Author Archive

Sharma keeps digging

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:10 am, August 30th, 2022 - 33 comments

Last night a 4,761 word rant was published on Gaurav Sharma’s facebook page. In it he details information which on the face of it may have breached confidentiality requirements. And the overwhelming effect of the allegations is Meh.

Mark Mitchell is Kim Hilled on National Radio

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:07 am, August 29th, 2022 - 35 comments

National should learn. They should never send an MP into an interview with Kim Hill unless they are completely prepared. As Mark Mitchell learned this morning.

Labour poised to resolve housing supply crisis

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:25 pm, August 25th, 2022 - 89 comments

It is possible that within the next year New Zealand’s housing supply crisis will be resolved.

Selling your soul to the bishop for power

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:36 pm, August 24th, 2022 - 52 comments

This morning Christopher Luxon refused to rule out working with Freedoms New Zealand, the Brian Tamaki entity which has held mock trials, alleged senior Government figures should be tried for treason and have professed a desire to make the country ungovernable.

Crikey v Murdoch & News Corp

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:17 am, August 24th, 2022 - 5 comments

Australian news site Crikey has taken on Murdoch’s News Corp by reposting an article accusing the Murdoch family of being “Donald Trump’s unindicted co-conspirator” and then taking out advertisements in the New York Times inviting Lachlan Murdoch to sue them.

Who will be Wellington’s next Mayor?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:40 am, August 23rd, 2022 - 24 comments

The Wellington Mayoralty is shaping up to be a contest between the incumbent Andy Foster, Labour candidate Paul Eagle who will be a direct challenge to Foster’s support base and Tory Whanau who is standing on a policy basis strong on sustainability including the construction of a comprehensive connected bike network.

Labour’s “tenant tax” is neither a tax nor for tenants

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:16 am, August 22nd, 2022 - 33 comments

National’s media spin team is at it again claiming that removing interest rate deductibility for landlords is a “tenant tax” when it is neither a new tax nor for tenants.

A week of sideshows

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 5:34 pm, August 21st, 2022 - 64 comments

But the past week has been a week of sideshows. One international as elements of the right try to smear Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin for dancing. And one local where rogue Labour MP Gaurav Sharma is running out of excuses for not backing up the extraordinary claims he has made about the Labour Party.

What to do with Gaurav Sharma

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:59 pm, August 16th, 2022 - 184 comments

The Labour Caucus will meet this afternoon to discuss what to do about Gaurav Sharma.

About Gaurav Sharma

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:17 am, August 15th, 2022 - 101 comments

Recent incidents involving Labour MP Gaurav Sharma are evidence of poor relationships with staff and not anything more sinister.

Molloy drops out of Mayoralty race

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:57 pm, August 12th, 2022 - 35 comments

Self described tough man Leo Molloy has found the going too tough and has pulled out of the Auckland mayoralty race.

The Three Strikes abomination is no more

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:50 am, August 11th, 2022 - 44 comments

The three strikes legislation, the brainchild of dead baby identity stealing former ACT MP David Garrett, is no more.

Uffindel’s new allegation

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:08 am, August 10th, 2022 - 231 comments

Radio New Zealand has published new allegations of bullying by National MP Sam Uffindell this time by a female flatmate who flatted with Uffindell while at University.

National’s culture problem

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:14 pm, August 8th, 2022 - 139 comments

National MP Sam Uffindell has today been engaged in a media wide mea culpa after allegations that he bullied a young student and was expelled from Kings College have been publicised.

National tries to blame Labour for National’s tax flip flop flip

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:25 am, August 7th, 2022 - 13 comments

Chris Bishop has accused Labour of engaging in dirty politics for pointing out that this week National has changed its policy on income tax indexation twice.

Luxon’s latest gaffes

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:48 am, August 4th, 2022 - 57 comments

Hot on his confusion of Hawaii with Te Puke Christopher Luxon’s has dropped a couple of new clangers by admitting then denying that National will not increase health funding at least by the rate of inflation and then by displaying his class prejudice by saying people are not going to get rich on welfare.

