Author Archive
Key denies Land Wars
Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, June 26th, 2008 - 79 comments
Mr Key on NewstalkZB: “We’re not a country that’s come about as a result of civil war or where there’s been a lot of fighting internally, we’re, we’re a country which peacefully came together”. So, the numerous pre-Treaty battles, the Flagstaff War, the Land Wars, Parihaka. decades or warfare in which many tribes lost their entire territory and […]
Ministry advised against concurrent referendum/election
Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, June 26th, 2008 - 44 comments
In line with Ministry of Justice advice, the Government has decided not to hold the child discipline referendum at the same time as the election. You can read the entire advice document here: Holding a referendum at the same time as the general election is not recommended because “From 1999, we know that voters would […]
Calls for Police State ultimate admission of failure
Written By: - Date published: 6:32 am, June 26th, 2008 - 46 comments
Michael Laws has called for ‘draconian, central measures’ to fight gangs; he wants the army called out. He wants military force let loose on our streets to engage in combat with an undefined enemy. Where are we? Iraq? That way lies dictatorship, military rule, the end of our freedom. If we don’t want kids going […]
Johnny Key and the magic $500 million
Written By: - Date published: 4:11 pm, June 25th, 2008 - 12 comments
Whenever John Key is asked to explain how he will fund some new spending or his still secret tax cuts, he says ‘we’ll cut waste/rein in spending’ and the only example he ever gives is ‘we’ll cap the core public service at 36,000′. This, he claims, will save ‘$500 million over 3 years’ or $166 […]
Lost highway
Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, June 25th, 2008 - 60 comments
Petrol is over $2.10 a litre. The price will keep rising both with the ever upward march of the price of crude and the falling NZ dollar. Already, motorists are responding. Road usage in Auckland has fallen 3%. It’s fair to believe it is falling elsewhere too. The only reasonable conclusion is that the number […]
Helen, stop critiquing polls
Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, June 25th, 2008 - 318 comments
Everyone in the know is aware that Colmar Brunton is the worst polling company in New Zealand and constantly over-rates National. We also know Fairfax isn’t much better. There’s no use in going on about it. It’s not a good look. The fact is Labour is well behind National in the polls. There’s no point […]
Free Zimbabwe
Written By: - Date published: 6:36 am, June 25th, 2008 - 78 comments
There is no longer any hope the union-led Movement for Democratic Change can remove Mugabe from power peacefully. Now, his thugs are killing MDC supporters, union leaders have been arrested, and the regime is moving to break the organised labour. This is typical behaviour of a regime moving into totalitarianism the unions represent the largest […]
Bill to protect workers from labour-hire vultures
Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, June 24th, 2008 - 105 comments
Labour, with the support of New Zealand First, has developed a bill based on Darien Fenton’s private members’ bill that will ensure tens of thousands of workers are no longer ripped off by ‘triangular employment’ situations, whereby their effective employer contracts out the actual employment of staff to a labour hire company. It works like […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)
Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, June 24th, 2008 - 68 comments
In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill English says “under any tax plans we might have government spending will continue to increase* but [we need] more effective public services in tougher times” Notice, they are already preparing the ground […]
You call that policy? This is policy
Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, June 23rd, 2008 - 90 comments
National has released a brochure, laying out all its policies. They take up two A4 pages of double-spaced bullet points. That’s incredibly lightweight. Contrast that with the policy files of another party outside government, the Greens. National has 14 vague policies. The Greens have 51 policy area pages, each containing dozens of actionable policies. There […]
The grass isn’t greener across the ditch
Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, June 23rd, 2008 - 72 comments
The cornerstone of National’s ‘New Zealand sucks’ campaign is that Australia is much better (and we have to lower taxes and slash work rights to catch up). Now, the Sunday-Star Times produced a well-researched article on standards of living here and in Australia. A year late, but good to see, nonetheless. The conclusions: Your tax […]
National breaking promises already
Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, June 23rd, 2008 - 24 comments
As you know, National promised to cap core public servant numbers at 36,000. That was going to deliver each of us a whopping 50 cents a week tax cut. Well, that one single solid policy promise from National is already in serious jeopardy. Corrections staff make up 6600 plus of the supposed ‘bureaucrats’ of the core […]
Contrast
Written By: - Date published: 5:36 pm, June 22nd, 2008 - 72 comments
National has been going on about the number of comms staff at the Ministry of Social Development. Rather than ask ‘what do these people actually do that the Government employs them, rather than undertaking other spending or giving bigger tax cuts?’, Bill Ralston parrots the Nats’ line and gives us: “The Ministry of Social Development […]
More bluster, still no policies
Written By: - Date published: 4:01 pm, June 20th, 2008 - 49 comments
Every month, Stats releases migration figures. Each month, they show little change in the pattern from last month. And each month, National comes out all in a fury over the figures as if they herald Armageddon while offering no substance, just a lot of bluster. Nothing has changed from April. In the month of April, […]
The headline you didn’t see
Written By: - Date published: 1:40 pm, June 20th, 2008 - 94 comments
‘Unemployment benefits at record low.’ The number of people receiving the unemployment benefit has fallen to just 17,465. That’s the lowest number since at least 1979. At the same time, Sickness Benefit numbers fell 1,542 (3%) in the last year, DPB numbers are down 12% in the last five years. Overall, benefit numbers have dropped […]
The Standard Week – 13-20 June
Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, June 20th, 2008 - 6 comments
