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Auckland Council CCO 2 step

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, March 7th, 2014 - 13 comments

Mai Chen argues that the current review of Auckland Council CCOs will put them on a tighter leash.  Tony Holman argues against the whole CCO set up: it’s a trojan horse, 2 step towards privatisation of Auckland assets.  Aucklanders need to have their say. Vote out Team Key to prevent such sales.

Labour’s new Parliamentary chief of staff …

Written By: - Date published: 1:22 pm, February 26th, 2014 - 376 comments

David Cunliffe has announced his new chief of staff following Wendy Brandon’s resignation because of ill health.  It is veteran strategist Matt McCarten.

Poverty on the agenda

Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, February 19th, 2014 - 81 comments

The documentary ‘Mind the Gap’ and an interview with a UNICEF advocacy manager focus on poverty and inequality. Zombie “neoliberal” policies have increased poverty & inequality, damaging the futures of too many children. We will all benefit from good government policies underpinned by a commitment to collective approaches and responsibility.

Myths of Waitangi Day – & Hikoi

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, February 5th, 2014 - 289 comments

The ratings driven MSM beat up dramas and conflict in relation to Waitangi Day – they continue to circulate myths about the Day.  Morgan Godfery has blogged about those myths.  Meanwhile, the hikoi to protect our seas and land continues. [update: Rachel Smalley]

Opposing the PM’s statement

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 pm, January 28th, 2014 - 18 comments

The PMs’ statement todaywas a bit of a fizzer: lacking ideas, a lot of waffle.  Some opposition speeches were more inspiring, & laid out some real alternatives: like the speeches from Cunliffe (on fire), Norman (inspiring), Ardern (animated) & Harawira (real people; real struggles).

National coalition with NZ First?

Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, January 21st, 2014 - 126 comments

Key has refused to rule out the possibility of a National coalition with NZ First after this year’s election.  How desperate is that?

What happened to the working class?

Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, December 15th, 2013 - 175 comments

In post WWII UK, working class people were gaining a stronger voice in public life.  Then came Thatcher and middle class capture of politics & the media.  Something similar happened in NZ.  How can those on low incomes and/or from the working classes gain a stronger voice in NZ politics?

Axe the Copper Tax wins

Written By: - Date published: 6:49 pm, November 28th, 2013 - 32 comments

Every other political party has said an emphatic no to National’s proposal to override the Commerce Commission’s reduction in broadband charges.  I suspect that  Cabinet and Chorus’s board are not having a very good day …

Battle weary & marginalised: state housing

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, November 28th, 2013 - 61 comments

The National government is destroying NZ’s state housing system.  Right of tenure removed,  a shift towards private provision of “social housing”,  housing campaigners marginalised, & Tracy Watkins crowing about the shift from the “welfare state”. Greens & Mana are for more state houses.  And Labour? [Update] Picket of (Nat) Party for the Rich Dec 8 Akl. NZH article.

Coat-tail of Many Colours

Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, November 22nd, 2013 - 72 comments

Te Reo Putake speculates on exactly what plan that National and John Key have to distort the MMP review and Iain Lee Galloway’s private members bill so that it allows them to stay in power. Most probably by gifting Crazy Colin and the Conservatives with several chances to get several partners into parliament while discarding the husks of their former coalition partners.

BLip: The swearing of the Auckland council

Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, October 30th, 2013 - 18 comments

BLip is well known on this site for his ever-growing linked lists of the lies of John Key. But it appears he has been branching out into the role of reporter in this hilarious account of the swearing of the Auckland council last night that was picked out of Open Mike.

From “Cost-based to Value-based”

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, October 10th, 2013 - 8 comments

Cunliffe’s CTU speech is significant, rousing and inspiring, laying out a shift “from a cost-based to a value-based” strategy- for an inclusive society and one that provides a good life for “all” Kiwis, with opportunities for all. Video of the speech is a must see. And social security? [Update: Gordon Campbell] & Turei’s speech

(Un)affordable rents in Berm City

Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, October 3rd, 2013 - 43 comments

Central Auckland, gated city candidates get cosy about their grass verges. The west has a crisis in affordable rents & homelessness. Labour & Nats housing policies bow to the middle class home ownership agenda.  Greens & Mana look to state & council housing.

Vulnerable Children: The big picture

Written By: - Date published: 9:29 am, September 18th, 2013 - 43 comments

Yesterday Paula Bennett introduced the First Reading of the Vulnerable Children Bill.  Nat MPs separated child abuse from issues of poverty and income inequality.  Opposition MPs from Mana, Labour & The Greens called the Nats on it, arguing for the bigger picture.

Housing: the options, the new left narrative?

Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, September 13th, 2013 - 75 comments

The response to Metiria Turei’s sttements about affordable housing on The Vote, raises questions about political narratives are told to the general electorate? The Greens, Mana and Cunliffe have stressed their “vision“.  How to tell it so it reaches the hearts of New Zealanders?

