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Written By: Bunji - Date published: 8:11 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 48 comments
National don’t understand macroeconomics. As such they are inflicting massive and unnecessary harm, with high unemployment and a long time until recovery.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:32 am, August 18th, 2010 - 79 comments
National is governing like National governs. Anyone could have foreseen this, there were plenty of clues, but its only now are people who switched to Key waking up to the fact that he’s just the grinning face on the same old beast. I wonder: if someone is smart enough to see that Key’s government is a failure now, how were they dumb enough to ever believe things would be different?
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 17th, 2010 - 6 comments
When John Steinbeck said “No one wants advice – only corroboration†he could well have been describing the numerous working groups the Government has established in many areas of significant economic and social policy. Too lazy to spend its nine years in opposition developing a detailed policy prescription, National now picks groups to tell it what it wants to hear.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:38 pm, August 7th, 2010 - 9 comments
After half a government term of insisting that NACT had an economic plan, it has been ‘misplaced’. The full plan, said by informed sources to have been found in a brief case (along with a pie and a men’s magazine) and written on the back of an old rental expenses claim form, reveals that the government expects significant economic development will be lead by the construction of a single national transport infrastructure, namely a National Cycleway.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:45 pm, August 6th, 2010 - 77 comments
This guest post quotes the statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller in Germany after World War II about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power. The comparison to NACT policies towards the education sector is striking.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 8:41 am, July 28th, 2010 - 2 comments
During the election the National Party packaged up its policies so as not to scare voters. The 90 day probationary period was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses. Either the original justifications still hold true, hence undermining any argument to extend the scheme, or the original justifications were rubbish from the very start.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 1:40 pm, July 25th, 2010 - 7 comments
National have been undemocratically shutting down the avenues to amend their ideologically stupid legislation. They ignore submissions to select committees and abuse the parliamentary process of urgency. The only effective means of diverting them from pushing through unworkable legislation is proving to be protests and direct action. Consequently you can expect to see a lot more of it.
Written By: Bunji - Date published: 8:34 am, July 5th, 2010 - 55 comments
Roger Douglas has a private members bill to introduce bulk funding. It (hopefully) shouldn’t get through – National are unlikely to support it as they’ve already introduced by the back door.
Written By: Michael Foxglove - Date published: 7:35 pm, June 26th, 2010 - 29 comments
Before the last election John Key promised the public service would be capped, because that’s what Kiwis wanted. That promise is now lying in tatters as jobs in education and health are to be slashed. With mining, privatisation, and now this, Mr Key shouldn’t act surprised if he suffers from the Rudd effect. This government is getting more and more out of touch.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:35 pm, May 3rd, 2010 - 153 comments
A new report says that building the half a billion worth of new rail rolling stock for Auckland in New Zealand would boost GDP by $250 million, improve our current account deficit by over $100 million, add $70 million to government revenue, and create 1200 skilled jobs. But the Government just want the cheapest price for the rail cars, and that means going overseas.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:03 am, April 23rd, 2010 - 70 comments
National’s hysteria around ACC last year was focused on creating an air of crisis. Now they’re going to ‘do something’. That something is privatisation of ACC. It won’t work, it won’t save money. The costs of injuries will still exist. Privatisation will put more of that cost on the injured. Added ligation and profits will mean worse cover for more cost.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:45 am, March 30th, 2010 - 29 comments
Lifted from comments for wider reading by commentator acclaim.. Beneficiary bashing in this country is definitely becoming uglier by the day. It seems that Paula Bennett’s attacks on beneficiaries seemingly condoned by the Prime Minister has given prejudice free reign in the country. It is now permissible to demonize a vulnerable group in society based …
Written By: r0b - Date published: 6:15 am, March 20th, 2010 - 40 comments
Education Minister Anne Tolley has made an extraordinary promise: “New Zealand elected a Government that promised to introduce national standards so that every single child could read, write, and do maths when they left school. That is what the country voted for.” We would all love to see National deliver, but they can’t, and they know that they can’t. It’s an empty promise.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:29 am, March 12th, 2010 - 8 comments
Cuts to prisoner rehabilitation, night classes, and the Super Gold Card aren’t about saving money. The government is only too happy to sign blank cheques for stupid projects like Transmission Gully and the Holiday Highway on the vaguest cost estimates. No, these successful policies are having the financial life bled out of them because they contradict National’s ideology.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:24 am, February 4th, 2010 - 11 comments
Telecom is threatening to throw up to 1,500 workers out of their jobs so it can increase profits by offshoring. A good government in this situation is talks to the company, uses the bully pulpit. Telecom should be reminded that it is hoping to make a bomb off the government’s broadband fund. They should be reminded that the one …
