Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, February 10th, 2024 - 6 comments
This week we have seen National confirm it will cancel the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax and this will cause the cancellation or suspension of many projects designed to address congestion. And it has been confirmed that axing the clean car discount has seen sales of electric vehicles plummet. And that electric vehicles will shortly pay more to use the road than petrol vehicles.
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, February 8th, 2024 - 78 comments
National has announced the cancellation of funding for Cultural Reports because of the cost and the abandonment of Labour’s plan to decrease the muster despite the cost.
Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, February 7th, 2024 - 68 comments
Recent events have shown overwhelming support for the treaty among Iwi, the willingness for David Seymour to create chaos for political advantage, and that Christopher Luxton is not in control of the Government.
Written By: - Date published: 5:25 pm, February 6th, 2024 - 10 comments
“My understanding is a guy came out as a prophet of his own religious movement in the 1870s. And politicians feel a strange obligation to be there every year. I’ve never felt that.” David Seymour is shallow as a birdbath.
Written By: - Date published: 1:58 pm, February 5th, 2024 - 32 comments
While the Treaty of Waitangi continues to be battered back and forth, the clear reality is that Maori, after signing the infuriating Treaty, were systematically dispossessed of their land. Any reading of the history of colonial treaties shows that treaties were the primary method of dispossession and were designed to be broken. And invariably they were.
Written By: - Date published: 6:09 am, February 4th, 2024 - 57 comments
The Women’s Rights Party New Zealand and the Women’s Declaration International – New Zealand recently made a joint submission to Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, February 2nd, 2024 - 6 comments
The release from the Public Health Communication Centre Aotearoa around tobacco industry interference was a glimpse behind the curtain into a troubling reality.
Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, February 2nd, 2024 - 46 comments
Recent disclosure of the actions of associate Minister of Health Casey Costello raises the extraordinary possibility that British American Tobacco may be having an undue influence on the setting of the Government’s smoking policies.
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, February 1st, 2024 - 11 comments
Take your dirty boots off at the door ya numpties.
Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, February 1st, 2024 - 48 comments
Yesterday in Parliament Christopher Luxon showed that he is struggling on the job.
Written By: - Date published: 3:43 pm, January 30th, 2024 - 17 comments
Western Nations including New Zealand have suspended urgently needed aid for Palestine after revelations that a tiny minority of UNRHA workers may have been involved in Hamas raids and despite the UNHRA taking immediate action to address issues arising.
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, January 30th, 2024 - 77 comments
James Shaw has announced that he is standing down as co-leader of the Green Party and a leadership process will be triggered. He will stay on in Parliament in the meantime.
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, January 29th, 2024 - 30 comments
The last week has shown how Christopher Luxon has no understanding of New Zealand’s history and no appreciation about how dangerous Act’s proposed Treaty Principles Bill is.
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, January 27th, 2024 - 26 comments
This week there were two pieces of economic news showing a dramatic improvement credit for which should be given to the last Labour Government.
Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, January 25th, 2024 - 78 comments
Hot on the heels of the Government’s walk back from the previous Government’s smoke free policies is the disclosure that the Government is considering halting increases to excise duties on tobacco. And the Government tried to hide this.
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, January 22nd, 2024 - 99 comments
New Zealand is one of the most car-reliant and petroleum-reliant countries on earth. So how we are taxed to travel on land has huge equity implications.
Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, January 21st, 2024 - 191 comments
The Act Party is seeking to undermine te Tiriti o Waitangi and ferment racial hatred and division while nominally seeking unity. And National clearly has no idea what to do about the situation.
Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, January 20th, 2024 - 64 comments
Both the US Democrats and NZ Labour need to take hard looks at themselves. Failure is not inevitable. But there is now only one English-speaking centre-left democracy left in the world: that is the state of where we are now.
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, January 19th, 2024 - 22 comments
The Independent Electoral Review Panel has recommended changes to the electoral system including the banning of any donations unless made by enrolled voters, a cap on the size of those donations and a requirement that third parties disclose all large donations that they receive.
Written By: - Date published: 2:17 pm, January 17th, 2024 - 71 comments
At a time when we need cool heads and leaders who understand the enormity of the problem that is climate change and the consequences of getting our response right we are getting this retrograde culture war from people who should know better.
Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, January 16th, 2024 - 13 comments
The day after Christopher Luxon made the pilgrimage to meet with Kiingi Tuuheitia and try and calm feelings ahead of the Weekend’s hui at Ngaruwahia to discuss the Government’s attacks on Te Tiriti and Te Reo Shane Jones went onto Morning Report and applied the blowtorch to Luxon’s attempt to keep matters calm.
Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, January 16th, 2024 - 77 comments
Green MP Golriz Ghahrahman has resigned from Parliament.
Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, January 14th, 2024 - 65 comments
New Zealand has gained prosperity over 40 years within a free flow of trade under peacetime supported by minor attacks to shipping and planes, low international trade costs such as tariffs, and confidence that international trade disputes will be settled by law rather than by might is at risk: all of that required a United States President prepared to support that.
Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, January 13th, 2024 - 14 comments
But the ones that run US foreign policy are. Matthew Hooton in a typical smear wants to label Helen Clark as anti-American because she warned that involving us in attacking Houthis was a ”slippery slope.” She’s not and he’s wrong.
Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, January 13th, 2024 - 21 comments
An expanding Middle East war that puts the Red Sea and Suez tanker route at risk is a major risk to us because it could hit the global price of oil.
Written By: - Date published: 12:50 pm, January 11th, 2024 - 89 comments
Some of the usual suspects… how would we know what is really going on?
Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, January 11th, 2024 - 7 comments
There are still groups of people in New Zealand who can and do organise to resist the damage of the right.
Written By: - Date published: 8:49 pm, January 7th, 2024 - 57 comments
South Africa has taken a case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice. A group of prominent New Zealand lawyers have asked the New Zealand Government to join South Africa in support of their application. I think we should.
Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, January 7th, 2024 - 115 comments
A George Monbiot article in the Guardian made me wonder what effect the Atlas Network is having on New Zealand politics through the Taxpayer’s Union. Publicly available information suggests considerable funding is being made available and that the current Government’s priorities are precisely those that the Atlas Network would approve of.
Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, January 5th, 2024 - 39 comments
Can Israel lose a moral battle in Gaza and yet still win?
Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, January 3rd, 2024 - 106 comments
In the United Kingdom Keir Starmer’s refusal to call for a cease fire in Gaza and his claim that holding back food and water for Gaza was justified has put him increasingly at odds with Labour members and MPs. Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn’s expulsion as a Labour MP is puzzling, particularly given that his stance on Palestine is increasingly justified.
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