Author Archive

More with less – or else (UK style)

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 6th, 2011 - 59 comments

A conservative council in the UK sacked it’s entire workforce and offered them their jobs again the next day if they accepted a 5.4% pay cut. This is direct fallout from the Global Financial Crisis of course – that monumental greed-made disaster caused by bankers and financial institutions and the bail out of which costs […]

The great debt myth

Written By: - Date published: 12:02 pm, May 31st, 2011 - 55 comments

This government’s got a real talent for manufacturing crisis to suit them.  The debt disaster is a classic – in order to get out of debt we have to cut public spending to the tune of almost $1billion and sell assets.

Budget Protest at Parliament today

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, May 19th, 2011 - 54 comments

Unions and community groups don’t need to wait till after the Budget is read to know they’ve been screwed.  They’re gathering today at Parliament at 12pm for a protest rally – come along if you’re in town. I was talking to a union organiser today who said that one of her main worksites – politically apathetic most […]

Don’t cut our future – Budget cut protest

Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, April 30th, 2011 - 41 comments

The signs are clear that the Goverment is ploughing ahead with spending cuts and that Budget 2011 will contain yet more cuts to public services and still maintain tax cuts for the wealthy. On Budget Day, community groups, unions, and Kiwis who have just had enough will gather outside Parliament to protest.

Nice to have

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, April 7th, 2011 - 25 comments

The PSA is the frontline in our fight against National’s plans to savagely cut our public services. Much in the same vein as the sticker campaign that Eddie posted on yesterday, the PSA has used humour to get across an incisive message: what the rich elitists in National consider ‘nice to have’ is very different from what we value.

Cunliffe responds to Marty G

Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, December 2nd, 2010 - 72 comments

Given the importance of this debate, I thought I’d just lift this straight from David Cunliffe’s post on  Red Alert:

“I guess it’s all in a day’s work, but MartyG on The Standard misintrepeted my position on PPPs in this recent post.”

NZ media asleep at the wheel

Written By: - Date published: 1:37 pm, November 18th, 2010 - 31 comments

Democracy is quietly dying in NZ but you’d never know it by the media’s response.  The government is rushing through a slew* of legislation under urgency and it doesn’t even rate a mention in either the Herald or the DomPost (the DP devotes half a page to Harry and Kate’s engagement for god’s sake). National Radio […]

US says no to fox guarding NZ meat

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, November 17th, 2010 - 11 comments

I know it’s in National’s DNA to fight regulation where ever they find it but it looks like the meat industry and government ‘watch dog’ MAF’s Food Safety Authority may have bitten off more than they can chew with their proposal to do away with independent  meat inspectors in the country’s freezing works. Seems a 6 month trial to […]

Short and sweet

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 pm, September 29th, 2010 - 2 comments

At the risk of following Bill’s excellent post with something  seriously lightweight, I just read this in the Listener and thought it was worth sharing for the pure joy of it … “Surely if anyone in the Act Party was going to impersonate a dead baby, it would be Rodney Hide” – comedian Dai Henwood […]

Democracy only for Luddites?

Written By: - Date published: 1:59 pm, September 15th, 2010 - 19 comments

In the Today in Politics column in the DomPost there’s a snippy little piece about the Fairness at Work submissions.  The CTU reckons around 6000 people have made submssions against the Bill. A lot of these were made via its website. Not bad going considering the government gave people just over three weeks to have their voice heard. Anyway, the chair of […]

Where do you stand

Written By: - Date published: 8:10 pm, September 13th, 2010 - 8 comments

Obviously  tired of politicians saying one thing on the campaign trail and then doing the exact opposite when they’re in office (which reminds me of a a great George Bush joke ) the PSA have just launched a nice and simple website  Where do you stand designed to hold local government candidates to account over community […]

It’s outrageous

Written By: - Date published: 3:39 pm, September 3rd, 2010 - 45 comments

Whatever flimsy and tattered remains of Labour-lite which National used to disguise itself at the 2008 election has well and truly disappeared. Thank goodness we can now call a spade a spade. National is making its priorities crystal clear to the public. On a week when up to 500 elderly or disabled people in the […]

Fairness at Work rallies 21 & 22 August

Written By: - Date published: 4:33 pm, August 9th, 2010 - 31 comments

Unions are getting together to oppose the government’s changes to employment law with rallies in the Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Click through for the schedule.

Abortion debate the silver bullet Labour needs -not!