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:26 am, February 3rd, 2010 - 27 comments
Remember how John Key said he “would love to see wages drop“. You might remember the big corporate media refused to run it, and the head of APN held an emergency meeting with Key then pressured the journalist who had reported the comments to retract them, which he would not do, and then APN published …
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:36 am, February 2nd, 2010 - 38 comments
Oh, sure, the Nats will lock a person up longer after they commit a crime, if they get caught. But what they won’t do is prevent them commiting the crime in the first place. National will spend a fortune on counter-productive vengence after you’ve become a victim of crime but not a fraction of that on saving the crime from happening in …
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:04 am, February 2nd, 2010 - 19 comments
TVNZ reports: “Associate Education Minister Pita Sharples has labelled the National Standards policy as damaging to Maori but later refused to comment after being shut down by the Prime Minister.” Well, Pita, points for having your heart in the right place but how much longer will you put up with the indignity of being gagged …
Written By: the sprout - Date published: 2:11 pm, October 25th, 2009 - 31 comments
Australia’s Federal Industry Minister Kim Carr has criticized Bridgestone’s closure of its Australian and New Zealand operations and the 1000 redundancies it’ll bring. Carr is looking at ways to alleviate some of the unemployment problems for the laid-off aussie workers but criticizes Bridgestone for pulling out (and no doubt relocating to countries where workers get …
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:28 am, October 22nd, 2009 - 19 comments
John Key says that if school support staff want pay-rises then teachers should sacrifice the ones they bargained for. Tell him to get stuffed. I don’t see him and his rich mates handing back the hundreds of dollars a week each in tax-cuts that National gave. I don’t see Key or his buddies Mark Weldon and Rob Fyfe …
Written By: r0b - Date published: 11:05 pm, September 23rd, 2009 - 48 comments
Watching the Maori Party get done over by National is getting painful. The MP thought they had a good faith dialogue on the issue of Maori seats on the Auckland Council, but before the select committee process was even finished Key announced that there would be no seats. The MP abandoned all its environmental principles …
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:00 am, September 8th, 2009 - 46 comments
And by any other name it smells as bad. John Key has annouced a reform of the rules for ministerial accommodation allowance. A fixed, automatic allowance will now be paid to all out of Wellington ministers of $37,500 a year for their Wellington accomodation (or $30,000 if they own the house), slightly less than the highest spending ministers …
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:16 pm, August 25th, 2009 - 15 comments
I’m surprised that the Maori Party have rolled over so easily on the issue of Maori seats on the Auckland council. I will be even more surprised if the Maori people follow suit. Because they have every right to be angry. Remember what Key said of the Hikoi? The hikoi was sparked over the dumping …
Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 7:07 pm, August 4th, 2009 - 54 comments
3News covers the story of National Ministers double-dipping at the taxpayers’ expense. UPDATE: ‘BLiP’ has bestowed a new title on Bill English: “Sir Double Dipton”. Gold.
Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:13 pm, July 23rd, 2009 - 27 comments
Remember the mantra about John Key being a centrist? Doesn’t get much play nowadays does it? And it shouldn’t. Not with the government cutting spending while unemployment rises, dragging Brash and Rankin back from the grave, spending large on private schools, contracting out public services, tax cuts for the rich and the snouts-in-troughs sham that …
Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 1:44 pm, July 21st, 2009 - 38 comments
The government has just confirmed Don Brash will head the “productivity” group. Expect a lot of talk about “labour market flexibility” and the like. We’ve been here once and it was shit. Now we’re going back for more.
Written By: rocky - Date published: 7:34 pm, June 17th, 2009 - 65 comments
Despite women being 51% of the population, and it being women who won National the last election, they are still showing their contempt for us. State Services Minister Tony Ryall decided that pay equity isn’t important, dropping a study into why female public servants are still paid less than their male counterparts in the same …
Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:03 pm, June 16th, 2009 - 50 comments
Key is obviously lying about having an unavoidable commitment in Taupo keeping him from Melissa Lee’s election night do. He would tell us what it was if it were true. He would have told journos at the start that he wouldn’t be there if there really had been some long-standing commitment. Truth is he abandoned …
Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 9:31 am, June 16th, 2009 - 18 comments
…that seems to be National’s plan as it moves to cut 10% of the police vehicle fleet (why are so many of National’s cuts 10%?). Given the politicking National and its front-groups did on law and order last year you’d think that the last thing they’d do would be make it even harder for them …
Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 4:18 pm, May 28th, 2009 - 18 comments
In the 1990′s the National government of the day dealt with recession by cutting spending. The tragic result was to suck cash out of an already stalling economy and lengthen the recession. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of New Zealanders suffered unnecessarily. Today the National government met the current recession by cutting spending. So …
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 1:40 pm, May 27th, 2009 - 18 comments
The irony is that Melissa Lee’s campaign manager, Mark Thomas, is no stranger to campaigns that start off with a hiss and a roar only to collapse when abandoned by National’s leadership. Thomas was National’s candidate for Wellington Central in 1996, the first MMP election, in a three way contest with Act’s Richard Prebble and …
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