Author Archive
Launch of Drinking Liberally NZ
Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, May 15th, 2008 - 67 comments
If you’re down in Wellington and of the Left, you’ve probably heard people talking about Drinking Liberally New Zealand. Drinking Liberally is an international network that grew out of the US, where people from throughout the Left, greenies, union-types, feminists, anarchists, Labourites, and everyone else, get together at a bar in their town, have a […]
Bring back the bash?
Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, May 15th, 2008 - 74 comments
A man has been convicted of assault for hitting his daughter because she was dating a Muslim. You can’t assault someone, the law worked. Good, right? OK. Now, let’s imagine that this had taken a place a year ago and the daughter, who is 20 years old, was 15 instead and, so, a child in […]
Happy Birthday National
Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, May 14th, 2008 - 54 comments
Today is the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the National Party. So, it’s an opportune moment to reflect on the founding principles of the National Party and ask that age old question ‘why are they called National anyway?’ The political background to the founding of the National party is the conflict between the three […]
A brief musical interlude
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, May 14th, 2008 - 7 comments
If only I’d been around in 1969, and hanging out in upstate New York. Hard to believe that the best we can do today is Westlife. Well, that’s not fair. I like these lyrics from ‘Think Twice’ the song put together by a group of New Zealand musicans following recent violence in South Auckland: Creeping […]
ACT: tax cuts for the rich, please
Written By: - Date published: 3:34 pm, May 13th, 2008 - 139 comments
Rodney Hide is calling for the Budget’s tax cuts to take the form of raising the thresholds to account for inflation since 1999, removing of the 39 cent bracket, and a $10,000 tax-free bracket. What would ACT’s tax cuts entail for New Zealanders? Hide says the average cut would be $50 a week, so we […]
Rio Tinto threatens NZ with capital strike
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, May 13th, 2008 - 87 comments
Multi-national minerals company Rio Tinto is threatening to close its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in Bluff and move its production offshore if the Emissions Trading Scheme is enacted because they say it will increase power prices. This is not the first time Rio Tinto has held New Zealand to ransom using the threat of closing […]
New Zealand, a great place to be a mum
Written By: - Date published: 4:02 pm, May 12th, 2008 - 48 comments
We hear an awful lot from the Right about how much New Zealand sucks: ‘crime is up’ they cry (when it’s down), ‘taxes are too high’ (when they’re down), ‘too many dole bludgers’ (when benefit numbers are way, way down), ‘everyone’s leaving for Australia’ (when fewer than 0.7% of people went last year), ‘labour costs […]
More on benefit levels
Written By: - Date published: 1:20 pm, May 12th, 2008 - 61 comments
It was disappointing to hear National Radio this morning summarise the recent debate over benefit levels as ‘benefits are not keeping up with the cost of living’. Benefits are keeping up with the cost of living they are adjusted every year to keep them in line with the cost of living (that’s what the Consumer […]
Mythbusting: ‘Book value’ & ‘over the odds’
Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, May 12th, 2008 - 32 comments
In an attempt to find a non-ideological ground to justify opposing the Government’s buyback of the rail system, John Key and others have been claiming that the $665 million price-tag is ‘over the odds’ and $200 million in excess of Toll’s ‘book value’ for the assets bought. What do these two terms mean and what […]
Peter Dunne answers your questions
Written By: - Date published: 6:32 am, May 12th, 2008 - 23 comments
We’re very pleased to have UnitedFuture Leader Peter Dunne respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? At a national level, I am most proud of the tax changes for which I have been responsible in […]
Mythbusting: Winning a fourth term is impossible
Written By: - Date published: 4:24 pm, May 11th, 2008 - 50 comments
It has become a media mantra that winning a fourth term of government is nigh on impossible, but is that claim actually based on the record of past governments or just a political myth? The first government formed along party lines in New Zealand was the First Liberal Government, which took office in 1891. Since […]
Daily show interview: Blog Wars
Written By: - Date published: 2:04 pm, May 10th, 2008 - 15 comments
A great interview by Jon Stewart on political blogging. Well worth watching. The part about evolution of blogging in the US is particularly interesting. New Zealand obviously lags behind in some ways but, as is often the case in this small polity, things also have a tendency to move faster once they get going. I […]
Tax cut speculation
Written By: - Date published: 2:39 pm, May 9th, 2008 - 55 comments
Now that Michael Cullen has ruled out a tax-free bracket but promised that everyone will benefit from Labour’s tax-cut package, what cuts will he give? The simplest option would be to cut the bottom tax rate, which would deliver a tax cut for everyone. As a percentage of income the tax cut would be largest […]
Norman coming into his prime
Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, May 9th, 2008 - 73 comments
The Greens have started to use Russell Norman as their primary spokesperson, instead of Jeanette Fitzsimons. Fitzsimons has never been great with the media, particularly in confrontational interviews and on TV. So far, Norman, while he still has much to work on, is a vast improvement. Take a look at how he handled an aggressive […]
Get your questions in for Key
Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, May 8th, 2008 - Comments Off on Get your questions in for Key
Our ‘Interview the Leaders‘ series is going well and this week it’s your chance to submit questions to the man who wants you to want him to be your next Prime Minister. It’s been an interesting week for Key as, once again, a tentative venture into the land of substantive policy saw him come out […]
Unemployment figures
Written By: - Date published: 12:03 pm, May 8th, 2008 - 52 comments
