Author Archive

Government to issue an apology for the dawn raids

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:33 am, June 15th, 2021 - 23 comments

The Government has announced it will publicly apologise for the treatment of Pacific people in the 1970s when they were harassed and discriminated against by the Police because of the place of their birth and the colour of their skin.

The Government’s Feebate scheme

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:00 am, June 14th, 2021 - 70 comments

Labour and the Greens have announced the establishment of a Feebate scheme to incentivise the purchase of electric vehicles and disincentivise the purchase of gas guzzlers.

Auckland’s Northern Pathway

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:00 am, June 11th, 2021 - 144 comments

Last week’s announcement of major changes to the New Zealand Upgrade program in my view was welcome.

Colonisation and widespread theft of Maori land is apparently good for them

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:53 am, June 9th, 2021 - 78 comments

Paora Goldsmith, who last hit National headlines for botching up National’s alternative budget, has again hit the headlines and for the wrong reasons. And this time members of his caucus publicly disagree with him.

Openness and transparency

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 8th, 2021 - 117 comments

On the weekend Andrea Vance gave the Government a bit of a serve about its record on openness and transparency. But a deeper dig into the issue suggests that the cause may have nothing to do with the Government’s preferences and everything to do with the volume of information requests made by the opposition.

The week when Scomo came to visit

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:12 am, June 6th, 2021 - 5 comments

This week has seen the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to suggest that Australia is adopting a principled stand and New Zealand has sold its soul to China for trade. But the comments by Morrison and Ardern made after their Queenstown meeting suggests the opposite.

National’s culture problem

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:07 am, June 4th, 2021 - 29 comments

National’s week from hell is further evidence of a culture problem that will not be easily solved.

Nick Smith rejoices as Jake Bezzant takes public spotlight off him

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:41 pm, June 2nd, 2021 - 15 comments

Jake Bezzant was meant to be one of National’s bright new things, having last year been selected in then safe Upper Harbour. If things were normal he would be in Parliament right now. Instead an internal leaking campaign destroyed his chances and it now transpires that he has engaged in behaviour that is certainly immoral and should be illegal.

The National Party Caucus knew nuffink about Nick Smith’s problems

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:39 am, June 2nd, 2021 - 40 comments

Last night the story about Nick Smith’s issues that caused his resignation finally broke, or did it?

Later Nick

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:58 am, June 1st, 2021 - 48 comments

Nick Smith is leaving Parliament not only to spend more time with his family but also because details of an employment dispute started after he yelled at a junior staffer were leaked.

Latest Colmar Brunton poll – people disapprove of Judith

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:35 am, May 28th, 2021 - 44 comments

In the latest Colmar Brunton poll although National’s result and Judith Collins’ result as preferred Prime Minister went up slightly her approval rating for her job performance has plunged deep into negative figures.

Cummings: Boris is unfit for the job

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:37 am, May 27th, 2021 - 20 comments

Former top aide Dominic Cummings has accused UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being unfit for the job, and of making constant U-turns, “like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”.

Chris Bishop is tilting at Covid windmills

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:35 pm, May 26th, 2021 - 32 comments

Right now, in terms of our Covid response, New Zealand is in a unique position. It has no community spread of Covid and its level of restrictions is the most permissive in the world. But this does not stop Chris Bishop from trying to double guess the handling of the pandemic.

The right bring out the big guns

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:23 am, May 25th, 2021 - 39 comments

This is day five of the post Ruthenasia era and the response from the right is really underwhelming. The most notable response is a comment by Peter Dunne questioning whether 11 year olds are ever interested in politics.

A very Samoan coup

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:07 am, May 23rd, 2021 - 43 comments

In overnight news the Samoan head of state Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II has suspended the recalling of Parliament due to occur on Monday throwing Samoa’s democracy into turmoil.

Taxpayer’s Union comrades celebrate glorious Socialist revolution

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:58 am, May 22nd, 2021 - 31 comments

It is good to see our comrades in the Taxpayers Union celebrate the glorious Socialist revolution that is currently engulfing Aotearoa.

The end of Ruthenasia

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:03 am, May 21st, 2021 - 61 comments

National presented a particularly glum picture in Parliament yesterday. And it was not only the realisation that Judith Collins is out of her depth. It was because this budget spells the end of Ruthenasia.

Will the real leader of the Opposition please stand up

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:41 pm, May 20th, 2021 - 5 comments

Today’s budget debate suggests that the effective leader of the opposition may not be the leader of the National Party.

Reality has a left wing bias

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:22 am, May 20th, 2021 - 54 comments

Fresh from a claim that the Ministry of Education is trying to persuade kids not to eat home made lunches, David Seymour has taken aim at a new target, a radical education policy that intends to teach our kids about racism and inequality and what has happened in the country’s past.

What to do about Palestine

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 4:04 pm, May 18th, 2021 - 12 comments

The war in Gaza has continued with 197 Palestinians including 58 children being killed and with significant damage to infrastructure including hospitals and

Latest poll – Collins dog whistling is not working

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:04 pm, May 16th, 2021 - 55 comments

The latest TV 3 Reid Research Poll has Judith Collins’ preferred leadership rating cut by two thirds. Judith’s racist dog whistling is clearly not working.

Israel commits war crime in Gaza

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:20 pm, May 16th, 2021 - 50 comments

The state of Israel has committed a war crime by deliberately targeting and blowing up a Gaza tower that housed civilian residents and the Aljazeera Middle East office.

How Covid may work out from here

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:50 am, May 15th, 2021 - 68 comments

The world may never get back to a pre covid state. Until herd immunity is achieved throughout large swathes of the world as well as in Aotearoa New Zealand our borders need to continue to be closely monitored. The anti vaccination movement and the failure to ensure equitable vaccine distribution may mean that our current messy dread filled reality will continue.

The Māori Party and the National Party

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:43 am, May 13th, 2021 - 113 comments

There were dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday. Judith Collins chose to again attack Jacinda Ardern about the He Puapua report. And Māori Party Co leader Rawiri Waititi expressed his disgust at her race baiting in a uniquely New Zealand way.

Government backs away from public service wage announcement

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:02 am, May 12th, 2021 - 34 comments

Some good news from yesterday. The Government has decided to walk back earlier comments suggesting a wage freeze for teachers and nurses.

National’s use of the dog whistle and its hatred of UN conventions

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:22 am, May 10th, 2021 - 52 comments

Judith Collins has applied the dog whistle to the He Puapua report and suggested that it is evidence of the Government wanting to radically change New Zealand society. But a check through history shows that the report is based on an International Treaty that National signed up to.

Onya Michael

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:47 am, May 8th, 2021 - 34 comments

Yesterday Minister of Labour Michael Wood led the announcement of a policy that conceivably could do more to address the decline in workers wages and conditions over the past 40 years than anything else tried recently.

About the public service pay freeze

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:40 am, May 6th, 2021 - 45 comments

A few of us on the left have issues with the public service wage freeze announced yesterday. By setting the salary level so low, at $60,000 per annum, the threat is that previous gains for teachers and nurses will be undermined.

About Trevor Mallard

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:20 pm, May 5th, 2021 - 67 comments

Trevor Mallard has made a concerted effort to change the tone of Parliament. But last night got caught in a bickering match with National.

Collins’ really bad take on te Tiriti

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:21 am, May 4th, 2021 - 67 comments

Last weekend Judith Collins spoke to the Northern Regional Conference of the National Party and gave as crude an analysis of te Tiriti as you can imagine.