Parliament

Categories under Parliament

Is it time for the Greens to go their own way?

Written By: - Date published: 1:18 pm, January 11th, 2022 - 122 comments

Climate, ecology, welfare, housing – we are now at the point for the Greens to go ‘fuck it, time to go back to our radical roots’.

 

Clearing the decks

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, December 13th, 2021 - 14 comments

The draft report into Nick Smith’s treatment of a young staff member that eventually saw him leave Parliament has made its way into the public realm, just in time to be lost in the pre Christmas media wash up.

What National Needs To Do

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, November 27th, 2021 - 83 comments

Since the left are experts at internal knifing, National should learn from the left about how to recover.  What National needsto do to recover.

National’s next leader?

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, September 3rd, 2021 - 60 comments

As the damage caused by Judith Collins’ leadership of the National Party intensifies it is inevitable that there will be internal discussions about who should replace her, and soon.  And I think the best candidate is clear.

Judith’s very bad two days

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, September 2nd, 2021 - 50 comments

Judith Collins’ insistence that Parliament be reconvened even at a time that the country was in lockdown level 4 has backfired spectacularly.

MPs should not only follow the rules but follow them with stars

Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, August 31st, 2021 - 68 comments

Judith Collins has insisted on travelling from Auckland to Wellington so she can stand and shout in an empty Parliament Chamber.

Gumming up the works

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, August 28th, 2021 - 53 comments

Last night it was revealed that National and Act had refused to agree to a proposed virtual Parliament sitting where questions could be asked, and instead wanted face to face meetings, even though this would mean a third of the country’s MPs travelling regularly to Wellington from a Covid delta hotspot.

The latest battle in the culture wars

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, August 15th, 2021 - 79 comments

This week National agreed to the bill allowing gender self identification to proceed to select committee which was a stark contrast to their position on the bill banning gay conversion therapy.  I wonder what happened?

Openness and transparency

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 8th, 2021 - 117 comments

On the weekend Andrea Vance gave the Government a bit of a serve about its record on openness and transparency. But a deeper dig into the issue suggests that the cause may have nothing to do with the Government’s preferences and everything to do with the volume of information requests made by the opposition.

The National Party Caucus knew nuffink about Nick Smith’s problems

Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, June 2nd, 2021 - 40 comments

Last night the story about Nick Smith’s issues that caused his resignation finally broke, or did it?

 

The Māori Party and the National Party

Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, May 13th, 2021 - 113 comments

There were dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday.  Judith Collins chose to again attack Jacinda Ardern about the He Puapua report.  And Māori Party Co leader Rawiri Waititi expressed his disgust at her race baiting in a uniquely New Zealand way.

About Trevor Mallard

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 pm, May 5th, 2021 - 67 comments

  • Trevor Mallard has made a concerted effort to change the tone of Parliament.  But last night got caught in a bickering match with National.

Can we trust David Seymour?

Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, May 1st, 2021 - 48 comments

David Seymour has got himself into a little bit of trouble. He filed a Parliamentary Pecuniary interests return that was not, ahem, correct.

National’s very bad day

Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, April 22nd, 2021 - 86 comments

Yesterday was a day where National focussed on dog whistle racism, supported religious extremists and moaned about workers receiving a modest increase in the minimum wage.

National’s leadership problem

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, March 30th, 2021 - 42 comments

Chris Luxon’s maiden speech last week and another example of multiple leaks of details of a caucus meeting highlight how precarious Judith Collins’ tenure as National Party leader is.  But does someone have the numbers to replace her?

Much ado about nothing

Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, March 13th, 2021 - 18 comments

Chris Bishop is claiming credit for Labour finishing a deal whereby the party rented premises to Parliamentary Services for the use of Gillian Anderson MP at a level well below market rates.

The case for mandatory legislative review

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, February 24th, 2021 - 15 comments

You can’t read legislation for very long without finding instances of weird edge cases. But is also why we have kids trying to walk or bike on gravel roads with no sidewalks to get to school. When modern cars travel these narrow lanes at up to 100km/hour. Parliament has no systematic way to review obsolete legislation.

Not wearing ties bad, denigrating MPs and breaching Standing Orders fine

Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, February 12th, 2021 - 24 comments

Without a hint of embarrassment National associated entities yesterday criticised Trevor Mallard’s decision to loosen tie wearing requirements as a lowering of  standards while at the same time circulating a heavily doctored video in an attack on Labour MP Anna Lorck.

Elizabeth Kerekere take a bow

Written By: - Date published: 8:42 pm, February 10th, 2021 - 20 comments

One of the most personal and enjoyable celebrations of a maiden speech came from the Green’s Elizabeth Kerekere.  It made me happy as a Kiwi to watch this.  Sit back and enjoy.

Parliament’s tie issue

Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, February 10th, 2021 - 90 comments

Not wearing a tie in Parliament is a weird issue for the Maori Party to get ready to die in a ditch about.  But the rules should be changed.

The Speech From The Throne

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, November 27th, 2020 - 21 comments

I’m sure one needs a particular depth of political nerdiness to give a flying fig about such things, but since I am one of those, these are my highlights from the speech from the throne to Parliament this week.

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.

Kia kaha Sarah Dowie

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, July 30th, 2020 - 17 comments

Sarah Dowie’s valedictory speech yesterday was extremely good and offered a fascinating insight into Parliamentary life and some notable recent events.

Nat Vote: And the Loser Is ….

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, May 22nd, 2020 - 197 comments

The Nation holds its breath as the dullest political leadership race in a generation snores to a close. Who will win by losing? Who will lose by winning? Who cares?

UPDATE: It’s Mullertime!

UPDATE: Bennett dumped!

No Right Turn: A new Ministry of Works

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, April 2nd, 2020 - 22 comments

Idiot/Savant writes: “While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in”

Bye bye parliament for a while.

Written By: - Date published: 3:56 pm, March 25th, 2020 - 10 comments

Gotta love parliament – James Shaw “there are no fiscal conservatives in a foxhole”.

Anyway, parliament in the chamber will be going dark for a few months. So will parliamentary TV (but you can still get that live).

Have a look at the archives from today- there are some politicians who are on form..

Phasing into phase 4

Written By: - Date published: 2:50 pm, March 23rd, 2020 - 147 comments

Heading into phase three, moving into phase four 48 hours later. Here is the video briefing and the quick analysis.

Burning Bridges

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 pm, March 18th, 2020 - 23 comments

One of Simon Bridges’ caucus supporters has raised the possibility of a leadership coup. Let’s hope not, people!

Covid-19 and a digital democracy

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 pm, March 15th, 2020 - 20 comments

Government has for the last decade been pushing for as many government services as possible to be primarily accessed digitally rather than face-to face. Funnily enough, the one public service they forgot to push to digital is themselves. Now’s the time Trevor.

No Right Turn: Parliament and the pandemic

Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, March 9th, 2020 - 23 comments

Idiot/Savant writes about what the government can and can’t do with sitting and the election.

MMP Mark II*

Written By: - Date published: 11:57 pm, December 25th, 2019 - 24 comments

What beats MMP? Open-list proportional representation with a low threshold would be a good option.

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