‘Mind the Gap” – the way forward

Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, August 30th, 2013 - 77 comments

TV3’s Mind the Gap documentary (Bryan Bruce) is very important because it put before the general population the damaging impact of income inequality in a clear and and straightforward manner.  The solutions?  Ideas from academics, journalists, campaigners & opposition politicians/parties.

The union vote

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, August 27th, 2013 - 106 comments

The Right has been doing a massive amount of speculation on the Labour leadership race. The Right’s latest theory is that the unions will use their votes to choose the leader. That ignores a rather important fact. The unions’ votes will be decided by delegates and individual members. No-one is in a position to promise those votes to any contender.

Manufacturing Inquiry report

Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, June 17th, 2013 - 83 comments

The parliamentary inquiry into the future of manufacturing has released its report today. I’ve not had time to read it, but it’s great to see a report by 4 out of parliament’s 7 or 8* parties, showing a united stance to one of our country’s biggest economic problems. 40,000 lost jobs in 4 years; the worst current account deficit in the developed world (overtaking Greece) – and a government that’s ignoring it.  We need some big solutions and a combined force committed to it.

Campaign heroics or hubris?

Written By: - Date published: 12:02 pm, June 6th, 2013 - 38 comments

I was impressed by this press statement from the Mana Party on the ground in the Ikaroa Rawhiti by-election reporting that they door-knocked over 1000 houses over the weekend and found that support for their candidate was over 70%.  As a political campaigner of many years experience, and I’m now running Labour’s by-election HQ in […]

High interest in Ikaroa-Rawhiti

Written By: - Date published: 3:37 pm, May 23rd, 2013 - 22 comments

Labour will hold three selection meetings in the very large electorate, in Seaview, in Tolaga Bay, and the final one in Napier on Sunday. Labour has a very strong slate of six high-calibre candidates. New members are flocking to the party, and with over 500 electorate members having a say this time the meetings will be full on as well as full. All Party members can attend; anyone can register to get the result.

‘That’s what the fuss is all about’

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, May 16th, 2013 - 22 comments

Hone Harawira challenged the Maori Party for its support of charter schools, at the expense of Maori and public education. He challenged Sharples to resign if today’s budget fails to adequately support kura kaupapa and the Manaaki Tauira programme.

Budget: corporate “charity” not the solution to Feeding the Kids

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, May 15th, 2013 - 24 comments

Thursday’s budget is likely to make businesses central to blunting the edge of child poverty.  Campbell Live is concerned about the marginalisation of skilled community organisations.  Harawira has delayed the reading of his Feed the Kids Bill & argues for the state to play a stronger role.

Political vision?

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, May 3rd, 2013 - 61 comments

Today’s NZ Herald editorial on Auckland’s up-coming mayoral election campaign, says Brown has vision, but Minto and Williamson lack it. What sort of vision should the left provide in the up-coming local authority elections around NZ, and in NZ’s parliamentary elections in 2014?

Feed the Kids – Big Breakfast

Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, April 16th, 2013 - 1 comment

Tomorrow Mana’s Feed the Kids campaign is running a Big Breakfast event to feed 2000 kids. Contact the organiser if you can help.

Growing the Left vote

Written By: - Date published: 6:49 am, February 5th, 2013 - 279 comments

At the moment the Left and Right political blocs are poised more or less evenly in the polls. So how do we grow the Left vote to win in 2014?

Opposition speeches & ‘Roads of Madness’

Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, January 30th, 2013 - 54 comments

Debates on the PM’s statement to the House show that this do-nothing government needs to go.  Plenty of good ideas from opposition MPs. An excellent speech by Genter against Joyce’s ‘Roads of Madness’ & for public transport.

Annette Sykes: a future MP?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, January 25th, 2013 - 23 comments

Mana Party president, Annette Sykes could become an MP in the next election.  The future of the Maori Party is in doubt.  Hone Harawira is considering a Mana-Maori Party merger.  Sykes is committed to left wing values, social justice, Maori land & water rights, and social & economic justice for Maori.

Maori Party in terminal decline

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, January 24th, 2013 - 69 comments

What a mess. Katene wants Turia’s job but will she be the one given the tap or will it be a member of the Turia clan? Flavell has made a play for Sharples’ job, but there’s no mechanism for deciding leadership battles. Harawira has offered a re-merger. Sharples is open to it, Turia isn’t but she wants Sharples gone.

Let it go Pita

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, January 24th, 2013 - 10 comments

Pita Sharples should step down as a leader of the Maori Party and let someone else have a go. A merger with Mana seems to offer the most viable way forward, but the possibility has prompted a hysterical reaction from the outgoing Turia.

What’s new? Shearer retrospective.

Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, December 17th, 2012 - 124 comments

David Shearer was on TV 3 this morning, reflecting on his last year. He claimed that he and Labour are doing well under new and settled leadership, taking a new direction.  How accurate are his claims?

A country to love: a country to fight for

Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, December 13th, 2012 - 59 comments

Key’s government and his MSM cheerleaders, lead the country backwards to increasing inequalities. It’s been a year of the battle of the men.  Yesterday, Metiria spoke of an inclusive country to collaboratively fight for, and Jacinda Ardern spoke passionately for children in poverty.

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