Author Archive

Peters leaking everywhere

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 3:47 pm, November 17th, 2011 - 52 comments

Winston is leaking details of the teapot tapes. Plenty of other rumours doing the rounds, including a TV1 poll tonight that shows no damage to the Nats on voting intentions yet.

Interesting poll results

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:33 am, November 17th, 2011 - 13 comments

Minor Leaders’ debate: Winston Peters 36%, Hone Harawira 27%, Don Brash 14%.
Fairfax Epsom poll: Paul Goldsmith 45.5%, John Banks 29.1%.
Impact of Key endorsement: More likely to vote Banks 23%, Less likely 30%.
Taranaki Daily news debate exit poll: Andrew Little 64.5%, Jonathan Young 28%.

[insert tea-related pun here]

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:08 am, November 16th, 2011 - 65 comments

The teapot tapes story (seems that’s the name that’s been settled on, despite the story involving neither teapots nor tapes) has evolved two distinct strands: the contents of the Key-Banks conversation, which is gradually coming out through the media, and the very aggressive, poorly conceived response of National which is making it worse for them.

Update: According to Fairfax reporter Danya Levy on Twitter, Key has just “stormed out” of a press conference after further questioning on the tapes. He’s losing it. Now The Herald has the story.

120 ways to say ‘dunno’

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:11 am, November 15th, 2011 - 9 comments

120 ‘policies’ and only 1 of them new. That’s National’s economic development “action plan“. It looks superficially impressive at first: 120 points – what a busy government. But then you read, and it’s all stuff that’s underway or already announced, or in some cases Labour policies that are already complete. This is a (bad) PR exercise, not a plan.

Oram on the Nats’ ‘plan’

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:17 am, November 14th, 2011 - 39 comments

New Zealand has drifted under National for 3 years. They came to power with a plan they developed years earlier at the peak of the good times: cut taxes, sell assets, build roads. They haven’t altered that plan despite the weakest ‘recovery’ in history, no jobs, record borrowing, and the dark clouds on the economic horizon. Rod Oram fillets them

Labour moves on slave fishing

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:42 am, November 14th, 2011 - 15 comments

Labour’s fisheries policy will phase-in a requirement for fishing vessels to be at least 50% Kiwi-crewed and at least 50% of processing would have to occur here. Good start. It’s our fish – it should be harvested sustainably to create Kiwi jobs with fair pay and adequate conditions. The shame of slave fishing has to be ended.

Key bullies HoS on ‘cup of tea’ recording

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:08 am, November 13th, 2011 - 176 comments

So, John Key and John Banks have a meeting in a cafe, full of members of the public. They get the photo-op, then usher the media out. A HoS cameraman accidentally leaves his audio recorder. Key and Banks talk. In public. Anyone in the cafe could hear. The recorder gets the conversation. Key bullies the HoS into not printing it. The HoS caves. Disgraceful.

A cold cup of tea

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 1:23 pm, November 12th, 2011 - 15 comments

Well, that was a let down. The much-hyped ‘cup of tea’ climaxed in Key saying that he would be voting for Goldsmith but he “wouldn’t be unhappy” if other Epsom voters back Banks. A double negative? Hardly a ringing endorsement. I think it’s too little, too late, for a man and a party that are too unpopular. All Key has done is tie his brand to extremists.

Key would sell it all, eventually

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:46 am, November 11th, 2011 - 100 comments

John Key’s promising new capital spending projects left, right, and centre that would be funded by asset sales. But, with the European debt crisis spreading, the odds of getting $5-$7 billion for slices of our energy companies and Air NZ are worsening. So what’s the plan when they need more money for Key’s promises? What do you think?

The greatest threat to Banks: Brash (& that story)

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:50 am, November 10th, 2011 - 39 comments

John Banks says the brand he is campaigning for in Epsom is ‘Brand Key’, not ACT. Epsomites don’t want three-time loser Don Brash but it’s unavoidably true that a vote for Banks is a vote for Brash. This is leading to a further unattractive debacle as Banks tries to distance himself from his leader, who he’s trying to get into parliament.

