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Politics

Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation

Categories under Politics

Labour day

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, October 26th, 2020 - 34 comments

Enjoying your weekend? Thank a unionist!

Large caucuses can be devilishly dangerous as National showed

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, October 25th, 2020 - 15 comments

A post mortem of the 2017-2020 parliament shows that far from being the “opposition from hell” as they had threatened, National’s caucus was as ineffective as Donald Trump dealing to Covid 19. It is a salutary lesson for the new Labour caucus which has won 64 seats in the new parliament. There may be many backbench MPs who are underemployed.

What should Labour do in the next three years?

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, October 25th, 2020 - 72 comments

With the hand brake gone and the Government’s policy platform already complete what should the Labour Government set out to achieve this term?

Kelvin for DPM

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, October 25th, 2020 - 16 comments

Some thoughts on who the country’s Deputy Prime Minister should be.

Rangitata and the Future of the National Party

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, October 24th, 2020 - 42 comments

As National reels from the disastrous 2020 election result could a policy based on high tech agriculture represent a way back?

The Trump Biden debate

Written By: - Date published: 2:02 pm, October 23rd, 2020 - 21 comments

Discussion post for this afternoon’s live US Presidential debate.

Why Can’t The Ministry of Works Just Build Houses Like 1935?

Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, October 23rd, 2020 - 32 comments

We don’t have a government like the Labour government that formed in 1935.

Show us the plan Labour

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, October 22nd, 2020 - 154 comments

Labour want to govern based in stability for all New Zealanders, but how does that work when your grand narrative has massive plot holes around ending poverty?

Some consequences of Chloe Swarbrick’s win

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, October 22nd, 2020 - 41 comments

What are the lessons to be learned from Chloe Swarbrick’s election night win of Auckland Central.

Will Labour go it alone?

Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, October 21st, 2020 - 99 comments

Tova O’Brien has suggested that a Labour Green joined at the hip coalition is not going to happen.  So what will the next Government look like?

Will consensus building paralyse Ardern?

Written By: - Date published: 7:14 am, October 21st, 2020 - 33 comments

Jacinda Ardern aims to bet both ways on our future – transforming Aotearoa to rid us of inequality and poverty, and building consensus. She has won a mandate with her historic, landslide victory but can she do both? My question is whether Labour are willing to do that because of her desire to maintain consensus and not rock the waka.

NZ election 2020: Labour win is a watershed moment in the country’s history

Written By: - Date published: 12:27 am, October 20th, 2020 - 47 comments

The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.

Left/Green/Indigenous

Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, October 18th, 2020 - 135 comments

What kind of government might New Zealand have?

Dr Shane is in trouble

Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, October 18th, 2020 - 27 comments

Shane Reti is in major strife in Whangarei and special votes may overturn his slim election night majority.  And National may have further problems with its list entitlement and Maureen Pugh and Nick Smith are not safe.

O Winston I love you

Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, October 18th, 2020 - 50 comments

Some reasons for us to miss Winston’s exit from politics.

Labour crushes election – now what?

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, October 18th, 2020 - 79 comments

Labour’s crushing victory in yesterday’s election and the Green’s strong result means that the Government has a unique opportunity to emulate the fundamental change to New Zealand that the first Labour government achieved.

Your Preliminary Parliament for 2020

Written By: - Date published: 2:33 am, October 18th, 2020 - 58 comments

On the preliminary results, we have our expected MPs. While Parliament may change a little, we now know its shape, and its likely members- with about three exceptions.

Election Night 2020

Written By: - Date published: 7:06 pm, October 17th, 2020 - 190 comments

A post for election night discussion on the Standard (and links for where to watch).

Natwatch election night post

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 pm, October 17th, 2020 - 19 comments

This has been an incredible year for the National Party. Will it implode publicly tonight with a series of attacks on the leadership and campaign by disgruntled MPs or will Judith perform better than expected and minimise the carnage. This post is to follow National’s leadership and MP response to election night results. Stay tuned […]

Key electorates 2020

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, October 17th, 2020 - 20 comments

Discussion for key electorates.

Election day rules 2020

Written By: - Date published: 11:59 pm, October 16th, 2020 - 50 comments

There are some rules around Election day material on a website like ours. These are mandated by the legislation. We will allow comments here during election day. But they will be limited and we expect you to comment lawfully, and moderation will be on our interpretation of the Act. Please read this post before commenting between midnight and 7pm on saturday.

Pollwatch: 2020 Pre-election rush

Written By: - Date published: 10:46 pm, October 16th, 2020 - 10 comments

We’ve had three recent pre-election polls. While we wait for results on election day, let’s have a look at where things might be headed.

This should have been the climate election

Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, October 16th, 2020 - 30 comments

A new Ministry for the Environment report on New Zealand and the climate crisis is sobering. If you haven’t voted, climate is still by far New Zealand’s biggest challenge, and it’s the Greens that have the plan for what to do.

Jacinda or Judith?

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, October 16th, 2020 - 65 comments

With election day tomorrow those who have not voted already need to decide, do they want Jacinda Ardern or Judith Collins to be the next Prime Minister.

Latest Colmar Brunton – Labour Greens ascendant

Written By: - Date published: 6:08 pm, October 15th, 2020 - 62 comments

Labour is coming off strastopheric polling but the Greens are looking safer.  And National is still on the decline.  

Legalise it! The Socialist case for Cannabis reform

Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, October 15th, 2020 - 18 comments

Maria Hoyle of Socialist Aotearoa argues that from a socialist perspective the legalisation of the possession of cannabis should occur.

About the Greens…

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, October 15th, 2020 - 74 comments

Here’s the thing about the Greens. They want change. They want change more than they want power. I think that they fully understand that we are out of time on climate, poverty, the environment and now is the time to act boldly.

Backbench National MP proposes radical new tax to address deficit *

Written By: - Date published: 6:23 pm, October 14th, 2020 - 29 comments

* but I am not sure that all of his caucus colleagues would be happy with the proposal.

Greens: will push for more climate action to match the scale of the crisis

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, October 14th, 2020 - 12 comments

“The Green Party welcomes Labour’s commitment to reduce climate emissions in the next term of Government, but would go further and faster to address the true scale of the crisis.”

Latest UMR Poll – National sinking

Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, October 14th, 2020 - 180 comments

Leaked results of the latest UMR poll suggests that National is under 30% and that Judith Collins campaign techniques are not working.  She responded by calling the Prime Minister a liar and fat shaming the population.

How not to campaign in an MMP environment

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, October 13th, 2020 - 30 comments

A recent series of advertisements placed by National MPs in Auckland seeking electorate votes and not seeking party votes show that central control of National’s campaign and discipline are completely lacking.

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