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 20th, 2010 - 82 comments

I was talking to an old friend last night.  She’s been a Labour voter/supporter/activist nearly all her adult life.  She lives in Rotorua.  She said she might have to vote Green next year because she doesn’t think she’ll be able to support Steve Chadwick and her proposed new law to legalise abortion on request for […]

Creeping privatisation in local government

Written By: - Date published: 1:53 pm, June 2nd, 2010 - 5 comments

It’s an innocous looking bill but Rodney Hide’s Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill packs a wallop when you unpick it. Not only does it open the door for the privatisation of our water services, it positively ushers it in, takes off its coat and says ‘stay a spell, why don’t you?’, 35 years in fact.

Happy Birthday Jim?

Written By: - Date published: 1:58 pm, May 31st, 2010 - 18 comments

Jim Bolger’s mates have got together and put a half page ad (including a list of who they all are) in today’s DomPost to wish him a happy birthday and to thank him for his many years of public service.

World Cup could bypass Welly overnights?

Written By: - Date published: 6:47 pm, May 27th, 2010 - 6 comments

Seems that negotiations are underway to allow Wellington Airport stay open all night (last flights now are about 9pm) during the World Cup so that fans can travel direct to the next game thus avoiding the need for an overnight in Welly.

Carmel Sepuloni takes Waitakere selection

Written By: - Date published: 6:51 pm, March 20th, 2010 - 24 comments

Two list MPs and a popular local favourit son. It was always going to be a hard one to pick and it took the selection panel most of the afternoon to decide who would go head to head with Paula Bennet next year.  Phil Twyford, Carmel, Hamish McCracken and Ann Pala were all up for […]

Tenants already taking the hit

Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 79 comments

I got a call from a friend today, thanks to National his rent is going up. I’ll call him Ned. He’s retired and rents a two bedroom home for $310 a week. He recently received a letter from his landlord advising him of a rent increase of $40 a week. He’s sure his landlord is […]

Electoral finance reform hohum?

Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, February 17th, 2010 - 11 comments

I’ve been looking for feedback on Simon Power’s electoral finance reform package but I can’t find anything from Labour. After the hell that rained down on them over the EFA (much of it richly deserved) I can only assume that Labour thinks National’s got it about right.

Key’s hand-washing powers Phil

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, November 11th, 2009 - 30 comments

I don’t know if the two are related but this is my theory du jour. John Key keeps washing his hands of both his own ministers and MPs and his coalition partners’ MPs. It seems like no misbehaviour, from rorts to racism can make a dent in Mr Easy Going. Meanwhile, Phil Goff is having […]

Fed Farmers -stunning specificity to bring dollar down

Written By: - Date published: 12:38 pm, October 27th, 2009 - 36 comments

Have a listen to Sean Plunket’s interview this morning with Fed Farmer’s economic spokesperson Philip York. Fed Farmers is calling on the government to cut spending to rein in the rising NZ dollar. FF: Well there’s going to have to be some tough decisions made. They’re going to have to look seriously at everything they […]

ACC deja vous

Written By: - Date published: 3:38 pm, October 22nd, 2009 - 12 comments

Here we go again.   July 1st 1999 and Prime Minister Jenny Shipley opens ACC  to competition. I’d forgotten it was one of the last things they did, the effects on workers and the whole bullying culture of ACC seemed to go on and on… Modern day National, having just announced its opening ACC to competition […]

John Key at CTU conference

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, October 21st, 2009 - 6 comments

Heard over the lunch time news that John Key was the keynote (oh how he must never tire of that) speaker at the CTU Biennial Conference this afternoon.  A quick flick through the programme that had crossed my desk some weeks ago showed this to be the case and that Phil Goff is speaking tomorrow. […]

Labour where art thou?

Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, October 20th, 2009 - 45 comments

I’m not going to repeat the list of all the things that are starting to make people angry and scared or catalogue the broken promises (privatising ACC fast approaching in National’s first term) or go over in fine detail the fact that National are anything but Labour lite. I just to know where the hell […]

A beautiful mind – read it and weep

Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, September 9th, 2009 - 53 comments

An email doing the rounds of the women’s networks found its way to me today. It’s link to an article about the late Sophie Elliott, fomerly of Otago University and the essay she wrote on equity and  and equality. Sophie may have been heading to Treasury the week she was murdered but when you read […]

Going forward…

Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, September 7th, 2009 - 19 comments

Like r0b, I’m the new kid on The Standard’s block. Sounds like he got the cool initiation. I, on the other hand, had to go to a three hour meeting and, under brutal interrogation, denounce all my previous boyfriends with dubious political credentials. Plus they made me bring a plate. But I made it and […]