Parliament

Categories under Parliament

Time to become a republic

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, December 5th, 2019 - 85 comments

There are indications that Elizabeth the UK Queen may stand down from her office in the next two years. That may be the perfect time for Aotearoa New Zealand to cast aside constitutional provisions based on heredity and become constitutionally independent of the old country.

End of Life Bill passes

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, November 14th, 2019 - 98 comments

David Seymour’s End of Life Bill passed through Parliament last night by 69 votes to 51.  We are now facing a referendum at the next election.

National’s faux outrage

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, September 27th, 2019 - 33 comments

The National Party has described as “censorship at the extreme” a rule in Parliament’s standing orders the latest version of which was enacted under the last National Government. Updated with Simon Bridges opposing the relaxation of the rule in 2017

Accused Labour Party Staffer Resigns

Written By: - Date published: 5:32 pm, September 12th, 2019 - 252 comments

A second resignation has swiftly followed that of Labour Party President Nigel Haworth. The person from the Labour Party Parliamentary team accused of sexual assault has today quit his job.

 

National gather fuel for their political dumpster fires

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, September 2nd, 2019 - 21 comments

Not so much Zero Carbon as Zero Shits. While National look set to monkey-wrench our climate legislation, we can remember that the real power in addressing the climate crisis lies outside of parliament.

100 Days of climate vigil

Written By: - Date published: 11:54 am, August 23rd, 2019 - 4 comments

Ollie Langridge doing the climate action mahi at parliament.

What is up with NZ First?

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, August 9th, 2019 - 105 comments

New Zealand First’s late decision to promote a referendum concerning abortion has caught everyone including its spokesperson Tracy Martin by surprise and is the latest example of last minute changes of position.

Boris Johnson’s majority is disappearing

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, August 3rd, 2019 - 30 comments

in England the Conservatives have lost a safe seat in a by election to the SDP. And from Ireland comes  a cunning plan that would obliterate Johnson’s majority.

Tolley upsets Youth Parliamentarian

Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, July 18th, 2019 - 55 comments

Anne Tolley has attracted adverse attention to the Youth Parliament by telling a young participant that she should not read from speech notes.

Submit or surrender

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, July 11th, 2019 - 33 comments

The submission period for the Zero Carbon Bill closes shortly.  Please make a submission.  This may be the New Zealand Goverment’s last chance to put in place measures to get us to carbon neutrality in time to make a difference.

Politicians Don’t Know Jack

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, June 3rd, 2019 - 63 comments

Politicians rely on information provided to them, not on an encyclopaedic memory and an IQ of a genius.

National’s bad day in the house

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, May 2nd, 2019 - 70 comments

In an unprecedented move yesterday in Parliament Government MPs agreed to Simon Bridges having extra time to harangue them during the general debate.

Everything Should Be Made As Uncomfortable As Possible, But No Less Comfortable

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, April 24th, 2019 - 26 comments

When providing a voluntary carbon-offset scheme, make it as simple as possible, but not simpler, and tell people about it.

David is delayed

Written By: - Date published: 11:27 am, April 3rd, 2019 - 13 comments

David Seymour has done something even more embarrassing than twerking on Dancing with the Stars.

Life and Death in Aotearoa – Debating Euthanasia

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, April 3rd, 2019 - 210 comments

David Seymour’s Private Member’s Bill on euthanasia is back for debate in Parliament. Maggie looks at one of the great social issues of our time.

Sroubek; Richie Hardcore Text Released

Written By: - Date published: 3:12 pm, January 18th, 2019 - 54 comments

The text sent by Karel Sroubek supporter Richie Hardcore has been released. Is it the knock out blow we were promised?

National has lots of questions

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, January 12th, 2019 - 38 comments

National asked 40,000 questions of Ministers last year. This seems excessive.

Brexit: Tories Lose Control of the House and the Process

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, January 10th, 2019 - 67 comments

Another day, another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. Surprisingly,  the news is no better for Jeremy Corbyn.

A tale of two Christmas speeches

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, December 20th, 2018 - 31 comments

The last sitting day in Parliament yesterday gave stark evidence showing how Jacinda is wiping the floor with Simon Bridges.

The SPOTY’s 2018

Written By: - Date published: 1:10 pm, December 15th, 2018 - 39 comments

Here’s your chance to vote in the Standard’s Politician of The Year awards. The SPOTY’s are recognised worldwide as the leading indicator of political success in NZ and have been awarded annually for over two hundred years.

Now it’s your turn to prick the Thorndon Bubble, dear reader. Who’s your Politician of the Year?

Double down – protect parliament – ban Bridges for a month

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 pm, December 5th, 2018 - 104 comments

Simon Bridges appears to have deliberately maligned the position of the speaker of the house of representatives, and did it before he had any cause to do so. While he may think that it is in the public interest to do so, he isn’t special. He should expect what every other social activist knows will happen. You suffer the consequences..

An Ineffectual Opposition Is Bad News

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 28th, 2018 - 42 comments

An ineffectual Opposition creates a vacuum that will be filled by the Mainstream and Social Media as they will assume the role of unelected and non-representative opposition in effectuo.

Ross saga quiescent, but donations scandal needs addressing

Written By: - Date published: 4:26 pm, October 25th, 2018 - 21 comments

The Jami-Lee Ross scandal may have quietened down but issues raised by his explosive tape recording of Simon Bridges still need addressing. Does the $100k Zhang Yikun donation suggest we are going down the US track and, if so, what needs to be done about that

The Government’s plan for a modern and prosperous New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 2:36 pm, September 16th, 2018 - 130 comments

Text of Jacinda Ardern’s major speech delivered today.

Parliament and bullying

Written By: - Date published: 12:42 pm, August 31st, 2018 - 41 comments

It should be a qualification of being a Labour Member of Parliament that they treat their worked in an exemplary manner.

Were Etu union delegates threatened at a select committee?

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, June 4th, 2018 - 133 comments

National MP Parmjeet Parmar has been accused of threatening to tell the employers of submitters to a Select Committee what they had said in evidence if they did not withdraw their statements.

 

National loses the plot in Parliament

Written By: - Date published: 4:40 pm, May 24th, 2018 - 91 comments

National’s show down with Trevor Mallard today did not go as well as they hoped.

The Budget

Written By: - Date published: 2:09 pm, May 17th, 2018 - 168 comments

An evolving post to cover budget announcements.

An Opportunity Missed? A Failure to Listen? And Whose Advice was Privileged?

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, April 21st, 2018 - 26 comments

The conclusion that I am left with is the bureaucrats have once again gained control of the social work profession and want to manage social work and social workers under a neoliberal managerialist ideology.

Kieran O’Donoghue, Associate Professor in Social Work, Massey University

Green Party statements on giving their parliamentary Questions to the Opposition

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, March 19th, 2018 - 49 comments

“As Greens, we’ve always stood for modernising our democracy, making MPs more accountable and giving the public better access to the levers of power.”

Green Party announces new transparency measures

Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, March 4th, 2018 - 28 comments

Green Party Co-leader James Shaw has today announced two important new transparency measures, which will apply to Green Party Ministers, MPs and staff, to help counter the influence of money in politics.

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.