National’s weird take on the Government’s Climate Adaption Plan

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:05 am, August 4th, 2022 - 7 comments

The Government’s release of the National Adaption Plan to deal with climate change has been met by National with an insistence that who should pay for potentially hundreds of billions of costs should have already been identified.

Chris Bishop supports AND opposes vaccine mandates

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:28 am, August 3rd, 2022 - 51 comments

Remember when National’s Chris Bishop thought that Labour was not being staunch enough of mandates? He now thinks that Labour is being too staunch.

Political donations law needs reform

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:44 pm, August 1st, 2022 - 7 comments

Judge Jagose’s decision to acquit two persons linked to New Zealand First charged with obtaining control over $750,000 has opened up rather large holes in the obligations of political parties to report donations.

Luxon goes to Te Puke Hawaii

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:00 am, July 27th, 2022 - 58 comments

The question of what has happened to Christopher Luxon was answered yesterday in a shambolic messy way that must have National operatives in despair.

Really bad takes on the Green’s leadership issue

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:55 am, July 26th, 2022 - 60 comments

There have been some spectacularly bad takes on Green Party leadership issues by voices on the right and academia which were all shown to be spectacularly wrong after Chloe Swarbrick announced that she was not seeking the Green Party leadership.

The inside story of National’s civil war

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:24 pm, July 25th, 2022 - 16 comments

Andrea Vance’s book Blood Bath provides an insider’s view of the carnage that erupted in the National Party from 2017 to 2021. And while things have calmed down under Christopher Luxon’s his weaknesses, including his glossing over the importance of policy detail and his tendency to bag businesses has been noted.

Brian Tamaki really annoys Auckland by adding to traffic congestion

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:21 am, July 24th, 2022 - 53 comments

Brian Tamaki and Vision New Zealand supporters sought to improve levels of support by causing significant congestion in Auckland city yesterday.

Another partial privatisation that has failed

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:32 am, July 18th, 2022 - 37 comments

I watched the Rugby test on Saturday night. One side played with passion and vigour. Their forward pack dominated and the defensive effort from the backs was superb. The other side was the All Blacks who displayed all the passion and vigour of a National Party conference.

Wear your #$%^& mask properly

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:38 am, July 16th, 2022 - 90 comments

Although we still compare favourably to the vast majority of Western nations in terms of our Covid response our performance has been eclipsed by Japan and Singapore, two nations which strong mask mandates and cultural norms supporting the wearing of masks.

Luxon is still struggling to understand Mask rules

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:05 am, July 14th, 2022 - 28 comments

During January of this year Christopher Luxon described the traffic light system as confusing. This week he described it as “very, very confusing”. It is of concern that he appears not to have learned about what the rules require in the meantime.

Business claims crisis as country approaches full employment and wages increase

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:29 am, July 12th, 2022 - 124 comments

Anyone else getting tired of the media presenting the fact that New Zealand essentially has full employment is a very bad thing?

Complaint about RNZ use of Bryce Edwards article upheld

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:58 pm, July 11th, 2022 - 33 comments

The Media Council has upheld a complaint against a Bryce Edwards article published on RNZ’s website that incorrectly stated that Labour went into the 2020 election promising to break up the supermarket duopoly and bring down the cost of food and that the policy was essentially dead when the policy only promised to conduct a market study using the Commerce Commission.

Luxon goes to London to get campaign ideas

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:20 am, July 8th, 2022 - 19 comments

At the very time that the United Kingdom Conservative Government is imploding National leader Chris Luxon is visiting to get new ideas on how to run a country.

The $11 billion man strikes again

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:41 am, July 7th, 2022 - 22 comments

Remember Steven Joyce who claimed there was a $11.7 billion dollar hole in Labour’s alternative budget? Another example of his negotiation prowess has recently received media attention and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that his ability to analyse crown accounts is matched by his ability to negotiate.