national/act government

Categories under national/act government

Seymour’s bad faith Treaty policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 20th, 2023 - 65 comments

ACT’s proposal to put the potential meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi up for popular vote in a referendum is absurd dog whistling of the worst sort.

Understanding the New Zealand General Election 2023: Historical trends and perspectives.

Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, September 20th, 2023 - 15 comments

From the outside, the New Zealand 2023 General Election seems both lacklustre and slightly strange. The Labour Government, having won a huge majority in 2020 is now fighting for its political life. Yet National, the main centre-right opposition party is still on average polling significantly worse now than they were when it lost power in 2017.

The silver lining of last night’s poll

Written By: - Date published: 1:56 pm, September 12th, 2023 - 31 comments

The silver lining to last night’s Reid Research poll is that Act’s support is slumping and if there is a change in Government it may not be as extreme as it could have been.

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 …

NACT’s Law & Order Policies: Dog Whistle Or Proto-Fascism?

Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, June 26th, 2023 - 22 comments

NACT’s Law & Order policies are a dog whistle and signs of proto-fascism.

National releases uncosted corrections policy

Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, June 26th, 2023 - 12 comments

National has released a hotch potch policy of changes to Criminal Justice that is uncosted and seeks to achieve that which is already in force or proposed.

Be afraid, be very afraid …

Written By: - Date published: 7:20 am, December 22nd, 2022 - 165 comments

David Seymour is feeling his oats and has claimed that past National Governments never changes anything.  A brief review of history would suggest otherwise.

Comrade Chris wants to solve Aotearoa’s housing crisis

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, September 28th, 2022 - 64 comments

Something unusual has happened.  Chris Bishop, or as we should now call him Comrade Chris, has come out fully in favour of a vast expansion of the provision of social housing for kiwis.

The inside story of National’s civil war

Written By: - Date published: 12:24 pm, July 25th, 2022 - 16 comments

Andrea Vance’s book Blood Bath provides an insider’s view of the carnage that erupted in the National Party from 2017 to 2021.  And while things have calmed down under Christopher Luxon’s his weaknesses, including his glossing over the importance of policy detail and his tendency to bag businesses has been noted.

Act’s scorched earth proposal

Written By: - Date published: 12:29 pm, May 11th, 2022 - 41 comments

Act has publicly released its proposal to decimate the state should it have a say in the next Government.  Its Real Change Alternative Budget may be wet dream inducing for Ayn Rand acolytes but for the rest of us the proposals should instill a deep sense of dread.

Prison conditions

Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, January 4th, 2021 - 27 comments

Statements by the Minister for Corrections and Corrections themselves asserting that there had been no complaints about prison conditions at Waikeria, in the face of the Ombudsman’s report, just look to me to be pure sophistry and bullshit. The report on conditions in the high security make grim reading. Even ignoring the inmates protest – I want to protest about the waste of my taxes in providing such a unproductive, inhumane and outright evil environment.

Winston Peters Names Alleged Super Leaker

Written By: - Date published: 4:44 pm, July 22nd, 2020 - 87 comments

Winston Peters has named the person he says leaked his super details. Has ACT joined National in doing Dirty Politics?

National Has Found a Moral Compass

Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, June 6th, 2020 - 34 comments

National has embarked on a moral crusade to not lose the Election.

Bridges and the Robertson trial

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, December 30th, 2019 - 22 comments

National has released a video of Simon Bridges talking about the trial he conducted against Tony Robertson and suggesting he is in politics to change the law.  But the particular law he appears to be targeting was unchanged during the term of the last National Government.

Labour to repeal ban on family caregivers seeking justice

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, July 8th, 2019 - 39 comments

Labour and New Zealand First Ministers under the first term of the sixth Labour government sitting in the Cabinet office.

The Government has increased funding for family caregivers of people with disabilities and is moving to repeal one of the most constitutionally outrageous legislative provisions that the prevoius Government enacted.

