not your cup of tea, don't read them, and don't feel compelled to comment on them. I worked for the Justice Dept many years ago, have considered a legal career once or twice over the years and have a number of friends in the legal profession and the police; it's an area in which I am personally interested. My wife and I have also been the victims of crime in the last year. As the Mental Health ads say; "Know me before you judge me".
Well it seems the NBR have cleared up any confusion on this one by confirming that the Nats were well aware of the car upgrade programme and that the contract with BMW is entirely in the control of the Govt who are able to cancel it if they wish.
So no, Labour is not at fault and Invention is correct in labelling this govt as 'dumb' for continuing with this.
Santa
Inv 6.08..thanks for not over-looking little ol' me! After all we are just one big family, as dysfunctional as most, consisting of reasonable uncles, passionate cousins, stroppy teenagers and mad aunts (that's me!)
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