democracy under attack
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Bomber Bradbury wins privacy complaint against Police
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, August 28th, 2017 - 47 comments
Bomber Bradbury has succeeded in getting the Privacy Commissioner to rule that Police accessing his bank records without a search warrant was illegal.
Corbyn-esque NZ
Written By: - Date published: 6:17 pm, August 9th, 2017 - 13 comments
This post was written and ready to go and then news of Metiria Turei stepping down hit. Some of it might read a little strangely because of that. I’ve changed some of the tenses used.
NACT
Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, August 9th, 2017 - 5 comments
“Here’s a new idea for the Tories: Why not ask a simple question every time you propose a course of action: Is this morally just?”
Digitally shaping the election
Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, July 30th, 2017 - 22 comments
Social media offers a rich tool for profiling voters and targeting election advertising or informal messaging. There’s a good piece on RNZ today looking at the issue. How long before we see the methods used by Brexit and Trump campaigns employed in NZ?
National’s plans for mining and development of conservation land
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, July 12th, 2017 - 52 comments
Forest and Bird: ““The Government is seeking to give themselves the powers to push through controversial and damaging projects that would otherwise fail because they breach environmental limits.”
The Rainbow Warrior was sunk 32 years ago today
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, July 10th, 2017 - 19 comments
Thirty two years ago today the French Government committed an act of Terrorism on New Zealand soil on a peaceful organisation dedicated to protecting our environment.
Dirty Politics 2017 style
Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, June 8th, 2017 - 27 comments
Latest polls and some anecdotal evidence from the doorstep are showing a move back to the Tories in Britain. If so it may in part be due to last-minute dark and dirty personally targeted Facebook advertising to voters in marginal seats. They cost so will need to be watched later on here.
Oh Manchester …
Written By: - Date published: 2:19 pm, May 23rd, 2017 - 242 comments
Terrible news from Manchester where two explosions have killed at least 19 people and injured many more. This post will be updated as more news comes in.
Slater v Craig – battle of the has beens
Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, May 21st, 2017 - 22 comments
The High Court this week has been asked to dissect the decline of the Conservative Party and of the 2014 form of dirty politics.
Alfred Ngaro reprimanded for being “naïve”
Written By: - Date published: 7:54 am, May 15th, 2017 - 53 comments
Alfred Ngaro has apologised to the Prime Minister for threatening the funding of voluntary organisations critical of the Government, not for expressing the views or even thinking them but for being naïve.
National threatens Government critics with loss of Government contracts
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, May 14th, 2017 - 78 comments
Alfred Ngaro has told a National Conference that critics of the Government can expect to lose Government support for proposed contracts. And that Labour prompted concern about families living in cars.
Environment Southland won’t talk in public about water quality
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, April 28th, 2017 - 14 comments
Discussions of the MfE Our Fresh Water 2017 report to be held in workshop that excludes the public and the media.
Stewart: “Dying days of democracy”?
Written By: - Date published: 2:11 pm, April 27th, 2017 - 59 comments
Probably not, but after 9 years of Brighter Future / Dirty Politics it certainly can feel that way.
The French Presidential Runoff
Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, April 26th, 2017 - 79 comments
The French Presidential run off presents worrying signs for progressives. Why is the electorate sliding to the right?
Racist campaigns and attack ads
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, March 10th, 2017 - 32 comments
A couple of racist groups seem to be hawking their wares recently. Unfortunately this may herald the start of a dirty election, dragged down by well funded and unaccountable pressure groups.
Who would have thunk that Government’s approach to housing is inadequate
Written By: - Date published: 10:46 am, March 2nd, 2017 - 34 comments
Radio New Zealand has reported on a review of the Government’s housing policy which described it as fragmented and lacking a robust plan but it took intervention by the Ombudsman to have the review released.
Shock after shock
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, January 31st, 2017 - 63 comments
Understanding shock events is part of the solution.
The CIA Director confirmation hearings
Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, January 10th, 2017 - 17 comments
Mike Pompey is Donald Trump’s chosen head for the CIA. He is someone who believes in the mass collection of all metadata and combining it with all publicly available information. Are we going to see the unprecedented destruction of rights of privacy?
Faith in democracy falls
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, December 1st, 2016 - 42 comments
Is the belief that democracy is essential falling in “Western” countries? In New Zealand particularly so?
America’s broken democratic system
Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, November 27th, 2016 - 92 comments
Through partisan control of the electoral system and continuing attempts to suppress votes America’s electoral system is in clear need of an overhaul.
Democracy can be refined
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, November 15th, 2016 - 125 comments
Democracy is difficult. Government is far too complex and ordinary people have neither the time nor the inclination to spend time to understand it properly. So what are the alternatives?
Ombudsman to investigate John Key’s dirty politics communications
Written By: - Date published: 8:42 am, September 27th, 2016 - 91 comments
The Ombudsman is to investigate John Key’s failure to disclose communications with David Farrar and Cameron Slater
Parliamentary Services is snooping on MPs’ emails
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, September 14th, 2016 - 123 comments
It appears that Parliamentary Services is monitoring MPs emails. And not just for things such as spam and viruses.
Spy vs Us
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, August 16th, 2016 - 135 comments
Today National introduced a bill that will enable the NZ Government to spy on its citizens.
How to collapse liberal society
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, July 19th, 2016 - 131 comments
Liberal society is in reverse in many parts of the world. What do we do to arrest this?
GPS
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, June 23rd, 2016 - 219 comments
GPS may offer the perfect way to enforce a fuel tax but how do we feel about the Government knowing where we are and where we are heading every minute of the day?
ECAN turning a blind eye
Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, June 21st, 2016 - 41 comments
Is ECAN just another typical Nat party fuckup, or are they deliberately turning a blind eye?
Mike Hosking should not be TVNZ’s frontman
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, June 19th, 2016 - 128 comments
Liz Gunn sets out why Mike Hosking needs to be removed as TVNZ’s frontman.
Petition against the veto of the paid parental leave bill
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, June 18th, 2016 - 19 comments
“We request that you withdraw the financial veto certificate against the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave and Work Contact Hours) Amendment Bill.” You can sign the petition here.
Nats overrule Parliament to veto parental leave extension
Written By: - Date published: 3:54 pm, June 16th, 2016 - 102 comments
So – like Canterbury, like Auckland, the democratic process can get stuffed as far as National are concerned.
Screw democracy – Auckland to get the Canterbury treatment
Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, May 28th, 2016 - 172 comments
It’s naked panic now. In response to the crisis that isn’t a crisis Key is going to overrule the council that his government created and screw over Auckland democracy just like he screwed over Canterbury. What do you think of that Aucklanders?
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- Healthcare crisis could be helped by complaint about power imbalance
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