National shafted us with the MOM privatisation

Written By: - Date published: 7:20 am, January 17th, 2019 - 318 comments

Five years on how are the benefits from the Mixed Ownership Model privatisation process the last Government engaged in working out?

Homeless families are living in cars … and tents

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, April 13th, 2018 - 84 comments

Remember how early on during his reign as National leader John Key talked about the underclass and how they were a blight on New Zealand society?  Well over the past year WINZ has been giving grants to homeless families to live in tents.

Doofus of the week – April 7, 2018

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, April 8th, 2018 - 17 comments

Another easy decision. Gerry Brownlee wins for overseeing a $210 million blow out in EWC’s liability for Christchurch earthquake re-repair work and for being upset when Megan Woods called him on it.

The problem with Charter Schools

Written By: - Date published: 12:38 pm, February 11th, 2018 - 296 comments

The Government is moving to stop the creation of new charter schools and require existing charter schools to integrate with the public system.

So there was a housing crisis after all

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, November 4th, 2017 - 403 comments

The briefing to incoming Housing Minister Phil Twyford shows clearly that a crisis in housing developed under National’s watch.

The repeal of the Hobbit law

Written By: - Date published: 12:24 pm, October 29th, 2017 - 70 comments

Labour has indicated that as a priority it wishes to repeal the Hobbit law, a clumsy attempt in breach of International Law to prevent workers in the film industry from organising collectively and to divert attention from the fact that the National Government had been played by Warner Brothers.

Spare a thought for ACT and David Seymour

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, September 25th, 2017 - 45 comments

David Seymour and the ACT Party are back in Parliament but their role this term will be nothing other than nodding lap dog.

Our Nation’s Stolen Generation Moment

Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, September 16th, 2017 - 8 comments

A guest post by @invisiphilia on the recent Mahinarangi Forbes interview on the Hui on the abuse of children in foster care and why the Government is wrong in refusing to have a proper independent inquiry into what went wrong.

More Nat ACT conflict

Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, August 25th, 2017 - 27 comments

ACT is attacking the Nats yet again, calling out their record on housing and crime. Anyone for a coalition of chaos?

Dunne and dusted

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, August 21st, 2017 - 140 comments

Peter Dunne has announced that he will resign from Parliament at the next election.

A tale of three immigrants

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, July 29th, 2017 - 26 comments

The Government is refusing to allow a Tongan family with a very sick child and an American family who ran a very successful cafe from staying in New Zealand but rolled out the red carpet to an uber rich American who did not meet all of the requirements.

National again subsidises their land banking contributors from taxpayer funds.

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, July 24th, 2017 - 25 comments

The announcement that National were granting infrastructure funds to develop housing projects in the far north and south of Auckland caused me some amusement.  Wisely Auckland council resisted this boondongle that only benefits land bankers, speculators and their political party (National) for some time. To the point where National used taxpayer funds instead.

Why be a public servant?

Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, July 20th, 2017 - 28 comments

Today thousands of IRD workers face the prospect of losing their jobs while two MOT workers who lost their jobs for whistle blowing are vindicated.  Who would be a public servant?

Why there should be work and drug test obligations for National MPs

Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, July 16th, 2017 - 52 comments

Todd Barclay has not been seen at work lately but has been seen at a Queenstown pub.  And is still being paid $3,000 a week to represent the people of Clutha Southland.

The Government is misrepresenting the effect of the Ruataniwha Dam decision

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, July 9th, 2017 - 21 comments

The Government has responded to the Supreme Court decision which puts a halt on the Ruataniwha Dam by claiming wrongly that the protected land was of low quality and by stating that a law change, possibly retrospective, will occur.

What happened to the Newshub article about Nick Smith and the Pike River film?

Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, July 8th, 2017 - 41 comments

A Newshub article where Nick Smith contradicts the Police and Solid Energy about the existence of video showing a body in Pike River has disappeared …

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