Both major parties show-boated over getting tough on crime this week. The only difference being Labour actually had policy; National, just slogans. We generally steer away from covering ‘I’m tougher than you’ politics on The Standard. Instead, we focused on the fundamentals that matter to ordinary Kiwis, wages and rising costs. We also had a deeper look […]
The definition of irony
Written By: - Date published: 6:49 am, June 20th, 2008 - 45 comments
When a band who sued after their work was famously plagiarised by a certain leader of the National Party is themselves sued for plagiarism. All it needs now is for National to sue the guy suing Coldplay and they’ll have completed the circle. [Creaky Boards’ song vs Coldplay’s] [John Key DVD soundtrack vs ‘Clocks’]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (2)
Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, June 19th, 2008 - 40 comments
Here’s the waste National has identified so far: 1) Embassy in Sweden – approx $3 million capital, $3 million operating 2) Badges about Te Teo for school kids – $56,000 Why it’s waste: badges for Maori language! Next they’ll be wanting their land back. Why it’s not a waste: Meh, maybe it is waste but […]
Act now to protect workers’ wages
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, June 19th, 2008 - 55 comments
Times are going to get harder for workers in the next few years. Unemployment is set to rise to 4.5-6% (still well under 1990s levels). The wages of those who keep their jobs won’t rise as fast. At the same time, prices are rising faster, particularly petrol. What […]
EFA lets voters know who bankrolls parties
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, June 19th, 2008 - 65 comments
National has announced that John Key donated $30,000 to the party this month. That’s all well and good; Helen Clark donates a similar amount to Labour most years. What’s new is that the donations Key and every large donor to National or any other party are now public. Previously, National received up to $2 million a […]
Key promises productivity magic
Written By: - Date published: 6:50 am, June 19th, 2008 - 47 comments
Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality’ government spending. How? To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation is projected to run at 4.7% this year. The Government makes up a third of the economy. If Key was to bring that down to 2% by increasing Government productivity how much […]
Slippery John’s “after-tax incomes” line
Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, June 18th, 2008 - 33 comments
You’ll have noticed that Key only ever talks about increasing ‘after-tax incomes’. Even when he’s asked about wages for government employees, like doctors, he responds that National would increase their after-tax incomes with tax cuts, not by increasing their wages. But anybody can see that cutting taxes is only a short-term way to slightly increase […]
Drinking Liberally email for the next event
Written By: - Date published: 4:04 pm, June 17th, 2008 - 26 comments
“Hi all, Ok, we’re going to try to lock in a regular Drinking Liberally schedule now: first and third Thursdays of each month. Which makes the next session this coming Thursday… And a huge thanks to Dr Michael Cullen for coming along to the last event. The video’s up on YouTube for those who missed […]
Not funny
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, June 17th, 2008 - 89 comments
Kiwiblog now has a cartoonist and it’s simply disgusting stuff. I’m not going to post the cartoon because I don’t want the image on our blog (you can see it here) – it mocks Folole Muliaga, an ill woman who died needlessly. It’s irredeemably uninsightful, unfunny, and offensive. It really speaks to both David Farrar’s […]
Petrol price hits parties in the polls
Written By: - Date published: 7:16 am, June 17th, 2008 - 120 comments
A reader sent us this graph. It plots President Bush’s approval rating and the price of petrol. (the price of petrol is upside-down, a fall in the price is a rise on the graph) As you can see, spikes in the price have been followed by a fall in Bush’s support and the reverse is […]
Facing up to peak oil
Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 38 comments
The Government’s independent report on petrol prices is bit of a sop to be the public, really. The world oil price is driving petrol prices; any efficiencies that could be gained in New Zealand would be small and would not change the upward trend. Nor is a Fuel Watch website like Australia’s going to do […]
Kremlinology: National on ACC
Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, June 16th, 2008 - 41 comments
In most countries, accident insurance is big business. Insurers and lawyers make billions off premiums, claims, and court cases but many people don’t actually get any cover if they are injured. The Third Labour Government set up ACC to ensure everyone would have cover if they were injured. It also freed up the court system […]
Key’s slippery promises on waste
Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, June 14th, 2008 - 50 comments
National has staked it all on delivering bigger tax cuts than Labour. To remain credible, they need to deliver $20 a week on average more than Labour. That’s $3 billion a year. The operating surplus is gone, so where will the money come from? John Key has been repeatedly referencing the fact that the government […]
The Standard Week – 06-13 June
Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, June 14th, 2008 - 4 comments
Another week of shadow boxing, as National tried to keep its policy secret and hints leaked out. But it gave us the chance to debate some of the big issues. And the threads that developed showed that, contrary to what Key says, people can understand and are interested in complex ideas. Here’s our favourite posts […]
Why is reported violent crime up?
Written By: - Date published: 5:02 pm, June 13th, 2008 - 40 comments
As you know, crime is down in New Zealand, which is not surprising – crime is a symptom of social deprivation and we’ve had eight years of high employment and rising incomes easing that deprivation. But reported violent crime is up. Why? One reason is 35% of the increase is in the “threats and intimidation” […]
The dark side of the Right
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, June 13th, 2008 - 118 comments
Trotter is on the money today: …[A]ll of you young, confident women of the 21st century urgently need to pause and reflect upon what is happening especially all you young, confident women thinking of voting for the National Party. Why? Because behind National, hidden by all those glossy placards depicting the handsome John Key, marches […]
Recent Comments