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Asset sale delay likely
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, July 17th, 2012 - 62 comments
Even John Key is now admitting that the asset sale program is facing a serious legal challenge, and that delays in the sales are likely. Any such delay would have several implications…
Bullying schools – again
Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, July 16th, 2012 - 29 comments
Threats to schools over the contents of their newsletters? The “brighter future” doesn’t like dissent.
Cute with semantics on water
Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, July 13th, 2012 - 82 comments
John Key has been running round repeating that no one owns water. He’s just being cute with semantics. What is the effective difference between owning water, and owning water rights?
Key’s fight with Maori no accident
Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, July 11th, 2012 - 145 comments
Just 32 hours after Key started running the line that the Government would ignore the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision on the Maori Council water rights claim if it didn’t go his way, the Maori Party reacted. Key is abusing the privilege of his office by trying to pre-empt a judicial body’s decision says Pita Sharples. Tariana Turia says they will talk about their ‘future’ with National.
Key’s press release on exodus to Australia
Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, July 8th, 2012 - 29 comments
With news that there are now more Kiwis living in Australia than either Christchurch or Wellington, here’s “John Key’s” latest press release on the topic.
Kiwiblog: media getting savvy?
Written By: - Date published: 12:34 pm, July 5th, 2012 - 28 comments
The media have generally just regurgitated David Farrar’s angled statistics, stories and lines. Now we finally see a story that looks behind: this is a blog from one of the National Party elite, so why is he running a story on Police pay? Are National looking to move on this?
A quick question
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, July 5th, 2012 - 197 comments
The Nats are going to terminate the benefits of those who fail or refuse drug tests. I have a question…
Legitimate calls for inquiries
Written By: - Date published: 7:07 am, July 4th, 2012 - 33 comments
Key has dismissed calls for an inquiry into the Police’s actions in the Dotcom affair. He says that the Greens call for inquiries every week. In fact, they’ve called for 19 in the past year and a half. Is that too many? Well, the Auditor-General didn’t think so: she responded positively to the Greens’ call for a investigation into Key’s dodgy SkyCity deal.
Iwi and the riverbeds
Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, July 3rd, 2012 - 15 comments
The only remaining possible legal threat to the Nats’ plans to sell off our power companies is a Treaty based claim to water rights or riverbeds.
National has no intention of ever enforcing ETS
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, July 3rd, 2012 - 59 comments
As many of us expected, National has no intention of ever enforcing the ETS in the area where it makes the most difference to NZ emissions – agriculture.
What did Key really know about Dotcom?
Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, July 2nd, 2012 - 57 comments
We know that the Police overstepped their authority following their Hollywood wannabe raid on Dotcom’s home. They used invalid warrants to take property of Dotcom’s that they weren’t entitled to, and gave that data to the FBI. Now, we learn that Key’s office was involved in advising the Department of Labour on shutting down a leaked email.
Parata was briefed on teacher cuts
Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, June 30th, 2012 - 26 comments
It seems that Parata was fully briefed on teacher cuts after all, but she somehow “did not have enough time to mention it”. The government’s most recent humiliating bungle just got worse.
Wrong headed _and_ incompentent
Written By: - Date published: 5:21 pm, June 29th, 2012 - 39 comments
So here is the story that will probably summarise this government in the history books. The whole cabinet delegated responsibility to John Key and Bill English to achieve their promised land of surplus in 2014/15. They defined themselves as the only party that could deliver this goal, they jettisoned all other goals in pursuit of a single number, and they can’t even achieve it…
Patsy of the year
Written By: - Date published: 3:03 pm, June 29th, 2012 - 19 comments
Such is the abundance of talent in the National Party that they can’t even ask a patsy question right…
Funding fraud
Written By: - Date published: 12:50 pm, June 28th, 2012 - 23 comments
It’s not acceptable for the government to keep funding a service provider after fraud has been clearly reported. It’s not acceptable for a Minister to be aware of “problems” and not even read the audit report before allocating further funding. Will anyone be held to account?
Katherine Rich on the Health Promotion Board: The next outrageous piece of Nat cronyism
Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, June 28th, 2012 - 50 comments
Putting the CEO of the leading lobbying agency and industry promotional group for companies promoting sales of sugar, fat and alcohol on the Board of the public health agency supposed to prevent harm to young NZers is an outrageous act of cronyism.
