Written By: - Date published: 4:57 pm, February 14th, 2012 - 74 comments
Making Mojo Mathers pay for the tech she needs to participate in debate is bad enough. She is a democratically elected member and the people who put her there deserve effective representation. Saying that deaf people don’t count as ‘disabled’ is outrageous. More bigotry from Lockwood ‘small hands’ Smith.
Written By: - Date published: 1:01 pm, February 14th, 2012 - 9 comments
The four new Labour MPs make their first (“maiden”) speeches today in Parliament, starting at 5pm. I’d expect to hear some thoughtful and moving speeches.
Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, February 9th, 2012 - 32 comments
Yesterday, the opposition parties worked together to hammer John Key on asset sales. He faced questions from four parties during one question; the breadth of opposition showed, and Key was stumbling. Some say Shearer should be taking a more leading role but, for mine, this was far more effective than Goff uselessly slogging out a primary and half a dozen sups without landing a blow. How’s that anti-asset sales coalition coming?
Written By: - Date published: 6:04 pm, December 30th, 2011 - 25 comments
We have a government department which has acted deliberately to thwart judicial and Ombudsman oversight, for reasons of its own convenience, apparently in violation of New Zealand law. The question is whether the Minister will act – or whether he will effectively endorse this situation with his silence.
Written By: - Date published: 2:08 pm, December 12th, 2011 - 37 comments
On Breakfast this morning, John Key said that losing a confidence vote “by definition, constitutionally means a snap election”. No. If a government loses the House’s support, then another one can be formed that does have Parliament’s support. Only if that cannot happen is there an election. Key has been PM for 3 years. He should know the basics.
Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, October 7th, 2011 - 27 comments
Speaker Lookwood Smith is getting a lot of flak for his decision to punish The Herald for publishing a photo (taken in violation of Standing Orders) by banning their reporters from Parliament for ten days.
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, October 7th, 2011 - 80 comments
Here is Key making the throat-cutting gesture to Labour after a man tried to jump into the Debating Chamber. He displays a total lack of concern for the man and anyone else. Key to Labour: “you should be ashamed of yourselves”. King: “What! What? we should be ashamed of ourselves?!”. Key makes gesture. King, Chadwick, “you scumbag”.
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, September 8th, 2011 - 23 comments
Chris Carter’s egocentric valedictory earlier this week didn’t exactly cover him in glory. Whether it should ever have gotten to this point is another matter. It’s interesting to review the evolving views of Standard authors on the issue. Did Carter do this to himself or did mismanagement from the leadership escalate the situation?This guest post takes the second view.
Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, August 18th, 2011 - 95 comments
John Boscawen thought he was on to a winner yesterday. In an unprecedented move, he asked Parliament’s permission to ask a question of Phil Goff on the youth minimum wage. He got it, and the result was Goff at his very finest. He looked and sounded like a Prime Minister – like a real one, that is, not like Key. Let’s have more questions, Boscawen!
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, August 17th, 2011 - 88 comments
I/S at No Right Turn writes about the government’s continued abuse of Urgency. This week, they’re going to slam 11 laws through the House, ignoring basic democratic steps like the select committee stage that let the public have a say. The worst part though, is a Bill that they are refusing to name and plan to rush through all stages in a couple of days.
Written By: - Date published: 11:19 pm, July 14th, 2011 - 123 comments
You’ve gotta love Hone Harawira’s style. By refusing to use the right words in his oath, Hone exposed the ridiculousness of our representatives swearing allegiance to a Queen on the far side of the world and calling on the aid of a deity that only 50% of us believe in. Lockwood Smith had no choice. The oath is law. It’s the law that needs to change.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, July 7th, 2011 - 74 comments
An alert reader sent us this video of Wayne Mapp swaying, slurring and rambling his way through Question Time.
No Right Turn now has a post with some information saying that Mapp is not in the state what he appears to be in. Instead he is just being inept. We don’t know. Check it out yourself and make up your own mind.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, June 16th, 2011 - 30 comments
Ianupnorth does ‘the Whale’ and has a dig around the National Party websites. It turns out they are registered and run by Parliamentary staffers. In fact, National and ACT’s MPs’ sites are all publicly-funded, while other parties’ MPs’ are not. Is NACT breaking the rules? No doubt everyone’s least favourite cetacean will be on to it.
Written By: - Date published: 8:42 am, June 3rd, 2011 - 13 comments
After intense criticism for using government-owned helicopters for personal trips, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has reimbursed the state for the cost of the flights. I look forward to John Key following Christie’s lead and repaying us for his flights to watch the V8s in Hamilton.
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, May 18th, 2011 - 7 comments
Hekia Parata is our Minister of Energy. She is also a shareholder in Contact Energy. Whether the shareholding is large or small, it’s a conflict of interest. Her decisions can affect the value of her shareholding. The slackness displayed by Key’s ministers towards these shareholding conflicts, starting with his own Tranzrail shares, is not good enough.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, May 6th, 2011 - 13 comments
The out of touchness, she burns! In a few short replies, the Nats said so much this week. The stories of perk abuse have been rolling out almost too fast, in fact. Each needs following up, each minister needs to be hounded, but there are so many targets. The galling thing is in a fortnight the Nats will tell us ‘everyone has to tighten their belts’.