Unemployment rose from 3.4% to 3.6% between the December and March quarters. The number of people employed fell 15,000 from 2,162,000 in the December quarter to 2,147,000 in the March quarter. That sickening sound you hear is the Right celebrating because people have lost their jobs. An increase in unemployment was, unfortunately, always coming given the global […]
Cullen rules out tax-free bracket, GST cut
Written By: - Date published: 11:24 am, May 8th, 2008 - 20 comments
It’s disappointing that Michael Cullen has ruled out both a tax-free bracket and a GST cut in his tax cut package to be announced at the Budget (not least of all because it means he clearly isn’t taking policy advice from The Standard). His reasoning is odd on both points. The tax-free bracket is rejected […]
It’s alright when he does it
Written By: - Date published: 2:12 pm, May 7th, 2008 - 64 comments
A reader sent us this letter to the Herald’s editor, which the Herald has refused to print. When the government moved to block the sale of Auckland Airport to the Canadian Pension Fund, the Herald’s editorial proclaimed that anyone who didn’t want foreign ownership of our strategic assets was xenophobic. Yesterday, John Key played the […]
If I were New Zealand First’s campaign strategist
Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, May 7th, 2008 - 42 comments
In some ways, there’s little to tell New Zealand First, other than let Winston Peters be himself. Peters has been (along with Helen Clark), New Zealand’s most successful MMP politician he has survived and run good campaigns every time except in 2005. He needs to remember to play the charming rogue a little more often, […]
Brownlee, not the brightest spark
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, May 7th, 2008 - 48 comments
Here’s Gerry Brownlee in the Herald today: Brownlee said the [Whirinaki] power plant, near Napier, was intended as an emergency backup to be used seldomly in dry years. But he said the figures – from use over 32 days in the three-month period – suggested otherwise. “Its increased use is more evidence that Labour has […]
Tariana Turia answers your questions
Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, May 7th, 2008 - 41 comments
We’re very pleased to have Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? I am most proud of having played a part in the creation of a movement which has given […]
The 40 cent tax cut
Written By: - Date published: 1:37 pm, May 6th, 2008 - 17 comments
National and some of the more wacky commentators are complaining that the $655 million used by the Government to buy back the rail stock should have been used, instead, to fund tax cuts. Now, there’s a crucial difference between a tax cut and a one-off capital purchase. And it’s that you only pay once for […]
Kurariki on home detention
Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, May 6th, 2008 - 75 comments
No doubt, there will be hollow cries of outrage from Simon Power and Sensible Sentencing over Bailey Kurariki being transferred from jail to home detention for the last months of his sentence. Kurariki has been in jail for five years, since he was 12. His sentence expires in six months. By moving Kurariki to a […]
Transport’s inclusion in ETS delayed
Written By: - Date published: 11:04 am, May 6th, 2008 - 19 comments
The Government has delayed the inclusion of transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme from 2009 to 2011. On the surface, that seems to be a back down or a reduction in the Government’s commitment to tackling climate change but then you have to ask yourself what is the point of the Emissions Trading Scheme? As […]
Interview the Leaders VII: National
Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, May 5th, 2008 - 123 comments
The Maori Party has asked for an extension on the replies for Tariana Turia and we’re happy to oblige. In the meantime, here are the questions to United Future’s Peter Dunne that we chose from your suggestions. The general question remains: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? For the two […]
Wages up at record rate
Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, May 5th, 2008 - 17 comments
The Labour Cost Index rose a record 3.4% for the March year. That means wages and salaries for doing the same job rose an average of 3.4% over the year. Public sector wages were up 3.3% and private sector wages up 3.5%. Retail and other low-paid workers did especially well, with their pay up 5.1%, […]
For whom the Toll bells
Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, May 5th, 2008 - 62 comments
The Government has bought back the rail stock and ferries from Toll for $655 million. The privatisation of these vital assets, which are also natural monopolies, by National was a disaster from Day 1. National flogged the railways and the ferries off dirt cheap to their mates who asset-stripped them by slashing maintenance and taking […]
Our bank beats the rest
Written By: - Date published: 2:34 pm, May 2nd, 2008 - 29 comments
Today, ANZ and National Bank announced they are lifting their variable mortgage rates another quarter of a percent to 10.95%. That comes a week after the two banks, which are jointly owned, announced a net profit of $520 million in six months, up 7% on the previous period. Yesterday, Westpac announced a $244 million profit, […]
Talking down the economy
Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, May 2nd, 2008 - 57 comments
National is a party weak on policy. It has had to drop nearly every one of its principled but unpopular policies to get itself in a position to win an election. This raises the question of why someone would vote for National, rather than keep the current lot. One of National’s answers is to claim […]
Get your questions in for Dunne
Written By: - Date published: 9:33 am, May 2nd, 2008 - Comments Off on Get your questions in for Dunne
Do you have a burning question to ask Peter Dunne? Does it not involve his hair? If so, submit your question here by Sunday and it could be selected for our questions to Dunne as part of our ‘Interview the Leaders’ series.
Mythbusting: Crime is down, not up
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, May 1st, 2008 - 67 comments
It’s hard to know why people keep interviewing Garth McVicar from Sensible Sentencing. The organisation has no credibility, no research every statement on policy is really just ‘Garth guesses X’. And of course, they made those disgusting comments around the death of Pihema Cameron. Nevertheless, he was on National Radio this morning regarding new stats […]
Recent Comments