Author Archive

Can’t we have more charging stations AND the clean car discount?

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, September 7th, 2023 - 18 comments

National’s proposal to increase the number of electric car charging stations is something that should be considered but not at the expense of the extraordinarily successful clean car discount.

National does a big sook

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, September 5th, 2023 - 51 comments

National, which perfected the art of dirty politics, and which has spent the past couple of years being relentlessly negative and which has had its sock puppets attack individual Labour MPs mercilessly is deeply, deeply, deeply upset that the CTU has pointed out to the public what a Christopher Luxon led Government would actually mean.

National’s credibility is on the line

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, September 2nd, 2023 - 40 comments

When the history of the 2023 New Zealand Aotearoa general election is written and if Labour gets up to win historians will point to the events of this week as the turning point in what has already been a dramatic year in politics. Because I cannot believe how bad National’s tax cut policy release has been researched and structured and how bad its release is going.

Four new taxes and a climate funeral

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, September 1st, 2023 - 30 comments

National’s announcement of four new taxes to fund tax cuts rely on herculean assumptions that will never be met. And their proposal for climate change will undermine the slow but steady progress the country has been making to meeting its emission reduction goals.

Labour should not cut spending on climate change

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, August 30th, 2023 - 22 comments

At a time when the effects of Climate Change are becoming pronounced now is not the time to cut spending on carbon reduction projects.

Hipkins rules out coalition with Peters

Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, August 28th, 2023 - 27 comments

Yesterday was a good day for Labour.  Leader Chris Hipkins started talking about what the party stood for and what its values are while also ruling out a coalition with NZ First.

Be afraid be very afraid – the next Government could be really strange

Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, August 27th, 2023 - 55 comments

If there was a change of Government the next Government could potentially be full of fundamentalist Christians, anti vaxers and all sorts of people whose view of Aotearoa is not conventional or reality based.

Semour is more like Rimmer than Mandela

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 pm, August 26th, 2023 - 17 comments

David Seymour reached more absurd levels of idiocy this week with a suggestion that if he was alive Nelson Mandela would be an Act supporter.

National’s very bad week

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, August 26th, 2023 - 13 comments

National MP Tim Van Der Molen has been found to have been in contempt of Parliament for aggressive, hostile and threatening behaviour towards Labour MP Shannan Halbert during a select committee hearing.

Education policy and the compulsory teaching of subjects

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, August 22nd, 2023 - 26 comments

The brains trust of Labour’s leadership have recently released a policy providing for the compulsory teaching of financial literacy in schools. Tacking to the centre and seeking votes from the pro business part of the electorate is an interesting approach to campaigning.  Time will tell if it is the correct approach.

This press release was brought to you on behalf of National’s sponsors

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, August 22nd, 2023 - 25 comments

It has been revealed that National issued a press release in support of litigation taken against the Government by a company without disclosing that the manager of the company had previously made significant donations to National.

Later Stuart

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, August 20th, 2023 - 12 comments

Stuart Nash has given a valedictory speech which could have been delivered by a retiring National MP.

David Seymour should be ashamed

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, August 18th, 2023 - 103 comments

David Seymour yesterday hit a new low in race baiting when he said that “in my fantasy we’d send a guy called Guy Fawkes in [to the ministry of Pacific Peoples] and it’d be all over”.

What is at stake this election – housing

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, August 16th, 2023 - 87 comments

Since 2017 this Government has constructed 12,000 new Kainga Ora houses, overseen record numbers of new housing consents, moved to resolving the housing crisis and stabilised and reduced house prices. All this is at stake if there is a change of Government.

NZ First gets some hefty donations from National donors

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, August 15th, 2023 - 30 comments

Some donors normally associated with the National Party have recently made significant donations to the NZ First Party.

NZ First and Winston seek anti vax vote

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, August 14th, 2023 - 53 comments

Winston Peters clearly hopes that enough of us have short memories. He was an integral part of the 2017 Government whose Covid policies saw our death rate from the disease amongst the lowest in the developed world.  But now his party is clearly courting the anti vaccination community.

Labour’s GST and WFF policy announcement

Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, August 13th, 2023 - 168 comments

As predicted Labour has announced a policy of taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and a significant adjustment to Working for Families In House Tax Credit levels and the Thresholds.

Is Simon Court a victim of dirty politics?

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 pm, August 10th, 2023 - 18 comments

When the news about an Act MP being shot in the foot when he was 17 during a drug deal was released I did not think too much about it.  But on reflection maybe there is a story here …

Nanny state National wants to ban cell phones at schools

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, August 10th, 2023 - 62 comments

luxon sheep

National has this propensity of announcing policies that scratch conservative itches, cost nothing and hog media attention. Yesterday we had a classic example of this as they announced that cell phones would be banned at schools.

The difference between Blackrock and China

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, August 9th, 2023 - 4 comments

Some big news yesterday as the Government announced a deal with US Investment Firm Blackrock for a $2 billion fund for renewable electricity projects.

Helen Clark thinks the Government should review commitment to AUKUS

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, August 7th, 2023 - 44 comments

Last week the Government released a document titled the Defence Policy Strategy Statement. Helen Clark has expressed the concern that the strategy suggests that as a country New Zealand is abandoning its capacity to think for itself.

Tree protection for urban trees to be restored

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, August 6th, 2023 - 12 comments

The Government is set to overturn the previous National Government’s laws that prevented proper protection of urban trees and which has seen a stampede of urban tree removal.

National’s latest policy: MOAR ROADS

Written By: - Date published: 9:44 am, July 31st, 2023 - 51 comments

National’s latest policy announcement shows that it has an unmistakable fetish for tar seal.

A letter to Chris Hipkins

Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, July 30th, 2023 - 31 comments

My 2c on what I think Chris Hipkins needs to do to win this year’s election.

Should Labour take GST off fresh food?

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, July 28th, 2023 - 87 comments

National’s Nicola Willis has claimed that Labour will soon announce policy to take GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.

Politics is indeed a blood sport

Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, July 25th, 2023 - 56 comments

But should it be? Without acknowledging in any way its role in politicising Kiritapu Allan’s issues National has stated that politics is a blood sport.

Allan fired

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, July 24th, 2023 - 162 comments

This does not help.

Laura norda rides again

Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, July 22nd, 2023 - 57 comments

This week Labour has announced toughening up of the law dealing with 12 and 13 year olds and National has been playing politics with the shooting incident after earlier saying it was not a day to play politics.

Roger Douglas thinks Act has lost its way

Written By: - Date published: 9:09 am, July 20th, 2023 - 33 comments

Roger Douglas, who as Finance Minister under the fourth Labour Government caused major harm and the founder of the Act Party, has publicly declared that he has lost faith in the Act party and is now a swing voter.

Potholes damned potholes and National Party statistics

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, July 19th, 2023 - 16 comments

National underlined its complete lack of intellectual grunt and its fascination with passing anxieties as well as its intent to forget what it did by recently releasing a pothole policy.

Why a change of Government would be a bad thing – school lunches

Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, July 14th, 2023 - 63 comments

Act has declared its class prejudice by advocating for the cancellation of the free lunch in schools programme even though the benefits are clear and recognised and the programme helps poor kids’ nutrition and education.

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