Written By: - Date published: 2:36 pm, April 28th, 2011 - 18 comments
An interesting post from Political Dumpground looks at how MPs are allowed to edit the Hansard record of what they say. Putting the transcript of what Katrina Shanks actually said during the recent debate on the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill beside the Hansard shows how MPs can amend the record to hide their stupidity.
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, April 15th, 2011 - 10 comments
I was going to write about how ludicrous it is that National is abandoning the idea of a warranty or bond system for builders in the new Building Act designed to stop a repeat of the leaky homes debacle, given that we’re about to embark on the largest rebuilding programme in the country’s history. But then I realised it no longer matters what laws say.
Written By: - Date published: 12:04 am, March 16th, 2011 - 123 comments
There’s been increasing concern over the past week or two that not only has the government failed to communicate its plan for the Christchurch recovery, it doesn’t actually have one, and isn’t particularly worried about getting one. Yesterday in the House, Labour took Key to task on this important issue. And he was found terribly wanting.
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, February 15th, 2011 - 146 comments
It seems odd at first, blocking our closest friend’s leader from speaking in our Parliament, but the Greens were right to look at the higher principle. The debating chamber is where our sovereign assembly meets, it is not a place for foreigners to come, at the government of the day’s invitation, and lecture our elected representatives. I think the NBR put it best..
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, February 11th, 2011 - 17 comments
The Nats regard parliamentary process as an inconvenience to which they must pay lip service, but nothing more. They started as soon as they took office, with repeated abuse of urgency. The current disgraceful process over the foreshore & seabed legislation is just the latest instalment.
Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, February 9th, 2011 - 49 comments
In this post, I’ve embedded the speeches from John Key, Phil Goff, and Metiria Turei during yesterday’s first day of Parliament. Key presents no new vision, just an agenda of cuts and false statistics couple with sheer delusion about his government’s record. Goff tears him apart. And Turei’s speech is simply breath-taking – incredibly moving.
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, January 20th, 2011 - 14 comments
Mallard has laid a Privileges complaint over Brownlee’s Hobbit lies. Good. Brownlee and Key deserved to be hammered for their part in the Warners/Jackson shake-down that cost just $34m and work rights. Lockwood won’t uphold the complaint though. He hates Brownlee. Not enough to severely embarrass his party in election year though.
Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, December 22nd, 2010 - 44 comments
It seems we don’t have a government at the moment. John Key is incommunicado in Hawaii. The Acting PM, Bill English, and Key’s press people refuse to speak for him. Someone needs to front up because serious questions are emerging about the honesty of statements Gerry Brownlee and Murray McCully made in Parliament and to the New Zealand people.
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, December 10th, 2010 - 11 comments
The Auditor-General seems certain to launch an investigation into the Wongs’ taxpayer-funded travel as even more evidence shows the Parliamentary report isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. A majority of Kiwis want her to resign. Why John Key hasn’t already called on the A-G to investigate, as he did with Phil Heatley, is beyond me.
Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, December 7th, 2010 - 12 comments
A reader responds, pretty curtly, to John Key’s wholly inadequate explanation for why the select committee hearings on extending the SIS’s already broad powers will be secret. “It won’t be in the public interest to have it open, for a whole bunch of reasons I don’t want to go into,” Just doesn’t cut it.
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 pm, November 20th, 2010 - 49 comments
With a majority of votes counted it’s clear that Kris Fa’afoi is going to be the next Labour MP for Mana. We’re sure Kris will show his mettle in standing up for the people of Porirua and Mana in Parliament. All the best Kris. Show those Nats what you’re made of.
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 10th, 2010 - 21 comments
Yesterday, Jonathan Coleman was handed the job of doing the introductory speech on the Taxation (International Investment and Remedial Matters) Bill 2010. Coleman was reading from a prepared speech that someone had handed him, and it was the wrong speech for the wrong Bill. Coleman, without seeming to realise anything was amiss, proceeded to repeat verbatim a speech Peter Dunne gave a year ago for the Taxation (International Taxation, Life Insurance, and Remedial Matters) Bill.
Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 46 comments
National is finding new exploitative ways to try save their by-election campaign in Mana.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 10 comments
Last week Speaker Lockwood Smith rolled back transparency on MPs expenses, by making travel spending secret again. John Key came out “against” the move. Yesterday Labour and the Greens called his bluff by releasing their details. Over to you John, once again you’re too late to lead, but you can still follow…
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, October 30th, 2010 - 41 comments
Last year MPs’ spending was opened up to public scrutiny, and many hailed a “new era” of openness. Well it didn’t last long. Now MPs’ travel costs are to become secret again. We won’t get to know about cases like Rodney Hide and Chris Carter. This will prevent incidents like the Carter witch-hunt. But on balance I have to come down on the side of transparency. This move to start rolling it back is a mistake.
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