Labour’s fantastic children’s policy

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:42 am, November 8th, 2011 - 272 comments

Labour released its excellent children’s policy yesterday that will lift 150,000 children out of poverty and enhance families’ quality of life. The Right is wailing. Fuck ’em. They’ve turned a blind eye while 32,000 more kids have fallen into poverty. Only a Labour-led government will have the policies for a truly brighter future for all Kiwis, especially our kids.

Greens go red, Labour goes green

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:08 am, November 7th, 2011 - 67 comments

We live in a time of inter-related crises of the environment and the capitalist economic system. So, I guess it’s not surprising to see Labour becoming more environmentally aware at the same time as the Greens propose economic policies that would normally be out of Labour’s playbook. Don’t worry about them becoming too alike, welcome the solid platform for a new government.

Why no photo-op for Banks?

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:30 pm, November 6th, 2011 - 34 comments

John Key has been asked if he will be giving an explicit order to National voters in Epsom to vote for John Banks. He said ‘not today’. He said that a few weeks ago too. No photo-op of Key shaking Banks’ hand either. Why the hold-up? What could possibly be behind National wariness of linking Brand Key to Banks?

Nats’ $11b budget hole

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:52 am, November 6th, 2011 - 160 comments

Last year and the year before, the portions of the assets National wants to sell paid over $400 million in dividends. Labour estimates lost dividends from those assets would total $11 billion by 2026. That’s an $11 billion hole in National’s budgets they haven’t accounted for. When will National front up and show us the money?

Key can’t count

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:37 am, November 4th, 2011 - 113 comments

It’ll be interesting to see the full fiscal details from Labour today. National is planning to borrow too, the question is how much they differ by. Only $2.6b in the first term with both having net debt about $50b. That’s the alternative to selling our profitable assets to pay for capital investment. The Nats’ $17b claim is riddled with basic errors. Updated with more bad adding from Key

Polls good for Left

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 1:30 pm, November 3rd, 2011 - 80 comments

There’s a TVNZ poll out tonight and a Herald poll tomorrow morning but, ahead of them, here’s some other new polls results that point to trouble for the Nats. 27% of young people want to leave New Zealand. 82% of people oppose farm sales to foreign buyers. 24% of people will change their vote over the Rena.

Labour’s EQC policy

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:56 am, November 3rd, 2011 - 17 comments

Labour’s EQC policy has taken the holes in the current system revealed by the earthquakes – too low cap, inequitable flat levy, non-universal coverage, lack of provision for accommodation coverage – and fixed them. On top of that, they’ve promised to give people access to their geotech info. Great policy. No wonder National’s angry.

Another win for Goff

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:07 pm, November 2nd, 2011 - 179 comments

Goff had Key in all sorts of trouble on the Christchurch recovery, on Key’s economic record, on asset sales, on the GST lie. Goff was passionate on equality and got across both Labour’s vision and how that will be made real. It was notable that Key’s only strong point was when he got off his own record and his own promises and on to making up numbers about Labour’s policies. Goff didn’t have a strong rebuttal. He’ll need one before the next TV debate.

Another empty promise

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:13 am, November 2nd, 2011 - 61 comments

National says it’ll get 57,000 more people off benefits and into work over 4 years. That would require 50% more job creation than Treasury projects. Unless you do something about the lack of jobs, you won’t get benefit numbers down. Promising the latter without doing the former is a fraud on New Zealand. Just another broken Nat promise waiting to happen.

Key priorities

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:43 am, November 2nd, 2011 - 17 comments

Key’s biggest mistake: with all the disasters that have occurred in the last 3 years that have affected so many thousands of people he couldn’t have done anything better to improve their lives other than communicated a bit better about BMWs?