Competition, cooperation, schools
Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, June 27th, 2012 - 12 comments
Competition is the wrong model for education, and National’s nonsense “league tables” are going to make it worse…
When photo-ops backfire
Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, June 27th, 2012 - 41 comments
3 years ago, a National minister dancing on a flattened boyracer car would have been a PR coup. And certainly that’s how National’s spin doctors expected it to play out last week. But times have changed. Now, it’s being criticised as an unseemly act and a waste of money through-out the media. These tipping points creep up on governments. Strengths suddenly become weaknesses.
Privatisation bill passed
Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, June 26th, 2012 - 239 comments
They’re quite literally selling our country down the river.
Doubts over Cameron’s welfare blitz
Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, June 26th, 2012 - 2 comments
That’s the Guardian headline. Supposedly designed to give the Tories “political momentum”, it is late and over budget. The Treasury is resigned to the programme costing money rather than providing savings. The LibDems won’t have a bar of it. Critics describe it as “pitch-rolling”, preparing the ground for further “reforms”. More like spin-bowling here.
A meaningless list
Written By: - Date published: 6:53 am, June 26th, 2012 - 69 comments
National’s latest plan to save the country – make another list of targets! What no-one has pointed out yet is that we won’t know whether these target have been achieved or not until 2018 – National would need to be a 4 term government to ever be held accountable to these targets. The list is a curious mix of the utterly unambitious, the impossible, and the deceptive.
Spot the difference
Written By: - Date published: 9:37 pm, June 25th, 2012 - 39 comments
There – “Cameron announces Tory plan to slash benefits.” Here – “The Government wants Work and Income to cut the number of long-term beneficiaries on a working-age benefit, John Key has just announced.” Tories normally do this when they are in trouble.
Ninny state
Written By: - Date published: 2:09 pm, June 25th, 2012 - 85 comments
National are so scared of the “Nanny state” hysteria that they drummed up from opposition that they’re now ignoring official advice and killing off law changes that would save lives.
Bye bye Local Government
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, June 25th, 2012 - 42 comments
National’s record on local government is horrific: the lack of consultation as they rammed through the Supercity, the canning of ECAN, and continued suspension of democracy in Canterbury, the pushing of asset sales on an unwilling Christchurch.
And their latest attack – the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill – will do significant damage to local democracy.
Pike Road?
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 pm, June 21st, 2012 - 10 comments
A strong safety warning today about sheeptruck disaster met Ministerial indifference from Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges. He said Australian legislation to promote safety and fairness in the road transport industry was not needed here because “New Zealand already has a system of work time requirements to help manage the risk of fatigue”. More infamous last words from a National politician – but the police are really worried.
Remember when….
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, June 20th, 2012 - 67 comments
National put out a couple of bizarre press releases saying “remember when…” and recounting the asset sales under the 4th Labour Government. Apparently, the fact that they fucked up is reason for National to fuck up now. Well, remember when asset sales earned Labour a landslide defeat and nearly destroyed it in 1990, resulting in nine years in the wilderness?
Standing for nothing
Written By: - Date published: 11:47 am, June 19th, 2012 - 11 comments
National are shelving their plan to get out of deficit by 2014/15 – their only goal left, with the Brighter FutureTM shelved. No to stopping the exodus to Australia, stopping high unemployment, getting better public services, fixing our current account deficit, returning to growth, proper ECE funding (and Adult and Community Education at all), better training for teachers, keeping ACC fair, not cutting frontline staff, promises to not raise GST and more, all on the altar of surplus in 2014/15.
Now what do they stand for?
Admitting that austerity has failed
Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, June 16th, 2012 - 56 comments
Austerity has failed in both the UK and NZ. But at least Cameron’s Conservatives have the wit to realise it, and the courage to act.
Cunliffe attacks Nats’ crony capitalism
Written By: - Date published: 12:25 pm, June 14th, 2012 - 79 comments
David Cunliffe went to the lion’s den yesterday with a speech telling a meeting of Kensington Swan’s receivership and liquidation lawyers that there would be a lot less work for them under Labour but saying “the Labour Party is not your enemy. Your enemy is inefficiency, corruption, and the wastage of both public and private wealth. Your enemy is a cosy corruption that helps a few friends of the government get very rich at the expense of the community.”
The Nats’ succession problem
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 14th, 2012 - 58 comments
John Key’s days are numbered. His personal popularity is falling. His brand is tied to unpopular asset sales and a pokies for convention centre deal that is now subject to an Auditor-General investigation. He’s not winning the next election. So a change of leader is coming: pre-election or post. But who can succeed him? Parata? Collins? Joyce? They’re all shot.
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