Author Archive
Key comes out against wage increases
Written By: - Date published: 2:27 pm, July 16th, 2008 - 25 comments
This morning on Sunrise, John Key said “wage inflation” is a problem causing inflation and needs to be reduced. Wage inflation is a businessman’s way of saying pay increases. John Key opposes Kiwis getting the pay increases they need to cover the rising cost of living. This fits with his statement that “we would love […]
On infinity
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, July 16th, 2008 - 9 comments
[more ‘Tom The Dancing Bug’ comics here]
Crosby/Textor line de jour
Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, July 16th, 2008 - 82 comments
Every Wednesday, John Key does his round of interviews. Breakfast TV makes a nice soft start with interviews on Breakfast then Sunrise. Then he’s on KiwiFM with Wammo and bFM with Mikey Havoc, neither of whom are political specialists but are increasingly asking good questions. Every week, Key comes prepared with two or three lines, […]
90 Day No Rights policy, why?
Written By: - Date published: 4:14 pm, July 15th, 2008 - 139 comments
Why does National want to remove the right of workers to appeal against unjustifiable dismissal in the first 90 days of employment? The reason National gives us is that workers having the right to sue for unjustified dismissal has a chilling effect on small businesses. Supposedly, they are afraid to hire workers because if they […]
Inflation up but interest rates must come down
Written By: - Date published: 12:27 pm, July 15th, 2008 - 18 comments
Inflation was 1.6% in the last quarter, 4% annually, the highest in 13 years. Petrol is driving inflation. By itself petrol accounted for a 1.2% increase. Food is the other big increase, also accounting for a 1.2% and that is itself being driven by international oil prices. The price of oil is beyond our control […]
Some policy coverage, too much to ask?
Written By: - Date published: 11:16 am, July 15th, 2008 - 63 comments
Yesterday, Tracy Watkins wrote something I found a little confusing – “National is winning the war over wages and the price of cheese”. I’m wondering in what way National is winning on wages and food prices. It’s not in terms of policy. National doesn’t have a policy on raising wages or lowering food prices. Indeed, […]
Shouldn’t you be dead by now?
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, July 15th, 2008 - 38 comments
Australia’s ABC has a somewhat unusual online game to explain the impact of individuals on climate change to children. It’s called ‘Planet Slayer‘. The main part of the game involves answering questions (which really only apply to adults) around use of cars, house size etc to estimate your annual greenhouse gas emissions.Your cumulative emissions are […]
Growing opposition to Immigration Bill
Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, July 14th, 2008 - 13 comments
Nick Butcher has produced this excellent video opposing the Immigration Bill (which we blogged about last week and is covered in more detail here). There’s also a website and an ipetition. This really is an appalling Bill and I take my hat off to Nick and co for having the initiative to organise public opposition […]
Ambitious for NZ political debate
Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, July 14th, 2008 - 24 comments
It’s sad that Matthew Hooton passes for a political commentator in this country. If he was a blogger, he would be third, fourth tier. Surely, we can do better. Last year in his column, Hooton suggested that there would be no election this year because Labour would stage a coup. Last week on Nine till Noon, he ranted endlessly […]
So much for ambition
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, July 14th, 2008 - 40 comments
Yesterday on Agenda, SOE Minister Trevor Mallard said that the Government was undertaking an exploratory study to see whether the factory that currently repairs trains could also be used to assemble trains. If its economical, specialised parts would still be imported but a major manufacturing job would take place in New Zealand, building up New […]
Contrary to Key, Govt does target waste
Written By: - Date published: 11:21 am, July 13th, 2008 - 54 comments
The idea that a government would purposely spend money in a wasteful manner is patently absurd. Voters want more government services and lower tax, any dollar of wasteful spending not only takes away from a government’s ability to meet those desires but also gives voters an active reason to vote against the Government. That’s a […]
On flat tax
Written By: - Date published: 4:51 pm, July 12th, 2008 - 62 comments
We have a progressive tax system, whereby the portion of income paid in tax increases with income. Many on the Right argue that moving to a flat tax system, where everyone pays the same portion of tax on income at all income levels, would be fairer. Let’s look at what such a change would entail. […]
Winnie and Glenn
Written By: - Date published: 3:05 pm, July 12th, 2008 - 75 comments
It appears, as everyone suspected, that Owen Glenn did give a donation to New Zealand First. There is nothing illegal or immoral in that. Under the law at the time anonymous donations of any sum were legal and National was the biggest exploiter of that fact, receiving over $2 million in secret donations in 2005 […]
Failure to front up
Written By: - Date published: 6:43 am, July 12th, 2008 - 68 comments
When was the last time John Key did an in-depth interview? Why would a potential Prime Minister be afraid to be exposed through a long interview? What does he have to gain by keeping his public appearances brief and tightly controlled? How can New Zealanders get past the mask and have a chance to properly […]
Running on empty
Written By: - Date published: 3:42 pm, July 11th, 2008 - 69 comments
A worrying report on the future of petrol prices is out today. It predicts petrol could hit $10 a litre in a decade. Nearly all of that increase will be caused by the supply of oil falling as demand pressure grows. Rationing will probably be introduced before that point, otherwise only the rich will be […]
The Standard Week: July 4 – July 11
Written By: - Date published: 12:46 pm, July 11th, 2008 - 2 comments
Every time Bill English goes on Agenda, he lets a bit of National policy slip (anyone who thinks it’s an accident probably also thinks Nicky Hager’s some kind of super-hacker). On Sunday, English told us National will be running on a platform of removing your rights at work in the first 90 days of employment […]
Remarkably unambitious ECE policy
Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, July 11th, 2008 - 21 comments
Another one-page excuse for a policy from National, this one on early childhood education. After vehemently opposing 20Free, National would now keep it but not because it wants to, only because ‘thousands of parents are now using 20 Hours and we do not want to cause them uncertainty’. Gee, thanks, National. The headline change is […]
Question 2
Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, July 11th, 2008 - 15 comments
Why was the report on government spending from ANZ Chief Economist Cameron Bagrie blindly accepted by the media at first, when anyone with a basic understanding of how government works (or accounting or statistics or economics) could see it was fundamentally flawed? Why did it take press releases from unions and blog posts and interviews with a minister to discredit […]
Key refuses to answer your questions
Written By: - Date published: 6:34 am, July 11th, 2008 - 41 comments
You’ll remember our ‘interview the leaders‘ series. John Key has been the only leader missing, we’ve given his office plenty of extensions on the deadline – enough, as they say, is enough. So, if any journalists would like to ask Key these questions from our readers, that would be much appreciated: General question: Of which […]
Irony
Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, July 10th, 2008 - 19 comments
Granny Herald’s Editorial yesterday “Private market can help ACC” – dancing on the head of a pin to justify privatising ACC to make $200 million profit for aussie insurers. Granny Herald’s Editorial today “It works so don’t meddle” – opposing double crewing of ambulances because it will cost us the princely sum of $5 each […]
Lots of ideology, not argument
Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, July 10th, 2008 - 71 comments
I was going to write a piece on the much anticipated paper from ANZ’s chief economist on government spending. But now I’ve tracked it down and read it, there’s hardly any point. It’s just 4 pages in the Bank’s monthly market report and it reads like something I would expect from an excitable commerce student, […]
Nasty
Written By: - Date published: 9:09 am, July 10th, 2008 - 58 comments
On Tuesday, Helen Clark was asked what she thought of the fact that both John Key and Bill English have been unavailable for comment when the media have had questions about National policy this week (not being available for comment is a Crosby/Textor tactic for shutting down stories). Clark, who is renowned for the hours […]
Mind the gap
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, July 10th, 2008 - 16 comments
It’s worth remembering that polling gaps really do narrow when election campaigns start. We all remember the 2002 campaign. Labour reached 53% support in April; on Election Day in July, they polled 41%. The gap between labour and National had been blowing out to 30% in the polls but in the end it was less than […]
Nats vs journos
Written By: - Date published: 3:53 pm, July 9th, 2008 - 40 comments
Shane Ardern is now saying he was misquoted by the Te Awamutu Courier when he said ‘[Kiwisaver] needs adjusting from the employers’ contribution angle, from one size fits all approach, to allow for pressure on smaller business employers.’ Attacking the media for reporting your words. Now, where have I seen that before? That’s, right, when […]
Drop the Immigration Bill
Written By: - Date published: 2:46 pm, July 9th, 2008 - 77 comments
The September 11 attacks were used as cover to pass draconian laws around the world, particularly concerning immigration. The Government is, once again, following suit with the new Immigration Bill. It’s a shockingly bad piece of legislation that gives broad powers to immigration and other government officials (read SIS), removes judicial oversight, and allows personal […]
Positive moves on housing
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, July 9th, 2008 - 88 comments
Housing has always been an important issue for Labour. The First Labour Government instituted a massive State house building project, freeing working class New Zealanders from slum landlords, creating healthier living conditions, and stimulating the economy during the Great Depression. Now, New Zealand faces some of the same conditions as existed at the start of […]
More anti-worker policy from the Nats
Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, July 8th, 2008 - 55 comments
On Sunday, Bill English let slip that National still intends to take away the work rights of employees of small businesses for the first 90 days of employment. Now, National’s Shane Ardern has spilled the beans on the Nats’ policy to cut the contributions to hundreds of thousands of Kiwis’ Kiwisaver plans. In the Te […]
Hit and miss
Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, July 8th, 2008 - 24 comments
Let’s look at some of the issues National has hit and run on. They were all you heard from the Nats for a while and then they were dropped when their marketing usefulness wore off. “Power crisis” – dropped in June when it started to rain “After-tax incomes” – Dropped in May, after the Budget, […]
Blueprint for a Crosby/Textor campaign
Written By: - Date published: 6:13 am, July 8th, 2008 - 41 comments
While trying desperately to paint Crosby/Textor as ‘just ordinary consultants’ and argue that C/T does nothing that polling and research companies do, National allies like the Herald have also puzzled over why National won’t just admit to being C/T clients. The answer is simple: C/T are not ordinary consultants giving media training or policy advise […]
Broadcasting policy broadly outlined
Written By: - Date published: 4:58 pm, July 7th, 2008 - 12 comments
National’s Jonathan Coleman has announced a bullet-point excuse for a broadcasting policy. Essentially, it adopts the status quo but moves TVNZ charter funding to NZ on Air’s control (there goes any hope of TV1 ever becoming a proper public broadcaster) and preps the ground for privatisation in a second term. Amongst the bullet points is […]
Nats’ NGO policy, give the money to Aussies
Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, July 7th, 2008 - 18 comments
Charities are voicing fears that under a National Government public funding for NGOs would be administered by an Australian NGO called Mission Australia with dire consequences for small charities here. The NGOs say Key thinks there are too many NGOs here and wants to starve them of cash. Mission Australia does the admirable work you expect from […]
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