Debate highlights

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:05 pm, November 1st, 2011 - 70 comments

Here are my top moments from the first Leaders’ Debate. When you write them down, it’s pretty clear that Goff won all the major exchanges.

What were the top moments for you, what else did you want to see?

A win to Goff on points

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:37 pm, October 31st, 2011 - 147 comments

Goff was the big underdog going into the debate after Key bested Clark in 2008. Goff far exceeded expectations. Got his policies out, got the best hits in, and sounded like a PM. Key was under-prepared and complacent. After an aggressive start intended to knock Goff out, Key was on the backfoot throughout.

Owning the discourse

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:28 pm, October 31st, 2011 - 2 comments

It’s been an extraordinary few weeks. It started with the double downgrade/DJ Key fiasco and Rena. Then Labour started dictating the play: its policies setting the beat of the campaign; its framing dominating. National took its only asset, Brand Key, and trashed it with its phony, weird opening address. And, then, National’s launch was over-shadowed by the rail loop announcement.

Key cooking the books on asset sales

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:47 am, October 30th, 2011 - 37 comments

National has already booked the revenue from asset sales – despite people opposing them 4 to 1. The Budget docs say capital spending will be funded from the ‘balance sheet’: ie. buying new assets like schools and hospitals with revenue from selling the power companies. Key will re-announce this today. But, in the long-run we’ll be able to afford more schools and hospitals if we don’t sell our profit-generating assets.

Update: as expected, Key has re-accounced what is already in the Budget and given it a fancy new name.

Winning the debates

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:52 am, October 30th, 2011 - 43 comments

The first of the leaders’ debates is on tomorrow (it would have been on Thursday on Labour’s savings policy, but Key refused to show). Key’s strategy is clear: ‘I’m a safe economic manager, these guys will fuck it up’. Goff can’t let a single attack slide. Every time Key disses Labour’s or ups his own record, Goff just needs to cite one of these facts.

This is how you win

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 2:14 pm, October 29th, 2011 - 68 comments

Sprout’s post says it all. Labour’s opening address blew National’s out of the park. But I can’t help myself, I have to put in my analysis of why National’s was so awful and Labour’s so good. Almost out of nowhere, Labour has seized the discourse. It is dictating the run of play with its policies, its framing, and, now, with its marketing. This is how you win.

Labour’s savings & retirement policy

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:37 am, October 28th, 2011 - 100 comments

Well, they said they were going to run this campaign on policy and make the bold moves, and Labour proved that with their savings policy. National is been left floundering. Brand Key is unraveling while Labour starts to dictate the play for the first time since Orewa. But the substance of the savings policy wants a closer look, it has both good and bad aspects.

Not quite beyond parody

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:37 am, October 27th, 2011 - 18 comments

There’s almost too many excellent parodies of National’s silly billboards and ads.

Why are the Right acting like losers?

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:35 am, October 26th, 2011 - 165 comments

It was meant to be so easy. With high polling and several possible support partners, National would breeze into a second term thanks to Brand Key. The man himself would carried around the country by crowds of adoring locals. It would be more coronation than campaign. So, why are National weather-vanes, Farrar and Slater, hitting the panic-button?

Nats in a world of their own

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:01 am, October 25th, 2011 - 87 comments

National’s new online ad campaign shows a roadworker with a stop sign, supposedly representing Labour (he has a red hat and red swandry so you get the point) and another roadworker with a go sign meant to represent National (although his sign is green … searching for a support partner?). It’s pretty bare-faced cheek from the party with the worst economic record in this country’s history.

Slave fishing – NZ’s shame

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:48 am, October 25th, 2011 - 13 comments

You won’t find much praise for Talley’s on this site. But, fair dues, they harvest their fish with Kiwi crews and have this to say on slave fishing: “If it is uneconomic to harvest a New Zealand resource under New Zealand labour conditions and costs then it is not a resource. Blood diamonds and Asian textile sweatshops use the same justification”