Author Archive

Respecting our Rights and the New Zealand Constitution

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, February 27th, 2018 - 35 comments

The Minister of Justice and the Prime Minister teased a little bit of constitutional change yesterday. Let’s look at what that could actually mean, and how it could upon up old laws for review by Parliament.

Poll Watch: Colmar Brunton Poll 2018-2-19

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, February 20th, 2018 - 47 comments

In this second edition of Pollwatch, we note the impact of Jacinda Ardern at the height of her powers, track the likelyhood of current government support partners of clearing our high Party Vote threshold, and note the small likelyhood that English’s eventual successor will have of sneaking into the Beehive even if we held a snap election right now.

Knighthood Interrupted, and the curious case of New Zealand Defamation Law

Written By: - Date published: 7:36 pm, February 12th, 2018 - 119 comments

Bob Jones is now suing the woman that wants to strip him of his Knighthood over her use of the term “hate speech.” Can we think about perhaps stopping this litigiousness now?

And we’re off to the races!

Written By: - Date published: 5:12 pm, February 8th, 2018 - 123 comments

With Julie Anne Genter, Minister for Women, entering the co-leadership race, there’s now a real contest on our hands as to who joins James Shaw as co-leader of the Green Party. What does that mean for the Greens, and for New Zealand politics in general?

Poll Watch: Reid Research Poll 2018-1-31

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, February 1st, 2018 - 158 comments

Newshub recently released the latest poll they commissioned from Reid Research. Let’s dive into some analysis of what this means.

The End of Life Choice Bill

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, December 21st, 2017 - 155 comments

We recently got the first reading on the End of Life Choice Bill, which aims to create a controlled regime for euthanasia. What are the pros and cons of the Bill?

The failure of “right to buy” policies

Written By: - Date published: 3:03 pm, December 11th, 2017 - 19 comments

Not only did National’s policy to sell off state houses fail, but now we’ve found out a similar Thatcher policy in the UK just handed many social houses to private landlords. Should we consider making it harder to sell off state houses in New Zealand?

People of the Year

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, December 7th, 2017 - 136 comments

Time has named participants of the #MeToo campaign its people of the year. So why hasn’t the movement taken hold in New Zealand the way it has in the United States?

Once again: National lost the election

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 pm, November 26th, 2017 - 154 comments

A rebuttal of Nick Smith’s claim to have “won the 2017 election, but lost the coalition negotiations.”

Net Neutrality and New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, November 26th, 2017 - 42 comments

Trump’s administration has recently set course to repeal Net Neutrality in the USA. What does that mean for New Zealand, and should we be considering stronger regulation here?

Green Maiden Speeches

Written By: - Date published: 7:20 am, November 16th, 2017 - 17 comments

Green backbenchers Chlöe Swarbrick and Golriz Ghahraman just gave their maiden speeches recently.

The House’s Man

Written By: - Date published: 6:50 am, November 11th, 2017 - 60 comments

How is Trevor Mallard doing as speaker? Early signs are good.

Build a bridge and get over it

Written By: - Date published: 2:32 pm, November 7th, 2017 - 227 comments

Finally conceding the government’s majority, Bridges is complaining that Labour has struck back on his boss’ plan to obstruct the government on select committees by following through on his own plans to reduce their size.

We have an obligation to act on Manus Island

Written By: - Date published: 6:20 am, November 2nd, 2017 - 229 comments

Jacinda Ardern faces a test of her claim she can handle Australia better than the last two Prime Ministers. How will she react?

Why is James Shaw our new Minister for Statistics?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 29th, 2017 - 124 comments

Why statistics? Some speculation as to how this fits together with James Shaw’s other portfolios, and what the motivations and goals were taking up what is seemingly a minor ministerial position as part of a confidence and supply agreement.

Critiquing A Modest National Party Proposal

Written By: - Date published: 7:09 am, October 26th, 2017 - 69 comments

Some National supporters are proposing the Governor General direct coalition talks in the future. How would that actually work out?

An Introduction: Matthew Whitehead

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, October 25th, 2017 - 39 comments

A brief introduction to a new contributor.

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